Seadoo 95 XP - Ran great... For 20 minutes.

Status
Not open for further replies.
mikekim9182

mikekim9182

New Member
Hello. My name is Mike and I recently purchased a 95 Seadoo XP and a 97 Tigershark Montego for $750 with trailer. Both engines run well but overall needs some work. I purchased the jet skis in order to rig them for close range southern california spearfishing and for the jet ski courses nearby. My friends and I up for the challenge. Parts have been easy to find but we had some problems in the water today with the 95 XP . I guess that's to be expected when you buy 15 year old skis.

Today was the first day we took our 95 XP after purchasing it a couple weeks ago. The xp didn't want to start at first so we changed the clogged fuel filter it ran like a champ. We noticed the vts boot was torn so we changed that and put it in the water. Everything was great. Got it off the trailer at the landing and started with the press of the button. Everything was great we were taking pictures it was a good old time. Took about 10-15 minutes to putt out of the marina and I finally had a chance to give it some gas. This 15 year old XP darted across the water like a brand new ski. After about a few minutes of riding it at 1/2 to 3/4throttle i slowly got it to plane and WOT. It was awesome. Still good. I then made a wide turn, straightened out and noticed the jet ski becoming less responsive to the gas trigger. Went back to the boat, which we were using in case of emergencey, and told my friend that somethings wrong.

Kind of hard to explain but I'm going to do my best. When we held onto the throttle at WOT the Pwc would move faster like normal and then at around 4000-5000rpm just slows down to idle speed with 3000-4000rpms with throttle still wide open. If I let go of the throttle i can feather the throttle until about 3500 to speed things up but if i reached over 4000 it just seemed like something cuts out just like above with WOT, and engines reving hard but not moving much faster than idle. Even after the problems the engine idled perfectly and i was able to dock the XP with no problem. When we flushed the engine with clean water on land it ran perfectly but not in the water.


After looking at forums I have decided to change the grey fuel lines but have heard stuff from wear rings to a rectifier problem. Can anybody help me who maybe had this problem before because I'm on a low budget and we were hoping finish fixing the 97 tigershark montego we bought with it. Please Help! :)
 
Your on the right path... Don't forget the carbs also. A rebuild might be in order at the very least open them up and clean them. Report back after the work is done then ride it!
 
Was it sitting for a long time? How old was the fuel?

Like mano said, Start with the fuel system, if the grey lines are in there, the carb filters are probably plugged, so your not getting the right amount of fuel all the time.

Don't worry about the wear ring for now, you will have cavitation when it is worn and it doesn't sound like you were having any cavitation.
 
Ty GUYS! I was hoping it wouldn't come down to a carb rebuild because i've never done one. Fuel lines seems simple enough and not too expensive. one thing at a time i guess because we just bought parts . How much time do you think it would take to rebuild two carbs for my xp, taking into account its my first time rebuilding a carb and I'm new to fixing old stuff.
 
Hi kicker. The guy I bought it off of told me that it was sitting for a year and there was barely any fuel in both of the skis he sold me. After wrenching on this one, I learned a lot about what to ask and what to look for but all I asked was do they run. And they run great out of the water just not in. I have a tigershark montego 97 with a busted floating bearing and have the assembly coming right now. hopefully that fixes the problem. Crosses fingers. Just going to change the fuel lines and lean the carb filters and back in the water. TY so much.
 
I would definitely go through the carb, cuz if you don't you could ruin your engine. Your running problems could be due to fuel starvation.
 
The vts doesnt work either but i can live with that or fix it another day. :\
Only been on a jetski once before. I should have put that in a story. For like 15min. So like 30 min of pure fun. Hopefully more to come.
 
Hey Mike. Yeah, def do what kicker said and do your self a favor and go through the carbs completely. You will find that when you go through the carbs, it is actually not as hard as it seems. It is pretty much just unscrewing pieces with a flathead screwdriver and cleaning them. Just go slowly, one carb at a time and get a can or two of carb cleaner and just clean everything. Either that, or send them to Dr. Honda. He is very reasonable, will only replace anything that needs to be, which may or may not be anything. And you can bet for sure they will be done proper and nothing left to do besides bolt them back on. Tons of ppl here have sent their carbs to him, I may actually do it as well this winter. Also, you want to look into cleaning/ REPLACING/ bypassing the fuel selector switch. The old fuel lines will gum it up also. Replacing is usually the best bet with that one
 
Yep go through the carbs!

Buying a used 2-stroke seadoo checklist before the first ride
1. Check compression
2. Grey fuel lines? If so change them
3. Fuel bowl clean and inspect the o-ring
4. Rebuild the carbs no matter what the previous owner says
5. Check the jet pump oil
6. Charge or change the battery
7. Ride the hell out of it!!!

