*warning* long post...sorry guys! I just wanted to include the whole background of everything I have done so far to this point in time...
Greetings everyone. I recently purchased a 94 Waverunner III 700 and of course it ended up being a project because some CL sellers are sketchy and I got it on a whim without really knowing what I was looking for. I have done a lot of searching and have the Clymer's Repair Manual and I am almost there to getting this bad boy running great! Through various Google searches, iBoats kept coming up and had the best information so I am excited to be posting here and look forward to learning! I am rather mechanically inclined, but new to the PWC scene.
First of all, the previous owner had not taken great care of the ski. The fuel lines were ghetto rigged, bypassing the filter/valve and he left the reserve pick up unblocked so fuel just dumped into the hull. He said he recently rebuilt the carb so theroetically that should be OK, but I don't have much faith in his ability. The exhaust was way too smokey so I figured it was running rich. I took it out two times and the engine bogged down around half throttle; the 2nd half of the throttle cable had no respoonse. Acceleration was really slow and it was misfiring. The engine does have even compression of 150 over both.
My tactic was to address the 3 components of combustion.
I changed the spark plugs and both old plugs were black and oily and looked terrible.
I replaced all the fuel lines properly with the reserve and main pickups, the fuel valve, and replaced the fuel filter. I checked the breather hoses and check valves for function. The most important thing I did on the fuel front was convert the ski to PREMIX because the ski seemed to be burning way too much oil. Exhaust is a lot less smokey now.
The last componenet is air which is where I have questions on.
After the previous work, I took it out and it ran like a champ full throttle, good acceleration, good speed, I thought I had it 100% fixed. and it was for about 20 minutes. After running about 20 minutes the ski slowly starts to bog down and run rough and lose power. To me, this indicates an exhaust leak somewhere and the hull is slowly filling up with fumes so it can't get fresh air. After it lost power, I docked it and opened the hood and it smelled like gas. I let it air out for about 10 minutes and then it ran great again for about 15-20 minutes and repeated itself.
Does my analysis sound OK or am I missing anything?
How should I go about locating the exhaust leak without trying to rebuild everything on the exhaust end?
I am fairly certain it is an exhuast leak but I am unsure how to locate where it is.
Thanks guys! I look forward to learning a lot around here!
-Rob
If you lasted through this long post, congratulations!
Greetings everyone. I recently purchased a 94 Waverunner III 700 and of course it ended up being a project because some CL sellers are sketchy and I got it on a whim without really knowing what I was looking for. I have done a lot of searching and have the Clymer's Repair Manual and I am almost there to getting this bad boy running great! Through various Google searches, iBoats kept coming up and had the best information so I am excited to be posting here and look forward to learning! I am rather mechanically inclined, but new to the PWC scene.
First of all, the previous owner had not taken great care of the ski. The fuel lines were ghetto rigged, bypassing the filter/valve and he left the reserve pick up unblocked so fuel just dumped into the hull. He said he recently rebuilt the carb so theroetically that should be OK, but I don't have much faith in his ability. The exhaust was way too smokey so I figured it was running rich. I took it out two times and the engine bogged down around half throttle; the 2nd half of the throttle cable had no respoonse. Acceleration was really slow and it was misfiring. The engine does have even compression of 150 over both.
My tactic was to address the 3 components of combustion.
I changed the spark plugs and both old plugs were black and oily and looked terrible.
I replaced all the fuel lines properly with the reserve and main pickups, the fuel valve, and replaced the fuel filter. I checked the breather hoses and check valves for function. The most important thing I did on the fuel front was convert the ski to PREMIX because the ski seemed to be burning way too much oil. Exhaust is a lot less smokey now.
The last componenet is air which is where I have questions on.
After the previous work, I took it out and it ran like a champ full throttle, good acceleration, good speed, I thought I had it 100% fixed. and it was for about 20 minutes. After running about 20 minutes the ski slowly starts to bog down and run rough and lose power. To me, this indicates an exhaust leak somewhere and the hull is slowly filling up with fumes so it can't get fresh air. After it lost power, I docked it and opened the hood and it smelled like gas. I let it air out for about 10 minutes and then it ran great again for about 15-20 minutes and repeated itself.
Does my analysis sound OK or am I missing anything?
How should I go about locating the exhaust leak without trying to rebuild everything on the exhaust end?
I am fairly certain it is an exhuast leak but I am unsure how to locate where it is.
Thanks guys! I look forward to learning a lot around here!
-Rob
If you lasted through this long post, congratulations!
I just wanted to go ahead and order parts so maybe I could have them by the next time I made it down.