Impeller. Rocks?

26232 Views 14 Replies 9 Participants Last post by seaking, Aug 7, 2014

Sparkwa

Discussion Starter · Aug 3, 2014

My son was riding in open water (500 feet deep) with my wife. Raspy sonic grinding sound and the machine lost propulsion. I turned it on it's side and it appeared the impeller had a ding 1/4 away from outside, on all blades. Dealer says rock damage....$730 later repaired and good to go. (Did not get old parts back....my bad)

Brought the machine home. Wife idles it over to it's mooring buoy. A few days later son idles it over to our dock then rides it about 20 feet, gives it a little gas - same symptoms. So it has about three minutes of time on it and happens again in clear water of at least 8 feet deep.

In the first break-down my son tells me the machine was, "louder", for several minutes before it got really loud and failed. I find it incredible that it somehow sucked up a rock in water 500 feet deep? In my mind a rock incident happens in shallow water and instantly.

We have another Spark and have had zero problems with it.

Ideas? Do you think I am dealing with some type of defect?

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wizzer

· #2 · Aug 4, 2014

Your or your son is hitting something floating in the water . A piece of wood is all it takes. Go back to the dealer and get your old prop back as it is yours and repairable. I would also recomend you repair any prop and wear ring items yourself since its utterly simple . If you do hear something in the jetdrive SHUTDOWN immediately and tow to shore to pull the item out with a stick . Teach anyone who rides it this as well. If you drive any distance to where you ride I would also recomend getting a spare wear ring with the tools to replace it and keep them in the tow vehicle . For less than a hundred bucks this could save your weekend.
I would pull your housing off the back and be sure the driveshaft is not stripped.

Wrench4fun

· #3 · Aug 4, 2014

got to be picking something up floating in the water, they don't just bend on their own. $730 to fix it? wow! even at Canadian prices that seems expensive! an impeller is about $350 CND and a wear ring is $85 CND, A dealer shouldn't be charging any more than 1.5 hour to change an impeller.

Sarge707

· #4 · Aug 4, 2014

If your riding and All of a sudden you hear a terrible grinding, Vibrating sound and you can hear and feel the vibration stop immediately. Usually you can limp back to your launch point at about 2,800 rpm,s or 4 MPH without incurring the terrible vibration but once you give it more gas you hear the grinding. If its just a piece of bark between the prop and wear ring and you put it on the trailer and gun it the bark will fly out- BUT in the water the water pressure keeps the bark stuck. If its a Rock or bigger piece of wood pulling the pump is usually needed.

Sparkwa

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 5, 2014

Thanks for all the inputs. I have a suspicion something is just not right. We use the Skis in Puget Sound which has some floating stuff but not a lot. One time I understand....but twice? Second time with about 2 minutes of time on it? The second time was right in front of my wife in glassy smooth clean deep water.

JoeZ

· #6 · Aug 5, 2014

BTW, that dealer is overcharging you.

Sparkwa

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 5, 2014

Part # 267000584 Impeller Ass Y $299.99
Part # 267000617 Wear Ring. $68.99
Labor 3hrs. $285.00
Shop Supplies. $19.95
Tax. $63.35

Total $737.28

wizzer

· #8 · Aug 5, 2014 (Edited)

I wonder if the drive shaft splines are stripped and they misdiagnosed it. A ding in the impellar will lose lots of top speed, a blown wear ring will almost bring you to a dead stop. Take the 3 bolts off the rear of the jet drive and the link to get to it and pull it off. See if the splines are trashed on the impellar end and see if you can turn the driveshaft thats sticking out. It should be locked to the engine and not spin free.

Rthonb

· #9 · Aug 5, 2014

3 hours of labor? That's criminal

Sparkwa

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 5, 2014

I wish I could hear another Spark and the sound it makes with debris damage. When I started it for a moment, after the first event, it sounded hideous. Very loud pitched metal to metal, shrill, contact sound. Like something scrapping along a piece if metal at very high speed. Calling the dealer today.

On the repair price. I called another dealer and they quoted me $600 to do the same repairs.

wizzer

· #11 · Aug 6, 2014

In the water you should not hear anything but the engine rumbling. Out of the water they rattle when running like marbles in a spinning coffee can . Unless there is something in the pump getting smacked it should be noise free in the water.

Wrench4fun

· #12 · Aug 6, 2014

price of the parts look ok, but the labor is NOT right, they are ripping you off! plain and simple, it doesn't take that much work to change an impeller on a two stroke seadoo never mind how easy it is to do on a spark!!

learn how to do it yourself! its not that hard!

wingsup

· #13 · Aug 6, 2014

Sparkwa, I just paid my dealer 2.5 hours at $95 to change the wear ring. I'll do it my self next time.
$225 total after parts.
Another dealer I contacted was also 2.5 hours @ $105. If they tell you more find someone else.

Sparkmats

· #14 · Aug 7, 2014

Time to buy an extra prop on Ebay or an aftermarket impellor ( both run 250-300 Dollars US each), also would look into getting a metal wear ring from Riva or R&D

seaking

· #15 · Aug 7, 2014

Wrench4fun said:
price of the parts look ok, but the labor is NOT right, they are ripping you off! plain and simple, it doesn't take that much work to change an impeller on a two stroke seadoo never mind how easy it is to do on a spark!!

learn how to do it yourself! its not that hard!

I guess they figured that they might as well take advantage of the demand for servicing, can't blame them.

it definitely helps to learn this stuff, another great reason for being here since DIY's and how-to's are usually posted on websites like this.

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