Sea Rayder Jet Engine won't turn over

[epon]

Hi all. Sorry for intruding in here and just asking questions. I did do a little homework first and figured a place like this would be best to ask some intelligent questions. Please bear with me and thanks in advanced:

Own a 1993 Sea Ray Sea Rayder F14 with a 90hp Mercury Mercruiser jet engine inside. Bought the boat two months ago. Engine ran fantastic! I don't know if it was original or converted to a premix setup, but regardless, the engine purred like a kitten.

We put about 15 hours on the boat since purchase, making sure to always mix the right oil/gas before going out. At WOT and after breaking plane, we hit about 25-30mph depending on how flat the bay is.

Took it out last Sunday, cruised around towing a kayak behind us for a friend. Doing about 15 mph, we were about to cross thru a wake. Based on our past experience, we learned to suck it up and cross thru the wake like men, catch a little air, and slam down on our asses a lil. Nothing too shocking, but whatever...

...except this time, when we landed, the engine cut out. Not just bogged down and slowly died. It was like the emergency dongle fell out and cut all power/gas to the motor. Starter attempts to turn it over, but fails miserably.

Gas line from tank, filter, and engine is 100% clear. I even drained the lines and attempted to turn over to check for proper vacuum. Gas fills the line, but still no ignition.

I haven't checked my spark plug wires yet. If I do get sparks when I attempt to turn over, what do I look for next? Can sucking something into the jet cause no ignition, but allow the crank to turn with the starter?

I don't know how a moderate bump could eff up an engine. I checked all wires and didn't see anything loose or dangling.

Thanks again and sorry for the long post!

[akkevin]

suddenly like that wouldn't indicate a fuel issue. And it is an inboard so the shock on the wake would mainly have effected the bow. It does still turn over I take it. Did the clip come out of the kill switch on the shifter?

[epon]

The engine spins when the key is turned via the starter

If by clip you mean the fail safe emergency dongle, no it did not fall out. That actually kills the circuit between the key and starter, preventing anything from happening

[epon]

I did a little more homework. A few people suggested that the slam could have damaged the crankshaft and/or impeller. I don't know if this would prevent ignition from happening; I was hoping someone here could verify.

I bled the fuel lines and fuel filter... could this cause vapor lock? What would be the smartest way to combat this?

[sys_link2000]

Can anyone help me track down the problem? I pulled the plugs, they were clean, cleaned the fuel filter, changed coils and wires. Was running for about an hour and turned the boat around and it died. Won't start now. The previous owner bypassed the kill switch. It's now a dummy switch. Boat ran strong til I turned around and opened the throttle. Just will not start. Turns over strong, just won't start.
Thanks for any ideas in advance.

[akkevin]

A vapor lock would fix itself usually once things calmed down and I don't know of a sudden jar causing it. Vapor locks being caused by heat most of the time in my experience. It sound electrical to me, likely a ground coming lose. If it was the crank/impeller it wouldn't cause it not to fire and likely would have caused injuries to the softer tissues in the boat (ie you and the passengers). Chase the wires down from the coils to see where the last place you have a hot wire. Or even start at the ignition switch to see if there is power there. I think your casing your tail with a fuel issue, I have gone that route too many times, especially if your not getting spark. Once you have spark then trouble shoot the fuel system. A jar may have caused your floats to jam in a carb, but that wouldn't affect the spark. My bet is if you give it full throttle and turn it over you will flood it completely and be able to smell the gas. You likely have a wire that came apart or ground that came lose. Start your chase there.

Sys_link2000, did it quit suddenly or just fall off and quit? Did you check for spark before you replaced the plugs etc.? Sudden instantaneous killing of the motor leads me to think that fuel is not the issue. Check for spark first while tuning the engine over. If you don't have spark the first thing I would check would be where the pervious owner rewired then I'd start checking the hot wires there as if it wasn't done right then corrosion and movement may be enough to kill it. Check the hot wires on both sides of the "dummy switch" to make sure that current is passing through there. If it is then track it down to where it isn't working anymore. My bet at the moment is that you have a wire that isn't connected, broken, corroded, or all of the above.

[Wavewacker]

Hopefully the OP is still here, I know it's an older thread.

I have the same boat, a little newer.The ingnition module is problem, you will need to test it, seeing a spark won't be sufficient. They cost about $300 and guess how I would know...mine has had two. Exact same problem, we must have hit the same wake!

[Bestniel]

I have the same boat; and by a same conditions (out of water) I lost the ignition totally.
The reason was a defect revolution delimiter, as the engine had no water resistent during the fly; once replaced the engine was back to normal condition.