Other help me troubleshoot my neighbor's waveraider

[McDog]

Trying to help my neighbor by getting his waveraider running. It has been sitting for years. I pulled the carbs and cleaned them out and replaced the diaphrams. Everything else in the carbs cleaned up just fine. I also drained the old gas and changed the fuel filter. New spark plugs too.

Starts up and runs great as long as you ride it like you stole it, but if it gets near idle it will die and will not start back up unless you choke it. Then it starts to fire and immediately dies. Then take the choke off and it starts right up. The cycle repeats itself non stop.

So ideas on what to check next?

Clogged fuel selector?

New rebuild kits on the carbs?

Throw some ideas at me.

 

[McDog]

It is an old 760 waveraider completely stock.

 

[OCD Solutions]

Sounds like a restriction in the pilot circuit...if you cleaned the carbs thoroughly and already checked the internal filters then possibly a weak signal due to a cracked or loose pulse line?

Doubt it would matter but the pilots are staggered in the 760's, are you sure you didn't get them mixed up when putting them back in?

 

[Matt_E]

I'd check the needle & seat, specifically the needle tip (look for wear) and shrunk o-rings on the seat.

 

[Waternut]

I'd check the needle & seat, specifically the needle tip (look for wear) and shrunk o-rings on the seat.

x2... If the o-rings around the N&S look crusty they could be cracked. You could pick up a couple from Ace hardware for pennies to see if that fixes anything. Bottom line, there is some kind of leak in the fuel system.

 

[McDog]

Thanks guys. I'm thinking the oring in the needle seat is the most probable. I soaked the whole krusty thing in carb cleaner but I don't remember checking the orings. I checked and double checked everything else.

 

[McDog]

I was careful not to switch the jets so I'm good there.

 

[JetManiac]

replace the n&s, they are probably sticking, etc.

An overlooked area of carb rebuilds...

 

[gto0209]

Whenever I do carbs for friends, they get kits and needle and seats, its another 40 bucks, but well worth the reliability imo

 

[McDog]

($40 rebuild kit + $21 n&S) x 2 carbs = $122 plus shipping

For some junked out waveraiders that have sat for years as a favor to my neighbors who dont ride them so that company would have something to ride that they cant break.

Not happening.

Swapped out the orings on the needle seats and reinspected everything. All looks perfect. Still behaves the same. Any other ideas are welcome. I was thinking new fuel lines, new carb rebuild kits, or maybe the motor has an airleak. Doesn't really matter though because they run and that is all I promised. It may not idle but it is fine if you ride it like you stole it and how else should anyone ride anyways, right?

 

[BruceSki]

then turn up the idle? lol

 

[Big Kahuna]

Replace the diaphragms on the jet ski. Our old B2 got really hard to crank. Once it was running it would start and run fine. Replaced them ($13.00 ea) and problem went away.

 

[McDog]

I did replace the diaphrams with some really soft nice used ones in my toolbox.

I tried turning the idle up actually but it was dangerous because the ski wouldn't stop unless you killed the motor. Lol

 

[Waternut]

Maybe you could just run a short 1-2ft fuel line to the carbs and bypass all the random crap and miles of fuel line that's normally in a couch. $4 of cheap clear line from lowes would do just fine. If that doesn't clean up the issue, you know it isn't fuel line related and probably air leak related.