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Newbie questions about the 1995 GTX

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FloridaBound0911

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Hey guys, my name is Shelby and I have a few questions for all of you if you don't mind. I recently became interested in owning a jet ski, seriously interested that is. I have always wanted one but I never had the cash. Well recently I found a couple of 1995 seadoo GTX's on a trailer for $1500. They were bank repos and have been sitting since October of last year. My fater and I went to check them out and as expected both batteries were dead. However, we hooked them up to our truck just to test them out an one crancked right up and ran, the other one wants to start but is having trouble turning over.

We managed to haggle the bank down to 700$, so at that price I couldn't pass them up! I guess my question for you guys is what all should I check over now and is there a best starting place for trouble shooting the one that doesn't start? I've been reading about this model a little and I've already checked the fuel lines. The previous owners have already swapped the grey ones out. Thanks again for any help you guys can give me, I've got zero experience with these engines but I'm excited to start learning!
 
Well, couple things to check. Im not exactly sure which engines are in the 95 GTX, but there are a few common themes to pretty much all 90's jet skis. First off, the electrical systems are very sensitive. NEVER jump start these skis with a running car, it is okay to do so if the car is NOT running, but with a running car or a battery charger (even if it is on jumpstart mode) can put out too much power and ruin the electrical system. Next, since the grey fuel lines have already been swapped out, I will assume (HUGE assumption here) that they cleaned out the carbs as well. It wouldnt be a for you, since you are a new owner, to do a total flush of the oil system and replace it with clean, Rotax 2 Stroke oil so you have a good baseline on a oil you know is good, because mixing different brands of oil can have CATASTROPHIC results aka blowing an engine because the oils arent compatible. This oil service should include changing the oil filter and the small oil lines that go to the carbs, or you might think about going to premix (not going to open that can of worms again).

Honestly, since it is the off season, I would do the oil service and put it up until it is warm enough to take it for a spin, that will be the best way to tell what is wrong with the ski.

As for the ski which wont start, can you give any more insight onto what it is going in. Sounds/noises? Photos? Can you grab the driveshaft and turn the engine over (take spark plugs out first, will be MUCH easier). Others will probably have other stuff.

Welcome to the Forum!
 
Thanks for the welcome, as well as the info, I had no idea about the electrical system being so sensitive, I was a little hesitant about buying one with no idea on wether or not it would run, I hope I haven't messed anything up, we mainly just wanted to hear it crank, and killed it promptly after. I plan on taking the old gas and siphoning it out as well as possibly cleaning out the fuel tank. I'll also take your advice about the oil. It definitely makes sense to start fresh with a solid oil.

As for the one that isn't running, it just makes a clicking noise, the motor is attempting to turn over but it only rotates partially, and then it stops, almost acting like its hung on something. I can't do much else with them until we get a fresh battery, but I will upload pics ASAP. I'm going to try and pick up a battery sometime next week, any particular preferences? Thanks so much for the help!
 
For $700 you got a great deal. First thing to do is not clean your gas tanks. Your 95 gtx's are in the gas tank recall. Take them to the dealer and get yourself some new highly sought after 12 gallon tanks. They may have already be updated. The fuel fill neck will crack and will leak fuems into your hull, so seadoo has issued a recall. You can just call a dealer and give them your hin and they will check to see if has already been updated. To get those gas tanks out you will have to take out the motor to install the new ones. So if you find that you have to rebuild one of the motors or you just want to take them apart to inspect everything then you are in luck, because you can do all the motor work and wont need to realign the motor because when the dealer goes to pull the gas tank they will have to pull the motor and realign it for you. If you call and find out you are in need of the update, do all of your motor work before you take them in to have the tanks swapped out. Also have them put new fuel floats in your baffles they may charge you $25 each but thats cheap considering all the work you would have to do yourself to do it and the float is $20 anyways. Since they will already have them out thats the time to do it.

Also replace the oil filter, since you have no idea what oil the old owners used when you add new oil it may have a bad reactions with the old oil and the oil may sludge up in the filter. For $10 its worth it.
 
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Okay guys here's an update for you. My dad (been around boats, jetskis, etc. most of his life) seemed to think that there might be a problem with the starter, we weren't right but we weren't exactly wrong either...

Here's what happened, we pulled the starter off of the one that isn't running. Once we got it off, the gear the kicks into the flywheel was chewed up really bad, I'll upload a pic later, but it was basically grinded down to the point where it was like dull nubs, there was no way it could connect to the
flywheel.

We took the starter and tested it on a hot battery, it was working the way it was supposed to. Oddly enough there is no apparent damage where the starter connects to the motor...(burrs, chips etc.)

Following this hunch, we pulled the started off of the jet ski that is running, and hooked it up to the one the isn't running. We still got the same problem. The drive shaft will turn maybe a quarter of an inch, and then hang, stop and try again, turning over another quarter of an inch. With a good battery on it, I can hear make a low, whining sound.

Does anyone have any idea where to go from here?
 
Welcome to the forum

If you know the starter is good, which I believe it is because it worked fine in the other ski, then the problem should be in the wires or the connection to the solenoid.
Check both the positive and negative cables for inner corrosion on both end of the cable. If corroded cut back some of the cable till you see good clean wire. Check all 4 wires, 2 coming from the battery to the solenoid and 2 from the solenoid to the starter.
Clean the connections on the solenoid as well.
 
Okay, forgive me for the stupid question, but where does the cables from the battery connect to the solenoid. I just went outside and took a glance (it's cold btw!) and found the positive cable connecting to the solenoid, but I couldn't tell where the other positive cable came out from... While we're on the subject, the ground was connected directly from the battery to the starter?

