- Location
- Poultney, VT
I’ve been trying to get this ski running for about a week and I’m not sure what to try next...
Background on the ski: it’s an 87 js 550. I picked it up in winter and for pretty cheap. I was told I could see it run. But then when I got there the kid couldn’t get it started although he insisted it ran great and they had it going well on the lake the past summer. (I now don’t believe that to be true...)
It was in his basement and then after I got it I had it stored in a barn.
For my initial attempt at start up I put a new battery in it and new plugs. Dumped out the gas in the tank and rinsed it and put in fresh gas. Thinking it was running the summer before I didn’t think it would take to much to get it to fire. That didn’t work...it has spark and the plugs were wet but no firing. I was getting what looked like a little water on the plugs and some brownish sludge coming out the return line from the head to the carburetor.
I proceeded to remove the plugs and the carburetor and some of the fuel lines. I put a little gas in the head and held a rag over the plug holes and cycled the motor in short bursts until no more sludge was coming out.
I proceeded to take down the carburetor and spray it out with carb cleaner thinking there was probably still bad gas in there. Haven’t done a full rebuild but tried just cleaning it. (Bn44 round body). I also took out the factory fuel filter put in a normal inline filter and replaced the return line the sludge was coming out of as well as the return line from the carb to the tank.
I tried to start it again. It seemed to have one little hiccup like it wanted to fire and then nothing. The plugs were still pretty wet and I knew I had spark so I figured maybe the moron previous owner messed up the carb settings. I look some up on a forum and tried it again with those settings. Still nothing.
I have about 125 psi of compression in both cylinders, fuel to the plugs and spark but it won’t even fire and run like poop for a couple seconds...
As a beginner I don’t know what to try next. Could it be out of timing? Need to be rebuilt? Any advice would be so greatly appreciated! It is 100% stock except for the rev limiter has been deleted. It’s still in the ski just nothing is hooked up but the wiring.
Background on the ski: it’s an 87 js 550. I picked it up in winter and for pretty cheap. I was told I could see it run. But then when I got there the kid couldn’t get it started although he insisted it ran great and they had it going well on the lake the past summer. (I now don’t believe that to be true...)
It was in his basement and then after I got it I had it stored in a barn.
For my initial attempt at start up I put a new battery in it and new plugs. Dumped out the gas in the tank and rinsed it and put in fresh gas. Thinking it was running the summer before I didn’t think it would take to much to get it to fire. That didn’t work...it has spark and the plugs were wet but no firing. I was getting what looked like a little water on the plugs and some brownish sludge coming out the return line from the head to the carburetor.
I proceeded to remove the plugs and the carburetor and some of the fuel lines. I put a little gas in the head and held a rag over the plug holes and cycled the motor in short bursts until no more sludge was coming out.
I proceeded to take down the carburetor and spray it out with carb cleaner thinking there was probably still bad gas in there. Haven’t done a full rebuild but tried just cleaning it. (Bn44 round body). I also took out the factory fuel filter put in a normal inline filter and replaced the return line the sludge was coming out of as well as the return line from the carb to the tank.
I tried to start it again. It seemed to have one little hiccup like it wanted to fire and then nothing. The plugs were still pretty wet and I knew I had spark so I figured maybe the moron previous owner messed up the carb settings. I look some up on a forum and tried it again with those settings. Still nothing.
I have about 125 psi of compression in both cylinders, fuel to the plugs and spark but it won’t even fire and run like poop for a couple seconds...
As a beginner I don’t know what to try next. Could it be out of timing? Need to be rebuilt? Any advice would be so greatly appreciated! It is 100% stock except for the rev limiter has been deleted. It’s still in the ski just nothing is hooked up but the wiring.
