Purchased 2003 SeaDoo Islandia with 240EFI M2 Drive

[zazzatech]

HELP! 2003 SeaDoo Islandia with 240EFI M2 Drive

Hi All,

Im new to posting on forums but always read them for info.
I just purchased a 2003 SeaDoo Islandia and wanted to post my experience with it.

First off let me state that im a rush buyer. I wanted to get on the water for memorial day and set my mind on buying a SeaDoo Islandia due to the large deck footprint and the cool kiddie pool. I found 2 islandia's fairly close to me. One for 7500 and one for 14000. Bother were 2003. The one for 7500 ended up being a scam and i lucked out since this guy was looking to sell a boat that wasn't even his. The second was from a local marina and was my only choice left. I went down there and negotiated down to 11,900 as long as the water test went ok and it did. Boat ran smooth and all seemed good.
I got the boat onto the water with the family and all is great. Invested in some HydroTurf mats so my kids dont slip all over the place started up the kiddie pool and had a great day. i decided to look at the forums so i can get a better understanding of my new toy and what are the common problems. This is were i started to see potential issues and decided to check out the boat in detail.

First here is a picture of her with the family:


I put a couple of tanks worth of miles on her and the oil light came on. I drove for a couple of miles to the gas dock and got some oil and filled her up. Stated her and the oil light stayed on with a intermittent beeping. if i hit the gas a plane off it would be a steady alarm tone followed by it bogging out. i did this a couple of times and then decided to let her rest. after about 45 mins i started her back up and the oil light was off and all seemed ok. Does anyone know what happened here?

I took out all the plugs and checked the compression. Plugs were nice golden color, All cylinders are between 125# to 135#. From what i read i hear this is good. Does any know what is the compression on a new motor?

The previous owner put bottom pain on the boat and painted everything including the jetdrive. I dont like it and i dont need it but i dont even want to venture into trying to remove it. What would you recommend i do? I dont keep the boat in the water and only trailer it. I only boat in salt water however i flush and wash bottom ever time.

This thing chugs gas like crazy, i read that the best thing to do is change the port side temperature sensor. Does anyone have a part number for this on my 2003 seadoo islandia with mercury 240efi?

My top GPS speed is around 35. Other posts indicated that they are going 40+. I decided to take a look at the pump and oh i wish i didnt. Its a total mess down there. last owner must have loved to beach it and to make it worse i think he actually kept it docked in salt water a couple of seasons. There is no black paint left anywhere in the pump and is pitted heavily. The rideplate surrounding the intake grate i assume is made of alluminum however if i had to take an educated guess i would say its made of SALT. I dont think i can even take it off without it braking apart its so corroded. i see a crack in the wear ring. Part of the grate is rotted away. I decided to just buy a used JetDrive in very good condition for $750 and purchased a solas imeller for $250 however i wanted to know if i could drop the pump without taking out the engine. Is this possible?

Sorry for all the questions in 1 post.

Nick

 

[Dr Honda]

First... try to break up your questions. I think no one answered yet, because they just didn't want to read though it all. But welcome.

OK.........


Running with the oil warning is bad. When that sounds... you have only a small amount of oil in the header tank. (it's mounted to the engine) not to mention... the boat has a 3 gallon oil tank, so there is no excuse to run out of oil. The way the system works is... the engine pressurizes the main oil tank... and pushes the oil into the header tank. On it's own... it will take a while to refill the header. If you get the oil alarm... you need to open the header tank, and fill it also.


Removing the belly paint isn't worth your time. Anti-fouling paint is soft, and not easy to deal with.


Compression is good. I think the 240 EFI should be 125 to 130 on a fresh engine. I'm in the middle of a rebuild, so I will know for sure once it's done.


