[townsley4]

hey, i took the waverunner out last weekend, it was running pretty good. shut it off a couple times and fired right back up. well about 30 minutes after running, i let go of the throttle and it slowely idled down and died, and when i tried to start it, it would not turn over, it would just click. battery is fine, tested it and charged it. I have taken the plugs out(the first plug was corroded pretty bad) the rest seemed ok. and with the plugs out, i tried turning the dirveshaft by hand with a wrench on the impeller, but i couldnt budge it either way. am i supposed to be able to turn it by this? i have not checked the starter relay or selenoid, but ive doen some reasearch, and tried to turn the engine over by hand wich i cannot do with shaft. Could my engine be siezed up? or could it be in the gears? is there a better way to check if it is siezed? i jsut baught it and do not want to spend more $ at the shop getting it fixed. any help is appreciated.

 

[Outlaw]

What kind of ski is it?

Do you have a flexible light to check the cylinder's?

 

[townsley4]

it is a 99' yamaha waverunner gp 1200. and no i do not have a flexible light to look at the cylinders. but should the engine turn over by hand by turning the drive shaft to the impeller with the plugs out? because i cant budge it.

 

[Ernest T]

You have to determine if it is stuck in the engine or in the pump. Check to be sure the impeller is not rubbing against the wear ring.......you may have injested something that bent the prop.

 

[townsley4]

thanks for the reply, i checked the impeller and it isnt stuck against the wear ring. how would i go about jumping the starter selenoid? or should i even try this?

 

[Outlaw]

When you took out the sparkplugs did they look like they were dry and whiteish gray color or look like aluminum particles on them?

 

[townsley4]

the spark plugs towards the front looked pretty good, but the one closest to the back looked fried and had whitish/grey color burnt look.

 

[townsley4]

here is a bad pic of the spark plug, but u can kind of see ontop where it is a greyish burnt color

 

[Outlaw]

Don't waste your time with the pump

the spark plugs towards the front looked pretty good, but the one closest to the back looked fried and had whitish/grey color burnt look.

Ok, that is a lean burn on that plug. Chances are that piston is stuck to the cylinder wall. That is the reason for the aluminum shavings from the piston.
You may as well start tearing it down and hope you can hone the jug and just replace a piston.

 

[townsley4]

what would cause that? oil pump failure? after when i took it out, there would be some oil in the bottom of the hull, could never really locat where it was coming from. also, that is the only piston that is up towards the top that i can see. idk if it is stuck there or not. that goes back to my question of should i be able to turn the drive shaft with the plugs out by hand?

 

[Outlaw]

Ernest knows more about Yamahas then me, but start by looking at the oil lines to see if one slipped off. How full is the tank? Holding at wide open throttle can also burn it down if the fuel system is gummed up and causes a lean mix.

 

[townsley4]

oil tank is 3/4 full, lines are all intact and look pretty new. sicne ive had it, ive never ran it at full throttle, ive onyl had it to about 43mph. it seemed to run great, just idled down and died and the engine seems froze. and that spark plug has some greyish build up on it. the guy before me said he uses 93 octane(or the best the pump has) bvut i put gas in it i used 87 unleaded. could the change in fuel have caused this? it doesnt seem likely but i dunno. i mean it ran fine until i fueled it up

 

[Outlaw]

It is strange that the lower octane fuel would cause this. The only thing I know is that the lower the octane the hotter the burn. The gas rather explodes instead of burning evenly. Thats why they run race fuel in Pro Stock Snowmobiles to keep the exhaust temps down. If I remember correctly aluminum melts a 1300 degrees. So 50 - 100 degrees cooler makes a big difference if you are running on the edge.

 

[townsley4]

yea im not sure thats what caused it, but just a thought. its going in the shop tuesday morn, to have a mechanic look at it for $80/hr. and if its soemtin simple maybe ill try to fix it myself. weird that one spark plug looks the way it does..makes me wonder if the oil pump or gas line or someting isnt working right. there was no warning light or anything when it died either

 

[divergary]

seized

I can rotate my seadoo engine by hand with the plugs removed.

 

[townsley4]

took it to the nearest motorsports shop tuesday for them to "look" at it. they have had it all week, ive caleld everyday and they said they r looking at it?. so i called them this morning and asked whats going on, and they said "one of your sparkplugs had piston material on it, and that piston is siezed up, you will most liekly need a whole new rebuilt engine put in because if one is damaged then they are all damaged." i was like well how much is that? he said $3500. thats more than what it is worth!!! is this figure even close to what i should be paying? and would i really need a whole new engine if one piston siezed up? seriosly thats more than i paid for it! im definatly not paying 3500 dollars. **** i could put a whole new engine in my truck for that.

 

[Outlaw]

I thought it was seized

took it to the nearest motorsports shop tuesday for them to "look" at it. they have had it all week, ive caleld everyday and they said they r looking at it?. so i called them this morning and asked whats going on, and they said "one of your sparkplugs had piston material on it, and that piston is siezed up, you will most liekly need a whole new rebuilt engine put in because if one is damaged then they are all damaged." i was like well how much is that? he said $3500. thats more than what it is worth!!! is this figure even close to what i should be paying? and would i really need a whole new engine if one piston siezed up? seriosly thats more than i paid for it! im definatly not paying 3500 dollars. **** i could put a whole new engine in my truck for that.

When you saw the aluminum frags on your plug I knew it was seized. However I do disagree that all your pistons are bad. I have had triple cylinder two stoke snowmobiles where only the center jug was stuck and replaced just that piston. It all depends on the compression after you fix the bad piston.

 

[townsley4]

yea i dont know, 3500 dollars seems like a lot for a engine replaement. i paid less than 3000 for the waverunner. the guy who owned it before me didnt know where the choke was at, and had to use starter fluid to start it, he would spray starter fluid down the carburator opening holes ontop of the carb cover. im guessing this could be the main problem? but you would think all the pistons would be bad, not just have 1 sieze up. wht else could make 1 piston sieze up? the place i took it to didnt tell me anythign about it, and didnt even look at it, all they did was take the plugs out and tell me the engine was siezed and charged me 40$. afer they have had it all week. called a different dealer and can get a new engine isntalled for 2300$ with a 1 yr warrenty. but i dont know if i need a whole new engine? couldnt i just replace some parts? Anyone know if the yamaha GP 1200's are powervalve or not?

 

[townsley4]

took it to a different mechanic a little further away, got a quote of a new sbt engine installed for 2300$. plus an optional new oil pump for 400$. he said the crankshaft bearing blew. not sure why, but im thinking about going premix, that way i know it is getting oil all the time, dont have to worry about the oil pump quitting and back in the same situation. is it bad to run premix? if i clean the carbs every season, and carry a couple extra spark plugs on the water with me, what could go wrong?

 

[divergary]

I grew up in the pre-mix era. My 1992 Searay 19ft with 175 Mercury OB was my first self oiler. It had a recall for the flywheel. The old salt mechanic I took it to asked if I wanted the oiler removed and go premix. I asked why. He said "I can remove it for free now, or you can pay me when the oiler fails, failed oilers is where I get most of my engine rebuild jobs. I told him to remove it. After my first Seadoo engine seized, I installed an SBT block, blocked off the oiler and have been premix for past 5 years. I trust premix. Too may generations of premix motors out there and no problems. You will get more smoke and use more oil than the minimum but if the engine seizes you wont have to be concerned with smoke or extra oil. After all, most break in periods recommend double the amount of oil.