Having issues with 2002 Sea Doo GTX 4-tec cranking over.

[Gem]

I Have 2002 Sea Doo GTX 4-tec purchased used from a guy that said it was having a hard time starting. After removing the starter 3 times and testing it out side the SEA Doo it works fine its a SBT starter motor. I checked to see if it could be the Starter solenoid and when starter is out the whole starting system works fine push start/stop button and it cranks the starter just fine - So that is not my issue. Checked to see if anything was not turning and I get movement from pistons by attaching a pair of vice grips after putting a Teri cloth down around the shaft and turning it and put screwdriver in spark plug holes to confirm I have movement on the pistons so the machine is not locked up. But after installing the starter for the 3rd time and attaching a a extra ground cable to the housing for better conductivity on the negative wire the starter wont crank the motor over. I tried with the limed space available to turn the bendix in side with screw driver but its not budging with limited amount of force I can put on it. So I am stuck really dont want to take off the 21 E8 reverse torx head bolts to open the timing cover just to see if the bendix will turn or something else might be a issue. If I believe the guy saying he only took the starter out because he was going to replace it for slow turning then I have to think it was a low load (torque) starter that wore down. Before I buy a new one and go through the process of taking it out and putting it back in again I wanted to reach out and see if anyone had any other ideas or options. I have no problem buying another starter but this one has been tested and cleaned up and seems to be working fine for all accounts - So I am perplexed as to what would cause the it not to turn over with spark plugs out and no load on the motor it should at least crank so I can get a compression test done - It only has 77 hrs. on it and rest of the bike is in immaculate shape. So any help would be appreciated before I spend more money trying to diagnose this correctly.

 

[skiasylum]

By what I am reading it's either the starter or the wiring. Check for any excessive voltage drop in the wiring, connections, and grounds. Im guessing the green crusties.

 

[Gem]

By what I am reading it's either the starter or the wiring. Check for any excessive voltage drop in the wiring, connections, and grounds. Im guessing the green crusties.

Thank you - I added a negative cable to the starter just incase it was a bad negative - But like I said it works out side the motor housing just doesn't crank it while in it. Im thinking more there something jammed. But I will keep testing before going to the extreme. Thanks.

 

[skiasylum]

to spin it outside the motor housing might take 1 amp, to turn over the motor might take 25amps.

 

[dcm0123]

To verify if the starter and bendix is good, I would use an external battery to crank the starter in the PWC.

First disconnect both terminals to the PWC battery.

Then disconnect the positive wire coming from the starter at the solenoid. Using a good pair of copper jumper cables, connect this wire directly to an external car battery and the ground on the car battery to your engine. It will spark when you do this so connect the ground to the engine last.

If it cranks, we can give you further instructions how to diagnose the problem.