[lightngsvt]

New here, I have a ZXi 1100 that Ive owned since around 2004 and never had a minute of trouble with it until now. I havent rode it much this season, the last time out it was running great then just died. It was very hard to restart, ran crappy and would keep dieing out. Also the fuel gauge had stopped working prior to this ride. I took it to the dealer this week and it has 120psi in the outside cylinders but only 20psi on the center cylinder. Im guessing it dosnt have a have a hole in the piston since it has some compression.

No idea what happened? Like I said its been 100% reliable until this season. Dealer wants $300 to tear it down to find out whats wrong and THEN they'll give me an estimate. The unofficial estimate is $1300 for a rebuild or up to $2200 if they replace the entire engine with an SBT rebuilt one. This ski is in nearly showroom condition, but still its probably only worth $2500 without trailer so not sure about putting the cash into it.

So any guesses as to what could have happened to cause this? Would you put the $$$ into it? And is the dealer ripping me off?

 

[wendeln16]

my fuel gage isnt working either. i was told that was the sender unit and itll be about $600 to replace that.

 

[speedfreak99]

I just had the same exact problem- my gas guage acted up, engine stopped running and could hardly get it unlocked and when I did it ran terrible- but made it back to the launch - got home and compression in the cylinder #1 was 0 but 2-3 were at 120- I just bought it just over a week ago and the guy said he never rode it for two years until last week- maybe the cylinder wall was dry from fuel sitting for that long or it took too long for the oil to make its way to it- my cylinder walls are all good though so I'm rebuiling myself- cost me $165 to do the job with 1 new piston and gasket set- its actually not that hard with some tools and being mechanically inclined and being able to read a shop manual- heres a pic of the piston <a href="http://s602.photobucket.com/albums/tt105/jessecarman/?action=view&current=CIMG1499.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt105/jessecarman/CIMG1499.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt105/jessecarman/CIMG1500.jpg

 

[lightngsvt]

The dealer is telling me about $100 for the sending unit and about $100-150 to install.

So what exactly happened to your piston? The pic is a bit fuzzy and the piston looks beat up but I cant really tell what happened or what was the cause?

 

[speedfreak99]

sorry about the fuzzy pic- my camera doesn't take good pics up-close... well the rings melted into the piston and somehow pieces made it to the top of the piston and smashed up and down between that and the head(all the marks on top of the piston) and theres a hole that burned into the sides of it- I was really surprised to find the cylinder was in great shape!! all I'm gonna need is it honed- I still trying to find out what caused this... It seems from reading these threads that this particular ski if sits for a while blows pistons... I am guessing its from a dry cylinder I havn't found anything that wasn't working right with the oil injection - that piston got really hot for a reason tho-

 

[lightngsvt]

Is the head damaged too? So are you honing and re-ringing all 3 cylinders? Does the motor have to come out for that? How hard is the job on a scale of 1 - 10 for an average backyard wrench? What special tools do you need? I dont have much experience with 2 stroke motors. But if its only a couple hundred I might just attempt fixing it myself, just dont know much about carbs, etc so not sure how Id test everything to make sure it was working.

 

[speedfreak99]

The Head has the same markings on it that the piston has...I'm going to sand some of the bad spots and it should be ok because the spots are not near where the gasket will go- I will be honing the cylinders and just putting new rings in with the new piston...it looks like the previous owner might have just rebuild that engine (the old honing marks are still visible) -- The Job isn't really that hard a ratchet with a 12& 14 mm socket and your pretty much good to start tearing into it... I'd rate the job on a 1-10 scale maybe a 5... The first thing you need is a shop manual! I just downloaded one from ebay it is a zip on adobe reader-- i think this link will get you it - let me know if you got it - http://crtinfo.us.vu/-zZeLVNc.zip

 

[johnlk]

Just had one done.Its a 10 on a scale from 1-10.All cylinders must be honed.Honing can run up to 85 a cylinder.Engine must come out.If you can find someone on the side to do it look to spend no less than 1300-1500 just for the top end.Crank seals may need to be done and a must is look at the carbs.leave it to the pros on this kind of work.To much at stake.