I'm sorry to bug you with all of this info, but I'm getting the feeling that the previous owners tried to play mechanic on this broken ski. Not sure though haha.
 
Maybe I missed it on an earlier post. Are you sure that the motor or the pump is not seized? Remove the spark plugs and see if you can turn the flywheel by hand.

BTW: The other positive cable goes from the solenoid to the starter.

Lou
 
Couple of things........there are never stupid questions and don't complain to me about cold, Im in Canada LOL. Its colder then a witches XXX in a brass bra.

Your positive should go from the battery to the grey electrical box where it is connected to one side of the solenoid. Then another cable (positive) is attached to the other side of the solenoid and that cable goes to the starter.

The negative goes from the starter directly to the battery. I would start by checking this one.

Are you sure the motor is not siezed? Can you turn it by hand with the PTO?
 
Yes I forgot to mention that in an earlier post, we did pull the spark plugs and we could turn the motor by hand with the plugs removed, I'll check the connector tomorrow morning and report back to you. As far as the flywheel goes, I'm not sure about that one, we could turn the drive shaft over if that says anything.

On a semi unrelated note, is there anything you can think of that would grind that starter gear down? I'm completely baffled by it...
 
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I think Lou meant PTO not flywheel.
Make sure your battery is strong, you should have over 12 V and when you hit the start button it should not drop much below 11.2V, if it does, change or charge the battery. Do not charge the battery while hooked up to the cables in the ski, you will fry the electronics.

Then as in post #9, check the cables and connections for any corrosion.

It is possible that the starter loosened off at one point and wasn't sitting up against the flywheel properly and ground the teeth down. That being said you should take the magneto cover off to clean out the metal shavings, before you run it to long.
 
image.jpg okay so I opened up the electrical box and the solenoid looks okay to me, can anyone spot anything else? I didn't see any corrosion on the terminals but like I said I've never worked on a jetski before. Is there any other problems that would keep the engine from turning over? Since we can manually turn the engine over, where would be the next place to start looking? I'm chasing down the last cable right now, just to be sure.
 
Hook the solenoid back up and take a screw driver and jump the solenoid. To do this take the srew driver and use the shaftof the screw driver and touch it to both metal posts. If the starter turns over then your soleniod is bad. If nothing happens it is your starter. Your electrical box is in great shape though. Thats a nice clean box
 
If i was you, i would put the starter that you know works, in the machine. Then take out the complete electrical box from the one that runs and put it in this one. See if that works, if it doesnt I would replace all the negative and postive cables. If it works with the electrical box. I would swap one component in the ebox at a time until you eliminate your problem. First the solenoid, then the mpem, then cdi............and so on. You are lucky to have 2 off the same machine, it makes trouble shooting and eliminating possible problems 1 by 1 easy
 
Jetskigoodies said:
Hook the solenoid back up and take a screw driver and jump the solenoid. To do this take the srew driver and use the shaftof the screw driver and touch it to both metal posts. If the starter turns over then your soleniod is bad. If nothing happens it is your starter. Your electrical box is in great shape though. Thats a nice clean box
Click to expand...

correct,, just a FYI, the solenoid doesn't have to look bad to be bad., but this is the quickest way and easiest to determine if this is the problem.
 
Also another way to determine if it is the solenoid.....trying tapping it a few times with a bigger size screwdriver, then try to start it.
Sometimes they stick.
This happen to me but I saved the old one in case of emergency on a sunday or holiday and no dealer is open.
 
Thanks guys for all of the useful tips, I'm waiting on my dad to get back home, and the. We're going to start troubleshooting. With any luck we'll know what the problem is by the end of the day!
 
Spimothy Leary said:
correct,, just a FYI, the solenoid doesn't have to look bad to be bad., but this is the quickest way and easiest to determine if this is the problem.
Click to expand...

Aint that the truth. I had one that looked like it just rolled off the line, didnt work. Then i had one that looked like barnacles were growing on it and it worked.
 
Are 95 XPs part of the gas tank recall? I'd love a 12 gallon tank in my XP!!!! 30% more range! If so, do I just go to any seadoo dealership that does repairs?
 
They wont do that swap...plus the filler neck and storage bin needs to be modded to make it work. But yes your tank is in the recall.
 
Okay... I took the terminals off of the solenoid to check them for corrosion earlier, and now when I try to start it, the solenoid is just making a buzzing noise, the engine isn't moving or anything, did I do something wrong?

Edit: I went be and rechecked an righted all connections, the power to the solenoid, the power from the solenoid to the starter, the negative from the starter to the batter and the power from the starter to the battery. Still making a buzzing noise.
 
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Okay, so we figured out what the problem with the buzzing was, battery was low. Had the vehicle turned off and was just using it to test the solenoid. We 'jumped' it like I was told to do and same problem. The engine is trying to turn over, but won't. It will turn about a quarter of an inch and then stop and try again. I'm sorry to keep bothering you all but is there any other reasons you can think of as to why this ski would be hanging like this?
 
Im thinking that if you can see the motor actually moving, even a quarter of an inch, than the starter is probably shot. I say this because that means you are obviously getting juice to the starter, it just doesnt have the balls to move it anymore. Have you made sure the positive and negative terminal lines are free from corrosion. I usually sand them down with a little sandpaper to get that copper to shine. Also, try when you are hitting the start/stop button, if you have a multimeter put the red connection to the starter post, and the black one to the starter ground. You should be getting around 12.4 volts when you hit the button
 
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