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I have a 1996 Tigershark Monte Carlo 900 that will not idle in water. Years ago the jet ski was flipped and the engine compartment was filled with water. The water was flushed from the engine and the ski was run to boil off the rest of the water. Sadly we were unable to take it back on the water before we had to store it for the winter. Come summer it was difficult to start, but it started. We soon found out that while the ski will idle out of water, it will not idle in water. We got it running once and it would run so long as you didn't let off the throttle. Sadly I haven't had much time to solve the issue so it has been sitting for years with some occasional attempts to get it running. But this time I am determined to get it back on the water!
I decided to do a compression test before trying to fix it again to ensure that I wouldn't be wasting my time on a junk engine. The numbers I got where 110, 120, and 100. This was a cold test with possibly not enough power to the starter. Although the numbers aren't great I don't think it should keep the ski from running. The ski is still difficult to start. The ski idles at around 3,000 rpm out of water. I also used fresh fuel whenever trying to run the ski.
The last time that I had it running I noticed that some of the carburetors seemed to be spitting gas back up the intake a little. to me this didn't seem right so I have been looking into carburetor issues. My thought is that may not be getting enough gas due to a faulty or dirty carb, giving enough power to idle out of water, but not enough to turn the impeller once in the water.
This brings me to the main reason I decided to post to this forum. I began disassembling the carburetor and while some screws are somewhat corroded it looks like the jets and float are free of corrosion and in good condition. What I came across is that all of the diaphragms have some wrinkling to them (see attached image). Being from an era of fuel injected engine my knowledge of carburetors is somewhat limited. From what I have read is that a wrinkled diaphragm is bad, but all of the images of wrinkled diaphragms look much different than the ones used in this jet ski (much thicker rubber) and I don't know what the diaphragms should look like/behave. These diaphragms look like they could easily be slightly wrinkled and work fine. Since I'm not confident in whether or not this ski will actually ever run I figured I would check to see if these actually need replacement before I start sinking money into this ski.
Some additional information: Although this ski is old it has had very little runtime. It sat in a warehouse until someone else starting using it and they only used it a few times before they sold it to us. It ran great when we got it, but we just so happened to have flipped it on the first day of use, so we haven't exactly put any runtime on it either. Figured this might help rule out some possible wear and tear issues.
I know this was a lot of text and appreciate anyone who actually bothered to read it all. Primarily I just want to know if the diaphragms are good, but I would also greatly appreciate any suggestions on what may be wrong with the ski. I will gladly answer any additional questions you may have. I don't know how soon I will actually be able to start trying them, but I should be able to start really digging into this soon.
I decided to do a compression test before trying to fix it again to ensure that I wouldn't be wasting my time on a junk engine. The numbers I got where 110, 120, and 100. This was a cold test with possibly not enough power to the starter. Although the numbers aren't great I don't think it should keep the ski from running. The ski is still difficult to start. The ski idles at around 3,000 rpm out of water. I also used fresh fuel whenever trying to run the ski.
The last time that I had it running I noticed that some of the carburetors seemed to be spitting gas back up the intake a little. to me this didn't seem right so I have been looking into carburetor issues. My thought is that may not be getting enough gas due to a faulty or dirty carb, giving enough power to idle out of water, but not enough to turn the impeller once in the water.
This brings me to the main reason I decided to post to this forum. I began disassembling the carburetor and while some screws are somewhat corroded it looks like the jets and float are free of corrosion and in good condition. What I came across is that all of the diaphragms have some wrinkling to them (see attached image). Being from an era of fuel injected engine my knowledge of carburetors is somewhat limited. From what I have read is that a wrinkled diaphragm is bad, but all of the images of wrinkled diaphragms look much different than the ones used in this jet ski (much thicker rubber) and I don't know what the diaphragms should look like/behave. These diaphragms look like they could easily be slightly wrinkled and work fine. Since I'm not confident in whether or not this ski will actually ever run I figured I would check to see if these actually need replacement before I start sinking money into this ski.
Some additional information: Although this ski is old it has had very little runtime. It sat in a warehouse until someone else starting using it and they only used it a few times before they sold it to us. It ran great when we got it, but we just so happened to have flipped it on the first day of use, so we haven't exactly put any runtime on it either. Figured this might help rule out some possible wear and tear issues.
I know this was a lot of text and appreciate anyone who actually bothered to read it all. Primarily I just want to know if the diaphragms are good, but I would also greatly appreciate any suggestions on what may be wrong with the ski. I will gladly answer any additional questions you may have. I don't know how soon I will actually be able to start trying them, but I should be able to start really digging into this soon.
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