Help with 97 GSX questions

[Mac Daddy Racing]

I have a 97 GSX that the motor was stuck for some reason. I tore the motor down and found nothing obvious. Cyl's look great, rings are fine, cir-clips in place. Pistons moved freely out of the cyl. Crank rolls over nice and easy, the driveshaft looks good, not bent. The impeller also rolls over nice. I used a pipe wrench on the fly wheel to break the motor free (rocked it back and forth) did not hear any grinding or pops before I tore it down. I did not look at the starter ring, can that cause the motor to lock up?

I opened the port for the harmonic balancer and noticed that there's no lube inside. Is this an item that gets lubed from the gas/oil mixture as it enters the motor??

I did notice that the mag piston was alot cleaner (richer) than the PTO unit. The piston is totally clean, washed off. The PTO unit has the carbon in the center with wash at the ports. Can the wash on the MAG side be adjusted out with the air screw???

I am familiar with snowmobiles, not too much with the ski's. We did do a top-end last year when the ski hit 100 hours. She was low on compression (110 psi). Unit has apx 124 hours on her now.

Thanks for any info as to where else to look.

[Mac Daddy Racing]

Would having the ski running hot and shutting off cause the motor to do a lite seize? I would have thought that if this were to happen it would have free'ed up and the starter would have pulled it past the seizure point.

I plan on checking the cooling lines tonight and also clean out the hull. I can post pics of the piston tops if anyone wants to see them.

[KevinS]

Was it running, you shut it down normally and then it seemed to be stuck while restarting?

My Bro's GSX did this once, seemed to be big-time crank locked. This didn't make sense because it was only shut down for a 2 minute piss-break. We ended up removing the starter and everything freed up. Reinstalled the starter and its been running for more than a season with no trouble. Apparently the starter gear can jam against the flywheel and lock 'em up.

[BigT]

I have a 97 GSX that the motor was stuck for some reason. I tore the motor down and found nothing obvious. Cyl's look great, rings are fine, cir-clips in place. Pistons moved freely out of the cyl. Crank rolls over nice and easy, the driveshaft looks good, not bent. The impeller also rolls over nice. I used a pipe wrench on the fly wheel to break the motor free (rocked it back and forth) did not hear any grinding or pops before I tore it down. I did not look at the starter ring, can that cause the motor to lock up?

I opened the port for the harmonic balancer and noticed that there's no lube inside. Is this an item that gets lubed from the gas/oil mixture as it enters the motor??

I did notice that the mag piston was alot cleaner (richer) than the PTO unit. The piston is totally clean, washed off. The PTO unit has the carbon in the center with wash at the ports. Can the wash on the MAG side be adjusted out with the air screw???

I am familiar with snowmobiles, not too much with the ski's. We did do a top-end last year when the ski hit 100 hours. She was low on compression (110 psi). Unit has apx 124 hours on her now.

Thanks for any info as to where else to look.

Mac Daddy, the counter balance shaft gear does get oil through the crank case filler plug. It only takes one ounce of SAE 30 motor oil when it is assembled. Hard to say if you would actually see it inside there. You could always add a little more to it if in doubt.

Ditto what Kevin said about the starter locking up a flywheel, happened once or twice to me also, pulled the starter, put it back on all was good. Cant explain it, just happens
Your low speed screw adjustment, is 1 +/- 1/4.... Your Highs are Mag 0 your PTO is 1/2 turn out....... BigT

For some reason every seizure I have had, or read about occurs on the PTO piston. I wouldnt mess with the mag if its running good, albeit a little rich, I would definately not lean the PTo anymore, if anything give it a little more fuel....BigT

[Mac Daddy Racing]

I appreciate the info on the starter lock up. Looks like the starter gear was jammed in the ring abit. I took the unit appart and inspected, looks good with minimal wear. Cleaned and now re-assembling the ski.

Thanks again.

Mac.