Watershark

I have a 1995 Tigershark. It cranks, fires, and has compression. Won't start, wont hit if you prime the carb. Won't hit if you prime the cylinder( with the spark plug out). Thoughts, Ideals, common problems? It ran great a few months ago.

pdowdle

When you say it fires, does it burst into life then die again. If it does, then I would check the following. Non expert opinion. First of all, make sure there is infact spark on the plugs, take each plug out one at a time, ground it to the engine ( Very Important ) and crank the engine. If you see spark Electrical is okay. Test the compression with a compression tester Then I would check the Fuel pump, pull a fuel line out of Carb, crank engine and make sure fuel comes out. If not get a fuel pump kit. Last rebuild the Carbs. Hope this helps a little

Watershark

By Fires I mean spark. I has some compression, but when I tested it, I could only get 30 pounds. I took the intake off because when it would hit smoke would come out from under the engine somewhere. sigh..... the rod bearing on the front cylinder came apart and went through the engine. At least the ski was free. how can I tell if the oil pump is putting out enough oil? How much trouble is it to replace the needle bearings on the crank.

pdowdle

HI There, unfortunately that is going to be exensive, you are going to have to pull that motor out and have the crank rebuilt, impossible to do yourself without the a huge press, better to get a secondhand one, search ebay, also more than likely a piston ( and sleeve ) has also been damaged( This is the smoke you see burning right past the piston ). If you choose to get the motor rebuilt or replaced, best to remove the oil pump and replace with a block off plate and just pre mix your fuel and oil. This way you know the motor is alway lubricated, or search google for tigershark engine exchange $750

Watershark

I intend to rebuild it myself. Front cylinder is scored a little. I think I will have it bored. I have a large press. But I was considering getting it rebuilt by a local motorcycle shop.
I would rather have the oil injection working as my Wife will be operating it from time to time. Thank you for your time. Hope to have it done by early spring.

pdowdle

HI There, so much better if you can do it yourself, the crank can definitely be done by motor cycle shop you will just need the bearing kit. Just a note to check, some of the Tigershark cylinders have a special Nikasil coating so it can't just be bored out. With regards to the oil pump, to test you need a workshop manual and it tells you what the volume (Amount of oil in cc's) should be coming out of the pipes. You need to pre mix some fuel and oil and run the machine before you pull off the oil pump connectors to see how much oil is coming out. Hope this all makes sense, good luck hope you get out on the water soon

pdowdle

Also look at this post, this person on the forum seems to be parting out two 640 motors http://www.pwcforum.com/tigershark-j...640-motor.html

Watershark

Got the engine disassembled today. Cylinders fine just some light scoring, can't feel it with my fingernail. bearing failure caused a small hole in the casing because of how tight the clearances are in the engine. it's fixable. thanks for the link. gonna see about some spare parts.

pdowdle

That is really good news, that hole is where the smoke must have been coming out, crank and lower case and you should be good to go. I would replace the rings and get the cylinders honed and you will have many years of life again. Good luck