1998 Sea Doo GTI

T-rain

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Jun 19, 2017
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23
Last weekend took it off trailer, son was riding along in middle of lake waiting on me to park the truck. It suddenly died like the control circuit was disabled. He said no noised or anything out of the ordinary. Well, we ended up pulling it back to shore, it would barely click. Changed batteries; a little more sound (wish I could post the noise its making). I pulled the plugs, the cover off the shaft. Cant get it to turn over. I checked the voltage at the solenoid, I have 12.8 on the pos side, but when hitting start button, only getting 2-3 volts. The motor isnt turning over, you can feel the pistons vibrating with a screwdriver. Of course my fear is the motor is locked up, but if the solenoid isnt closing completely, would that have the starter starved for voltage and it only trying to bump? I have a new solenoid ordered. I figured it would be worth a shot instead of tearing into it further. Would the motor being locked up be causing me to have the low voltage on the other side when Im hitting the start button?
 

alldodge

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have 12.8 on the pos side, but when hitting start button, only getting 2-3 volts

If it dropped to 10 or 11V I would think weak bat, but going to 2-3V that bat is dead
 

T-rain

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Jun 19, 2017
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I had just swapped the battery out of my other ski, which I had just been running. Im wondering if the motor being locked up or the starter could be loading it down and causing that extreme voltage drop?
 

T-rain

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Jun 19, 2017
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I took the plastic cover off the pto shaft. Should i be able to turn it there, or should I have to disconnect the drive to be able to turn the motor over? Something feels locked up. Im thinking starter, but would it be possible for the starter to shut it down on the lake? I would thought if the motor locked up, there would be some kinda noise or violent reaction when it locked up. He said it was just like someone pulled the lanyard and it just quit. Thanks for the reply!!
 

alldodge

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Maybe with some bad corrosion in the cables and maybe not a great connection with the meter. A fully charged bat being pulled down to 3V I would think of smelling burn cables and something getting real hot

With the plugs pulled you should be able to rotate the motor by hand
 

T-rain

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Jun 19, 2017
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23
Thats what I was thinking on turning the motor by hand. Do you think the starter could be locking it up possibly? My fear of course is that the motor has locked up?
 

alldodge

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Anything is possible but in most cases the starter wouldn't stay engaged.
 

jbetzelb

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Apr 28, 2011
Messages
301
I am asking because I have had it happen. Did you make sure nothing got sucked into the pump and locked it up? With the volt info you have listed it sounds like a problem there but look at the pump if you havent already.
 
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