New to me Sugar Sand problem

[jeromejas]

Just picked up a Sugar Sand Heat jet boat. The guy brought it from said the last time he had it out was July 4 of this year and that it ran great I went to take it out and it bogs down and barely moves. I am replacing spark plugs tonight and pulled the grate off last night impeller looks OK with a few small nicks but nothing bad. What else should I look at?

Edited to Capitalize name and spelling

 

[Bruce]

What engine is in it?

Spark plugs seen like a good place to start. Perhaps look at the carbs next.

 

[jeromejas]

Great thank you I will keep updated also will up load pic of prop if I can get a good one.

What should I look for on the carbs. The guy I got it from said he rebuilt them already.

Edit to add 90hp merc

 

[Bruce]

I am hoping that changing the spark plugs solves your problem.

But a common issue with two strokes is that ethanol gas sits in the carbs and gums them up. This is a good reason to use an ethanol fuel stabilizer or my preference to only use ethanol free gas.

 

[Scottintexas]

glad to have you on board, just to clarify, when you say it bogs down and barely moves, is your engine not creating rpm's and it's not moving or are you getting high rpm's and the boat just won't go?

 

[jeromejas]

Thank you and Thank you for helping me!

When I got it the tank was pretty much empty, I filled it up with 89 octane with NO ethanol but don't know what they ran in it.
It bogs and barely goes it doesn't seem like the RPMs get really high (IMHO).

 

[jeromejas]

Don't know if this matters but it smokes alot more then my 1995 Yamaha 700 Jetski.

 

[jeromejas]

Last night we got hit with a nasty storm so had to pull it out of the garage and didn't get to work on it. Was going to book the hose up to one the drain plugs tonight and pulled the plug out and there's a couple washers in there one for sure was a lockwasher and then there seems to be a couple larger washers in there with really small holes.

 

[biglar155]

Another thing to do that might help with fuel problems (if that's what it is) is dump a can of Sea-Foam in there. I had an 85 HP Yamaha outboard (2-cycle) that had a lot of crap gas in it over the years (sitting for a LONG time at certain points in its life). It started acting stupid like you describe. I tried replacing fuel lines (they were BAD) and a few other things. I finally dumped a can of Sea-Foam in it and had no issues after that. The guy that bought it from me (I told him about the issues before he bought) has had no problems either - it's been 4 years now.

Might help, sure can't hurt!

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

you mean it has a 90 hp 3 cylinder force engine?

 

[Bilmon]

Were you just loaded heavy by any chance? Don't have any first hand experience with them, but from what I've heard that little 90 hasn't got a great deal of power.

 

[jeromejas]

you mean it has a 90 hp 3 cylinder force engine?

Cannot find a firm answer on that I get conflicting answers some places say Force some say Merc HP wise some say 95HP others say 90HP.

 

[Bilmon]

Cannot find a firm answer on that I get conflicting answers some places say Force some say Merc HP wise some say 95HP others say 90HP.

From what I gather reading the Merc manuel 95 and earlier were 90 hp, 96 and up 95hp. Force was owned by Mercury.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

It is a 3 cylinder outboard power head, it uses regular carbs with bowls under them , If it is running ok but just not digging in I would be looking at the pump since that describes cavitation. All it takes is some fishing line or any item in between the impeller blades to cause your issue. That particular engine had an issue with the rectifiers, if it goes bad the second you turn off the engine it will blow the brain . About 10 years ago I designed a relay to protect the brain from being burned out in that event, prior to that I had 2 of them fail, they leave you dead in the water, just a heads up. Once I handled that issue I had a blast with the boat, It was the reason I started doing jet boat steering way back 3 U S patents and over a decade ago.
http://www.cobrajetsteering.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=67

 

[jeromejas]

Did the compression test last night everything tested out good about 120 per cylinder. Replace the plugs hopefully life slows down a little bit for me so that I can take on the water this weekend.

 

[jeromejas]

I have replaced the selanoid used some sea foam and replaced the spark plugs it is running a lot better now. But still not great top speed is on about 25mph and it takes forever to plane any advice on what to look for?

 

[steined]

What does the impeller look like? Is it badly dinged up?

 

[MOA_Chaser]

Yeah everything around the water intake that could leak water needs to be sealed... any scuffs, imperfections in the impeller will cause performance issues... it's gotta be something down there if you're getting good RPMs out of the engine.

 

[jeromejas]

Impeller looks great need to put up a link to pic. Looks like they put silcoln all over on the plate thinking that might be where it's at. Not sure if this is related but the whole boat shakes like a mofo at low speeds.

 

[Kevin Turner]

How many RPMs is she spinning? Several things to look at, first and foremost make darn sure nothing is in the impeller and the pump stator is debris free. Keep in mind the exhaust exits thru the pump, so even a small exhaust leak can cause pump loading issues. Also, if you possibly had a back fire while on trlr (starting it on the trlr) i've seen the pump ride plates warp and one blow completely off.

Post some pics of the pump.