Yahooligan

While I'm here, I thought I might try to find out what the deal is with my sister's ski.

I only know part of the history, and that is she bought it some years ago, either had really low hours or a rebuilt engine, and it ended up sitting for 2-3 years after she bought it.

When she moved out here to CA she stored it on the side of my house and last season was the first time she took it out in years. I spent a couple of hours getting it running again. She got a new battery since the old one was bad, I had it on the charger overnight, and the initial attempt to start it was a failure; At least one piston was seized to the cylinder wall. I pulled the plugs and sprayed some penetrating oil down in there. After sitting it sit and then carefully working the crank I got things moving. I let the starter turn it over a few times with the plugs pulled and made sure there was no debris, buttoned things back up and...fouled the plugs. They didn't look so hot, so I had my sister pick up some new plugs on her way over. Took a bit, but I got it running and once running it ran great. She ran it a number of times last season without any issues AFTER I got it running for the first time each day.

She said she didn't have any hard start problems when she bought it.

So, what would cause it to take multiple, rather long attempts to start after sitting but start and run fine for subsequent starts throughout the day? I also noticed that a blast of starting fluid down the carb resulted in it starting and staying running sometimes, otherwise it only took 1-2 restart attempts after that to start and run. Without doing that I could easily spend 10 minutes jockeying with it to get it running.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

98yota

After sitting for three years I would bet the carb needs to be cleaned and rebuilt. It only takes a tiny piece of debris to cause problems. I would change fuel filter, lines, and drain replace the fuel in the fuel tank.

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1993 Yamaha WaveBlaster 701
1989 Yamaha WaveJammer 500

Yahooligan

Yeah, the carb could probably use some maintenance. Last season she ran through at least 5 tanks of fuel so there's no problem with bad fuel in the system. The hard start would have to be something with the fuel system, whether it's the carb or something else I don't know. I'll dig into it this weekend if I have time, see what I can find out. I may be too busy with the Yamaha I'm going to look at tomorrow.

Yahooligan

So I had some time to go out and take a closer look at what's going on, the problem is after it sits the gas in the lines either eventually evaporates or gets pulled back into the fuel tank and it loses prime. Trying to start it normally doesn't provide enough vacuum in the carb to suck gas from the tank, at least not within a reasonable period of cranking. I pulled the flame arrestor and screen off the carb, opened up the choke and throttle, and cranked it. No fuel. Closed the throttle, gave it full choke...no fuel. Put my finger over the hole in the choke and that gave enough vacuum to pull fuel from the tank and get it going.

Looking at the gas tank, there's a check-valve (that's somewhat of a pain to get to), then a canister that looks like it would be a water-fuel separator, which then vents into the cowl by the handlebars. If this check valve is bad and allows airflow out as well as in then I suspect this could contribute to the gas leak-down. Maybe? I have a vacuum test gauge and pump to test the valve, but I want to make sure I'm not barking up the wrong tree.

My Yamaha's gas tank holds pressure, removing the gas cap results in a *Ssssss* or *whoosh* depending on temp, etc. No such thing happens with this Kawasaki.

ggauvin

Check compression. (for a lot of reasons besides just the start problems). Make sure the crankcase pulse line is good. The tank vent is only to let air into the tank as fuel is used up. Tank having "pressure" or not depends upon a lot of things, mostly changes in air temp. The tank does not have to actually have "pressure" to start the ski. Does the choke close all the way? Do you let the fuel fill the possibly empty carbs by gravity after you turn on the fuel shutoff valve? It might take a minute depending on fuel line routing, amount of evaporation, fuel filter, etc. Check the plugs... are they a bit wet which might prevent firing until the highly volitile stater fluid gets in there... later they would be warm and probably drier. Lots of skis don't start well cold after a long down time. But if in good condition, they should start on full choke within a fairly short tiime of cranking. A carb cleaning is always a good idea after long storage as well. Some people frown on starter fluid as it has no lubrication. A squirt of premix down the throat is a better idea.

glockm22

You can always install a primer kit, that works well, hooks into the fuel line and shoots in fuel when your ready to start it. would not suggest using starter fluid it causes a lean condition in the motor and 2 strokes don't like that. Good luck to you. You can get the primer kits most all places. PURELY TECHNICAL online with or sbtonthe web.

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dgold047

A primer is all that is needed. When you use either or Starting Fluid to the Land locked is washes away hope of lubrication your cylinder walls had and that will cost youin the long run.

bjsdad1

I'm having the same problem, did you figure out a solution? I have installed primer kits of other pwc's but would rather fix the problem on this one...