Yamaha WaveRaider cutting out.

[metriccrescentwrench]

I've got a '96 Yamaha WaveRaider 1100 which runs great - for 10 or 15 minutes. Then out of nowhere it just shuts off as though I hit the stop button. It'll crank back up and barely stay running, than after a few minutes it'll run fine.

Compression is great (120 psi on all 3). I've checked the kill switch with an ohm-meter, even went so far as to spray water on it, and couldn't find any issues there. I've checked the spark with a spark tester set at 15 mm as specified in the manual (but of course the engine was cool when I did this test).

To me this seems likely to be a bad ignition box, but I hate just throwing money at a problem. Any input from anyone who's had a similar problem?

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Could be a bad ground connection or a deteriorated ground wire even a bad pin connector, electrical issues are a pain in the butt you have to keep looking for the culprit. First you must absolutely determine if it is electrical or fuel. Although it sure sounds like electrical. I had a sea doo 787 gtx that would do that and then run for days with no issues and just when you forgot about it wham just like you hit the kill switch it would stall , I tracked it down to the ground connection at the engine, it was dirty so from them on I added a second ground to the battery and mounted that one high on the engine to avoid water contact from any residual water in the hull, problem was solved I had another sea doo that had issues with pin connectors , I would need to spray silicon on the pins and then plug the brain back in and it would fix it for a month or so. But that is salt water use .

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

I think I found something. First off the stator checks out ok, all the resistance readings were well within spec.

Then I checked the spark again with the gap set to the factory specified 9 mm (not 15 as I said before - I had a momentary brain fade when I typed that) and the spark was very lethargic. It only got good with the gap turned down to about 8 mm. Then I warmed up the CDI box with a hair dryer and the spark would only jump about 5 mm.

SO.... where can I get a replacement CDI box? I know that CDI Electronics makes them for outboards, but they don't list any for PWC. I might end up getting one from ebay, but I'm hesitant to buy used ignition components.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

I doubt it is the c d I those either work or they don't, I would carefully check the core of the spark plug wires and I would check the grounds to the engine and the c d I , I have seen the pug wire cores totally turn to dust. They are pretty simple to replace.