[gnatsum]

Hello everyone,
Please forgive the fowardness, but i am a rookie that bought a used jet-ski and am now kicking myself in the arse...I can work on cars all day long but feel stupid when looking at my jet-ski...

Anyway, here is my prob. I got the ski on the water (BTW it is a 2000 Polaris SLX ) and it was running fine. We had been riding for an hour or so and I had it out trying to do a few tricks. All of a sudden, the thing just slowed to a stop and was blinking low oil. I immediatly stopped to head in to shore. Now, at this time, the ski wouldn't do over 6 mph, even with the throttle wide open. I got it to shore, let it cool, and filled it with oil (did use kawasaki jet ski oil). Tried to start it...nothing. It would spin over, then just click, spin over then just click again.
I pulled it out of the water and checked everything i could think of. Pulled the (new) plugs, looked fine. Disconnected the reconnected the battery, even charged the battery for a bit. Stuck it in the water and tried to start it again. Now it would turn over but never stay running. Even with the throttle mashed, RPMs never got very high. it would idle down and die.
At this point i took off the seat to see what was going on when i started it. Besides the fact that it was smoking like crazy, I noticed water shooting from the "water manifold????" on top of the head right by the spark plug. It was water only, not gas or oil...Looks like the gasket is out. Didnt ever notice this before....but never looked either.

Suggestions? Thanks ahead of time

 

[speedfreak99]

check the compression-

 

[tv4fish]

To me -- it sounds like you seized the engine -- if you ran it out of oil, that w/b problem No.1 and the cause for the seizure. Also, sounds like you have a blown head gasket - you could have had a major air leak due to that, giving you the same end result - seized engine or holed piston(s). At a minimum, you need to pull the head to replace the blown gasket anyway - while you're there, check all pistons and cylinder walls for damage. BUMMER.

 

[gnatsum]

If I seized the motor, would it still run. Like I said, i can get it to run but not stay running. And Im pretty sure its not the head gasket. It is a small water rail on top of the valve cover...called a water manifold?

 

[tv4fish]

With a "mild" seizure, sometimes the engine will still run, but with not much power. Have you checked your fuel/water filter? Could be bad/weak fuel pump? What color smoke was it - white, blue?? The more details you provide, the easier it is to try to diagnose???? (Sorry - I flunked mind-reading 101) ?