engine rebuild

[waterboy84]

I got a 97 kawasaki 1100zxi and would like to get some info on this rebuild. What are the steps and things i need or should replace when doing the rebuild. I am mechaniclly inclined and have lots of knowledge on mechanical work however i never touched a 2 stroke jetski motor. Thanks for the info.

 

[gm280]

The first thing I would most certainly do is buy the factory shop manual for your engine and read it before attempting the rebuild. The info in that shop manual will answer a ton of questions about how and why. :thumb:

 

[Scott Danforth]

I found with jet skis that you can buy a rebuilt longblock for about what you can buy the parts for to rebuild it yourself, and it comes with a warranty.

however if your rebuilding for the learning experience, get the shop manual.

 

[waterboy84]

Does anybody know if there is a downloadable manual for a shop manual or do you just have to buy the manual. Also let me ask a quick question. I dont have a compression tester just yet but am gonna get one soon. I had this old give me his jet ski. It was not running when he gave it to me. However he told me it was running when he last rode 3 years ago. I brought it home and all i did was clean spark plugs alil and put freash gas and it fire up. And it didnt take much to fire it up. Sense i didnt do much for it to fire up would you consider the ski to be good. The ski and motor looks really amazing and actually almost looks new. Is there any way to tell if crank seals are bad and is there any way to tell without using a compression tester if it has low compression. And what does it mean if oil and water shoot out the exhuast when motor cranks up. It was shooting out water and oil alot when i first got it to start but after a few times cranking it and letting it run for no more then 10 seconds here and there when i crank it. The oil and water shooting out the exhuast has gotten smaller amounts. Sometimes nothing will shoot out. Also white smoke will fill the air. Sometimes alot of smoke and other times not so much smoke will come out of exhuast. Is this normal for a ski that has been sitting for 3 years not running

 

[gm280]

White smoke says water in the combustion or exhaust, not good. Oil squirting oil, not good. The fact that it did crank so easily, that's good. Buy the shop manual ( no after market types) and start reading and before you know it. you will be an expert on that machine. JMHO!

 

[waterboy84]

So the oil and water wouldnt be from sitting so long. Thats what i was think that maybe from sitting for so long everything that was left in it sat in it and its all being blown out and burned off. And the spark plugs in it are slap shot. I dont even no how they are even working the little that they are.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Get a compression tester.they range from between $20 and $45 for one with adapters ($25 at autozone, and $21 at walmart)

water and oil could be bad seal, could be fogging oil, could be condensation, stuck rings, bad rings, etc. you wont know health of your motor until you go thru testing.

 

[waterboy84]

Ok so i will start off by getting a compression tester and go from there. What would a good read of psi be for tjis type of motor on the compression test

 

[Scott Danforth]

120-150psi off the top of my head, however the value would be in the factory service manual.

I found this link with a .004 second google search http://www.pwctoday.com/showthread.php?t=163985

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

P S I readings vary with the equipment you use so it is more important that the readings are all very close to each other, a real low reading usually indicates a bad cylinder. You will need to totally clean the fuel system and do the carbs. The spark plugs will tell you a lot about the engine, black is carbon, clean is lean and silver on the tip is the kiss of death since it means aluminum is coming off the piston and attaching itself to the plug tip due to water in the combustion chamber. I would always suggest you check the easy things first never assume anything, check the crank end play, look in the plug holes to see the top of the pistons and their color and condition. Remember even a bad 2 stroke will run on the trailer, learn the correct way to run one on the hose. Check all your ground wires connections as those corrode and cause issues also.