Story of buying a used Seadoo haha!!!
 
Do you have any idea what a ball range price for a carb rebuild would be by Dr Honda? I think I have the BN-38I dual carb.
 
Now that I know about those darn grey lines I wouldn't either. My friend was telling me about a similar generation seadoo with the same problems while we were driving out to the landing and how frustrating it is. I guess it was just foreshadowing. I imagine I need to siphon the 6 gallons of gas in there already before restoring the fuel system. sigh.
 
At least the tigershark I bought doesn't have grey fuel lines but the guy never greased the floating bearing and all the seals are destroyed. Big tear in the coupler hose. Driveshaft has a little scarring but hoping its okay.
 
On the TigerShark... look at the fuel lines. If they say "ASE" you are OK. If they say "USCG" then they should still be replaced.

As far as the driveshaft seal... post a picture of the driveshaft. I can let you know what I think. Remember... the bearing, and seal of the "Floating" bearing ride on the driveshaft. If it's too bad... the seal won't last more than a few minutes... and the bearing could eat itself. If it seizes while you are riding it... it will rip the boot, and the ski will sink. (quickly) That's why seadoo got away from that style of seal in 1996.
 
I'm on my way to my skis to take a picture of the driveshaft. I said a little scarring on the post above. Sigh. Its pretty bad. Pictures to come. Ty for clarifying about the carburetor. I'll send mine out to you when I have everything ready. The goal is to get the skis running well by the end of February or March and rigged for spearfishing. Crosses fingers that fuel lines and rebuilt carbs fixes the problems.
 
I didn't have time to read through all of your thread, but I had a similar problem and wouldn't want you to waste your time rebuilding the fuel system if it's the following problem I had: make sure the plug wires are inserted all the way into the plug boots. You can pull them out and make sure they're not corroded. If they are, you can cut them back like 1/4inch and reinsert them. I had a ski where one plug wire came out and it was running on 1 cyl wiht similar symptoms. Also, do a compression check and make sure you're still at 150 on each cyl. Make sure you didn't run out of oil too ;)
 
symptoms of plug wires coming out of the boot

Well, it went something like this: I got on the ski, it fired up right away, ran like a demon, but then after some punishment started slowing down. At first, I dismissed the slight glitch, despite knowing better. A while later, I lost some more top-end and a few more hundred RPMs. It started losing power more and more as I kept riding, so I stopped. Checked everything, and it all seemed fine: motor not overheating, oil in the tank, fuel filter clean. So I checked the plugs. They seemed fine too. So I fired it up and ran around some more. The perplexing thing was it fired right back up and ran great. For a very short while. By messing with the plugs I had temporarily improved the connection and it worked a little longer. I didn't figure out what the issue was until I was messing with the motor while it was running back on the trailer. I touched one of the wires and it zapped me with 10000V :) I was never so glad to feel pain as I realized my problem and fixed it on the spot. You should have zip ties holding your wires in the boot. They should be pretty well in there. Go out and give them a tug. If they come out easily, that may be your culprit. If not, examine the tip of the wire and the boot anyway. Cut the wire back some and reattach if necessary. Good luck, I hope this is your problem. If it is, DO change out those grey tempo lines anyway. In no time, they certainly spell death to a motor.
 
When the rain dies down I'll give it a go. Not to sure what kind of fuel line to buy. Saw a ton of forums with mixed comments.
 
Here's a quick picture of the drive shaft. It was raining outside with no light so forgive the terrible photography. The more i look at it the less hope i have for it. WP_000046_zps2e74c0ea.jpgThe other side has the entire pump attached to it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was thinking of cutting back the new coupler hose for the scarred drive shaft shown above. What do you guys think?
 
Does anybody have a picture of the grounding post for the spark plugs when i do a compression test? I can't find it on my 95 XP.
 
OH!!!! I was wondering what in world those were. Thought should something be connected? Ty so much. I was looking at the manual but i was still confused.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

B
95 XP freewheeling
Replies
4
Views
133
bugsy2517
B
E
95 XP Wont plane, One Cylinder? But more to it.
Replies
1
Views
115
Stevie96xp
Stevie96xp
9
95 Gtx Bogging down
Replies
2
Views
305
seadoosnipe
seadoosnipe
burtshaver2021
Anyone know if a Seat hardware alternative 95 XP
Replies
3
Views
107
burtshaver2021
burtshaver2021
E
1996 Gti and 1995 XP MPEM SWAP
Replies
0
Views
92
exoh_e
E
Back
Top