1996 GTX project.....

[cocacolaxyz]

Now to the bad news. I decided to remove head to find out why engine is harder to turn over during about 90 degree of rotation (abandoning the possible weak starter for now). I immediately spotted a piece of metal in one of the ports on Mag cylinder and vacuumed it out. At that point, I removed the front cylinder. A piece was missing from cylinder wall. I found it along with some other debris and excessive oil in crankcase....vacuumed out. Piston remarkably looked great. Removed PTO cylinder. As suspected....the crankcase had lots of oil in it, so I syringed out all of the excess. PTO piston looked scuffed on exhaust side (will post picture later), but no gouges. Last week....compression was 145 & 155. My guess if previous owner accidently dropped a screw in cylinder. He said he started in driveway, then suddenly it stopped.

Posting pics also showing the looped RV oiler and.....an unknown part (T with red spring loaded release valve) on the cooling hose.

[Myself]

That thing with the red cap is a flush port......it takes a specific adapter. At this point, I'd yank it for a full teardown as we don't really know where the metal came from.

[cocacolaxyz]

Agreed. Wife is gonna kill me. So far, only $5 into it until this. It was looking like fixing the Info gauge was gonna be the "big item"

[cocacolaxyz]

going to buy new cylinder and piston soon.

Is the RFI cylinder that same (direct replacement) for my 1996 carbureted engine?

[Myself]

NO,....RFI cylinder has a hole for the fuel injector.

[cocacolaxyz]

NO,....RFI cylinder has a hole for the fuel injector.

If I resleeve this cylinder with stock size piston, the sleeves I see are 82.10mm inside.
the ad says they need to be bored and honed.
I have a hone, but boring?
I thought stock piston is 82mm.

what size must it be bored to?

[Myself]

Standard bore size IS 82mm. The piston is a bit smaller for clearance. If it's 82.10mm then it would need to go to 82.25mm and use .25mm oversize pistons.......no big deal.

[cocacolaxyz]

Standard bore size IS 82mm. The piston is a bit smaller for clearance. If it's 82.10mm then it would need to go to 82.25mm and use .25mm oversize pistons.......no big deal.

Can't I buy new sleeve (already 82.10) and buy a standard bore piston (82mm) and use except for some cylinder honing I can do myself?

Maybe you are saying I cannot do that...and must go up

[Myself]

You can hone to size yourself with a good quality hone and a dial bore gauge......but any local machine shop can do it for you for less than $50. A good hone costs more than that......NOT the spring loaded 3 arm style. It's also good practice to chamfer the port edges too.

[cocacolaxyz]

You can hone to size yourself with a good quality hone and a dial bore gauge......but any local machine shop can do it for you for less than $50. A good hone costs more than that......NOT the spring loaded 3 arm style. It's also good practice to chamfer the port edges too.

thank you for the great advice

[Myself]

Oh......but if it's already 82.10 you CAN NOT use a std piston. The clearance will be far too great.

[cocacolaxyz]

thank you

[cocacolaxyz]

Very common on older 'Doos. The 1/2" lines go to an oil bath in the center of the crankcase. It's for the rotary valve gears. The side seals shrink up over time and allow the thin 2 stroke oil to seep into the case under the cylinders and burn out or even hydro lock the engine up. You can get them off the 2 stroke tank, loop them to each other, and fill the RV cavity with heavy gear lube. My son's '96 XP has been 'bandaided' like this for 5 years now with no issues.

Can you loop all Seadoo engines the same way?