PoA Jet Ski Project

Check the coil connection for the bad plug. You could also try connecting the coil connector for a coil that is firing to the bad plug coil and see if it sparks, just don't get them crossed up with a spark plug in place. ( this would give an indication that the coil is bad versus the ignitor, if the bad plug coil connection fires one of the good coils that would pretty much confirm a bad coil or a bad connector on the coil.) I would say that plug has not been firing since you got the engine running.

Edit: I'd start from the coil and work backwards, make sure the grease did not push a pin out of the connector.
 
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Scrubbing the Molex connection from the CDI to the #1 spark plug wire with a toothbrush coated in WD-40 returned spark condition to plug #1 (and shocked me 'cause I had my finger wrapped around the metal of the screwdriver :goofy:).

Perhaps coating 19-year-old electrical connections with non-conductive dielectric grease was not wise. This also leads me to believe that I did not test spark after putting the e-box back together. That's a pretty big error if that's the case.

Thank you everyone for help with the diagnosis on this regression. I suppose there still could be a fuel flow issue, but I think it likely this was my problem. Next week I'll start it up in the driveway, run it for a while with the hose hooked up to it, then shut it down and pull the plugs again to be sure #1 looks like it's burning fuel. If it is, I suppose it's time for on-water test #2.

Good night.
 
I think you'll be in good shape now. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
 
Yup. He's skinny.

It sounded like all three running in the driveway test, so this is a maintenance induced failure.


muuuuuuuaaaahhahahahahahhahhaaa!
 
Ok. For the moment it looks like we're good. Got the e-box put back together, re-tested spark, plugged everything in and fired it up in the driveway. Ran it for a bit, revved the engine gently some, then shut it down and pulled the plugs. I now have a #1 plug that looks like it's burning fuel.

My only lingering concern is that #2 and #3 appear more heavily oil fouled (is it normal to have them look different?), but I guess I need to get it out on the water and see what I've got. The mixture is very oil rich for just idling on the driveway.

It sucks the time changed because now I have no time if I get off of work at a normal hour. May leave early one of these days to get it out and up to speed.
 
Did you clean them after the last run? (They needed it)

It's time to winterize that puppy, it's cold out....
 
Henning said:
Did you clean them after the last run? (They needed it)

It's time to winterize that puppy, it's cold out....
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Yeah, I brushed them off with a toothbrush. I can't stand to winterize it yet, I just got it ready! :lol: I'm riding this puppy again soon even if I freeze my ass off.
 
asechrest said:
Yeah, I brushed them off with a toothbrush. I can't stand to winterize it yet, I just got it ready! :lol: I'm riding this puppy again soon even if I freeze my ass off.
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Don't worry about what they look like until after the next real run, you aren't making enough heat to determine anything in the driveway.
 
You should carry an extra set of plugs and a plug wrench on board until you get the oil ratio figured out. I too wouldn't have taken the oil pump off. I have a sea doo two stroke and have not had a problem with oil or the pump in 14 years of ownership.

I still predict 55 mph. I don't know what you consider cold in FL, but a shorty or full wet suit will make your ride more enjoyable in the cooler weather.
 
PaulS said:
You should carry an extra set of plugs and a plug wrench on board until you get the oil ratio figured out. I too wouldn't have taken the oil pump off. I have a sea doo two stroke and have not had a problem with oil or the pump in 14 years of ownership.

I still predict 55 mph. I don't know what you consider cold in FL, but a shorty or full wet suit will make your ride more enjoyable in the cooler weather.
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I was back and forth on the oil injection. It's like the high wing/low wing debate for 2 stroke jet skis. But, I do know this: it is no longer possible for my engine to be ruined by an oil pump or line failure. That means that if the engine is ruined from absence of lubrication, I failed to premix (or it's something that would have blown the engine even with the injection system). And if I fail to premix, I deserve what I get.

PS - Cold to me is anything below 70. :rofl: Ok not really. But kinda'. I am in Florida after all. But you know, it was an awfully dry ride when I rode it the first time. I was surprised how little I got wet. Most of it was from dealing with the trailering.
 
You can always go back to injection if you like later.

Don't read the plugs until you get it out and run it hard for a bit. Once you get it running on all three, give it some good hard runs but try not to jump it out of the water cuz that tends to over-rev them and it's tough on the bearings and rods.

