Pressure test, pump and oil tank

[LikeabossTM]

Fitted up my pressure tester tonight and checked the jet pump and oil tank. The good news, the pump held 8 psi for ten minutes.

The bad news, the oil tank wouldn't hold 3psi, I could feel air leaking out of the seam between the upper and lower half of the tank on the port side. Grr! That explains the oil sheen I cleaned up from under the tank.

Oh well, I'll run it like that this season if I don't get to fixing it beforehand, I'll just have to keep the oil level below the seam and crack the fill cap open when stored. Will also have to start collecting bottle caps to use for a low budget plastic weld repair attempt...

 

[funsummerahead]

On what year and model ski is this on? If you're going to do a plastic weld on it you need the EXACT kind of plastic to do it. Like taking another oil tank and using THAT plastic. Then you need to clean the heck out of it and get ALL of the oil out of the groove too. I've spent some time fixing Sea Doo oil tanks that leak and I won't do it again. I have better things to do and I'm sure you do too and by the time you factor in your time it's cheaper to just buy a new tank. Besides bouncing around on the lake and keeping the oil low it will leak oil and just get worse. It's a horrible design and I'm still shocked they did it. Sleds from the 70's are one piece and don't leak or have the rubber seal that will fail eventually.

 

[LikeabossTM]

On what year and model ski is this on? If you're going to do a plastic weld on it you need the EXACT kind of plastic to do it. Like taking another oil tank and using THAT plastic. Then you need to clean the heck out of it and get ALL of the oil out of the groove too. I've spent some time fixing Sea Doo oil tanks that leak and I won't do it again. I have better things to do and I'm sure you do too and by the time you factor in your time it's cheaper to just buy a new tank. Besides bouncing around on the lake and keeping the oil low it will leak oil and just get worse. It's a horrible design and I'm still shocked they did it. Sleds from the 70's are one piece and don't leak or have the rubber seal that will fail eventually.

2004 GTI

Thanks for the cleaning tips, etc, much appreciated. I'm going to try using the HDPE bottle caps to repair the HDPE oil tank.

I don't do this to save money, NONE of this work is worth my time, even if I were to buy all new parts for everything. I do it to challenge the notion of our disposable society, and because it's a hobby that I find more interesting and fulfilling than sitting in front of the television.

 

[mikidymac]

A lot of people have repaired them using the plastic ice maker hose from Home Depot with success.
Also the tanks are never under pressure so I assume you are just pressurising it to find the leak.

 

[funsummerahead]

2004 GTI

Thanks for the cleaning tips, etc, much appreciated. I'm going to try using the HDPE bottle caps to repair the HDPE oil tank.

I don't do this to save money, NONE of this work is worth my time, even if I were to buy all new parts for everything. I do it to challenge the notion of our disposable society, and because it's a hobby that I find more interesting and fulfilling than sitting in front of the television.

Sounds like you ARE the boss. If I was going to fix another oil tank like that one I would fiberglass it with epoxy resin. I use SC110 which is good for about everything and is actual Epoxy - not the "fiberglass" resin you get at the local stores which is ester or polyester. It will work with fiberglass, FRP, SMC and I've used it to patch a couple small holes on the plastic of our quad. I believe it's approved for marine and aeronautical use.

 

[LikeabossTM]

A lot of people have repaired them using the plastic ice maker hose from Home Depot with success.
Also the tanks are never under pressure so I assume you are just pressurising it to find the leak.

Sounds like you ARE the boss. If I was going to fix another oil tank like that one I would fiberglass it with epoxy resin. I use SC110 which is good for about everything and is actual Epoxy - not the "fiberglass" resin you get at the local stores which is ester or polyester. It will work with fiberglass, FRP, SMC and I've used it to patch a couple small holes on the plastic of our quad. I believe it's approved for marine and aeronautical use.

Yep, just finding the leak, pressurized via the vent valve per shop manual after pinching the lines. I think I have some ice maker hose laying around, I'll check it out.

Maybe I'll look into the plastic-compatible epoxy too. All I have on hand is West system from previous boat hull repairs, and I seem to recall it doesn't stick to plastic.

 

[mikidymac]

I haven't had luck with the epoxy but then again I just spend the $100 for a new tank and not worry about it for a few years. On my personal ones I have finally converted to the hard to find 1996 GSX tanks with no seam so I never have to worry about it again.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Good news, repaired the oil tank seams today and it's holding with no leaks. It was a bit of an art (trial and error) to know whether to use a halved or quartered length of fridge water line as the donor HDPE. Quartered was easier to keep lit, just holding it vertically to melt into small gaps while moving fast enough, but halved filled larger gaps better, just harder to keep lit and moving at the right speed.