Merc changed things at random times... so you have to go to an on-line shop (like boats.net) and plug in your serial number. That's the only way to know you are getting the right temp sensor. Changing the port sensor will help... but it doesn't sound like you are running rich. (you didn't report smoke, and you said the plugs were good) As far as I know... the 240 EFI in the 4000 Lb Islandia will drink around 28 gal/hr at full throttle. And on that bomb-shell... welcome to boat fuel consumption. (lol)


Sorry to hear that the pump was rotten. But, when you do the work... I would like to get some of the old parts from you to measure. PM me about it later.

No... it's not possible to replace the entire pump without pulling the engine. The reason is... the pump is bolted into the hull... and then the engine is mounted to it. When you see a Merc "SportJet" out of a hull... it looks like a short outboard engine.


I think that's all the Q's.

 

[zazzatech]

Dr Honda,

Thanks for answering all my questions. Sorry for the long post. I’ll break up the questions next time.

Oil - I understand the system much better after you explained it. I took a look at the 240 EFI Manuel and it seems there is some type of protection system that will drop my RPM if I try to run it without oil. That would explain why it was bogging a bit during the alarm. I won’t let the tank run out again since it’s such a large tank.

Belly/Bottom Paint - I would like to at least repaint it. What do you recommend I use that would give me the least friction?
Here is a picture of what it looks like now:


Compression - I did the compression test after my oil incident to make sure I didn’t blow anything. Glad I didn’t blow it up.

Temp Sensor - I looked up my serial number and found the exact part i needed. I do not have a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust however i was under the impression that the temp sensor would affect the Air/Fuel ratio and that where i would use up the extra gas. Does it affect the gas/oil mixture as well? 28 gallons per hour at WOT - OMG!

Pump - I was planning on trying to refurbish the pump housing and wear ring with JB weld so I could have some extra parts if I need. I’m really not looking forward to changing the pump with the new one since i will have to pull the engine. i may just replace the wear ring, intake grate, and ride plate for now and do a full pump install during the off season so I don’t miss out on the water this year. Here is a picture of what my current pump looks like. ewww


All that being said I’m very happy with my purchase and I’m having a great time on the water with the family. I had a choice of a family vacation or buying the Islandia and glad i did. Now every weekend is like a family vacation. Picture below:

Looks like a SeaDoo Advertisement!

 

[biffdotorg]

i see a crack in the wear ring. Part of the grate is rotted away.

Before I replaced my HydroSurge grate, I thought a couple of the tines had already broken off. I was wrong as there a couple of the tines that are shorter than the rest and do not reach the full length of the pump inlet. If it is the hinged HydroSurge grate, put that on the list of things to replace as well.

Good luck!

 

[biffdotorg]

That hull looks like a good candidate for Line-X with no texture!

 

[zazzatech]

Before I replaced my HydroSurge grate, I thought a couple of the tines had already broken off. I was wrong as there a couple of the tines that are shorter than the rest and do not reach the full length of the pump inlet. If it is the hinged HydroSurge grate, put that on the list of things to replace as well.

Good luck!

I too originally thought the center tines were broke but after closer inspection the tines were fine however the side solid tines seem like they are made of a different metal, maybe aluminum and they have split due to corrosion. Here is a closer pic:


I ended up getting this after reading up on issues with the Hinged HydroSurge. it was delivered on tuesday


Ill look up the "Line-X" you mentioned. What would i expect to pay to get this done by a pro?

 

[biffdotorg]

Nice grate, that should be a great replacement.

I was semi joking about the line-x, but I think it would work.

I have been shopping for a Keelshield or Keelguard. One forum was talking about going to a Line-x spray in bedliner company and getting what they call Keel-x. It's line-x without the texture material put in. They can do the keel, entire hull, or even the interior of a boat to refinish, seal and protect. I liked the idea up until I noticed that it goes on less thick than the Keelshield and would not provide any shock absorbtion if I hit a rock.

In your case, if the hull is only rough from chipping paint, and there are no dings, then stripping and painting would work. For those trying to fill and smooth, then the line-x product may help. Nothing will replace proper gelcoat repair though.