 

[waterboy84]

Ok well i havnt been able to pick up a compression tester just yet. But i will defenently be getting one soon. However i took the motor out of my ski and inside all the exhuast pipes it was just corbon build up. And it was bad. It was almost like it was a bunch of unburned gas and oil caked to the sides. Any how i took all the exhaust pipes and scrapped them out and cleaned all that built up carbon out and got them all clean. However i wanna take the water box out and seeing how much build up is in that.
Is it true that with unburned gas and oil sitting in the exhuast pipes that when the motor is running it will make it smoke alot. Keep in mind this motor does run. It actually fires right up with no problem.
Once i took all the exhuast piping off the motor i was able to see the pistons. I was pretty amazed how it looked inside the piston juggs and how the pistons looked. I have a few pics imma post of the pistons and the piston juggs and if you could tell me by what you see in the pics if all looks ok. I know looks do matter but maybe you could tell me something by looking at the pics.
I understand and know i need a compression tester but i wont be able to get one until after christmas.
Again i just want to say this motor does run. The ski has been sitting for 3 years. When i got the ski it was not running. When i brought ski home and started to work on it. All i did was vlean up the spark plugs that i had in it and put some pre mix gas in it and it fired right up. But smokes alot sometimes and other times i doesnt smoke much. And when i first got it fired up it was shooting out oil. I would say a great amount but it seems like the more i ran it the less it would smoke and it doesnt really shoot much oil out any more. I did some research on this forum and read about how unburned gas and oil in exhuast pipes will cause smoke because its burning off. Is that true.
Sorry for this long post. Just trying to collect as much knowledge about my ski as possible. Thanks for all the info. Imma post the pics as well

 

[waterboy84]

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[waterboy84]

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[Jeff Walkowiak]

I don't see stuck rings but this is not a accurate way to view the condition of the cylinders, I personally would wait and see how it runs after you cleaned the crap out of the exhaust system, correct back pressure is quite important on a 2 stroke

 

[waterboy84]

Well i got the exhuast system clean and holy crap it was just o so caked with carbon. Any way i got it all put back together and fired it up and all the smoke has gone away and no oil came shooting out the exhuast. However it still had alittle smoke but of course all 2 stroke do smoke alittle. Once i fired it up it still would bogg down id say at mid range throttle so i decided it has to be carburator related. I took carburator off and sure enough i found alittle crack in one of the gas lines on the carburator. All the gas lines are gonna need replace. There hard and you cant even pinch them or squeez them. So im gonna replace the al the fuel lines and go from there. Im pretty sure im gonna have to play around with the high and low settings on this carburator. I wanted to see how many turns out they were set at and on one of the high setting screws witch is the top set one screw was out one turn and another one of the screws was out 2 turns. Do these screws have to all be set on all three catbs the same amount of turns or is one screw out one turn and the other carb out two turns. Can someone give me a starting point on how many turns out to put the screws.

 

[eavega]

The manual linked to earlier has the initial high-speed and low-speed settings for the carburetors in section 2.4. It should be for all of the carbs since they all feed fuel to each individual cylinder. Keep reading that section and note how to synchronize the carburetors. That is very important so that they are feeding the same amount of fuel to each cylinder.

Rgds

Eric

 

[Scott Danforth]

you never want to run it lean. the sync is very important

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

They should all be very similar, I would suggest you rebuild the insides of the carbs and the fuel pump section especially since they say for a long time they are usually the culprit with engines bogging down etc

 

[waterboy84]

Thanks alot jeff for all ur info and help. After christmas im gonna get busy and get the carbs rebuilt and the good thing is i live on a lake and there is a boat ramp 2 houses down from me. So it will be easy for me to get the carbs rebuilt then take ski to boat ramp and play around with the high and low speed settings. The rebuild will be simple just hope findinding the correct settings wont be frustrating. Is there any kind of start point on how many turns out to put the screws to have a starting point

 

[eavega]

. Is there any kind of start point on how many turns out to put the screws to have a starting point

Per the manual (as I posted earlier, the specifications are in section 2.4 of the service manual) the initial settings for the mixture screws are: Low Speed=1 1/8 +-1/4 turn open from full seat. High Speed: 1 +- 1/4 turn open from full seat.

-E