2000 Kawasaki 900 STX - cooling vent stopped up?

[KarstRanger]

Hi folks - I appreciate the help I have received in the past in the Iboats forum and hope I can contribute myself as my knowledge grows about various watercraft.

The problem I am writing about is on the above jet ski that has only been run in fresh water. After sitting up (properly fogged and dried out) since last November, I put it in the river and it ran fine, except I noticed reduced and almost no flow out of the little 1/4" cooling water vent tube on the right front side of the craft. It dribbles a little bit under higher acceleration, but is not the steady stream that it was before.

Is this something to worry about? I ran the ski up and down the river a while before I noticed the lack of water out of that vent tube and the overheat light had not come on. I have beached it since, until I figure this out.

Thanks -- KR.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: 2000 Kawasaki 900 STX - cooling vent stopped up?

it is just dirty use a weed wacker line and push it in the hose to clear out any sand etc,, nothing to be worried about

 

[KarstRanger]

Re: 2000 Kawasaki 900 STX - cooling vent stopped up?

Thanks, weedwacker line sounds like the way to go. I will give it a try and post the results

 

[KarstRanger]

Re: 2000 Kawasaki 900 STX - cooling vent stopped up?

There is an electrically activated valve of some sort about half way between the vent and the exhaust U-tube -- this appears to be inoperative.

The weedwacker cord went up to the valve from both directions, with no blockage to clear, so I think this valve is not working. I have not checked to see if it is getting its "open" signal or not, I will need to dig out my service manual or buy one if I have not already for this here vehicle. I am not sure if I should be looking for a 12v signal or not. I wonder what the idea is behind having a valve here anyway - what is the purpose? Maybe I will should just take it out of the equation (?).

Thanks,
KR.