My 1996 SPI Resto

[Seadoo Tuner]

Tried the 115g gold spring, cutting a bit off to lower it from 32psi but a failed experiment, not confident using it after trimming and didn't drop much so in the trash bin it went.

Confirmed the spring in the carb was in fact the 65g shiny silver like I thought after measuring it, popped off at 18psi and is likely the reason the SPI was bogging from idle. Have used the black 80g spring now and with the 2.0 needle have it consistently popping off at 22psi so hopefully that eliminates the bog and performance is better on the first 1/4 of the throttle range.

 

[mikidymac]

Good luck, you should be running a 2.0 needle and seat with a 95 gram spring, if it doesn't run with that then you have something else wrong.

Never cut springs, ever.

Where are you located? I will mail you a 95 gram for free if I can dig one up.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Good luck, you should be running a 2.0 needle and seat with a 95 gram spring, if it doesn't run with that then you have something else wrong.

Never cut springs, ever.

Where are you located? I will mail you a 95 gram for free if I can dig one up.

Wow, thanks Miki, I'm in BC Canada just over the border near Vancouver, will send you a private message.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

So got the proper 95g spring (thanks again Miki), put in carb, checked popoff and installed in the SPI. Went on a camping trip and rode for 3 days at the lake along with my younger son who just got his license, the Doo ran great with no bog and smooth throttle throughout the range. Really happy with how it performs finally and ran at 45mph top speed (tracked by a 2003 GTI LE RFI).

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Made my own popoff gauge from a walmart tire gauge, brass Female 1/8" NPT tee from Home Depot, and a shrader valve. Found the how to on the greenhulk forum. This worked well and helped me check my carb I recently found out had the wrong spring in and was the reason my SPI was bogging at takeoff. Can't stress enough (like the experts on here always state) how easy and important a step this is when doing your carb, if I would have done so earlier it would have fixed my issue much sooner and saved time.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Took some pics of my plugs after my camping trip and riding the doo for 3 days straight. They look alright to me, maybe slightly rich, but I'm no expert here so any thoughts appreciated :

 

[mikidymac]

THey look fine.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Pic of the slight crack in gel coat I posted last year, in rear by jet pump :

Here's a pic from today, just over a year later :


Crack now slightly further down vertically and now with a horizontal slight crack as well. Doesn't go thru fiberglass. Had some 2 part epoxy on at beginning of year but only lasted a couple of rides if that. Whats best for a permanent repair? I have white gel coat if that will work and hold.

 

[mikidymac]

You will never see that spot so I would just chip off the remaining loose pieces and put some Marine-Tex on it.

 

[racerxxx]

I'd just put a Seadoo sticker over it. A well placed sticker covers many blemishes. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

The SPI is in storage for the winter after winterizing last October and I took a look at things on the weekend - I have clamped off the oil hose from the tank to engine again this offseason as I noticed previously my seals have a slight leak apparently and during storage oil leaks into the engine. Felt under the pump and there is a bit of oil there, is it needed to clamp the oil line to oil pump as well during storage in case there's oil getting by the pump nipple/valve?

 

[etemplet]

I put a valve in one of my skis. Just turn it off when not in operation. If I let the ski sit in 2 weeks it will hydrolock with the amount of oil. It doesn't take much to lock it up only a few ounces. I rebuilt the engine, and installed a used crank. It was my first jet ski engine rebuild. LOL Ski runs way too good for me to pull the crank. It's on my wife's ski and she does a good job monitoring the valve so no worries. We're good.

 

[mikidymac]

If oil is under the oil pump you have a leak in the hose that needs to be fixed. Do not clamp off the oil pump hose, fix the leak.

 

[GGuillot]

Pic of the slight crack in gel coat I posted last year, in rear by jet pump :

Here's a pic from today, just over a year later :
View attachment 43890

Crack now slightly further down vertically and now with a horizontal slight crack as well. Doesn't go thru fiberglass. Had some 2 part epoxy on at beginning of year but only lasted a couple of rides if that. Whats best for a permanent repair? I have white gel coat if that will work and hold.

You could die grind out, not too deep, then fill with white marine tex. Extra measure is gelcoat over it after you've sanded smooth. It's worked for me when I did the restos on my skis.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Trying to trouble shoot the non working fuel gauge on my SPI - Did the ohm test on the baffle and its good, magnet intact on the float and sliding fine. This rules out the baffle side, what usually goes wrong in the fuel gauge and how to test/troubleshoot that end of things? Reads empty and never moves.

 

[mikidymac]

The gauges do go bad. I would get a good used one.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Jumped the two connector pins that go to the gauge and needle doesn't move, bad gauge? or when I do so do I need to attach lanyard and hit start button to see needle move?

Put the fuel baffle float (black 2 magnet one) in a jar of gas and it goes immediately to the bottom of jar, so bad float confirmed.

Want to make sure gauge is bad, any other tests I can do on it to confirm?

 

[mikidymac]

The ski has to be powered up for the gauge to work with the lanyard on or pressing the start stop button to wake up the MPEM.

 

[GGuillot]

This rules out the baffle side, what usually goes wrong in the fuel gauge and how to test/troubleshoot that end of things?

I'm assuming you did, but did you verify power to the gauge?

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Pulling the gauge and will check power to it also.

As for the float, getting one up to Canada will take a bit, read something about using cork in the float to get it to work again and thinking of this as a temp fix until I receive a new float - anyone hear of this?

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Gauge is hooped it seems, needle seems frozen and there is white powder around the needle portion (corrosion). Something is bouncing around in it when I shake it, these are sealed units so will look for another one and cut this one apart when I get time to see whats up with it.

Picked up a new float I found locally so no need for the "drilling a hole and inserting cork" fix I saw online that someone did with a non floating one.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Original fuel tank was cracked I noticed a couple of weeks ago and needed a new one put in under the safety recall from BRP. Thanks to the broken fuel gauge I always fill up looking at the fuel tank with storage bin removed so I can see how much fuel is going in the tank which allowed me to see the leak.

New gas tank is now in - looking at the service manual was surprised to see the torque spec at only 4nm (2.95ft lbs) for the hose clamps to filler neck and fuel baffle. Basically these seem to only need to be snugged up till you can't twist the hose instead of tightened down alot.

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Used a rebuild kit for starter but seemed to be a “lite” version as it only came with positive side brushe and parts (pn 278000297). Looked pretty clean inside compared to my cousins we just rebuilt. Starting it up its still having same issue however, with it usually clicking a few times before turning over.

Looking at starter relay next - is this the same thing as some refer to as the starter solenoid as no solenoid is listed in Seadoo’s parts manual for my SPI?

 

[Seadoo Tuner]

Installed new starter relay to fix the click click start issue finally and the doo starts up every time now.

In attempt to raise the idle as ski has always idled too low, went to turn clockwise the idle stop screw and it won’t move in or out-is there a set screw on the side usually to lock it in place?

 

[mikidymac]

No set screw. Give it a shot of PB Blaster and try working it back and forth. It should turn easy by hand but might have some corrosion on it. Do not force it as you don't want it to break. Just slowly back and forth until it frees up.