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Hello, I recently bought 2 Yamaha Waverunner GP800R jet skis. I took them out for around 3 and a half hours a few days after I bought them with some friends. It wasn't until I was washing the salt water off that I had noticed both drain plugs out on only one of the jet skis. I took off the cover to see maybe 3-4 inches of water beneath the engine. It looks like the engine was raised enough not to come in contact with the salt water. I quickly took many towels and soaked all of the water out until none was to be seen at the bottom of the engine compartment. My other jet ski started up normally. I flushed all of the salt water out and then put the drain plugs back in. I then charged the battery to test to see if the jet ski that was left without drain plugs would start. I proceeded to start the jet ski and after numerous attempts it would sound like it was trying hard to start but never could. I know its not the battery because it charged fine. I'm leaving it out in the sun to dry currently and need some advice. Could the spark plugs possibly have gotten wet? A small amount of water may have dripped onto spark plugs when I was removing it with the towels. I see there is rubber protecting the spark plugs. Do they get wet easily even if only a small amount of water drips onto the protective rubber? Any advice is greatly appreciated and servicing them is at the bottom of my list. Thanks a lot.

Submitted: 420 days and 15 hours ago.

Category: Boat

Value: $5

Status: AWAITING CUSTOMER ACTION

Hi XXXXXXX,
The spark plugs should not be susceptible to water externally. It is possible some water may have gotten sucked up through the intake and is inside the engine. You need to take the plugs out, ground them to the engine but not in the vicinity of the spark plug holes, and crank the engine over. DO NOT STAND OVER THE ENGINE when cranking it with the spark plugs out. If and depending on how much water is in the engine, it could shoot a stream 10 to 20 feet into the air. If at all possible, throw a heavy towel across the top of the engine compartment to prevent that.
If you did pump water out, continue to crank it in 30 second increments with 5 minutes between crankings. You don't want to crank continuously because it puts undue strain on the electrics.
After it appears like there is almost no water pumping out of the engine, dry the plugs off, contact cleaner works well, and re-install them and try to start normally. Full choke, no throttle, gas petcock turned to reserve.
This is a long process of trying to start the engine, having it run for a short period of time, taking the plugs out, drying them off, putting them back in and starting it again. Each time it starts it will run longer and longer until eventually it will run and respond to the throttle normally. You do not need a flush hose at this time. Wait until the engine starts and idles and responds to the throttle normally before attaching the flush hose. It is safe to run the engine for up to 15 seconds without cooling water so you don't have to worry that you might be damaging your engine.
That should fix you up!
Thanks
RSRBOB

Accepts:
Expert:	RSRBOB
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Answered:	9/29/2008

Technician

Former Yamaha Factory Service Rep, Dlr Line Tech, Serv Mgr, G/M

420 days and 15 hours ago.

Reply

Awesome, thanks for the quick response. When you say crank the engine, do you mean take the spark plugs out and then start the jet ski normally and then pull the throttle? Also what do you mean when you say ground the spark plugs once I remove them from the holes?

Accepted Answer

When I said cranking the engine, I meant hitting the starter button with the lanyard installed. Grounding the spark plugs means taking them out of the head, putting them back in the spark plug caps and then laying them on the cylinder head or some other metal on the engine so the circuit for the ignition is completed. When I was talking about starting it, normal starting procedure should be full choke no throttle. If you have found you have to do something other than that to start it, then use what has worked for you in the past. Overall, the Yamaha's and GP800's are very solid skis. I just hope there isn't damage from salt water sitting in the engine for too long.
Thanks
RSRBOB

Accepts:
Expert:	RSRBOB
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Answered:	9/29/2008

Technician

Former Yamaha Factory Service Rep, Dlr Line Tech, Serv Mgr, G/M

419 days and 10 hours ago.

Reply

So just now I tried starting the jet ski with the spark plugs out and grounded to the cylinder head. I watched the spark plugs spark, so I know I grounded it correctly. Absolutely no water came out from the spark plug holes. Although, I noticed they were soaked with gasoline. I dried them off and put them back in and tried to start the engine, still nothing. I took them out again and again were soaked with gasoline. It's getting colder and I want to be able to use them a few more times. So I may just give in and take them to Casey Cycle City to be serviced so I'm educated on what exactly is wrong.

Posted by RSRBOB 419 days and 8 hours ago.

Answer

I am curious as to why the plugs are coming out soaked with gas. In spinning the engine over with the spark plugs out, it sounds like you saw no signs of any liquid, gas or water, being pumped out of the spark plug holes.
My question is about the spark that you saw. You need to look for spark at the tip of the spark plug that is normally installed inside the cylinder. You want to see a nice blue arc for spark between the center electrode and the side electrode. If you observe spark but it is white and looks like a sparkler, and jumping from the center porcelain to the side of the plug casing, the spark plugs are fouled and would need to be replaced.
In your case, the easiest thing to do is borrow the spark plugs out of the running ski and put them in the non running ski and see what happens. Since it sounds like there is plenty of gas, I would try starting it without the choke one time. Crank it over no choke no throttle for about 10 ~15 seconds. IF you don't get any kind of a pop or sounds like it is trying to start, hold the throttle wide open for 15 more seconds and see if it starts.
I would suggest giving this one last shot before taking it to the dealer. I suspect you are much closer than you think to getting this thing running.
Thanks
RSRBOB

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Awesome, thanks for the quick response. When you say crank the engine, do you mean take the spark plugs out and then start the jet ski normally and then pull the throttle? Also what do you mean when you say ground the spark plugs once I remove them from the holes?

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