Looking to buy my first Jetski

[Ssvinator]

G'day,
I'm looking at buying my first jet ski and was just chasing some info on what to look out for and what to check and just the general **** to ask Haha. I'm mechanically minded as I'm a mechanic(heavy machines), but these babies are a bit different from what I work on Haha.

I'm interested in a '07 FX HIGH OUTPUT Cruiser in my local area.

"MANUFACTURER: Yamaha
MODEL YEAR: 2007
ENGINE: 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, open-looped, water-cooled
Up for sale is the Yamaha 2007 FX HIGH OUTPUT Cruiser complete with trailer ? 250 hours on the clock. This ski was purchased outright (no finance).
The ski has been taken good care where it has always been thoroughly washed and flushed immediately after each use with ?salt away? corrosion protection. The ski has always been garaged and has never been left out in the elements.
The ski and trailer is currently registered until end 2014.
The ski comes with 2 remote transmitters for engine immobilisation.
The ski is a proper 2-3 seater which is suitable for towing sports, fishing, and long range comfortable cruising. "

Any suggestions on a value of the ski? 250 hours a little too many? Are the parts for the this model any more expensive than other brands? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I also live in Australia and it looks like I'm in the wroooong forum... Haha. Knowledge is knowledge, experience is experience, no matter what country it comes from I suppose.

Cheers!

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Welcome to Iboats. If properly maintained, 250 hrs. is not excessive for a 7 yr. old ski. Great ski w/ good power & excellent fuel economy. Here in the states, asking prices between $5 - $7,000.00. Parts are easily available. Good luck !!!

 

[Ssvinator]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Welcome to Iboats. If properly maintained, 250 hrs. is not excessive for a 7 yr. old ski. Great ski w/ good power & excellent fuel economy. Here in the states, asking prices between $5 - $7,000.00. Parts are easily available. Good luck !!!

Cheers buddy!

Things to check to see how well looked after it's been? Someone was saying check the cylinder bores or something, but this to me doesn't sound like a lift-of-a-cover-and-have-a-look kinda thing... More so of a take-out-10-bolts-and-lift-of-the-head-risking-breaking-a-head-gasket. Haha.

Great power you say? Enough to tow a biscuit quite fast? Dads got a 75HP Merc outboard on a 15" glass boat and that struggles to tow a biscuit. Admittedly the motor is probably a little warn out and it is a fishing boat not a ski boat so it has got a few thins going against it.

This one is $6,500 AUD. That sounds alright to you?
Yamaha 2007 FX HIGH OUTPUT Cruiser | Jet Skis | Gumtree Australia Melville Area - Booragoon | 1043909657

Thanks buddy!

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Looks very clean. I'm no expert, but if you're not comfortable doing a compression test on the engine, at least make sure you take a good test ride. It should start easily, idle smoothly, accept throttle without hesitation, and when you get back, be bone dry inside the hull. That's basically a poor mans compression test and should tell you about any obvious pump / impeller / wear ring problems. If healthy, it will easily pull tubes / biscuits. Good luck !!!

 

[MikDee]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

It doesn't say engine size? Could be a 700cc, or a 1200cc? The latter is the one you need for pulling a bisquit!

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

It doesn't say engine size? Could be a 700cc, or a 1200cc? The latter is the one you need for pulling a bisquit!

Should be the 160 hp version of the 1000 cc mr-1 engine. What the hell is a bisquit anyway ??? :lol:

 

[Ssvinator]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Okie dokie! Cheers!
I'll get in touch with the owner and see what I can organise with a test ride.

The ad states it's displacement as 1052cc up top
Which I assume is enough for a tube/sea biscuit? Sorry just triple checking

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Okie dokie! Cheers!
I'll get in touch with the owner and see what I can organise with a test ride.

The ad states it's displacement as 1052cc up top
Which I assume is enough for a tube/sea biscuit? Sorry just triple checking

More than enough !!! :rockon:

 

[Ssvinator]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Haha Shweeet! Okie dokie

Thanks again.
Will see if I can organise to go have a look this weekend.

