Opinions on 2005 fxho

[Pinhacker71]

I’m looking to buy a Waverunner for playing around in the river. I’ve found a 2005 fxho for 4500 at local dealership. Has 270 hours. Trailer is not included and will be 899 for new yacht club single. This is right in line with nada values. Not a great deal but seems fair. I really want a 4 stroke. Most 2010 and above VX are 7500 and above around here. Any opinions. Thanks.

 

[veedubtek]

Sounds fair. You could probably do better, but this time of year it might be a long wait to do so. At the risk of missing part of the season, I'd be inclined to make an offer on it anyway. 04-08 FX HO's can typically be had on the used market all day around here for 4500 including trailer.

 

[Ronnie]

The price seems high too me since it doesn’t include a trailer and the hours are up there compared to what I’ve seen in my area. That is 05 to 06 fxhos with the same or less hours and a trailer for $4,500 to $5k (but these are of season prices as I haven’t checked since it started warming up around here about 3 weeks ago).

If you are serious about it I highly recommend that you water test it before closing the deal. I had the ecm on an 06 non ho go bad on me but it didn’t do so immedialty. For a few outings it would run fine and only die and become hard to start after a few minutes on the water.

A $4,500 price won’t seem that great if you have to replace the ecm for $1300 new.

 

[Jgorm]

If it's salt water id walk. Do a compression test for sure. I'm getting an 02 fx140 (non ho) with 80 fresh water hours for 1600 because the compression is down on 2, and the plug is stuck in 3. If you can't work on them yourself they will get expensive quick!
I bought a salt water 02 fx140 95hr last year for 3800, and it's got something funny with #3 and misses a lot at wot. Taking the heads off is 200 bucks just in gaskets.

 

[Ronnie]

I agree with @Jgorm on walking if it’s a salt water ski. The 06 fax that failed on me was in salt water for the first 100 hours/4 Years of its life. In addition to the ecm going bad the rectifier also failed and the motor mounts rotted out causing all kinds of other expensive damage. I knew something was wrong by the end of the first night in shallow water, the thing flooded, lucky the bottom was just 6 inches deep. If i could do it over I would sell that ski at a loss that day at the reservoir.

 

[Pinhacker71]

It’s freshwater. Just had a pair of 2008 pop up with double trailer. One is VX Deluxe and other is VX cruiser. 9100 for pair. 128 and 148 hours. Haven’t contacted yet to see about haggling.

 

[Ronnie]

That sounds like a good deal.

 

[Pinhacker71]

Looked at pair of 2008 today and drove both. Both were in really good shape. Engine bay needs to be cleaned on both. $8600 for both with trailer. Gonna bring them home next week and shine them up.