I dont want to put any money in this thing....

[Wolf Child]

I have an 84 JS 550 affectionately known as "The Short Bus".

As of this moment the only real money I have in this ski is the battery.
it's always run well although there have been intermittent problems, Usually revolving around fuel mixture or dead batteries. nothing that ever required spending a dime on this ski. Which is perfect consideing it's a 23 yr old 550.

Well the time has come to make a choice. dump money into it to get it (and keep it) running as a back up and also for my kid who just turned 12. or part it and be done with it all together.

Here's the issue. I subbed it last week and then it ran for second then died. the motor rolls over fine, I'm getting fuel, but I have no spark, I pulled the Ign box apart and checked everything and it all tests good, but I have no spark still. I openned the cap for the timing and blew it out with an air line to see if there was any moisture and got none. but after switching the plugs out it fired once, then I had nothing again.

If this is going to be something I can fix for little or no money I'll do it. but I dont wanna dump a couple hundred bucks into this boat if thats what it's gonna take to do it.


Anyone have any ideas?

 

[WaveDemon]

sometimes having a running ski is worth more than you can sell it for. even if you have to put a hundie or two into it it's still a cheap running ski.

 

[Wolf Child]

sometimes having a running ski is worth more than you can sell it for. even if you have to put a hundie or two into it it's still a cheap running ski.

true, I just hate to put money into something I know is being replaced by next season, and ours is almost over. I have next to nothing in this ski at the moment, I'd like to keep it that way.

I'm just sayin'...

 

[fwi]

My buddy likes to tinker with old beat up 550's, he' ll buy it from you if you want to sell, his screen name is bigmax
.:bigok:

 

[Wolf Child]

My buddy likes to tinker with old beat up 550's, he' ll buy it from you if you want to sell, his screen name is bigmax
.:bigok:

It'd be better if he could help me find the actual problem so I can fix it.


how were the bouys today?

 

[Talsivar]

sounds like your stator is bad. you can test it with an ohm meter. they go for $50-$100 on ebay. the stators not the ohm meter.

 

[Wolf Child]

sounds like your stator is bad. you can test it with an ohm meter. they go for $50-$100 on ebay. the stators not the ohm meter.

yeah, thats what I figured it was too. I hope it's not anything more than that.

 

[kurtwolff]

It is very common on the 550's to have corrosion in the e-box, but if you looked it over and think it isn't that, it is probably the stator as mentioned earlier. It may be worth cleaning all terminals in the e-box to make sure they are good, and use dielectric grease when re-assembling. Also check your grounding too. When it comes down to it, a 550 is basically worth $500, and they are super easy to work on and fun to ride for the beginner, so I would go through it, figure out the problem, and run the hell outta it! Good luck -Kurt

 

[fwi]

It'd be better if he could help me find the actual problem so I can fix it.


how were the bouys today?

We set up 7 buoys, it was fun, you should have come out. Got to try out an X2 for the first time
There were several tubers zipping around the lake giving us some good wave action as well!
:headbang:

 

[WFO Speedracer]

What jind of start stop switches do you have on it,the older style ones could cause a no spark situation.

 

[Wolf Child]

What jind of start stop switches do you have on it,the older style ones could cause a no spark situation.

the stock set from 84

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Disconnect the stop switch before doing any elect diagnostic,see if you have spark then.