My free Jet ski, the saga continues. Help with starting and diagnosing sound.

[southernmaryland]

Hey all. First of all, I have no experience whatsoever with Jet skis, so if the following sounds like a novice is explaining it, that's the reason.

So if you're reading this, you may not know the story, but I received a free 1992 Kawasaki 750SS, and when I received it the guy said all it needed was a "battery". That's code for new engine. haha. This is a project for me and my buddie's son, so if it dosen't cost too much, we're going to pull it apart and get it running.
So I went and purchased a new battery today and installed, put the choke on, lanyard in place, and hit start and it tried to turn over. It was cranking and the sound from the engine literally sounded like a bunch of rocks tumbling around in a dryer. Not a banging, but it's hard to describe as I'm not a mechanic, but I know it didn't sound good. It sounded really rough, like something dry rubbing together. Not steel on steel, but not good. I hooked up the hose flush without the water on in case it started, as I didn't want to burn up the engine. It tried to turn over a few times, and then it just started making that noise like when your starter dies or battery is dead going click, click, click.. I pulled the battery and it def. sucked some juice, but recharged in a few minutes.
Any suggestions on what to do next, besides lighting it on fire? haha. Hopefully I didn't toast the engine, because I"m sure I should have poured a little oil in the pistons and turned them by hand.
Well, who knows. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: My free Jet ski, the saga continues. Help with starting and diagnosing sound.

You need spark, Fuel, and compression.. Check spark with a spark tester or pull a plug and put it in the boot, ground it against the block, crank and look for spark..

Take a eye dropper and drop some premix in each cylinder and crank.. It should fire if you have spark..

Check compression with a compression gauge.

If spark and compression are good and it fires with the premix in the cylinders but kills, then read up on rebuildind those carbs. You will probably want to do that anyway..

 

[Villain2Vacca]

Re: My free Jet ski, the saga continues. Help with starting and diagnosing sound.

You need spark, Fuel, and compression.. Check spark with a spark tester or pull a plug and put it in the boot, ground it against the block, crank and look for spark..

Take a eye dropper and drop some premix in each cylinder and crank.. It should fire if you have spark..

Check compression with a compression gauge.

If spark and compression are good and it fires with the premix in the cylinders but kills, then read up on rebuildind those carbs. You will probably want to do that anyway..

Those are the steps you need to take. Definitly check spark first, then fuel, check compression, carbs aren't to hard to rebuild, your not looking at to much money either way. Change the spark plugs either way, clean the air arrestor for starters.