“The heat is ON!”
~Glenn Frey
It is that time of year again in the southern stretches of
Florida…the dog days of summer. But this
far south, that dog is a Great Dane.
Oppressive heat and humidity have taken hold. Opening the door from my air conditioned
house is akin to walking into a dryer full of wet towels. It feels like you could lay a surfboard on
the air and float away…and it is HOT.
Average daily temps soar into the 90’s, with heat indices easily
reaching triple digits due to humidity hovering in the 80 – 90% range
constantly. Heck even overnight, our “low”
temperature sinks to a toasty 82 degrees.
All this extreme weather pushes engines to their
limits. Engines run hot, and when you
factor in the heat outside, they run even hotter. It is paramount that engine cooling systems
are properly maintained and running fresh fluids to ensure safe, reliable
performance. Yamaha and Kawasaki PWC
are raw water cooled…meaning that they extract sea or lake water and cycle it
directly through their cooling loops.
This is a good system…tried and true. There is no shortage of water where you are
riding. If you run in freshwater lakes
and rivers, it is ideal. However if you
run in salt water, a new concern emerges related to corrosive salt deposits
being left behind inside your engine.
Products like Salt-Away were developed to combat this problem. It is a simple system that involves hooking
up a small reservoir (for holding the Salt-Away fluid) to your garden hose. When you run the hose to flush your engine,
the Salt-Away is diluted into the hose flow and run through your engine, and the
salt is purged away.
But then…there is Seadoo.
I have one, and I love it to pieces.
One of the things that make them different from the other brands is
their engine cooling system. All
4-stroke Seadoos have closed loop cooling systems. They do not run raw water for engine cooling
(only for exhaust cooling). They have
coolant, just like a car! Gone are the
days of cycling rot-inducing seawater through the cooling system! Great…right?
Well, yes and no. Yes, of course
it is wonderful to run nice clean antifreeze/coolant through the engine. It definitely goes a long way to maximizing
engine longevity. But with this
technology comes an additional set of maintenance not required in Seadoo’s open
loop comrades. Coolant is a fluid that
has a lifespan, and therefore it needs to periodically be drained, flushed, and
replaced.
In light of a recent problem I had with an engine overheat
(related to oil that had gotten into my coolant after an oil cooler failure), I
changed out my coolant. And decided it
would be great fun to share the experience with y’all! For those of you with other brands that are scoffing
or yawning or relieved that you have open loop systems, thanks for tuning
in! The remainder of my diatribe will be
devoted to the (surprisingly simple) procedure of changing coolant in a Seadoo.
Allen head bolt drain plug. |
Draining the old coolant is very easy! On the back of the ride plate, dead center,
is a small allen head bolt. That is the “cork”. Before you unscrew it, I recommend laying
down some old cardboard or plastic, and get yourself a 5 gallon bucket, and
then a smaller second bucket (a spackle bucket works great) and have them
handy. Place the 5 gallon bucket beneath
the rear of the ski. Unscrewing the
retainer bolt is much like doing the same to change oil on a car…when you start
to get near the end of the unthreading, the fluid will start spouting. The coolant is under pressure, so it will not
just dribble straight down…it will shoot outwards like a supersoaker! So you may want to get ready to hold the
bucket up at a 45 degree angle as soon as the bolt is out to catch the Niagara
Falls of ectoplasm! Note: I like to first drain coolant with the
pressure cap still screwed ON the coolant reservoir bottle. After the first gush slows down, I then
unscrew the cap and get Round 2. I find
it to be a more controlled way of dealing with the pressurized fluid draining.
MiniMe bucket |
Once the coolant has stopped gushing like a fire hydrant
that got backed over by a garbage truck, swap the big bucket for the smaller
one. In order to really drain the old
stuff out, you need to be able to tip the ski back. The big bucket doesn’t really leave enough
clearance to do that. Lining up the
smaller one in just the right spot takes some practice (hence the
plastic/cardboard underfoot!). Then it’s
tippy-tippy. I wedged a piece of scrap
wood under the main crossbeam of the trailer and left it tipped for an hour or
so while I did other stuff, but I would give it at least 10 minutes to let
gravity work its magic.
Next it’s time to refill.
This is done simply through the overflow reservoir bottle situated in
the rear of the engine compartment. You
will need a funnel! And a fresh clean
bucket. With the drain plug OPEN and the
clean bucket in place, begin pouring fresh coolant (I use 50/50
coolant/antifreeze) into the reservoir.
As it begins to percolate through the system, it will eventually make
its way out through the drain plug. You
will want to leave the drain plug out until the stream of coolant exiting is
steady, and not spouting with gaps. This
indicates that all the air has been purged from the lines. Replace the plug bolt.
Gross...my coolant bottle has turned an ugly shade of orange |
Then continue pouring coolant into the bottle until it
reaches the ‘FULL/MAX’ line on the bottle, and replace the cap. Remember that you can use the coolant that is
sitting in your clean bucket…that is why we changed buckets! You could either pour it right into the reservoir
after screwing in the drain plug, or pour it back into the jug.
Now comes the fun part!
In order to make sure that the coolant gets properly and fully
circulated throughout the system, the engine must be brought up to operating
temperature so that the thermostat will open up and flow the coolant. I DO NOT recommend attempting this on dry
land with the garden hose…it realistically takes a good 10 – 15 minutes of
idling to get to that point, and you run the risk of overheating your exhaust
running it that long on the trailer. So
either back it down the ramp and run it with the exhaust in the water, or…get
out and go for a ride! Take it easy for
the first 10 minutes…just idle around near the dock, and then stop, wait 10
minutes for it to cool, and then check fluid level. Your ski should have drawn some of the
coolant from the reservoir into the system.
Top off, but this time just to the middle line. Then go back out and ride around for another
10 – 15 minutes, but get on it a little more.
Get up on plane (but still not WOT).
Come back to the dock and check the level again, and top off if
necessary (waiting until the ski has cooled a bit…if you open the cap while the
ski is hot, the depressurization will spray you with hot coolant!). That’s it!
You are good to go. I make a
habit of checking the coolant level once or twice more…I am paranoid! But paranoia can sometimes save you!
At this point you are probably either thanking your lucky
stars that you do not have a Seadoo, or thinking that a ski running coolant is
a good innovation, and now that you are equipped with the knowledge of how to
change it, realizing that the little bit of effort every season or two is worth
the benefits tenfold. That’s up to
you! Personally, I love it. For the occasional bit of extra maintenance,
the benefits of not running salt water through my engine are enormous. I only ride in salt water, so it is a
worthwhile feature for me. Maybe for
owners of open loop systems, running Salt-Away after every ride isn’t a big
deal. But I am willing to bet that 80%+
of people running open loop systems do not…buyer beware with used skis!
I am at least feeling better about running my beloved ski
around in the heat of summer, knowing it has fresh, effective coolant in
it. Considering that surface water
temperatures here in the Keys are in the mid 80’s, you need to give your PWC
every advantage to help it run as cool as possible. Be good to your PWC this summer, and it will
be good to you. Maintenance is key to
longevity and reliability…no one wants to go back to the dock on the end of a
tow rope! Stay cool(ant)!