 

[sixfigures]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

You can not get a more reliable ski than a Yamaha 4 stroke.
This one has plenty of power and it's fuel consumption is very reasonable.
Keep in mind a Yamaha of that hull design would be ok for 2 people and still pull a tube or water skier with relative ease.
Look on your local web pages for the value of it since this is relative to location. 250 hours is nothing for one of those.

 

[Ssvinator]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Thank you all for your knowledge and info. Now to go spend more money!

Now, any info anywhere in relation to what psi a compression test should come out to for one of these?

 

[The Rooster]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Thank you all for your knowledge and info. Now to go spend more money!

Now, any info anywhere in relation to what psi a compression test should come out to for one of these?

Need to double check, but I believe 160-165 psi.

 

[sixfigures]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Something you need to know about Yamaha 4 stroke engines.
Usually the third cylinder has issues with removing the spark plug, occasionally it could be a different cylinder but the common one is the 3rd one.
If you are not careful you can break off that spark plug, I routinely place never seize on the plugs at the 10 hour service to eliminate this issue.
However most people do not learn of this until they change their plugs for the first time.
Often they force the plug and damage the head.
So not only a thing to be aware of for people having done this to a ski you are considering to purchase.
But also to be aware of if you plan on doing a compression check.
This is also common with the 1800 engines.
My theory is that the engine likes to stop in the same place with the 3rd cylinder exhaust valve open, since water is in the exhaust system as it evaporates it will condense at the engine, if the exhaust valve is open it can allow this condensation inside the combustion chamber, the plugs are deep enough to expose the bottom threads to this and allow them to get some rust and carbon buildup at the end of those threads making it very difficult to remove the plug unless you work it forward and backward like you would when using a tap to thread something.

 

[bspeth]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

I would not touch a ski that had been in salt water.In my opinion Sea Doo is the only way to go.

 

[Ssvinator]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

Cheers all for Ya reply.

Thanks rooster.

And cheers sf for the tip, I got me own tools, single hex spark plug socket should do the job
And that would be a bit embarrassing breaking someone else's ski. Might just get them to do it, then they have the responsibility as well as it shows if they're mechanically minded and if they know what they're doing/looked after the ski mechanically.

Only place around here to use jet skis is the beach. :/ it's where I'm going to be using one if I get one.

 

[slothman]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

2 things you MUST do before buying a ski:

#1) check for good engine compression (each cylinder within 10% of each other)
#2) ride the **** out of it ! Make sure acceleration and top speed is where it should be.

You cannot go wrong with a Yamaha or Kawasaki. Get one with lower hours if possible (100 or under) .

 

[jafo9]

Re: Looking to buy my first Jetski

i've owned lots of skis and the sea doo was by far the most trouble. my kawi's and yammi's have been much more reliable. as far as salt use goes. that can either be good or bad. if neglected, a salt ski will get eaten up quickly. what will also happen, is that if the owner knows the salt is bad he/she may take better care of the ski than if it were used in fresh water. usually a quick inspection looking for rust/corrosion can give a good indication of how the ski was cared for.

as far as the model you are looking at, we have the same ski. 250hrs is nothing for these motors. i agree with the frequent use of anti-sieze on the plugs. another issue with these skis is the fact that they use a dry sump oil system (iirc). the oil tank is "remote" and this makes oil changes more challenging and also makes overfilling potentially expensive. if you have too much oil in the system it will vent into the air filter and clog the filter pretty quickly. the filter is something like $100US. a clogged filter will bog you down quickly. the easiest way to change the oil is to use an extracter once the motor is warm and put in exactly the amount you took out. then warm the ski up on the water and check the level. the ski has to be warm to get an accurate reading. the ski also has to be level so i just do the final check next to the dock. then you can add or remove oil to get the right amount. when they switched to the newer motor they went to a wet sump and made checking the oil level easier. its not really a super big deal if you know in advance what to do.

as far as performance, its a great all around ski. we pull kids on a tube all the time. no problem with power. i also use that ski to teach kids and adults to ski/wakeboard frequently. no problem with power. having said that, the SHO version is a noticeable upgrade.

as mentioned above, nothing beats a thorough test drive. make sure you warm up the ski and make a few WOT runs.