[Lenny6]

A few days ago:

My father in law gave me his old ski, ski has not run in 5 years and has been in salt water all it's life. In between uses it sat on a lift 4 ft above the water, I do not think he ever flushed it nor fired it up after out of the water. Right off the bat the impeller was stuck in the wear ring. I got a new ring and all is good there. I removed the carbs and serviced them as I do on all my snow machines, drained and flushed the fuel tank. Did a general inspection on the machine and determined was ready to drop it in the water to see condition of things. Machine fires up perfectly, idles well and runs out BUT,,,,,, over heat warning comes on after a minute and computer limits ignition to limp mode. I figured I would start at the water inlet and good there. The hose attached to the inlet port off the jet pump has a tee for the flush kit and continues to the exhaust side of the motor but goes underneath where I cannot follow. The engine bay is tight with this big triple and little working room. I suppose an obstruction could be anywhere in the system. As I am not familiar with ski's as I am sleds, is there a likely spot to look first on this 1100 triple or better yet, any advise on this circulation problem will be greatly appreciated. I did get a small stream out the pisser for a few seconds and that was all and couldn't get more out of it cracking the throttle. It is very likely going to be a big deal getting this right and I am the kind of guy to want to get the motor on a bench, is it a good chance it will come to this? If so, the entire intake and exhaust system will have to come out to get it out the hull. What do you guys suggest?

 

[Lenny6]

Today I removed as many water hoses as I could get to, blown air through and do not sense any obstructions. I didn't have the proper adapter to attach a garden hose to run it but I rigged up a devise and it worked well. Now I do get a full volume stream out the pee hole. I am not sure if I blew something loose or just what if anything changed but I do have good water out the pisser. After seeing the water flowing I figured I better put her in the water and I get good volume out the pisser in the river. I run it for 30 seconds and the temp signal flashes on the instrument gauge and immediately the ignition interrupts to limp mode. The water temp out the pisser is hardly warm seeing the river temp is 65 degrees so the motor is NOT hot. Before putting the ski in the water I removed the thermo switch, which I believe is the sensor to monitor engine temp. I put my hand on that housing while in limp mode and it's not even hot so I think the sensor is malfuncting. There was a good deal of corrosion in the switch housing so I cleaned it well and re-installed. If I idle the ski for a while in the water the temp warning switches off and I can gap it trying to flush out the motor. I did it 4 times and no improvements. Looks like I am considering a new thermo switch (temp sensor, I think) but they are expensive , like 80 bucks. Is there a way to test this component? Any other idea to throw out there for me to consider. While cleaning the carbs I could have changed the mixture leaning it out but I think not seeing the motor is not hot. As soon as the warning comes on I touch the heads and they are just warm and not hot so I believe the carbs are fine. When it runs it runs strong.

 

[Lenny6]

I found my problem. First I'll say I made some wrong observations. I was correct on the motor not getting hot but wrong on the exhaust not getting hot. I removed the thermo switch from it's housing and ran it for about 25 seconds and the tail of exhaust was hot but the water out the pisser just warm, head warm. Earlier I made the assumption the sensor was bad but it wasn't. As soon as I hit the gas the pipe heated up tripping the limp mode because of overheat. I figured I better tear down the exhaust and from initial inspection it appeared fine, from a rookies perspective, ha ha ha.

I tore deeper and removed the head and cap. I did find a bit of sea weed and a fair amount of shells and and but not enough to see it overheat. I saw the water inlet on the underside of the exhaust manifold and seen the ports where it comes up into the cylinders. There are no cooling ports on the reed side. Water just comes in the exhaust side and fills the cylinder jackets and up through the heads, into the exhaust. Since I didn't see anything that was alarming on the motor I took a close look at the exhaust and disassembled it completely. The beaches we rode at in Fl was crushed shells as the sand, (hard on the feet) and I found the the very end of the exhaust with a load in it and the bypass hose clogged completely. There was also a hole in the exhaust where the sand was sitting. There was no flushing this out, this was also in close proximity to the thermo switch thus the reason of excessive heat and no circulation ion that particular area of the exhaust. Actually there were 3 small holes in that area totaling roughly a 1/4". I am glad I did tear deeper so I could see the bore, things look okay there. I have learned a bunch now ands the thing I learned the most was to never assume. I need to take my time and think practically, than things make sense. I found a complete exhaust on eBay for 88 bucks shipped and it looks clean.

If other guys are having similar issues, I would look at the exhaust because that tail section is far away from the flow and could easily be a place to deposit debris. Pull off the bypass hose that seems like a loop at the end of the exhaust where it ties into the large rubber elbow just before passing through the hull into the rear hull area, after that there is not more water in the exhaust, it goes right into the big silver muffler that out the machine. Does the exhaust get circulation to keep the motor area of the hull cool. Anyways, It cool to find the obvious instead of throwing parts and money just to accomplish nothing.

 

[Lenny6]

ran the ski for a few hrs last weekend and no problem whatsoever, gotta keep the sand out!!!!!