seadoobear
Member
Hi,
I'm new to the sport and we got a used 2001 RX DI. Since we had no time at all, it has been standing in the garage for two years until this spring. Now that we can take it out, we encountered some issues and I'd like to ask some questions that are swirling in my head.
The situation:
- When I bought it, it ran fine and showed no issues, it did, however, rest in our garage for two winters with freezing temperatures. We didn't specifically empty the water with pressure, though (please remember: we just had boats so far which naturally drain if lifted out of the water).
- When tested it in the spring, it was still cold. It immediately started, ran for 15 seconds and died. Restarting it didn't work. Cranking but no successful ignition. When I tried to call a repair shop, they told me to f' off with my "old junk". Fair - but as an East-German citizen, I really like 2-strokes
.
- Since the fuel was old and the battery was really shitty, I now changed the battery. That made it start immediately on the trailer. I also changed the fuel, out of precaution. (E5 95 octane - is 98 or 101 octane better?). Spark plugs are okay, they look like it runs a but rich, though (black residue on insulator but not excessive).
- We ran it yesterday and it started fine multiple times and ran great for hours. 90 km/h tops. Switching it off midway and restarting, however, sometimes lead again to cranking with no successful ignition. Sometimes it worked fine. I did, however, just have a 20 Ah LiFePO4 battery with some tiny wires and a 50A Anderson plug. One time, after normal start, the red LED started blinking, and the display showed some weird text. Nothing that the manual describes or I could decipher. It stopped after 10 sec or so.
- Since the cables on the inside are not in great shape, I'll replace all grounding wires and the battery for a proper power sports AGM one and remove corrosion / renew connectors. I also flushed the inside with Salt-Away since there are salt residues that have led to corrosion on hose clamps and stuff.
Now the questions:
1. Any likely culprit for the starting issues other than battery or corroded contacts? Impeller and liner are new, motor was rebuilt, though, I hope there is no offset at the seal etc. that causes drag. Can I check that somehow? My resoning so far is that voltage sag caused the ignition to be disabled, which leads to cranking but no ignition. Is that a reasonable idea?
2. There are two ground cables in the engine compartment. One is attached to the bolt connecting engine body and exhaust towards the front, one is attached to an engine bolt towards the back. The one in the front is not connected to the battery. Should it? I don't find these grounding cables described in the shop manual.
3. Does it make sense to buy a diagnostic tool? If yes, which one?
4. Should I spray the inside with the fogging oil as prescribed or rather corrosion inhibiting wax like in my outboards?
5. Does anybody spray the fogging oil into the little nib in the air intake after use as prescribed by the manual? Does it even make sense to do it in freshwater?
6. Are there parts/stuff to watch or replace regularly that will keep it from suffering catastrophic damage, like oil pumps etc?
Any advice is highly appreciated!
Best,
Michael
I'm new to the sport and we got a used 2001 RX DI. Since we had no time at all, it has been standing in the garage for two years until this spring. Now that we can take it out, we encountered some issues and I'd like to ask some questions that are swirling in my head.
The situation:
- When I bought it, it ran fine and showed no issues, it did, however, rest in our garage for two winters with freezing temperatures. We didn't specifically empty the water with pressure, though (please remember: we just had boats so far which naturally drain if lifted out of the water).
- When tested it in the spring, it was still cold. It immediately started, ran for 15 seconds and died. Restarting it didn't work. Cranking but no successful ignition. When I tried to call a repair shop, they told me to f' off with my "old junk". Fair - but as an East-German citizen, I really like 2-strokes
![Upside-down face :upside_down: 🙃](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f643.png)
- Since the fuel was old and the battery was really shitty, I now changed the battery. That made it start immediately on the trailer. I also changed the fuel, out of precaution. (E5 95 octane - is 98 or 101 octane better?). Spark plugs are okay, they look like it runs a but rich, though (black residue on insulator but not excessive).
- We ran it yesterday and it started fine multiple times and ran great for hours. 90 km/h tops. Switching it off midway and restarting, however, sometimes lead again to cranking with no successful ignition. Sometimes it worked fine. I did, however, just have a 20 Ah LiFePO4 battery with some tiny wires and a 50A Anderson plug. One time, after normal start, the red LED started blinking, and the display showed some weird text. Nothing that the manual describes or I could decipher. It stopped after 10 sec or so.
- Since the cables on the inside are not in great shape, I'll replace all grounding wires and the battery for a proper power sports AGM one and remove corrosion / renew connectors. I also flushed the inside with Salt-Away since there are salt residues that have led to corrosion on hose clamps and stuff.
Now the questions:
1. Any likely culprit for the starting issues other than battery or corroded contacts? Impeller and liner are new, motor was rebuilt, though, I hope there is no offset at the seal etc. that causes drag. Can I check that somehow? My resoning so far is that voltage sag caused the ignition to be disabled, which leads to cranking but no ignition. Is that a reasonable idea?
2. There are two ground cables in the engine compartment. One is attached to the bolt connecting engine body and exhaust towards the front, one is attached to an engine bolt towards the back. The one in the front is not connected to the battery. Should it? I don't find these grounding cables described in the shop manual.
3. Does it make sense to buy a diagnostic tool? If yes, which one?
4. Should I spray the inside with the fogging oil as prescribed or rather corrosion inhibiting wax like in my outboards?
5. Does anybody spray the fogging oil into the little nib in the air intake after use as prescribed by the manual? Does it even make sense to do it in freshwater?
6. Are there parts/stuff to watch or replace regularly that will keep it from suffering catastrophic damage, like oil pumps etc?
Any advice is highly appreciated!
Best,
Michael