To buy or not to buy

[MrEd1010]

I have a friend that gave me a lead on a 2005 sx230
The boat has been sitting for 5 years (dry docked) and both engines are seized, per the owner the motors were locked up from sitting. I believe they were the original owners and there are handful of hours on the water. Worst case, have to buy 2 engines, Outside of these details I don’t have any thing else. What would be a fair offer considering worst case?

 

[Maccam26]

If you are mechanically inclined sounds like fun project. Price really low lol

 

[tdonoughue]

I agree with @Maccam26 .

If breaking down the engine, figuring out if the pistons or just the piston rings need replacing, playing with the gaskets sounds like a fun adventure to you, I think this might be something to drop ... I dunno $3k or $5k on.

If that sounds scary and something you would take to the shop, stop reading here and move on....

If it sounds like the fun adventure, or even iffy in that direction, I am pretty sure that there are plenty of folks around here to lend support in answering questions to move you forward. If not, there are equally plenty of folks here to help you find the right boat for you.

 

[shrivel]

In my many years of jetski engine experience, the engines are almost never completely seized. Completely seized means you're gonna be rebuilding nearly everything. An engine that can still turn a bit will generally take WAY less work to get running. Worst case scenario is that you get it running with some pretty easy repairs and it gives you a few hours of life before blowing up completely, and THEN you can do the complete teardown and rebuild, and even that is pretty easy on these engines with a bit of patience.

I'd take the chance for a few thousand bucks, personally.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Have you looked at everything else? Hoses, hoseclamps, electrical connectors, gate & throttle actuating cables, etc.? If it has been sitting untouched for long enough for the engines to be frozen, I'd be wanting to very thoroughly crawl around and look at all of those things before dropping any money on it. Once you have it, it's your problem.

 

[tdonoughue]

@shrivel , I agree with you. However, if the prospect of dealing with a completely seized engine is scary and not to be undertaken, then whatever is awaiting the less-than-completely seized engine will likely be also less than welcomed. My philosophy is to plan for the worst. If you can accept that as a consequence, then accepting less is easy. If that is too much for you, you had best move on, as you will likely be unhappy with your purchase. That is not to say that it will be 'wrong'--it will just not fit your needs.

All of that said, these engines have a pretty good reputation of being bullet-proof (as long as a plastic valve below the water, an oil cooler or a timing chain does not get you). So if you do go for it on this one, the upside should be exactly has @shrivel describes.

 

[14SX190]

He's not scared.
Makes it look easy

https://jetboaters.net/threads/help-mystery-starting-problem.5294/page-5