How to Get Water Out of a Jet Ski Engine

Just the afternoon that you have been waiting for. Bright sun and the lake shared with friends riding waves on your jet ski. Suddenly, you feel a shift of momentum. Sputtering and slowing down, your engine seems to be stalling. You think to yourself, there goes the ideal way to spend an afternoon. But your fun does not have to be over.

Let’s explore the steps you need to follow to get you back out on your jet ski and cruising the lake. Continue reading for details on how to extract the water from your jet ski engine.

1. Safely Get to Shore:

Something does not seem quite right with your personal watercraft or PWC. You think that you should quickly ride back to shore. However, riding your jet ski back to land could create more damage than the initial water problem with your PWC. Your best option is to get towed.

When getting a tow behind a boat, be sure the boat travels at a safe speed. You do not want more water seeping into your engine. This could cause additional repair issues for you. Also, be sure you use flags or other means to signify that the ski is being transported. You want others to know, so they can keep a safe distance from the boat and jet ski.

2. Disassemble Your Engine:

Once you have reached shore, there are a few steps to follow to ensure that the water drains out of your engine. You want to begin this process immediately to reduce the possibility of irreversible corrosive damage to your engine.

Remove the plastic engine cover, so you can access all of the plugs. Then, open the drain plugs. Unfastening the drain plugs lets the water start flowing as quickly as possible from your engine. The next step is to undo the spark plug caps. Once that is complete, then you need to remove the spark plugs.

While not part of the engine, you should also take out the seats if they are waterlogged. Stand the seats upright. In this position, water will begin to dissipate from the seats. It will take time for the seats to drain.

3. Dry Out Your Engine:

If you have a wet/dry vac or a shop vac, get that set up. Now that all the plugs have been removed, those cavities need to have the water drawn out of them. In each spark plug opening, insert the nozzle from the vacuum. Run the vacuum until you have extracted all the water from each hole. This should eliminate most of the water from the plug openings.
If you do not have a shop vac, that is not a problem. What you will do instead is start the engine of your PWC. The water in the engine should stream out of plugs’ holes. Repeat this step until water no longer sprays out.

Regardless of the method, once it seems as though the water has dissipated, dry off your spark plugs. Pay close attention to their tips in the drying process. Once the spark plugs are dry, reinstall them.

Prime the engine with some gas. Start the engine. If the engine sputters, take out the spark plugs. Clean and dry them off again. Reinstall the plugs. Try starting the engine again. These steps will probably require completing a few times until your engine runs smoothly.

How Much Do Jet Skis Weigh? (With and Without Trailer Weight Chart)

4. Reassemble Your Engine:

Now you that have your engine ready to go again, double check your spark plugs. Look to see if the spark plugs are oily. If the water in the engine seems to have damaged the plugs, you should replace them. If all your spark plugs are not working efficiently, your engine will not perform well.

Before going back out on the water, check your oil. With the infusion of water in your engine, your oil might no longer be clear. If it has a whitish and cloudy appearance, this would be a sign that you should change your oil.

To change your oil, the first step is to drain the oil currently in your jet ski. Be sure to drain it into an environmentally appropriate container. Follow local disposal regulations to discard the used oil. Since you are changing your oil, your filter should also be replaced.

Put the cover back on the engine and get ready to ski.

Recap of the Process:

Time is of the essence to remove water from your jet ski’s engine. Water, especially saltwater, is corrosive. The longer the water sits in your engine, the increased probably the damage to your engine will not be repairable by you. If this happens, taking your PWC to a repair shop might be necessary.

While the water entered your jet ski quickly, the removal process does not work rapidly. The process of removing your spark plugs and vacuuming the openings or activating the engine to spew out water requires attention to detail.

However, taking the time to thoroughly drain your engine of water will let you get back to riding on and off wakes!

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Please consult a legal expert or medical professional to address your specific needs.