Test rode an SXR and...

Well, I drove 5 hours with the intentions of purchasing an SXR that had been formally owned and raced by a "guru", i was told. The guy i purchased it from didnt know anything about it..

So i get there and the ski looked very nice. I looked it over for a while, noticed the pipe was leaking pretty bad without even starting it, 2 bad cooling lines, and a few loose hose clamps..
He started the ski out of water and it was smoking way too much in the engine compartment ( aka, a bad oring in the dry pipe) I told him it shouldnt smoke nearly this much and his response was " Theres an O ring in there and when the pipe gets hot it expands..."
The ski ran and revved on the stand alright. It wouldnt idle, but it was because the idler screw wasnt working properly.. No big deal.
I had brought all my tools, battery, jump box, and of course forgot the darn compression tester...

So i asked to take it for a spin. He said of course! ( Mind you it has not been ridden all year. )
We go to the lake, it starts with the press of the button and i was off. It felt super sluggish for a limited sxr so i let her warm up for a minute and just went slow. I rode it for about 3 1/2 minutes making several high speed passes. Well, i tried to go fast. It topped out at maybe 30 ish mph? I felt like the fuel system was gunked up. Out of know where she quits and wouldnt turn over.
After a 20 min swim back we diagnose it and he tries to convince me its a bad wire. Trying to start the ski would melt the battery terminals.
We take it back to his house and i popped the plugs out, try and spin the motor and she was locked.. I looked down into the rear cylinder and saw chunks of piston....
We ended up talking, discussing prices, and i ended up taking the gamble.

I take her home and the motor is scrap.. Both sleeves are cracked, rear piston destroyed, Crank bearings are toast, and the case has a hole in it...



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Maulin Marto

"I'll quit before I sit"
I'm curious as to who the "guru" is, and who the seller of the ski is...I want to avoid the seller for sure. 5 hrs from "the lake" may be in my area. Hope you got the SXR for a song, then it won't hurt as much. I have a bunch of "schmity" 800 stuff coming up for sale soon if any interest PM me.
 
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The seller was a very up front guy, very nice, completely understanding, but just didn't know anything about jetskis... He wasn't mad at me and I wasn't mad at him for what happened. He purchased it from a guy that built it and raced it. That's all I know.
 
Ya it is. Whoever put the engine together used the wrong carb base gaskets, and caused a air leak on the rear cylinder. If you look in the pic you can see the gasket is the wrong size. You can see the bolt hole hanging out on by the far right stud. Sucks that a 5 dollar gasket ruined a good engine.
 
that hillbilly gasket hanging out should have been an instant red flag on the quality of construction. very similar to the use of red or orange RTV gasket maker.if you cant use clear or black, you have no business working on anything!
 
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