1997 Mach 1
I bought it used last winter and didn't drive it much. This year it ran great for about 700 miles i would guess(speedo don't work) Blew up a belt and took out the crank seal. I removed crank seal and found the two crank bearings were also bad. Removed engine and replaced the two bearings and seal. Now the engine is back in. I ran it for about 20-30 seconds at a time about 5 times. Now it won't start at all. WHY WHY WHY!!!!! Could it have anything to do with running it without the exhaust on?? It has good spark and I cleaned the carbs. HELP!!!! On a different note I also have problems blowing belts every 200-300 miles. I ride on basically flat ground and try not to "hot rod" it too much. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

From reading previous posts from different people in hear, i have a feeling that you are going to need to do a compression check on each cylinder to make sure you didnt blow your rings out when you were running the engine with no back pressure from the exhaust being off. As far as blowing belts you will need to check the alignment of the clutches.

For sure do a commpresssion test and if you are blowing belts that fast you are almost certain to have a clutch problem. If you can check the alignment yourself but I beleive you need a clutch alignment tool.

For sure do a commpresssion test and if you are blowing belts that fast you are almost certain to have a clutch problem. If you can check the alignment yourself but I beleive you need a clutch alignment tool.[/b]
I will do the compression test. I just held my thumb over the spark plug hole and had someone pull the rope and they feel good but I know I need to put a gauge on it. About the belt problem... The clutch was rebuilt at the beginning of the season by Felker, who is supposedly "the best ski doo guy around", He said the alignment is good it is just a design problem with that particular year. I personally haven't seen any example of him being as spectacular as everybody says, but that is my personal opinion. I cut holes in the belt gaurd and took out the fin things in the hood openings, maybe that will help it run cooler. But first it needs to #$%^#$ RUN!!! I will get back to you all on the results of the compression test.

Well now I have a list of new problems. The clutch side cylinder is over fueling horribly. You take the plugs out, pull the rope, and it looks like old faithful shooting gas out. The exhaust is back on. BUT, now I have a bigger problem. I thought it was a carb problem, so I cleaned them all again, checked float level, checked the needle and seat, and synchronized them perfectly. I pulled the rope and once again gas rocketed out of the plug hole and something must have sparked or something because everything was on fire!!!!! By the time I found a fire extiguisher and put it out it melted fuel lines and probably wires too.
I am pissed off to the point where maybe I should have let the mother ####er burn to the ground. I am tired of even looking at this thing. If anybody is interested in buying a non running, dirty (fire extinguisher dust), half burned, 1997 mach 1, you will get one hell of a deal on this one.

dude, thats so funny. stuff like that used to happen to me all the time. you might not appreciate it now but trust the ballsout 1 ...you will laugh about it soon. the problem was almost certainly in the needle and seat and or float even though you checked em. good luck gettin er back together.

Yup ballsout it right it was probably a stuck or worn out needle and seat that was causing the flooding in the one cylinder..Also check your choke cables.My brother had all kinds of problems with his 97 FIII 600 even the dealers couldn't figure it out and it turned out that the choke cable was messed up causing flooding in one cylinder.....Also starting a cold two stroke and only running it for 20 seconds is asking for plug fouling problems..Especially 5 times!....Your clutch must be misaligned or you are running poor quality or incorrect belts..No way they should be blowing that fast...Replace the burnt lines and wires and I'm sure we can help you get the beast sorted out.

Reading this made my day, I've been in your shoes and trust me at the time it sucked. Some say down the road you'll laugh about it but I try to forget about those days. Clean everything up, put new fuel lines on it and start back into it. You'll get it running great and never look back.

Reading this made my day, I've been in your shoes and trust me at the time it sucked. Some say down the road you'll laugh about it but I try to forget about those days. Clean everything up, put new fuel lines on it and start back into it. You'll get it running great and never look back.[/b]


Well, I have got the new fuel and oil lines put on. I have spark. The clutch side cylinder (I call it #1) is firing but not the other two. I think #3 cylider fired a couple times, maybe. It started for a very short while, maybe 8 or 10 seconds, at about 100 rpm. The spark plug on #1 looked about right, not too wet and not too dry. Plugs 2 and 3 were dry. I have been into these carbs about a half a dozen times and everything looks good. All the jets and holes everywhere are all clean and clear, the needle&seats all open and close how they should, floats are not stuck and they all move freely. Somebody tell me what the F is going on. I am running out of snow around here and I know if I don't get it running within about a week, it will NEVER run again. Somebody HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you check those choke cables?..It's possible that only one choke is actually working out of the three and thats why the other two cylinders won't fire up...

Did you check those choke cables?..It's possible that only one choke is actually working out of the three and thats why the other two cylinders won't fire up...[/b]


No I didn't, but should have. It only fired when the choke was off though. Give it choke or throttle and it just says "No, I hate you and will never run again...so there."

