Sunk my battleship!!!!!!

[Jetskidummy]

Hi everyone, I have a hige problem here. I own a 2001 yamaha 800XL and last summer I left the drain plugs loose and of course it turned into a fishing bobber overnight. I have made some phone calls and it'll cost me about 2,000 - 3,000$ to take it into a shop and have them put in a new motor. I have a good friend whos mechanically inclined and I am so - so. I was thinking about ordering a new motor myself and installing it. Has anyone had to replace a jet ski motor and is it hard to do? Do you really need a marine mechanic to do the job? Or am I better off spending the extra money and having the shop do it? Thanks!!!!

[Surface Tension]

As much as I love jetskies
A submerged engine isn't a good thing but it doesn't mean the its shot, well unless its be sitting full of water since last year. If you didn't or had a friend suggest to pull the plugs, purge the engine, drain the carbs, drained and replace the gas and oil and dried the engine off then start it up then I would say you should probably pay someone to replace the engine.

[Muskieguy]

Sunk my Sea-Doo GSX Limited one time. I think water entered the muffler system when a buddy tried to turn it back over the wrong way when he wiped out and turned the jet ski upside down. I pulled it up on shore, pulled the plugs, turned the ski over as far as possible (almost upside down) and hit the starter until the spray coming out from the plug holes smelled like gas again. Put the plugs back in and it fired right up. I probably should have replaced the oil but I didn't. I read in the manual that you should run a higher octane for the next tank of gas. I think it said the higher octane runs a little hotter and will burn off any excess moisture in the muffler system. I put 50 more hours on it after that with no problems. Ended up selling it at the end of the year to buy a boat.

There are some message board dedicated to PWC's and there you might be able to get more info. I think most of the people on this site are fishermen...and some probably don't like the PWC all that much..but that is another topic all togehter..

Muskieguy....

[Knotwood]

It may be too late to purge the engine of moisture, the biggest problem happens when rings stick to the cylinder walls from rust or the needle bearings get pitted from the same and "washboard", which means they will now skid instead of spin around. The best thing to do for a submerged motor is to pull the plugs, turn it over several times to clear it out, check for contaminated fuel or oil, and start it up as soon as possible and run it for a while to clear out the internals. I've heard of people pulling a motor out from sitting underwater for extended periods and having good success, the oxygen in air tends to cause rust, some have submerged motors for several years and pulled 'em up and they've worked fine. Corrosion around here happens, but salt water is worse.

Getting back to your question, if you've got pretty good mechanical skills you probably can do the job yourself, just mark all the fittings/conections (maybe use a camera) so they go back together the same way. Use a good gasket sealer and new gaskets if possible. The electronics may still be intact, they are usually sealed pretty good. I don't know if a short block is available for your engine but maybe cheaper way to go.