Struggles to crank & won’t start

[Scott02dmb]

1997 Seadoo GTS

Struggles to crank & won’t start

I’m a noob when it comes to my Seadoo so I apologize in advance if this topic has been covered in great detail. I have a 1997 Seadoo GTS that has been giving me trouble for the past few seasons. Some history, bought the ski in 2000, ran without problems until 2005. In 2005 I rebuilt the engine once and replaced the carb. The boat worked perfect in 2006. In 2007 I started having problems getting the boat started. When I could manage to start it, it would idle but struggle at high speeds. Currently, the engine struggles to crank and who knows if it will even start or not.

Everything on the ski is 100% stock. No mods at all.

Struggles to crank:
Last season the jetski would start, idle without a problem, but hesitate when given gas from ½ to full throttle. Figured it was the needle valves/ something with the carb. Rebuild the carb and same problems. Thought it might have been an issue with the valves not set correctly (i.e. too many turns tight or too lose, not exactly sure). So I gave up on the jetski and used the boat for the rest of the season.

Now when trying to start it this season it struggles to crank. The starter will give one full crank then give up. Assumed it was a beat starter, removed it, looked at it and it was mint. Reinstalled the starter, ran power directly to it (bypassed the ski’s central computer) and the starter spun without problem. Removed the ski’s computer in an attempt to determine the electrical issue but have no idea how to test.

Is there anyway to run an Ohm meter to determine if any of the electrical is shot? Or any tips on how to test?

And, at some point in removing the ski’s computer it no longer recognizes the key (no beep when the key is attached and no starter movement when the start button is pressed).

Has anyone experienced a problem similar to this?

Am I wasting my time trying to diagnose this? I really want to get my ski up and running this season. I’m not opposed to swapping in an engine and electrical from a faster ski if there happens to be a common swap for this Seadoo.

Thanks in advance.

 

[custompartsguy]

as far as the no crank, check your battery and all connections, including your main ground and stater feed, then check your stater relay.

 

[kustomkarl]

I believe the connection to all you problems is the the battery for one, it might have a bad cell or 2. Have it checked at like Auto Zone for free. It might need replacing. Next be sure the Battery ground- going from the battery to the engine is clean and has a good connection.Check all the fuses inside the MPEM,(Multi Purpose Electronic Module)"you called it a central computer". The hesitation is more than likely in the carbs. They need to cleaned good, paying special attention the all the passages and the 2 small fine screen filters inside. Use carb cleaner to spray everything. The settings for the carbs is the Low Speed screw should be set to 1 1/2 turns out and the High Speed screw< has a black plastic cover, should be set to "0". After you get it back together it would be a good thing to do a compression test also so we know what is going on internally. If you not sure how to do one let us know and I'll post some information on how to do it properly.

Karl

 

[Scott02dmb]

Thanks for the replies.

The battery is definitely garbage. Only 1 cell with acid so that will be replaced. From what you guys have stated, and what I have read in some other threads, is that the starter relay more than likely needs to be replaced. Is there anyway to test it rather than throwing money at a new one (I have no idea what the price is so if it's cheap I'll just get a new one)?

Oh, so that's what MPEM stands for! Thanks.

I figured the hesitation was either the carb or fuel lines; or a combination of the two...

 

[custompartsguy]

well do not get ahead of yourself take it one step at a time, replace the battery and see if it will start if it still will not crank check all your connections, that starter hot and main ground are very important. Then to check your starter relay you can bypass it/jump across it and see if it will then crank, if it cranks only when you jump across the relay then the starter relay will need to be replaced.....after you get this thing to crank/start again let us know if there is still a hesitation.

 

[popasodatastie]

Give it a Wirl

pull your spark plugs and see what you have for compression in your cylinders and also check to see if you have spark or intermittent spark?

 

[Scott02dmb]

Status update:

Replaced the starter relay. Checked all wire connections. Still experiencing the same problem as before in the fact that it won't crank over more than one rotation. This test was with spark plugs in.

When I bypass the entire MPEM and run power directly to the starter the engine cranks over no problem with spark plugs in. So the starter works no problem.

With the MPEM connected, running power through the starter relay, spark plugs out the engine cranks over no problem.

Any ideas?

 

[RinkerRocket]

I had a similar problem with my boat. I found out that my float on my carb was sticking open so I was getting to much gas in the cylinders, and fouling out the plug. Are your spark plugs soaked in gas when you pull them?

 

[Scott02dmb]

I'm not past the cranking issue yet... I don't even have my carb installed!

 

[custompartsguy]

sure sounds to me like you are not getting enough voltage/current to the starter, check all your connections very well, check the mpem connections as well for any corrossion, when saltwater dries it expands and will cause resistance in the curcuit.

 

[Scott02dmb]

Update:

Inspected and cleaned every connection and ground point. Played with the voltometer and am stumped on my reading off the NEW starter solenoid. When I tested the hot wire from the battery at the solenoid it read 12.3 (direct to the battery read 12.3 as well). When I tested the wire to the starter at the solenoid with the start button pressed it read 10.4ish. Bad solenoid? Could it be the starter switch?

 

[Scott02dmb]

Thanks for all your help guys! The ski works.

After hours of having complete confidence in my red top optima battery, I ended up testing it under load to find out it wasn't producing enough voltage. So what I thought was a perfect battery was not. Got a new battery, new plugs, played with the carb and it runs great!

Thanks again.