Swamped Seadoo

[Schmoe]

I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guys cousin, that forgot to screw in the drain plugs in the back of his Seadoo Sunday. Went riding around for awhile and all seemed good. He then parked it in the water for awhile. When he went to go ride it, he noticed it looked a little "heavy." Took off the seats and saw water up to the cylinders inside the engine bay. Motor still cranked and then he rode it over to pull it out of the water and drain it. Got it drained and then ran it for a long time. All seemed fine. Would hit 60, RPM's would get to 6700, no problem. He then stored it with the seats off in a garage after he cleaned it. This is the two stroke Rotax, 782.
My question, did he hurt anything? Motor ran fine and started fine. No warning lights or warning displays on the digital screen. Will the starter start having problems soon as with conventional starters? what about other parts. I would think that those SeaDoo's were at least partially designed for that, but I don't know.

 

[Rev440]

Hi:
I own seadoo. Swamped mine several times, even have to get towed 4 miles across water with only handlebars exposed.....total submerged.

All you need to do is run the engine after you drain the chassis of the water. Start and run engine on land with seadoo out of water just to make sure engine will run. Take a ride to get engine to operating temperature and dry crankcase out.

The other item of concern is the cover for the VTS [jet nozzle trim motor]. Remove the cover and make sure the water comes out. If water is not let out it can get in the drive motor and eventually seize. $10 GM wiper motor, however the vts is sold as a "unit" and around $230 bones = *ugh*
When you start blowing fuses you know the vts motor is pooched. The drive motor can be changed separately however its a dose to try and find one in a scrap yard.

Me...96 720-SPX
Seadoo's RAWK....nuff said!

 

[Schmoe]

Thanks. Luckily "his" doesn't have the VTS system. Good info, appreciate it.

 

[terminaldegree]

Yeah. As long as he got it restarted and ran it awhile and then dried it out, the seriously expensive stuff should be fine.

The worst thing you can do if you think you hydrolocked a motor is just leave it alone for a day or two.

 

[cousincletus]

I have heard that if your engine gets submerged to crank it with the sparkplugs out before you try to start it. This will blow the water out of the engine.