Then read the plugs and adjust your oil mix as req. We know we're fat on oil now, and that's by design. I don't mind a little smoke from oil but I really don't like blowed up engines. I strongly suspect that all dino 2 stroke oil comes out of the same big barrel with a few additives. Syn-oil is better, but a lot more money. As I said, I just buy the cheap Wal Mart 2 stroke and it's worked fine for years. One ski has the injection, one is pre-mix.
 
Also, note to self: get water shoes! I cut the crap out of my foot on oysters.

Ya'll should have seen me on that first on-water test. The last exposure I had putting a boat in the water was probably 15 - 20 years ago with my Dad and his boat, and he did all the work. So I was fairly clueless. For everyone's amusement:

Step 1: arrive at boat ramp, pull car along the side, and begin preparing the boat to be put on the water. I don't forget to unhook the straps attaching the back of the boat to the trailer. So proud of myself. I then proceed to unhook the trailer chains from the hitch. Uh, no, wait a sec, the trailer will be staying attached the the car. Hook chains back up. :lol:

Step 2: Boat ready to back in. I back it in, shut car off, get out. Hmm, boat not floating. Get back in car, turn it back on, back it up some more. Car off, hop on trailer, try to push the boat off, won't go. Get back in car, turn it on, back it up some more. Aha, boat finally floating a bit.

Step 3: Push boat off the trailer, grab the rope I had ready, then...uhh, wait a sec, the dock is pretty far out there, connected to the ramp by a long, raised (taller than I am) walkway. Hmm, how do I get it out to the dock to tie up so I can pull the trailer out? I could get on the ski, fire it up, and drive it out to the dock, but there's no reverse. I could turn it toward the dock and get on and fire it up and run it out there, but I really want my first fire-up on the water to be in a controlled situation. I could tie the rope to the walkway railing, but I'm afraid the ski will float under the walkway and get damaged or hung up. Damn, this is stupid. I opt to tie it to the railing and pull the car out real quickly before the boat can float under the walkway.

Step 4: Pull ski from above on the walkway to the dock, tie it up and prepare for start. Vest on, lanyard on wrist, ignition on, tab under stop switch. I untie the ski from the dock. I sit on the dock and put both my feet on one side of the ski and fire up the engine. WOAH, wait a sec, there's quite a bit of thrust even at idle! Duh, direct drive! I hold that puppy with my feet and quickly tie it back to the dock to let it warm up.

...

Step 435: Empty trailer backed into water, ski at the dock. Umm, ok, how do I get it back on the trailer? I could pull it back toward the trailer from up on the walkway, but that doesn't seem right. Then I'll have to wade pretty far into the water and try to position the ski so it floats onto the trailer rails. Plus I'm in bare feet and the ramp is really slippery under the water. I opt to start the ski up and drive it on the trailer, hitting the kill switch as I'm nearing the trailer so it floats on and to a stop. This actually works really well! Until I get the trailer home and see that I've scraped the paint off of the bottom on one side. Note to self: back the trailer in farther before deciding to drive the ski on.

--

All in all, a fun learning experience.
 
Jesse & Doc:

What do your Kawasakis idle at? I am just now looking through the owner's manual and it looks like idle speed should be 800 RPMs out of the water and 250 in the water. I think I'm significantly above that. Would I just adjust that with my idle screw?
 
Uhh where are you seeing that? 250 in the water is wayyyyyy too low. I think I set mine around 1000 in water,

You want it high enough that it doesn't die but low enough that it doesn't move too quickly while idling. No neutral so any engine speed results in force coming out of the jet pump.
 
jesse said:
Uhh where are you seeing that? 250 in the water is wayyyyyy too low. I think I set mine around 1000 in water,

You want it high enough that it doesn't die but low enough that it doesn't move too quickly while idling. No neutral so any engine speed results in force coming out of the jet pump.
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Bah, I misread it because it uses a space for place value separation and I skimmed it.

Idle Speed:
About 1 250 rpm - in water
About 1 800 rpm - out of water​
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Thanks!
 
Mine idles at 800 and it can be adjusted. There's three carbs with a common shaft that keeps them in sync.

I use this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Uni-Syn-Car...Parts_Accessories&hash=item25980099e1&vxp=mtr to synchronize them together. It's a bit of a bother, but it can be done. Being a two stroke, there's a bit of bounce in the little ball. After that, the common shaft is locked in place, and then use the idle stop to adjust it. I don't have my ski handy right now so I can't recall where the idle stop is located.
 
Paul wins. I hit 55 mph today. And if you've never gone that fast on the water, it feels like 155 mph. Sheesh.
 
