Customers suck, everyone wants something for nothing. case in point, customer is given two Seadoo 4 tecs, skis haven't run since 2019,, he brings them to me to get running, this involves replacing fuel pumps and filters, cleaning tanks, replacing plugs, changing oil and filters repairing seats and scanning one ski which had a laundry list of error codes, I believe I counted 12.
I pulled the dipstick on the first ski and it didn't touch anything, added two quarts of oil then one more to top it off, so it had been run at one time three quarts low on oil, engine sounded funny and while running it on the hose it locked up. I called him and told him what happened.,.
On to the next ski, being the nice guy that I am I pulled the new fuel pump and filter out of the first ski and installed it in the second ski and cleaned the second fuel tank, ski runs but is in limp mode, I cleared all the codes and three came back, I removed every single sensor from the now dead ski and put them on the other ski one by one, codes are still there, swapped ECU and MPEM codes are still there, swapped throttle bodies . codes are still there.
Finally I find a blown 5 amp fuse and replace it, fuses were not blown before , I checked all of them first thing out. I water test it no go. rescan for codes yep you guessed it still there, As a last ditch effort I swap gauges, now both gauges are dead or inoperable but the one gauge blows the 5 amp fuse intermittently, the other gauge does not, water test the ski again and got a somewhat respectable result, two codes are still there no blown fuses, the two codes are communication codes from the gauge cluster to the ECU, they are not going away without replacing a $700 gauge cluster and marrying it to the ECU. Since it is a 2006 the ski is also not going to run 100% correctly without a good working gauge installed.
I relay this to the customer and tell him it is time for him to pick up his skis, bill comes to $1135, he wants to know if I will discount his bill because his motor locked up, this is when I explain I have already discounted his bill by not charging him any labor on the first ski, even though there was double labor from repairing then removing and replacing the fuel pump he was not charged anything on that ski.
He still insists that he wants a discount which I agree to and at this time I come to the realization that it is time to walk away from the ski repair business, enough is enough, people have no idea what it takes to fix these skis but they don't want to pay what I consider more than reasonable prices for repairs.
If you took this ski to a dealer and actually found a dealer that would work on a 2006 model ski the repairs on the fuel pump alone would be close to $1000, dealers replace parts, Seadoo does not sell fuel pumps they sell pump module assys, for a 2006 ski that part is no longer available if it was it would be $650 plus tax plus the labor to put it in, like I said close to $1000.
I am tired of dealing with this BS. it looks like I am am going to start flipping skis full time and if you are damn lucky I might change your oil or recover your seats., my days of fixing skis for uncaring and disrespectful people are over.