2004 Genesis i Spark Plug Fouling

[JJL1968]

This is a great site. I've been reading up on what I can. This is my problem...

I have a 2004 Polaris Genesis i with 28 hours on it. I just essentially use it as a dinghy to get to my boat's mooring. It's always ran great and started everytime.

This season I took it out in the lake and the "check engine light" came on. It ran good but the RPM was limited and it wouldn't go above 35 mph.

I took it into the dealer and they said they found a bad ground on the #1 coil. They essentially just made a jumper with a short piece of wire and two ring terminals and put it on the bolt where it mounts to the cylinder head. They said they lake tested it and it ran fine. I picked it up and dropped it in the lake and the check engine light was off but it wouldn't run. It was missing and wouldn't accelerate out of the hole or even get on plane. Wouldn't do much above 25MPH.

I took it back to the shop and they said it had no spark on the #2 cylinder and found the plug was badly fouled. They replaced all 3 plugs, lake tested it and said it was fixed. I picked it up, dropped it in the lake and this time it ran perfectly but only for about 20 minutes. Then it started missing again just as before. I pulled the plugs myself and they were all fouled. #1 wasn't awful but #'s 2 and 3 were bad. After only 20 minutes. I replaced all 3 plugs and took it to Lake Michigan where there is a long no wake zone in the river before you get out in the big water and it didn't run at all. Same as before. Missing badly, no power, no acceleration. I didn't check the plugs, just assumed they had fouled and took it back to the dealer.

Does anyone have an idea of what I can look at? At this point I don't have a lot of faith in the dealer I'm going to but they are the closest with the PODIAG software. I checked the t stat and it's not plugged. I didn't test the battery but I did give it a full charge and it starts right up everytime.

I'd appreciate any and all assistance.

Thanks!

[K447]

Welcome

What are the plugs fouling with? Oil, or dry carbon, or wet with gasoline?

Is this engine primarily run at low speeds with low RPM, or does it also get plenty of mid-upper range RPM running?

Are the correct spark plugs being used?
NGK PZFR6H

What 2-stroke oil is being used?

How old is the gasoline in the tank?
Do you use stabilizer in the fuel?
Does your gasoline have ethanol?

[K447]

Improving the ignition coil grounding on 1165cc (1200) Ficht engines

I don't like the way the factory installation grounds the cylinder head mounted ignition coils on the 1165cc Ficht heads.
You might want to re-do the coil grounding as follows;

On each head, remove the ignition coil, and file away the paint of the one mounting boss that matches with the metal ground tab on the coil.

Re-bend the inner ground tab so the fiber washer will fit between the coil body and the tab, and the coil tab can now be in direct contact with the clean metal of the head.

Use emery cloth or fine sandpaper to expose clean metal on the coil tabs. Use a thread tap and die to remove the thread locking compound from the bolt threads and the bolt holes in the head.

Re-assemble with the coil tab against the head, and the bolt clamping the coil tabs should not have thread lock compound. If you are concerned about vibrational loosening, you can apply a small amount of thread lock to the upper few threads of the bolt where it will just enter the head. Leave the tip of the bolt bare, so it can provide clean metal-to-metal contact down inside the bolt hole.

The other coil mounting bolt can use thread lock (Loctite).

Now the coil tabs are grounded to the head through two paths; the bolt itself, and the direct contact with the cylinder head metal.

You can apply some protective grease around the coil tabs to reduce corrosion risk, after the coil bolts have been snugged down.

Pay special attention to the ground wire from the EMM wire harness to the MAG coil bracket. It must also have a very good ground connection to the engine.

Edit: Make sure you have the correct wire colors connected to each Ficht ignition coil primary.
MAG coil primary is Orange/Blue wire
CEN coil primary is Orange/Purple wire
PTO coil primary is Orange/Green wire

While you have the Ficht ignition coils disconnected, check them for correct resistance (ohm) values;
Ignition Coil Primary Resistance to ground 0.05 - 0.15 ohms
Ignition Coil Secondary Resistance to ground 225 - 325 ohms

Note that the primary coil resistance is a very low number, so your ohm-meter may not be able to provide an accurate reading.

Short your meter probes together, and make note of the fractional ohm value displayed. Your meter is reading low ohms inaccurately by that amount.

Now subtract that number from all other low ohm measurements you make with the meter, to get an accurate measurement. If your meter shows 0.4 when the probes are shorted, then subtract 0.4 from all other low ohm measurements you make.

