97 sea-doo question

I am currently looking at a 97 sea-doo gti. Cosmetically this thing is in amazing shape however it has not been run since '07. My question is what will need to be done to it or what should I look for. I have never dealt with a pwc before and want to get into one for some fun that I cant have on a boat. The price seems right at 500 bucks as long as I dont need to put a grand into it to get it going. The last the guy knew it was running just not being used for the last 3 years. Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: 97 sea-doo question

It been a long time since that machine had some fun, which might have fouled gasoline in it and oil. The guy is selling it cheap, so be aware however unless the engine is blown which is coslty, other repairs are minimal. I have a 2000 GSX RFI and after winter storage I hook up the water hose the the back of the machine where the nozzle is there is a black tube which sucks water into the engine, it has threads that allow you to screw in the hose, turn on water MEDIUM PRESSURE and start engine, no longer then 5 minute intervals, to be on the safe side. Look for leaks within seals of engine it will smoke, but its normal. Check bilge pumps 2, you will likely need to oil PTO wheel, grease up bearings and normal maintenance since its been sitting around that long.
Check out www.seadooforum.com

Re: 97 sea-doo question

Ok so I bought the machine and lubed and cleaned it up. I have it running. My question now is it seems the person I bought it from mixed the gas and oil together instead of using the oil injection. Is there a reason for doing this? Should I keep the same setup and if so what would be the proper mix? Im not sure if maybe the oil system on it does not work or if they just didnt want to use it for whatever reason. And I seem to have an issue with the gauges not lighting up. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!!

Re: 97 sea-doo question

I have a '97 GTI. Congrats on the nice find!
Some people remove the oil injection because they don't trust it. I've never had a problem with it in 8 years.
The gauge problem is pretty typical. Carefully clean the multi-pin connector under the hood and add a bit of dielectic grease.

Re: 97 sea-doo question

Ok the pin cleaning shouldnt be an issue. Would you recommend hooking back up the oil system or premix? Does anyone know what I should use for a ratio? Recommend a brand of oil? I have never owned one of these but it seem very similar to my snowmobile. And its actually a 96 gti with I belive a 717 motor but it has many aftermarket performance parts from what I can see. Thanks again for the great info!!

Re: 97 sea-doo question

40:1 is recommended and for that motor a tcw3 rated oil would be fine. Walmart has the quicksilver twc3 oil that works fine. The only problem you have by going the pre-mix route is you end up using more oil than you would with the stock oil injection system. The stock system uses different ratio's depending on throttle input where pre-mix always uses the same ratio. It will not hurt anything just smoke a bit more.

If you had the 787 or 951 motor i would reccomend an api-tc motor oil. It's synthetic and a low ash oil but it costs an arm an a leg 35-55 a gallon. That is what seadoo recommends,people use the tcw3 oil without issue on those motors but it always stirs a forum debate.

Have fun with the new ski.

Re: 97 sea-doo question

Well I had the ski out for the first time on the river. Note to self get towed out past the weeds next time!! It ran great after I got the weeds out of the intake. Not having much time to play I only took it up river for 2 miles or so and headed back. Almost back to the dock it started to beep. I turned it off and restarted and the steady beep was still there. I will search through the forums and try to find my answer but any help would be appreciated. Thanks again in advance!!

Re: 97 sea-doo question

Overheat condition. You probably got some weeds in the engine.
When on the trailer, start her up and give it a good cooling system flushing with a garden hose. Make SURE you have it running whenever the hose is on. Kill the engine only AFTER you shut off the water.

Re: 97 sea-doo question

Thanks for the info. We had a bad thunderstorm here so I just started digging into it. I am trying to get the gauges to work still. I have cleaned just about every connection and put dielectric grease in them and fixed a broken black wire I found under the hood which I think is a ground cause it is not jacketed. And since I have to remove the exhaust to get to the main electric box I guess I will have to trailer run it tomorrow. I also checked the 5amp fuse for the guages and that is good. Where to go now with the guages is a mystery but I will start by checking all the connections again. Thanks for the great people and info on these forums to help rookies like myself who are mechanically inclined but Jet-ski stupid. Thanks in advance!!