Need help dialing in my xs900

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danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
Whats up guys! Just like the title says, I need help dialing in my 900 in my Rickter. Just cant seem to get it to run right. Once the motor is cold for the first 1 min of riding, it has power and wants to just jump out of the water and you can hear it hits the max RPM. Once I ride it longer than that it starts to not have top end power at all and just falls on its face. Or once i do land a backflip or any other trick, it has trouble jumping out of the hole and just seems like its getting loaded up and doesnt have power after that. Cant do any combos at all. What makes it hard to really diagnose the problem is how inconsistent it is. A certain time It'll have power, the next instance it doesn't. Curious to see what inputs I can get from you guys.

Setup:
Xscream SS900 with 160psi domes
RRP laydown with rrp waterbox
155 OEM Modded pump with 3 3/8 coolant lines routed (2 for the exhaust manifold, 1 for the waterbox) One 1/4in T into the exhaust
XS modded 46mm carbs with external fuel pump (return lines got a #60 jet restrictor)
Running a zeel and a 61x OEM stock flywheel and stator.




You can see in this clip here on how its falling on its face once i hit full throttle. Even tried to attempt a 360, but it barely even did a 180 from its lack of power. Seem like it just gets really loaded up on full throttle




You can see in this clip here on how somtimes it has full power and hits the max RPM and im able to actually land a flip. But also once i land, it wants to fall on its face too once i try to throttle out of it. Just doesnt seem right at all.

 
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danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
DylanS said:
Do you ever have any water droplets on your plugs? Ever any issues with getting water into your engine without a clear reason?
Click to expand...
nope, never had water on my plugs. However i did notice when i was checking the plugs during carb tuning, once I take the plug out there is alot more steam/smoke coming from the cylinder than normal. Maybe bad HG?
 
DylanS

DylanS

Gorilla Smasher
Location
Lebanon Pa
Do you know your carb specs?
Have you checked to see if you’re dribbling fuel at idle?
Has it always done this from the start or did this develop later on?
 
D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
DylanS said:
Do you know your carb specs?
Have you checked to see if you’re dribbling fuel at idle?
Has it always done this from the start or did this develop later on?
Click to expand...
Off the top of my head i dont remember the jets. I do remember checking my pop off it was around 23psi or so
Nope, fuel being fed on idle looks totally normal.
Its been doing this ever since I got this setup.
Im gonna try to pop the head off and see the condition of the HG seals. I could possibly be taking in water how you mentioned. I did wonder why it steamed a bit too much than normal once i take the plug out after running the ski.
 
DylanS

DylanS

Gorilla Smasher
Location
Lebanon Pa
danielpak_ek9 said:
Off the top of my head i dont remember the jets. I do remember checking my pop off it was around 23psi or so
Nope, fuel being fed on idle looks totally normal.
Its been doing this ever since I got this setup.
Im gonna try to pop the head off and see the condition of the HG seals. I could possibly be taking in water how you mentioned. I did wonder why it steamed a bit too much than normal once i take the plug out after running the ski.
Click to expand...
If you look down your plug holes are the pistons steam cleaned? I’ve seen leaks develop once the engine is at operating temp but they usually rear their head immediately regardless of temp
 
DylanS

DylanS

Gorilla Smasher
Location
Lebanon Pa
danielpak_ek9 said:
defiantly gonna get that checked out. Thanks for the input man!
Click to expand...
it’s very possible you’re taking on water from your rrp waterbox during tricks and when landing vertical and that’s what’s causing your hesitation after the fact. I’d be more looking into that rather than a blown o-ring, but you can easily check for that with a compression test. A blown o ring you’d be down on power consistently.
It’s also possible your hull is taking on an amount of water and you’re just taking it down the carbs on tricks. What arrestors are you running? Do you have a coupler cover on? Is there a ton of white froth around your arrestors when you check them after a ride?
If you ride the ski at just off idle for a minute and hammer the throttle what does it do?
After a ride how hot are the cyls? If you ride normally with no jumps and tricks does it still act up?
It could simply be major heat soak and or water ingestion
Also check to make sure the pickups in your tank are still in working order
 
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D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
DylanS said:
it’s very possible you’re taking on water from your rrp waterbox during tricks and when landing vertical and that’s what’s causing your hesitation after the fact. I’d be more looking into that rather than a blown o-ring, but you can easily check for that with a compression test. A blown o ring you’d be down on power consistently.
It’s also possible your hull is taking on an amount of water and you’re just taking it down the carbs on tricks. What arrestors are you running? Do you have a coupler cover on? Is there a ton of white froth around your arrestors when you check them after a ride?
If you ride the ski at just off idle for a minute and hammer the throttle what does it do?
After a ride how hot are the cyls? If you ride normally with no jumps and tricks does it still act up?
It could simply be major heat soak and or water ingestion
Also check to make sure the pickups in your tank are still in working order
Click to expand...
Yeah I hear the RRP box is not a great box that can also be an issue. Running prok filters, but I also tried the superjet 61x plastic arrestors at one point it still had the same problems. I have bildges running and my scupper works great, hull is super dry while riding. I do have a coupler cover as well. Yeah without it it sprays water everywhere. It does the same thing even not doing trick. Letting it idle then blipping throttle it acts the same. But also very inconsistent. It does it at times, and then sometimes it doesn't and has power. So it's hard to diagnose it like that
 