PaulS said:
Sweet, congratulations. Don't wipe out at that speed, it would really hurt.
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Thanks, Paul. I've got to pull the plugs and see what they look like, but it is abundantly clear I am now firing on all cylinders. And man does the thing accelerate. :yikes:

Anyone know how well this thing would tow a tube? Not recommended? Not sure where I'd attach a tow rope. There are the two u-bolts that you use to tie down the ski to the trailer, but I think they're below the water line. (Requisite Florida law appears to mandate use of wide angle mirror or a spotter.)
 
PaulS said:
Sweet, congratulations. Don't wipe out at that speed, it would really hurt.
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I can't imagine being on the 70 mph skis. 55 seemed plenty fast enough. But maybe I'll get used to it and crave more. :D I'm actually just looking forward to tooling around on it. It's sort of a new sense of freedom. I think I'll enjoy exploring new areas more than riding it like a crazy man, though I'll certainly do both. I might even try to do some fishing from it.

There are some neat islands on the Gulf side here that are accessible only by boat. On the weekends, boaters anchor all around it, pull out grills, and hang out and have fun. Now I can join them.
 
asechrest said:
I can't imagine being on the 70 mph skis. 55 seemed plenty fast enough. But maybe I'll get used to it and crave more. :D I'm actually just looking forward to tooling around on it. It's sort of a new sense of freedom. I think I'll enjoy exploring new areas more than riding it like a crazy man, though I'll certainly do both. I might even try to do some fishing from it.

There are some neat islands on the Gulf side here that are accessible only by boat. On the weekends, boaters anchor all around it, pull out grills, and hang out and have fun. Now I can join them.
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You'll get used to it and start riding like a mad man until the water gets rough. I got bucked off of mine in July screwing around. I tore my meniscus..... tough to get old. My supercharged GTX will do 65 in smooth water, it's a blast. But as the water gets rougher it starts to beat the carp out of you;). Remember to lift your butt off the seat when it starts to get rough, let your legs absorb the impacts not your back.

RE towing a skier, don't know about FL, but NH you need to have a spotter and a seat for the person you are towing, so that means a 3 seater. I've pulled tubes with mine and my son on his wake board, had no problem, but I do have 3 seaters. Check out the laws, the tickets are expensive and count against your driving surcharges in some states.
 
Thanks. I'll check again but I'm mostly sure Florida allows a wide angle mirror in lieu of the spotter. I think it would be fun to tow the step kids in a tube, but I'll have to get the tow rope attachment point figured out. This ski doesn't have a point that's made for it, and I'd be concerned about sucking up the tow rope if I use the trailer tie-down points below the water line.

Also, still shedding sheets of red paint on the underside of the hull. Nothing to do about that I guess. I read that's common on these older Kawasakis.

Still have to name the thing, too. Something involving POA... :)
 
That's about the same speed I get all out. You can tow, but check the rules. I've towed a tube and a small skier before.

What's the status of your idle?
 
docmirror said:
That's about the same speed I get all out. You can tow, but check the rules. I've towed a tube and a small skier before.

What's the status of your idle?
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Looked to be around 1,200 or so in the water, which is manual spec. Out of water it seems to idle up near 3k when I first start it, and eventually drops down between 1 and 2k. 1,800 is book spec for out of water. I think that's good enough not to mess with it?

I'm curious: when I start it up and it idles near 3k and then eventually "warms up" and drops back down near book spec, what is happening inside the engine to cause that? Also, why does it idle "roughly". And by that I don't meant that it's idling poorly, I mean why isn't it a perfectly regular drum beat cadence? I imagine this is just a basic lack of understanding how an engine works.
 
asechrest said:
Thanks, Paul. I've got to pull the plugs and see what they look like, but it is abundantly clear I am now firing on all cylinders. And man does the thing accelerate. :yikes:

Anyone know how well this thing would tow a tube? Not recommended? Not sure where I'd attach a tow rope. There are the two u-bolts that you use to tie down the ski to the trailer, but I think they're below the water line. (Requisite Florida law appears to mandate use of wide angle mirror or a spotter.)
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We used to tow skiers with 440 stand up skis, I tow guys into huge surf using big skis and rescue them out of the same with a sled hooked to the back. Skis tow just fine. The nice thing about jet pumps is they don't change their efficiency with load nearly like props do.
 
I got the jet ski out last Friday. Got my girlfriend on the back for the first time. It does alright with two people. It's a bit unstable in the roll axis at low speeds. An idle speed turn nearly tipped us since we weren't prepared for the instability. The nose raises quite a bit before it gets on plane. But otherwise it did great. Got it up to 50 MPH with both of us on it. She says she really enjoyed it and will work up the courage to drive it herself. Success!

