Sportster 1800 Compression

[AddSaltToTaste]

Hi All,
I'm new here and just want to confirm what I think I have already learned from what I've read around the forums.
Long story short:
I have a 98 Sportster 1800 that I paid a local marine mechanic to do a bunch of work to. Said machine is now running worse than it was when I took it to him and hasn't really run at all since I brought it to him. Today I had a potential buyer for the boat and he asked if he could test the compression. I said absolutely, I'd like to know what it is myself. The one engine that supposedly has a new crank seal in it was at or below 120 psi. The other engine came up around the 130-135 mark.
When I went to see the mechanic he told me that these rotax 717 typically have lower compression once they're rebuilt...
One engine was sent away to a place called CVTech for a crank seal replacement job. The other had new pistons, rings, gaskets installed by the mechanic in house.
I'm really just wondering what road I should go down from here, I've already paid this guy for the work and I have a boat that I can barely keep running and can't sell.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[mikidymac]

He is absolutely full of crap.
Any Seadoo 787, 717, 650 or 580 should have 150 psi weather rebuilt or just in good condition. At 120 psi compression is too low to start in the water and needs to be rebuilt.

 

[AddSaltToTaste]

He is absolutely full of crap.
Any Seadoo 787, 717, 650 or 580 should have 150 psi weather rebuilt or just in good condition. At 120 psi compression is too low to start in the water and needs to be rebuilt.

Thanks a bunch for your reply.

Should I assume the work just wasn't done then?

 

[AddSaltToTaste]

Also the mechanic mentioned that since it was rebuilt without chrome sleeves this makes the compression lower. Safe to assume there's no truth to this as well?

 

[mikidymac]

Correct this mechanic is completely full of crap and I wouldn’t trust a word he says. Seadoo never had played cylinders, just iron, same as Yamaha 650,701,760 and Kawasaki 440,550,650 and 750.
Only a few skis with plated cylinders and none of them were Seadoo.

 

[mikidymac]

Also I have never heard of any shop sending an engine out for crank seals. There’s only a few shops that rebuilt Seadoo engines by mail and as far as I know none do just seals.

Just FYI inner crank seals on these can’t be replaced, the entire crankshaft has to be rebuilt/replaced.

 

[AddSaltToTaste]

Also I have never heard of any shop sending an engine out for crank seals. There’s only a few shops that rebuilt Seadoo engines by mail and as far as I know none do just seals.

Just FYI inner crank seals on these can’t be replaced, the entire crankshaft has to be rebuilt/replaced.

As far as I know they rebuilt the entire crank assembly but who knows, when I called them to find any evidence of this work being done they essentially hung up on me. This whole situation is pretty disappointing to say the least.
Thanks again for your help, I'll try to devise a path forward, maybe see if there's a way to get some of my money back. I certainly don't want to bring my boat back there.

 

[Ankeneyou]

Unfortunately it seems like you got taken to the cleaners by whatever shop you took the boat to. It's going to be tough to sell a boat now which really needs 2 complete engine rebuilds. I would do whatever I could to get as much $ back as possible from that guy. If you're in a smaller lake community word mouth goes a looong way.

 

[AddSaltToTaste]

Unfortunately it seems like you got taken to the cleaners by whatever shop you took the boat to. It's going to be tough to sell a boat now which really needs 2 complete engine rebuilds. I would do whatever I could to get as much $ back as possible from that guy. If you're in a smaller lake community word mouth goes a looong way.

You're right, I sure did. I am going to try to get him to refund my money as it's pretty clear now that he didn't do any of the work he billed me for. I've contacted the better business bureau and am waiting for a response. Aside from that all I can do I guess is warn people not to do business with this guy. I do live in a small community on Lake Huron and word travels fast.