Slippage

[tunerman]

I have a 2004 GTX 185 SC. I was on the lake yesterday and I was doing about 50mph, when all of a suddon I lost power. I brought it down to idle and reved it, there was no thrust and there was a slipping/winding sound. I would let it idle and it would thrust fine and just move at idle speed. I would increase throttle and it would slip and there would be no thrust. Had my buddy tow me back to the dock. Motor is running fine.

I was told it was most likely the wear ring.
Ski has around 75hrs.

Ive searched and have found nothing.
Sorry if I did not include information, please let me know.
Any ideas?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[rookie101]

Although wear rings are common, they do not go that quick with out a reason. Because of they way that you lost thrust all of a sudden I would suspect one of two things.

One, you sucked up some trash and the pump is obstructed causing you to cavitate, or two, the splines on the drive shaft or impeller stripped. Have a good look at the pump and see what you find.


Aaron:cheers:

 

[tunerman]

I dont believe my ski has a pump, because it is closed loop. right? But the stripped splines on the shaft or impeller is a definate possibility. I'll have to take it apart and check it out!

Sorry I am new to the ski world.

Thanks for the reply,

Mike

 

[JJinSC]

I think he means check your intake to your jet propulsion system. The grate(s) underneath that lead to your propeller. Make sure no Plastic bag or other trash got pulled up into it. Even the smallest of obstructions can cause cavitation.

There is a catch though. A lot of times, if you suck up some trash, simply stopping the boat and shutting off the engine will loose whatever is causing the blockage. If that doesn't do the trick, shaking back and forth will shake it out most of the time. Therefore, looking in there now may not reveal your problem, if the trash has already fallen out. I hope it is something this simple for you. Stripped splines doesn't sound as easy

 

[tunerman]

Yeah.

And there isnt any trash stuck in there. Its out of the water now in my garage. When it starts up outside of water (and with no hose hooked up), it makes the winding noise when it first starts up and when the revs are increased it doesnt. I'm guessing it doesnt make the noise is because there is no pressure on the splines/impeller to cause the splines to slip?

Time to pull it apart and see whats stripped I guess.

What would be more likely to strip? Impeller or driveshaft? either way they are both around 300 bucks.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Bobbyg5502]

Sorry to barge in the conversation, but I just had the same thing happen today. I have a 98 GS with the 720 and just got it running after it sat for close to 2.5 yrs dorment while i was in the military. I put a new battery in it and about 6 gallons to start off with just in case of fuel issues. Yesterday i put it in the water for the first time and it started up and. Seemed like it was doing good. Today, I filled up the tank and started it in the water, doing all my prechecks before, and while I was riding the back cylinder was misfiring. So I let it set for about 5 min thinking it was flooded. After i let it set, fired up and ran good, till my wife and I got on. When that happened it just felt like the prop was cavitating. We couldnt even go 5mph. Even at half throttle the engine reved up like it was at wot. I took it out of the water on the trailer and changed the spark plugs. The back cyl plug was broken at the electrode, but it was still intact.
All spark plugs are in and the ski went in the water to test it out. Now it revs up and cavitates then shuts down to like a fast idle, and it keeps doing that cycle. It starts fine and idles fine though. Any help would be great.
This is a non related question to this thread, but was is the buggest engine to fit in the compartment of a 98 GS?

 

[tunerman]

Turns out the driveshaft is stripped, and so is the impeller.

How do you remove the driveshaft? I've searched and I could not find any directions. I pull and pull and pull and it won't come out. We disconnected the boot but still nothing.

And to bobbyg, thats pretty much what happened to me, it would idle fine but if u gave it gas I would hear a winding noise and it would lose thrust. It got bad enough to where my buddy had to tow me back to the dock because it was sliping at idle. I have a stripped driveshaft and impeller.

Thanks,
Mike

edit: got it out, tricky sucker. If i was to upgrade to a faster impeller, which is the best to buy?

 

[chettty]

Got the same type of problem, runs and drives fine, until I go full throttle, feels like it is slipping. Check the wear ring, it is fine. When I pulled the pump off I was a little concerned how easy it came away from the drive shaft. It dosen't look stripped, but looks like it is starting to wear, is this common with these machine, is the drive shaft easy to take off?

 

[tunerman]

Got the same type of problem, runs and drives fine, until I go full throttle, feels like it is slipping. Check the wear ring, it is fine. When I pulled the pump off I was a little concerned how easy it came away from the drive shaft. It dosen't look stripped, but looks like it is starting to wear, is this common with these machine, is the drive shaft easy to take off?

Do you immediately lose power when it starts slipping?

Mine was totally stripped. It would be slipping at idle. I have heard that this is common with the GTX SC. And it is kind of tricky getting the driveshaft off, let me know if you need any help and I can try to guide you through it.

I ordered my driveshaft from SBT, because they were cheapest, 100 dollars cheaper.

 

[chettty]

Thanks, I will let you know how it goes