I have a 95 kawi sxi that I think has gone south. I've asked around and got a wide variety of answers so I thought I'd ask the pro's.

Problem: The boat isn't making any power.

Symptome: Of course it runs perfect on the trailer. In the water it doesn't have enough power to come up on plane without hopping it, then it takes off like a striped *** ape. Then it will run fine, wide open, for about a minute and loses power again. It's not siezing up, just loses power. Then it starts right up, I go through the whole trying to get on plane again and so on. Sometimes it will run fine for 5-10 min not wide open, just cruising, before losing power. I'm stumped and have gotten answers from fuel(not it), to electrical, to a bad crank. It has a lot of hours and could be anything, but the compression it still as good as the day I bought it. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Brad

When troubleshooting..you look at three things initially.

1.Carburetion: You'll have to remove carbs and check internal filters for debris and clogging. Use an air compressor to lightly blow out carbs through the jets and carb body. You have Keihin carburetors...you need to find a Keihin carb manual to assist you.
2. Electrical: You check connections from electrical box, all throughout the electrical system. From battery to stator. If you were to "ohm" out the system, you'll need a Kawi SXI manual to give you recquired values.
3. Compression check: This lets you know if there is something going on in the cylinders. Such as piston and crank failures.

Now...from those three, you have checked two. I suggest you check your carbs next. I'm suspecting this might be where your problem lies according to your explanation. It sounds like it's starving for fuel after you put load on the engine.

And remember...next time, get a YAMAHA!

Hope that helps,
Mike

I had a similar problem on my WB1, charging coil(it provides the juice for the spark) had gone bad. Check by taking a plug and bending the earth electrode straight up, spark should be strong enough to jump gap. Also check the resistance on the coil, one of the leads may have a break.