slam

Hi,

First of all, I want to apologize in advance for the dumb/noob questions I'm going to ask.

So I bought my 1st ski, a 03 F-12x. It has 155 hrs on it and was used mainly in the ocean. At full throttle the ski will max out at 52 MPH (gauge display). I forgot to check the max RPM. I'm not sure but I think the turbo is not kicking in. I've been reading multiple threads and recommendations and have discided to add sea foam, check plugs, check waste gate, and higher octane gas.

My question is:
Can regular fuel injector cleaner be used if sea foam is not available?
Can regular octane booster be used if race fuel is not available (only 91 octane at the pumps)?
Where is the waste gate actuator?
What does turbo sound like? Can you feel the turbo kick in?

Sorry this is my first turbo anything.

Thanks in advance,

EricDen

I pretty new at this as well but I'll answer what I can.

Wastegate is on the bottoma back side of the turbo. Do a qucik search here or in PWCToday and you'll see pics.

I'm betting the turbo is working. My was stuck and not spining and would do no more than about 25-30. You can check for sure by pulling the air intake to the turbo and starting up. Just takes a minute. Be careful not to touch the turbine blades but you can spin the turbo from the central nut. if its not soinning spray with some CRC 6-56 (or is it 6-56) anyway I'm betting its spining.

I can't really hear the turbo kick in but I can sure feel it. When you hit full throttle it'll lag for just a second and than try and pull your arms out. You can kinda hear the whine as you slow.

Are you sure its a turbo becasue that's about the top speed of the non-turbo's??

EricDen

Just scroll down the Honda forum and you'll seepics from my recent wastegate replacement

slam

Thank you very much form your help!

EricDen

Note the site is slowing for the winter. Not many people on right now. Will pick up in the spring.

guar1

Not sure if you answered if it is a turbo. White or Black bottom? White = non turbo. Just checking. Sounds like ericden has it covered. My 07 non turbo in mint condition will do 57 mph with the wind. Don't know if that helps. Have a nice off season

slam

Guar1, yes it's an 03 turbo model (ARX1200T3).

I can hear the turbo spinning but the funny thing is that, when I was messing with the waste gate actuator. It seem like it's spring loaded. I can push it forward (towards front of the ski) with a big screw driver and using the muffler as leverage. But it's near impossible to push the rod in. Is this normal?

Btw, when I push the waste gate actuator forward it would pop back into place when I release the pressure. I can feel some sort of spring inside the wate gate.

Thanks in advance,

EricDen

Yes the waste gate is spring loaded. It opens by pressure off the high side of the turbo when boost reaches a certain amount and is controlled by a Solenoid. The spring keeps it in the normally closed position. When boost pressure reaches the set amount the wastegate opens allowing the excess pressure to bleed off avoiding an overboast situtaion and causes nasty things to happen to your valves...

Have you tried the simple stuff? new plugs and make sure the air filter is clean? Plugs have a huge impact on these machines.

glockm22

New plugs will make a HUGE impact on your machine, as will sea foam in cleaning out the carbon, and sea foam is sold at all your local parts stores, its about $6.00 or so a can. Use it and don't stop using it every 4 to 6 tank fulls, it will save you alot of headache.
check to make sure your turbo does spin freely, I have seen many of them stick, and I mean check it with your finger not running, spin the fin's , they should spin freely, don't guess make sure. I also like to pour sea foam in a spray bottle and injest it threw the turbo just to keep everything clean and free from time to time, and to fog them in the winter months.

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