- Location
- 60071
First off thanks for taking the time to read my post. I'll try to lay it out simply for the best diagnosis.
First I purchased the ski last summer '14 and the ski ran flawless. I rode it ~10 days worth burning probably 6 tanks of fuel. I fogged the engine and put stabil in the gas for winter.
I pulled the ski out this year and the ski cranked and cranked not wanting to start, a little ether and it hesitated but eventually fired up. I topped the tank off with some 93 premix and she ran great. Until I got halfway across the lake that is. I was doing a super soaker and rolled the ski over awkwardly in the water. It died as I getting back to the tray. It lost spark at that time and would not start even after trying some ether.
I came to the conclusion that the stator was the culprit as it was very slightly out of spec. I bought a $30 stator on ebay and once installed it was back. It ran great the next couple times on the water.
This leads me to today. I will mention that the current issue started after repeated subs and soakers. Right now once the ski warms up it will start to bog, the more throttle you give it the worse it gets. It runs exactly like an engine starving for gas. Less throttle = smoother running. If you give it too much throttle the ski will cut out and if the throttle is held in that position the ski will die and be hard to start (takes excessive cranking). Also, sometimes the ski will fail to turn over (dead soft click), disconnect the battery and reconnect and it works again. I've tried the following with NO improvement.
- New fuel filter
- straight fuel line from tank to carb
- cleaning the carb
- seafoam in the gas
- new plugs and wire caps
- disconnecting accessory bilge
- running on a battery charger
- removing the check valve on the fuel tank vent line
Also it seemed the pto cylinder was quite a bit cooler to the touch. I'm leaning towards an electrical issue, either the cheap stator or something in the ebox. My next plan was to hook up and inline spark tester on the pto plug and re-create the issue in my driveway, which thank god is easy enough to do even with no load on the ski. If a video would help I can probably make one tomorrow.
First I purchased the ski last summer '14 and the ski ran flawless. I rode it ~10 days worth burning probably 6 tanks of fuel. I fogged the engine and put stabil in the gas for winter.
I pulled the ski out this year and the ski cranked and cranked not wanting to start, a little ether and it hesitated but eventually fired up. I topped the tank off with some 93 premix and she ran great. Until I got halfway across the lake that is. I was doing a super soaker and rolled the ski over awkwardly in the water. It died as I getting back to the tray. It lost spark at that time and would not start even after trying some ether.
I came to the conclusion that the stator was the culprit as it was very slightly out of spec. I bought a $30 stator on ebay and once installed it was back. It ran great the next couple times on the water.
This leads me to today. I will mention that the current issue started after repeated subs and soakers. Right now once the ski warms up it will start to bog, the more throttle you give it the worse it gets. It runs exactly like an engine starving for gas. Less throttle = smoother running. If you give it too much throttle the ski will cut out and if the throttle is held in that position the ski will die and be hard to start (takes excessive cranking). Also, sometimes the ski will fail to turn over (dead soft click), disconnect the battery and reconnect and it works again. I've tried the following with NO improvement.
- New fuel filter
- straight fuel line from tank to carb
- cleaning the carb
- seafoam in the gas
- new plugs and wire caps
- disconnecting accessory bilge
- running on a battery charger
- removing the check valve on the fuel tank vent line
Also it seemed the pto cylinder was quite a bit cooler to the touch. I'm leaning towards an electrical issue, either the cheap stator or something in the ebox. My next plan was to hook up and inline spark tester on the pto plug and re-create the issue in my driveway, which thank god is easy enough to do even with no load on the ski. If a video would help I can probably make one tomorrow.