Had a hiccup, though. It's been probably 1 to 2 months since I've run the engine. I hooked it up to the hitch, we loaded the car, and off I went. At the boat ramp I pulled to the side of the parking lot to fire it up for a 10 second test or so.

My first three presses of the start button resulted in a very labored couple of cranks and then a thunk as the engine stopped turning over (start button still pressed). A glance at the engine showed it torquing until release of the start button. The fourth try brought a mostly normal crank, and after pushing the choke in, the fifth resulted in a start. My two initial thoughts were dry cylinders or impeller issue, probably the former.

My assumption is that the pistons/cylinders were poorly lubricated after a month or two sitting, and that I should have fogged them with some WD-40 before trying the start.

Fixes for next time: lube the cylinders before crank if it has been dormant, test start at the house not the ramp, don't continue to crank if the issue repeats.

Confirmations/thoughts?

Thanks.
 
Not thinking that is the problem, never had that occur even after half a year sitting on the deck of a boat. More likely the starter and/or solenoid need cleaning of corrosion.
 
Hmm. Also, more data: it ran fine on the water, at WOT and all ranges, and it started up with no issue back at the house to flush the engine.
 
asechrest said:
I got the jet ski out last Friday. Got my girlfriend on the back for the first time. It does alright with two people. It's a bit unstable in the roll axis at low speeds. An idle speed turn nearly tipped us since we weren't prepared for the instability. The nose raises quite a bit before it gets on plane. But otherwise it did great. Got it up to 50 MPH with both of us on it. She says she really enjoyed it and will work up the courage to drive it herself. Success!

Had a hiccup, though. It's been probably 1 to 2 months since I've run the engine. I hooked it up to the hitch, we loaded the car, and off I went. At the boat ramp I pulled to the side of the parking lot to fire it up for a 10 second test or so.

My first three presses of the start button resulted in a very labored couple of cranks and then a thunk as the engine stopped turning over (start button still pressed). A glance at the engine showed it torquing until release of the start button. The fourth try brought a mostly normal crank, and after pushing the choke in, the fifth resulted in a start. My two initial thoughts were dry cylinders or impeller issue, probably the former.

My assumption is that the pistons/cylinders were poorly lubricated after a month or two sitting, and that I should have fogged them with some WD-40 before trying the start.

Fixes for next time: lube the cylinders before crank if it has been dormant, test start at the house not the ramp, don't continue to crank if the issue repeats.

Confirmations/thoughts?

Thanks.
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Low battery, KISS
 
PaulS said:
Low battery, KISS
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Tested at 12.4 V prior to hooking the trailer up at the house. :( It really looked/felt like something was "binding" (for lack of a better description) after a couple turnovers.
 
asechrest said:
Hmm. Also, more data: it ran fine on the water, at WOT and all ranges, and it started up with no issue back at the house to flush the engine.
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Yeah, the typical problem I see is a thin film of corrosion on the commutator that provides enough resistance to keep it from getting spinning, then once it gets a few spins in the brushes and current clean it up. Sometimes the contactor disc gets corroded, those you usually have to disassemble and clean. If it works good now, no worries.

As far as the cylinders, what you want to do is get a can of fogging spray and spray them, preferably still warm (not hot, 100° or so) after your fresh water flush when you put it away. It doesn't take much.
 
Oh yeah, you are going full throttle getting up on plane right? Even so it will go nose high with two. If you are going to ride two up most of the time, you might look at adding a stepped wedge at the back.
 
Henning said:
Oh yeah, you are going full throttle getting up on plane right? Even so it will go nose high with two. If you are going to ride two up most of the time, you might look at adding a stepped wedge at the back.
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No, I was kind of tentative on the throttle. Friggin' thing has some pickup and I didn't want to throw her off the back. What's a stepped wedge? Tried a little Googling to find it.
 
asechrest said:
No, I was kind of tentative on the throttle. Friggin' thing has some pickup and I didn't want to throw her off the back. What's a stepped wedge? Tried a little Googling to find it.
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Nope, no being tentative, nail the freaking throttle, lean forward, and hang on. Jump that thing on plane at maximum power.Plus most all your stability is dynamic as you've noticed.

A stepped wedge gives you some hydrodynamic lift on the tail like a spoiler pushes down on the back of a car, you just build it a bit different. As an example of what I may do is make a wedge 3/8" tall by 3" long, and place it 3/4" forward of the transom chine.
 
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