Hello, 96sl780 in limp mode without blinking light on MFD

[Silver_Pearl]

I just bought 2 new skis and took them out yesterday for the first time. The 94 sl750 ran great the whole day. The 96 sl780 ran fine for the first 2 hours and then a jumped a large wake and it seemed to go into limp mode even though the MFD wasn't blinking or showing any problem. I don't know if the impact was coincedence or not. For awhile afterwards, it would reach max rpm if I let it idle down and then got back on it. But after some more time, it simply stayed in limp and I couldn't mess with it to get it to max out again. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can hold my own when it comes to auto mechanics but I have never worked on one of these before. I have a little bit of time because, unfortunately, my trailer broke an axle on the way home so I have to fix that first before I can get back to the lake.

[ph2ocraft]

Hi Pearl, WELCOME to the Green Hulk Forums!!
Try disconnecting the grey wire at the CDI and see if she comes back to life.
Check the electrical box for any water intrusion.
Try cutting about 1/4 inch off the spark plug wire and re-attach the spark plug boot.
It wasn't showing LOW FUEL/LOW OIL or anything else of that sort??

[Silver_Pearl]

There was no message on the MFD. I did flip the ski after about the first half hour, but I quickly turned it back over in the right direction. When I got back to shore I took the seat off and there was really no water to speak of in the engine compartment. After that I rode it for about another 1 and a half hours before it started acting up.

[ph2ocraft]

I'd check for spark loss first.
It might be as simple as a set of spark plugs, spark plug boot, wire corroded at the boot etc.
You need to make sure you have a spark issue versus fuel. A fuel starvation problem will also limit your RPM's.

[Silver_Pearl]

Thanks for the quick help! I'll try cutting the wires back first. I replaced the plugs with new NGK BPR8ES before I left. I hope this is a relatively easy fix because it ran great for the first 2 hours.

[Silver_Pearl]

Oh, one more probably stupid question. Do you cut the wires back at the boot side and re-attach the boots like you do for custom wires on a car, or do you cut the wires back at the CDI box?

[ph2ocraft]

Cut the 1/4 at the spark plug boot or spark plug side. The boot screws into the wire end.
Measue the boot and make sure it's within spec as well. I think it needs to be 5K ohms, it'll be marked on the boot.

[Silver_Pearl]

I know it has been awhile, but I wanted to post a reply for what fixed this problem because I know there could be people out there who are searching for answers for a similiar problem as I was last year. The LR-54 module was bad in the electrical box and once I replaced it all was good. I received a lot of quality information from everyone here and would like to thank everyone again!

[xlint89]

Thanks for the follow up.