Bolt fell down carb 97 GTI wiped out rotory valve plate

[Richieskis]

Ok, I cannot believe this happen to me again, when I first got the 97 GTI, it had been is storage for 10 years, and only had 24 hours on it, having never worked on seadoos. I had the local shop check it out and get it ready for water, and to this day not sure what they did other then change spark plugs, but it did run ok, had the post go bad and fuel baffle die, then the exhaust pipe bolts come lose and almost flood and sunk the craft, in the weeks to fallow the service, I had not found this site yet, but I decided after the post fauilure and the replacement at $300, and the so called service at $700 I could not keep paying for service I needed to get to know these craft, I replaced baffle and repaired the exhaust pipe myself, but near the end of the first season, I had the disaster happen, friends out riding and craft just dies and will not start, find out after taking it to shop because I am still not in tune with everything about these craft, bolt fell down carb and killed the rotary valve, bolt fell out because carb housing cracked and now I needed new motor, and Carb, they said like $3000. I said pound sand, I found this site, found used 720 motor and Craig List, replaced motor, new carb, replaced gray fuel lines, ( why don’t shops tell you this ) added extra in line fuel filter, been doing all my own service and this craft has been great last 3 summers, now even earlier this summer had a full week of running, no problems, now I almost never ride these, as they are for the kids, and enjoy, but this weekend, I was going to meet up with some friend at the Pirate Cove and I did not have the boat in the water, I was going to take the GTI, it was going to be a 20 mile run down river, and it was going to be just me, I never do solo runs, but what the heck it has been running all morning kids been riding everywhere, why not I take off thank god I take phone with me, I get about 10 miles downriver it just dies, will not start, I swim it to shore, on a sandy beach along the river, the only one with no one hanging out on it, just my luck, I feel like Tom Hanks in Cast away, get a hold a friends I was meeting at the Pirate and they rescue me, I get it to the house, take air box off, take air filter/spark arrestor off I see a missing bolt that bolts the air filter plate to the carb, take the rotary valve cover off, there is the bolt and lock washer destroyed rotary valve and case. How I wish I had used locktite on these bolts..Now need to find used motor or see if I can change out the lower end motor housings, and get the first motor back together. I have a good set of lower halves and rotary valve plate and cover. Wish me luck. sorry for the long post just needed to vent, I am sure I will need help with the motor rebuild. more post to fallow

 

[El Toro 33809]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. The same thing happened to our 96GTI about a month after we got it. The case was useable, but the brass gear on the RV shaft was toast and it moved the gear on the crank so it had to be replaced as well. What I've found out is that if you use the proper length screws to hold the housing arrestor in place, even if they are loose and back out, they will hit the spark arrestor and cannot fall into the carb.

 

[RebuiltSeadooBaffles]

ALWAYS use loctite on EVERY BOLT unless it calles for something different! Sorry it happend again

 

[Richieskis]

did you have to replace the crank or was the gear on the crank ok, I have the two halves of the lower case with a good rotary valve shaft, and plate, I have been planning to rebuild the first motor for 3 years, but had had been doing so good, just put it off, can no longer put off, I was hoping to reuse the crank, and the top end, just replace all the gasgets, and see if I can get a few more seasons, or at least one more.

 

[Richieskis]

ALWAYS use loctite on EVERY BOLT unless it calles for something different! Sorry it happend again

I am going to take the air box off my XP next time I am out at my river place and loctite them....and when I get the GTI up and running it will have longer bolts and loctite

 

[Strizzo]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. The same thing happened to our 96GTI about a month after we got it. The case was useable, but the brass gear on the RV shaft was toast and it moved the gear on the crank so it had to be replaced as well. What I've found out is that if you use the proper length screws to hold the housing arrestor in place, even if they are loose and back out, they will hit the spark arrestor and cannot fall into the carb.

yeah i was thinking that, the factory screws are so long that if they backed out they'd stop against the flame arrestor. I wonder if some previous owners had removed the carb support bracket and used those shorter screws under the flame arrestor.

 

[El Toro 33809]

The reason my crank was bad is that the reciprocating gear between the two crank halves got misplaced. If yours is still in the center, all should be good.

 

[Richieskis]

The reason my crank was bad is that the reciprocating gear between the two crank halves got misplaced. If yours is still in the center, all should be good.

Good to know, I just order PTO puller, and flywheel puller and gasget set, do you know if I need to pull them (PTO and Flywheel to get the bottom end two halves apart ? kind of looks like I have to

 

[El Toro 33809]

Good to know, I just order PTO puller, and flywheel puller and gasget set, do you know if I need to pull them (PTO and Flywheel to get the bottom end two halves apart ? kind of looks like I have to

You can get the case halves apart with the PTO still on, but it's easier with it off. The flywheel must be off. Have you ever pulled a PTO before? Best to do BEFORE taking the cylinders off.

 

[Mekanix]

yeah i was thinking that, the factory screws are so long that if they backed out they'd stop against the flame arrestor. I wonder if some previous owners had removed the carb support bracket and used those shorter screws under the flame arrestor.

+1

After that story I was thinking of even lock wiring them :S

 

[Richieskis]

You can get the case halves apart with the PTO still on, but it's easier with it off. The flywheel must be off. Have you ever pulled a PTO before? Best to do BEFORE taking the cylinders off.

I have not pulled a PTO before, I have read from Doc Honda "to do it while still in craft", my problem is the motor is already out, it was the first motor, can the PTO be pulled off the motor with it out of the craft ? I ordered a puller for the PTO and a Puller for the flywheel just today. The motor is still all togerther, just the Rotary valve cover off, it still has the exhaust and starter attached, it was setting waiting for me to rebuild it, just never got to it, now got to it got me.

 

[El Toro 33809]

If the cylinders are still on, you should be able to get the PTO off even with the engine out. You know the rope trick? Get a couple of feet of rope and put it through one of the spark plug holes. Being careful not to have it coming out the exhaust port, turn the motor towards TDC. the rope will keep it from going all the way through the stroke. With the tool installed in the PTO, try to loosen it. Depending on how tight it's on, you may need a big breaker bar and some friends to hold the motor down. I've run the course of being able to do it on my own to having to use a 3' breaker bar and my neighbor and his son stand on the motor while I used the giant bar to get it off. Good luck.

 

[Richieskis]

If the cylinders are still on, you should be able to get the PTO off even with the engine out. You know the rope trick? Get a couple of feet of rope and put it through one of the spark plug holes. Being careful not to have it coming out the exhaust port, turn the motor towards TDC. the rope will keep it from going all the way through the stroke. With the tool installed in the PTO, try to loosen it. Depending on how tight it's on, you may need a big breaker bar and some friends to hold the motor down. I've run the course of being able to do it on my own to having to use a 3' breaker bar and my neighbor and his son stand on the motor while I used the giant bar to get it off. Good luck.

Yea, I read about the rope trick, I have a big breaker bar, I also have a 1/2 impact driver that has some big as tork, do you think using the impact would be a problem ?

 

[El Toro 33809]

I don't know if the impact will do the trick, but it certainly would be worth a try. Good luck.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

2nd post of day where lack of Lock-tight caused damage.

I doubt the impact will do the yob, need big long girl-illa bar.