Hopefully it lasts the season with any pounding, maybe beyond. A good learning experience for sure.

I had one little pin hole that was revealed by the water tank test, but that was easy to fix after doing the rest of it. It ain't pretty where I went over it with a soldering iron to smooth out the messiness, but it's done.

 

[mikidymac]

It will never be seen so as long as it holds oil you are $100 ahead of the game.

 

[LikeabossTM]

It will never be seen so as long as it holds oil you are $100 ahead of the game.

Yeah, that's what I figure. It's not that a hundred bucks would kill me, but a hundred here, a hundred there, another hundred over there, it adds up. I try to make 'as good as new' with repairs instead, when possible.

That said, if it cracks again I'll probably just buy new at that point.

Now to fill her up with mystic sea n snow (API-TC synth blend). That seemed like the best compromise, a little better than dino and much better than the outboard 2T that was in there. It's also cheap and available 9AM-9PM every 20 miles around here (Canadian Tire). Already sucked out the rotary cavity and filled that with a funnel last week.

 

[mikidymac]

Your ski is the carbed 720 correct? If so that is perfectly fine oil.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Your ski is the carbed 720 correct? If so that is perfectly fine oil.

Yep. Thought process was that seadoo dealers are few and far between and the readily available alternatives for mineral oil are nearly as expensive as this. I figure I'll just run it as an 'upgrade' seeing as how I had to change to something - maybe it's better for it anyway.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Old fuel coming out now. Of course there's nearly eight gallons in there...

That little pump head laying on the ground in front of the gas can is one I saved from an old gallon of two part epoxy that'd been emptied. It works great as a general purpose pump, I put everything through it (used it to pump out the rotary cavity too). It has a floating ball check valve under the spring, so I just jam it into the free end of whatever hose I'm using, hold it upright, give it 5 or 10 pumps to get things primed, and then let gravity do the rest via siphon action.

 

[mikidymac]

Once you get it going you will love that GTI. We have the exact same ski but a 2003. My wife loves it and it is the workhorse of the fleet. It goes out every time and never asks anything but fuel oil an plugs. She loves the GTI because it is stable, fast enough for her at 45mph and a pretty dry ride.

The only issue it ever had was the last trip out, first of the season, it would not accelerate. I first thought the worst because it never gives us a single issue but then I couldn't remember the last time I put plugs in it and with a new set of BR8ES's on the shore of the lake she was back to perfection.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Once you get it going you will love that GTI. We have the exact same ski but a 2003. My wife loves it and it is the workhorse of the fleet. It goes out every time and never asks anything but fuel oil an plugs. She loves the GTI because it is stable, fast enough for her at 45mph and a pretty dry ride.

The only issue it ever had was the last trip out, first of the season, it would not allererate. I first thought the worst because it never gives us a single issue but then I couldn't remember the last time I put plugs in it and with a new set of BR8ES's on the shore of the lake she was back to perfection.

Sweet, I can't wait now. I have a couple of new solid tops ready to go in after I fire it up on the old plugs.

All I need to do now is prime the injector pump, put some fresh fuel in, and reinstall assorted fresh air vent tubes. Oh, and throw the new cover on the seat.

Jet pump and drive-line is rehabbed and reinstalled.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Bled the oil injector pump this morning, changed out the fuel filter, installed the battery... Dumped 5 gallons of 80:1 premix premium in the tank and a spoonful down each hole. Held the oil injector open and fired up. Ran for about 10 seconds. Pulled plugs, added another spoonful and tried again. This time started, ran, and stayed running. Idled for about 20 seconds, pumped wot a few times, let it idle for another 10 seconds and shut her down.

Blew a lot of storage smoke, but sounds good. Small injector lines are full of purple. Will grab some stainless staples from the home despot and recover the seat in a day or two and then will hit the lake to blow the rest of the gunk out, water check the idle, and then go for a ride.

[emoji16]

 

[mikidymac]

Awesome job! You are going to love that ski.

Make sure you lay the new cover in the sun for a day or two to help get the wrinkles out. I just did one on Sunday in a rush for a friend and the folds did not come all the way out but he was in a hurry.

If you run in fresh water the stainless staples are perfect. If you run in salt water you should get Monel staples as the stainless ones used to say on the box "not for salt water use" My guess is they are not 316 stainless but 304.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Awesome job! You are going to love that ski.

Make sure you lay the new cover in the sun for a day or two to help get the wrinkles out. I just did one on Sunday in a rush for a friend and the folds did not come all the way out but he was in a hurry.

If you run in fresh water the stainless staples are perfect. If you run in salt water you should get Monel staples as the stainless ones used to say on the box "not for salt water use" My guess is they are not 316 stainless but 304.

