Got Scammed on a Jet Ski.

[powerliftingtexas]

I bought an older Kawasaki Jet Ski, 1100 model (1995 or 1998). Being my first boat, I wanted something to play on and fish on other than my kayaks. I was planning to mount some rod holders, a cooler, and it already has storage for my tackle. However, I bought myself a project. The machine has a new engine on it. I know he wasn't lying about that part, because the engine is a 900 on a 1100 model. The engine sounds strong when started.

However, the machine was super clean when I purchased. After getting home and running it on the hose for seconds at a time. I noticed the inside of the hull, under the seat was filling with 2-stroke oil really fast. It fills so fast I cannot locate it or tell if it is coming from a bad hose, the oil pump, or somewhere else. However, it defiantly appears to be coming from the front side of the engine where the oil pump is and not the back side.

I'm not a boat mechanic, but know how to turn wrenches and have been a life long diy. The first thing I noticed, the bottom bolt on the oil pump is completely stripped out. So I decided to remove the entire stator cover, but I'm having issues getting the last bolt in the bottom left corner.


My question is, is this thing worth fixing up? Can it be turned into a reliable machine if I disable the oiling system and install an oil-pump block off plate / converting it to a pre-mix? Will this make the machine more reliable?

What other mods can I do? I may just use it as a project and mod it out a little bit at a time. Although I won't use it for anything but going fast on occasion, and for fishing most of the time, I'd like to make it as reliable as possible.

 

[Neutron]

If you go premix, you will eliminate the possibility of that oil injection failing and grenading your engine.
If the rest of the ski is clean and solid, no water leaks. (I would still install an automatic bilge pump anyway) and the pump and impeller are sound i would run it for what you are going to do with it.
Not the most stable machine for fishing but it will get the job done

 

[BlkGS]

The kawasaki weren't known for reliability in general.

You could convert to premix, but you're still dealing with a 20 plus year old ski that's likely carbeurated. Reliable is going to be a subjective term there.

I'd fix it up and ride the hell out of it. My 2 stroke ski was way more fun than my much faster supercharged 4 stroke.