[Sparky23]

Hi all - Hope someone can point me in a better direction here.. I have a new Spark 3-up and on my second trip out with it drove thru a patch of seaweed. The thing immediately bogged down, and I let off the throttle and coasted out to clear water, then lightly throttled in reverse to hopefully remove any plant debris. It seemed to work well, but now there is very sluggish take-off (sounds & feels like it's loading up) up to about 14 or 15mph, when it sounds as if the thing is 'clearing out' and picks up speed. It just doesn't have the pick-up range that it had the first time out.
The impeller area and rear of the motor are completely clean of debris... Any ideas what may be going on? Thank you in advance for your input!!

 

[xdrian]

Sounds like you still may have left over debris still in the prop area.


Its amazing how small amount of crap can cause that only way to tell is to pull the pump to tell.


Check wear ring at the same time.

 

[QuackDoc]

Using reverse to clear the impeller isn't going to help, as it doesn't reverse the direction that the impeller is spinning. It just redirects the force coming out of the nozzle. Best bet is get underneath of the machine and inspect around the front of the impeller, and the intake grate. You don't want the seaweed passing through the jet, as it will prematurely wear out the wear ring. When you get the jet plugged up, best bet is shut it down and clear out from the bottom. Hard to do in the water, but you can beach it and roll it to the side. Make sure you roll in the direction on the label so that you don't hydro lock the engine. I think it's toward to port side (counter clockwise when standing at the rear.). Confirm on the decal. Maybe someone hear can confirm as well.

 

[NitroHunter]

Hi all - Hope someone can point me in a better direction here.. I have a new Spark 3-up and on my second trip out with it drove thru a patch of seaweed. The thing immediately bogged down, and I let off the throttle and coasted out to clear water, then lightly throttled in reverse to hopefully remove any plant debris. It seemed to work well, but now there is very sluggish take-off (sounds & feels like it's loading up) up to about 14 or 15mph, when it sounds as if the thing is 'clearing out' and picks up speed. It just doesn't have the pick-up range that it had the first time out.
The impeller area and rear of the motor are completely clean of debris... Any ideas what may be going on? Thank you in advance for your input!!

The best way is to run the engine for a few 20-35 secs rev a little and turn off. this will help remove water in the exhaust jacket doing this will avoid any intrusion back into the motor and you can turn the jet ski however you want to.

 

[techstyle]

I had the same issue in a lake, got into standing depth of water, turned it off and got in the water. Feel underneath with your arm for the intake grate and pull out any debris. Mine had full plants blocking it. I pulled them out and everything was fine after that. No need to turn it over or anything.

 

[Sparky23]

Thanks guys, but there was nothing in the grate or the impeller. Only a small piece on the back of the motor cover. Does this sound like it could be a wear ring issue, as I have heard a lot of horror stories about them on the Sparks, but assumed that was only on the earlier models?

 

[Cormacs]

It could be the wear ring. It's not really a horror story. If you stuck up junk the wear ring is going to do what it is designed to do, wear.


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[SpunN]

Just clean the impeller shaft, this is normal and get used to it. Even the pro's run seaweed on accident, youre in good company