D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
DylanS said:
it’s very possible you’re taking on water from your rrp waterbox during tricks and when landing vertical and that’s what’s causing your hesitation after the fact. I’d be more looking into that rather than a blown o-ring, but you can easily check for that with a compression test. A blown o ring you’d be down on power consistently.
It’s also possible your hull is taking on an amount of water and you’re just taking it down the carbs on tricks. What arrestors are you running? Do you have a coupler cover on? Is there a ton of white froth around your arrestors when you check them after a ride?
If you ride the ski at just off idle for a minute and hammer the throttle what does it do?
After a ride how hot are the cyls? If you ride normally with no jumps and tricks does it still act up?
It could simply be major heat soak and or water ingestion
Also check to make sure the pickups in your tank are still in working order
Click to expand...
Does the waterbox line have to be restricted? Maybe it takes in too much water? Right now I have a 3/8in line directly from the pump being fed into the box
 
DylanS

DylanS

Gorilla Smasher
Location
Lebanon Pa
danielpak_ek9 said:
Does the waterbox line have to be restricted? Maybe it takes in too much water? Right now I have a 3/8in line directly from the pump being fed into the box
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t be a bad idea to throw a flow controller into that line, any pics of the engine bay?
From the two videos I watched it sounds like water ingestion that clears out after a bit. Do you have any videos of it doing the whole no top end power falling on its face thing? Does it just feel soft or is there an actual misfire issue? When you say it “acts the same” after idling do you mean it hesitates then clears or does it almost shut off?
 
Baja 252

Baja 252

Location
LOTO
What are the temps?
Water box - (if you’re running a 3/8 line to the water box that’s way too much water).
Pipe
Cylinder/ head
Check when running good and bad.
What’s the water temperature and the air temperature?
How much water do you have running to the exhaust manifold?
 
D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
Baja 252 said:
What are the temps?
Water box - (if you’re running a 3/8 line to the water box that’s way too much water).
Pipe
Cylinder/ head
Check when running good and bad.
What’s the water temperature and the air temperature?
How much water do you have running to the exhaust manifold?
Click to expand...
I didn't install temp stickers yet but I will and monitor it
So my Hull has 3 3/8in lines thru the hull, normally rickters have 2 1/2in lines. And RRP recommends to feed 1 of those to header and T the other to the header and to the waterbox. In my case I just ran 2 3/8 lines to the header and one to the waterbox.
 
D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
DylanS said:
Wouldn’t be a bad idea to throw a flow controller into that line, any pics of the engine bay?
From the two videos I watched it sounds like water ingestion that clears out after a bit. Do you have any videos of it doing the whole no top end power falling on its face thing? Does it just feel soft or is there an actual misfire issue? When you say it “acts the same” after idling do you mean it hesitates then clears or does it almost shut off?
Click to expand...
I'll get some pics tomorrow how I have it setup. And definitely doesn't sound like a missfire at all it does feel just soft as if it's a fuel issue or water getting in. That makes the most sense to me. I'll get it checked out here again this week. And yeah when I blip the throttle it does hesitate then clears. It never dies. Just hesitates. Im thinking it might have a problem with either motor taking in water, or I might be putting to much water into the box. I'm gonna try to run a restrictor Into the box
 
Baja 252

Baja 252

Location
LOTO
We use an infrared heat gun to check temps. Ride for five or 10 minutes, then get to shore quick and get the hood off. Check the temperatures as fast as you can. If you wait too long, the engine will actually heat up after you shut it off.
I’m no expert and obviously each set up is different, but with our RRP pipe, we run a 110 jet as a restrictor and in the water box, we run a 2.0 seat as a restrictor.
I try to get our engine to about 120°, the RRP pipe to be about 130° and the water box about 140°.
The water box should be hot, you don’t want it to sizzle when water hits it but a little bit of steam would be OK in my opinion.
It’s entirely possible that you have more than one problem going on, but in my experience, you’ve got way too much water going into the pipe and water box.
Also, this is very dependent on the air temperature and the water temperature. My set up in the spring is way different than my set up in August in order to obtain those temps.
 
D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
Baja 252 said:
We use an infrared heat gun to check temps. Ride for five or 10 minutes, then get to shore quick and get the hood off. Check the temperatures as fast as you can. If you wait too long, the engine will actually heat up after you shut it off.
I’m no expert and obviously each set up is different, but with our RRP pipe, we run a 110 jet as a restrictor and in the water box, we run a 2.0 seat as a restrictor.
I try to get our engine to about 120°, the RRP pipe to be about 130° and the water box about 140°.
The water box should be hot, you don’t want it to sizzle when water hits it but a little bit of steam would be OK in my opinion.
It’s entirely possible that you have more than one problem going on, but in my experience, you’ve got way too much water going into the pipe and water box.
Also, this is very dependent on the air temperature and the water temperature. My set up in the spring is way different than my set up in August in order to obtain those temps.
Click to expand...
I'm running a 120 restriction into my exhaust. Imma try to actually check the temps to see what they are at. How did you install a 2.0 seat into the line for the box? Or do you tap the fitting?
 
D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
Baja 252 said:
We use an infrared heat gun to check temps. Ride for five or 10 minutes, then get to shore quick and get the hood off. Check the temperatures as fast as you can. If you wait too long, the engine will actually heat up after you shut it off.
I’m no expert and obviously each set up is different, but with our RRP pipe, we run a 110 jet as a restrictor and in the water box, we run a 2.0 seat as a restrictor.
I try to get our engine to about 120°, the RRP pipe to be about 130° and the water box about 140°.
The water box should be hot, you don’t want it to sizzle when water hits it but a little bit of steam would be OK in my opinion.
It’s entirely possible that you have more than one problem going on, but in my experience, you’ve got way too much water going into the pipe and water box.
Also, this is very dependent on the air temperature and the water temperature. My set up in the spring is way different than my set up in August in order to obtain those temps.
Click to expand...
IMG_20250630_122800.jpg
 

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D

danielpak_ek9

Location
Missouri
2 3/8in lines going into the exhaust. 1 3/8 line going to the waterbox. That line is also t'd to the exhaust as well with a strainer
 
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