That's a great pic!

I am in fresh, stainless works for me. I do recall monel also being preferred for aluminum mast rivets, probably a galvanic consideration.

A question... is there a preferred staple length? The ones I removed were 1/4" but I seem to recall reading about using 3/8". I think 1/2" may be too long but the 3/8" seems like a good length, especially if I end up in some of the original holes, to get some extra fresh depth. Just don't want to make more work for myself if that's too long for the job.

Btw, thanks for the tip about using the sun to help with cover, that's a great idea and we've got perfect weather here next few days for it.

 

[LikeabossTM]

That's a great pic!

I am in fresh, stainless works for me. I do recall monel also being preferred for aluminum mast rivets, probably a galvanic consideration.

A question... is there a preferred staple length? The ones I removed were 1/4" but I seem to recall reading about using 3/8". I think 1/2" may be too long but the 3/8" seems like a good length, especially if I end up in some of the original holes, to get some extra fresh depth. Just don't want to make more work for myself if that's too long for the job.

Btw, thanks for the tip about using the sun to help with cover, that's a great idea and we've got perfect weather here next few days for it.

Replying to myself here.. lol ...wrt staple length, looking at the plastic seat it doesn't appear to be much thicker than 1/4" all the way round where the staples go anyway, so 3/8" doesn't seem like it'll help at all. I guess I'll just go with the original length at 1/4".

 

[mikidymac]

I have always used the T50 staples 3/8"-10mm length and they work perfect. You will need an air stapler, the hand and electric ones will not get through the plastic base.

I use the Harbor Freight air stapler set to 90 psi any more than that and it will damage the vinyl.

 

[LikeabossTM]

I ended up going with 5/16" as a compromise [emoji846]. The staples themselves worked well, however, I didn't feel like shelling out for an air stapler (another $50...), so it was a bit of a bear getting the job done. I had a few areas where I had to double up on staples because I didn't get the first shot in well. That said, it mostly went okay as long as I put my knee or a board under the flimsier areas of plastic and bore down on the gun with my free hand. I also have about an inch on either side of the small seat that I couldn't get to with the nose of the gun, so I just super glued those two little spots after the rest was done. I have a little wrinkling on the main seat under the choke, but not too bad overall for a $40 recover job.

Now onto the main event... I couldn't get it started at the ramp until I pulled the old crappy plugs and put in the new ones. After that, fired up fine, numerous times. I'm also going to have to revisit the carb, the transition past quarter throttle was sketchy. Not sure why, all four ports flowed freely when I cleaned it and my pop off was right at 38 psi. No biggie for now, feathering it got me to wot, as long as the plugs and pistons look good I'll worry about that later on.

Rode great for about an hour, no strange noises and no water intrusion to speak of. The big lake had a lot of 2 foot chop this morning, so I couldn't really lay into it for long without breaking my back, but it sure does ramp the waves just fine. I got about 30mph and it had more, but my body didn't. [emoji16] I'll have to wait for a calmer day to wind it out for top speed.

Idle seemed a little low (ear gauge said about 1000 rpm), so I gave the idle screw a half twist and I believe it's closer to 1500 now. I'll have to confirm that with the meter and then check the oil pump alignment again. Speaking of oil, the tank level is about a 1/4" lower and there's none in the hull, so that bodes well that the system is injecting properly.

Essentially, good to go!

 

[LikeabossTM]

Mag on the left, PTO on the right. Seems okay so far, just starting to coffee color. Can't really see the pistons I guess without pulling the head or getting a bore-scope. Both will cost some more time and money so this'll have to do for now.

 

[mikidymac]

They look pretty close to my GTI plugs.

 

[LikeabossTM]

They look pretty close to my GTI plugs.

Btw, you were right (not that I typically doubt your stellar expertise), it IS a blast to ride so far.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Going back through my notes, I bet I know what the problem is... to get pop-off up into range versus 1 psi lower than the lowest value I had to bend the lever arm down slightly - such that it is sitting about 1mm lower than the carb body. This is probably causing a delay with the diaghram contacting the lever via engine vacuum action, thus starving for off-idle fuel while the butterfly begins to open. Once I'm able to hit high speed circuit, air flow takes over and pulls the needle off the seat.

Either that or clogged transitions, but I'm betting on the former. I'll pull the carb and bend that lever arm back up flush with the body, leaving pop-off slightly low. Re-clean the low speed and transition ports too of course.

Too bad I have to pull the carb again to get good access to the lever arm. I have a spare gasket but it's the thin one, not the original spec thick one that I currently have on there. Hopefully that's ok.