cavitation???????

[johnstonjohnr]

Hello Mr. Newbie here,
I am a new born to PWC, I just purchased a 1997 Sea Doo GS on Sunday. Cleaned it all up top to bottom looks like new. Starts and runs great. Still a little sluggish but getting better, I think its the old gas and from sitting for a year. Anyway, my question is this, was out on the lake yesterday and noticed that when you first off there is what feels like a slipping transmission (to me anyway) but once the ski comes up on plane it takes off like a son of a gun. Is this what would be cavitation and if so do I need to replace the wear ring to correct this problem. If I need to replace the wear ring how hard is this to do? I am reasonably mechanically inclined (changing a head gasket on another sea doo now) and wondering if I should attemp my self. Thank you all in advance for any and all support.

 

[timmyboy76]

Re: cavitation???????

yup...got a cavitation problem, john. BTW, congrats on the purchase. There's tons of videos on u-tube, on how-to's,. to replace the ring. You'll want an impellor removal tool, even though,m IT CAN be removed/cut out, with impelllor intact, but, a pain to do. Also, inspect the condition of the impellor. If a bend in blade is present, that will cause cavitation, too

 

[BlueFishCrisis]

Re: cavitation???????

Also make sure that your ride plate / intake grate are well sealed to the hull. If not, they can let air into the pump tunnel causing ventilation.....

 

[johnstonjohnr]

Re: cavitation???????

Well new ring install and really wasn't to bad. Tried the freezer trick but no go. I think the ring had just been in there so long it was just plan stuck. So after about 3 beers and 10 minutes of starring at it I had it out in about 5 minutes time of actual hands on. LOL. Been to the lake 5 times since and not had one problem, well maybe one problem, I cant get my kids off from it. Bring out the sandwiches and water melon on the beach to distract them then zoom baby daddy is off. Oh wait there's no gas. And I thought I was getting one over on them.

 

[dannyual767]

Re: cavitation???????

Nice job, John! I've got to replace a wear ring in one of my two 1996 XP skis over the next few days. My pump repair kit should be in today or Tuesday at the latest. And yes, I have the exact same issue as you had; cavitation from a standing start but will absolutely pull like a beast from "on-plane" to top speed. The smoking gun for me is the missing chunks of wear ring!