Every time it just quits!!

[JKEP44]

I recently purchased a 1992 sea-doo XP 580 one with a white motor and after much checking and adjusting thanks to the info on this site I took it on it's maiden voyage. The boat was oned previously by someone who didn't care about it at all. It had not been ran in several years before I worked on it. Anyway, I took it out and it ran fine other than the fact that everytime I hit a wake or wave more than 5inches the engine would just shut off. It would restart everytime with no issue and would run perfectly until the next wake. I doubt that this would be electrical because it does it everytime. I brought it home and ran it on the hose and jiggled, jared, wiggled everything that I could see, and it never cut out once. I even went as far as to lift the front of the ski off the trailer about 3inches and drop it to simulate a wave and it never cut out. The only thing that was different between the water and testing in the front yard was it was at idle in the yard and under accelleration in the water. Any thoughts would be greately appreciated. One more thing, I washed out the inside at a car wash before I left to get out some oil residue from the last owner before going to the lake. I stayed away from the air box though.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

replace the kill switch cap that hooks to your life jacket, that is the problem, it is allowing the kill switch to shut off the engine when the lanyard bounces around , those little fingers on the inside wear out, bet if you swing the lanyard around like a jump rope while it is running it shuts off

 

[JKEP44]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

I just replaced the cap and teather not long ago, that thing fits so tight that I actually worry about snaping the plastic part of the switch off when I remove it. I ran the ski and swung the theather just to try it but it still doesn't cut out. I also checked resistance through the back side of the switch thinking that the interal switch pieces might be worn out but it never went to open. Any other ideas?

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

bad or loose ground wires, I had one that would shut off the engine when I jumped waves and then it would start instantly, finally the wire snapped off and I had to be towed in, it was the ground to the coil and once I fixed it, the problem ended, I would go and look at all the ground wires especially the main one at the starter and clean the conections add some grease to them to prevent corrosion and hope that solves the problem

 

[JKEP44]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

Okay, I wiggled cleaned jiggled, checked resistance on eveything. The only thing that I haven't looked at electrically is to see if this thing has a stuck throttle shut off. In snowmobiles (including SKIDOO) there is a kill switch that runs through the throttle lever and also through the carb slides. If the resisance isn't correct through the carb slide and the throttle switch is disengauged it will kill the motor. The problem is the switch in the throttle gets worn and causes a prob. I'll check for this tomarrow unless somebody knows the answer to if it exisits on a PWC. I am beginning to think it might be a fuel issue though. Any ideas?

 

[fordworker]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

Did you open the electrical box on the flywheel side of the engine and check the wires inside?<br />there are several in there that could be loose also. doubt if a fuel issue would instantly shut engine down, usually it would loose power or slow down before stalling.

 

[JKEP44]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

I did actually check inside the electrical box and everything was good. The only part of the electrical system not checked is the spark plug wires, coil, and stator. Could any of this be a part of the issue. The really wierd thing is that I can't duplicate it out of the water. I haven't went back to the lake to try it again but could it be that something was just wet. I don't want to go back and have another wasted day.

 

[fordworker]

Re: Every time it just quits!!

Under the flywheel cover in front of the engine is the coil, stator, flywheel etc. any of these wires could be loose. or the coil could be loose or poorly grounded. <br /><br />I opened my sp up and found a loose stator that was causing high speed misfiring.