[JJL1968]

[quote=K447;1178839]Welcome

What are the plugs fouling with? Oil, or dry carbon, or wet with gasoline?

Oil fouled

Is this engine primarily run at low speeds with low RPM, or does it also get plenty of mid-upper range RPM running?

It gets run at all RPM ranges. I use it to haul people and coolers back and forth to the boat but also to zip around the lake.

Are the correct spark plugs being used?
NGK PZFR6H

Yes I'm using the correct plug with the correct gap

What 2-stroke oil is being used?

I've used mostly the Walmart brand on 2 stroke outboard oil with TC3W Master Tech I believe it's called.

How old is the gasoline in the tank?

The gas is mostly fresh but it hasn't run long enough at one time to use a whole tank yet. It may still be on last years fuel but I did add stabilizer

Do you use stabilizer in the fuel?

I do use stabilizer on the offseason w a full tank of fuel

Does your gasoline have ethanol?

I believe there may be a small amount of ethanol in our unleaded. I use standard 87 octane pump gas here in the midwest.

Thanks for the reply

[K447]

Check that the oil pump cable is in the correct position, and is working properly.

If the oil cable is broken, or the pump arm has swung around to the wrong side (which can happen if the pump cable is removed, then put back), then the oil pump will default to 100% oil flow rate, even at low RPM.

This is a fail-safe feature, so a broken oil pump cable doesn't starve the engine for oil at high RPM.

Make sure the throttle cable has the correct slack at the thumb lever (just a little slack before the throttle plates begin to move), then check the oil pump cable adjustment.

There are index marks on the hub of the pump arm, and the pump body. Correctly adjusted, those two marks should align at idle throttle position.

You will need a mirror and light to see the tiny marks down there.

You might want to upgrade to a better quality, full synthetic 2-stroke oil. They burn cleaner, and lubricate better. Replace the oil filter, if that hasn't be done recently.

89 octane is the minimum octane recommended by Polaris if the fuel contains ethanol.

Also, ethanol blend gasoline attracts moisture into the fuel. If enough condensation gets into the fuel tank over time, it can cause the fuel to degrade, called phase separation. Stabilizer won't prevent phase separation.

Best method is to buy the gasoline with the least ethanol you can find. In my area, that is premium grade, but only from some brands, than has zero ethanol.

[JJL1968]

Is it just coincidence that the cylinder with the broken ground tab that the tech made the jumper for was less fouled than the other two?

[K447]

Is it just coincidence that the cylinder with the broken ground tab that the tech made the jumper for was less fouled than the other two?

I don't know.

That is why I suggested modifying the coil grounding in an earlier post. Make sure those coils are indeed well grounded.

The EMM sometimes will report when it detects poor coil grounding, and you may see the red lamp and check engine message on the display. Those only appear while the problem is actually happening, and will disappear as soon as the problem stops being detected. So you may miss them, if you are not looking at the display all the time.

[JJL1968]

The dealership just called and said that the fuel pump regulator "fell off" I looked through the service manual and couldn't even find information on a regulator on the injected model. Does this sound right? They want to charge me $650 to fix it. I'm mechanically inclined is this something I can do myself?

Thanks in advance.

[K447]

The dealership just called and said that the fuel pump regulator "fell off" I looked through the service manual and couldn't even find information on a regulator on the injected model. Does this sound right? They want to charge me $650 to fix it. I'm mechanically inclined is this something I can do myself?...

Ah, you may not have clicked through the links in my signature...

Low fuel pressure from a fallen pressure regulator does not come and go, once it falls off, you have low fuel pressure all the time, until it gets repaired.

There may be something else wrong, but the low fuel pressure needs to be fixed, of course.

Have a look here;
Polaris Ficht Fuel Injected Engines

And especially here;
How to repair a Ficht fuel pump - pressure regulator has fallen inside
Symptoms include very low fuel pressure, rough running above idle, engine surging, and lack of power above idle.
Red light and 'Check Engine' message typically appear on the display.

[polgar]

New member here—haven’t even introduced myself yet but this thread really helped me today. Just got my Genesis I running—but rough. Found this thread. Followed the coil ground instructions and boom, (not literally thank God ) it leapt to life, idling and running though the entire power band perfectly. Thank you!

[polgar]

Uh oh, spoke too soon. Won’t start now and makes a screeching sound. Ugh!

[CliffsidePM]

Update your signature with your location. Someone maybe close to help you out.