Well at least we feel the same about each other.....Mach #####

No I didn't, but should have. It only fired when the choke was off though. Give it choke or throttle and it just says "No, I hate you and will never run again...so there."

Well at least we feel the same about each other.....Mach #####[/b]

I also forgot, I did the compression test and it was at 110 lbs. on all three cylinders. I haven't looked at the reeds. Could that be an issue????

Lets try a different angle here. Remove the three spark plugs and pour about 3 ounces of fresh fuel down the holes. Then turn the engine over by hand slowly(we don't want any more thermal events !!). Now reinstall the spark plugs and pull it over to start it. Does it fire on all 3 cyls. Yes, then the carbs are not filling or the choke (ericher) needs adjustment. No fire, check the spark plug gap and heat the plugs up using a propane torch and install them hot and retry. I think if your carbs were flooding before the fire and now their dry.. you may have melted the pulse line from the crankcase to the fuel pump. Maybe damaged the pump. The only way to know is to remove the carb fuel line on the clutch side, direct it into a cup and pull the engine over with the key off.

Let me know if you need diagrams or specs for that @$$! beast !!!

Good Luck

T.D.

Lets try a different angle here. Remove the three spark plugs and pour about 3 ounces of fresh fuel down the holes. Then turn the engine over by hand slowly(we don't want any more thermal events !!). Now reinstall the spark plugs and pull it over to start it. Does it fire on all 3 cyls. Yes, then the carbs are not filling or the choke (ericher) needs adjustment. No fire, check the spark plug gap and heat the plugs up using a propane torch and install them hot and retry. I think if your carbs were flooding before the fire and now their dry.. you may have melted the pulse line from the crankcase to the fuel pump. Maybe damaged the pump. The only way to know is to remove the carb fuel line on the clutch side, direct it into a cup and pull the engine over with the key off.

Let me know if you need diagrams or specs for that @$$! beast !!!

Good Luck

T.D.[/b]





Thanks for the help. I put on a new pulse line along with all the new oil and fuel lines. The only difference is where the oil line is supposed to go on #1 cylinder, the little nipple broke off when I pulled off the burned line. I rerouted them to go into the outlet side of the carbs. There was a nipple on there that wasn't being used. I am guessing it is for a primer?I figured out that my spark was sometimes there and sometimes not. I hate intermittent problems. I read somewhere on a different discussion that you can cut off a little bit of plug wire and put on new boots and it will fix the problem. The service manual said something about the air gap on the flywheel and trigger coil. Me and electrical problems do not get along. I got so tired of even looking at this thing I put it on my trailer and hauled it to a new guy in town. He just opened up a shop that "works on anything." We'll see how good he really is. I told him the entire story and he just kind of laughed. He will get to it next week and I will probably get it back just in time to drive it through the mud. I will let you know how it all turns out. Thanks again for all the help!!

Intermittant spark on a doo triple....maybe a stator??

Well they guy at the shop called yesterday and said my stator was shot. He said it looked like it was rubbing on something and cut through some wires. I guess I put it all back together wrong or something. So, that was about a $150 lesson. I sure as hell hope that was the problem, it should be. I'll keep ya posted.

Also I was right about getting it back in time for the mud...It sure is melting fast around here. It has been about 45 degrees for almost two weeks!! The ol' Kawasaki Invader sure did see some miles this year though!!!!

a '97 eh?? well good thing the speedo isnt hooked up, the wire would eventually get caught in the belt, most experienced riders unhook the wire just after they buy one of those older sleds, if it gets caught in the belt, it's usually just a big mess and alot of stuff gets messed up

That is actually how it bacame disconnected. What sort of problems? That is interesting.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I used to own a 97 mach 1 when it first came out, would of been nice to long track and paddle it.

Some of the problems associated with blowing a belt at high speeds are

- blown speedo cable
- cracked belly pan
- blown crank seal
- bent clutch guard & broken mounts

I used to see and hear about these things happening often with CK3 and F chassis Doo's.

Permafrost

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I used to own a 97 mach 1 when it first came out, would of been nice to long track and paddle it.

Some of the problems associated with blowing a belt at high speeds are

- blown speedo cable
- cracked belly pan
- blown crank seal
- bent clutch guard & broken mounts

I used to see and hear about these things happening often with CK3 and F chassis Doo's.

Permafrost[/b]


I had 50% of those problems. Belly pan looks good and clutch guard is fine. The crank seal was bad and the speedo cable is still and forever will be bad. Why would the speedo cable cause a blown belt??

The speedo doesnt cause the belt to blow, it gets taken out by the belt and wrapped up causing possibly more damage.
As far as belts blowing my 97 Mach 1 was great on belts (OEM) compared to my 98 and 99 Mach 1's which used a longer belt. Check clutch alignment and offset and for broken motor mounts.

Permafrost

if the speedo cable gets caught in the belt, it could brake the seal between the primary clutch and the engine