[potminer]

So last time on the water early summer my son was tearing around and it was running strong then just stopped. I thought the battery was dead as it barely turned over. I towed it back and charged the battery but it wouldn’t crank over. I couldn’t turn pto by hand but could with a pipe wrench and some oil down the cylinder holes. I noticed some oil in the hull and suspected a crank seal / bearing. I brought it home and left it until now. I can now turn pto by hand with spark plugs in! I pulled the engine and can’t see where it was leaking oil? All oil lines appeared to be intact and not leaking. I removed lowest bolt on magneto housing thinking oil might me evident but nothing. Please assist. Thanks

 

[Jetski Investor]

Before you go any further I would check to make sure that the oil tank is not leaking. I've had that happen a couple of times. After that just do a compression test and then go from there. The other thing I would suggest would be to download the service manual for the ski. You can find it for free on the internet.

 

[potminer]

I never noticed oil in hull prior to this happening. I can’t do compression test as engine is out of ski now. I couldn’t do one before as the battery wouldn’t crank engine over

 

[potminer]

Before you go any further I would check to make sure that the oil tank is not leaking. I've had that happen a couple of times. After that just do a compression test and then go from there. The other thing I would suggest would be to download the service manual for the ski. You can find it for free on the internet.

Where was your oil tank leaking from? Is this a problem area with these skis?

 

[Jetski Investor]

I leaked from a couple areas, from the bulk head fittings and it had also split at the seam in the middle of the tank. It could still be one of your seals, but when someone mentions oil leaking I always am a bit suspicious of the tank. I don't know if it is a big issue with these skis, but the three that i have owned have all leaked. You should still be able to do the compression test out of the water just hook up the starter directly to the batter or turn the engine over with a wrench although that wont necessarily tell you if you have a bad crankcase seal. I personally would suggest doing a leak down test.

 

[potminer]

Is leak down test more for top end vs bottom end seals?

 

[Jetski Investor]

It can be used for both. Essentially what you do is pressurize the system and close off all known areas where the pressure could escape. So in theory all you need to do to see if one of your seals is bad is to pressurize your bottom end and if you pressure is dropping you know one of your seals is bad. This won't work if its one of the inner seals as it still is in the pressurized system, but generally if its one of the inner seals you will notice stuff like the engine hydro locking from oil leaking into the cylinders. I'm not an expert in this, but this is my understanding of the topic.