KawasakiTrax Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: mswyka on August 13, 2018, 05:20:25 PM
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I realize that Honda Aquatrax are not Kawasaki and not even snowmobiles, but over the years I have found that this forum is an incredible resource for many things. So I am taking a chance that someone knows about these water craft.
This past week our 2004 1200 turbo melted some of the waterbox. The waterbox, as I have learned that it is called is the last part of the exhaust system and is plastic.
So question 1, does anyone know about Honda Aquatrax?
Question 2 is, does anyone know about melted waterboxes?
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A melted waterbox means you're not getting water through it too much hot exhaust & not enough water. I'd take your water inlet off then blow through the line with a air chuck. What happens to a lot of pwc they sit on the sandy beach then collect sand through the inlet causing less water to pass through the engine. There is a water bypass (hose) that goes to the exhaust manifold to the water box that might be plugged either blow it out or replace it. When blowing air through the inlet you should be able to feel the same amount of pressure going out.
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The water box is your muffler most of them are made out of smc (plastic fiberglass) materials the aftermarket company's make them out of aluminum but these are much louder some states have a decibel reader where the exhaust can not exceed a certain number check with your local dnr on that. The aluminum water box will make more power but it will also add more noise. I've never worked on the Hondas or any of the newer models that have turbo or 4 stroke engines but I've had my fare share of jet skis & know what to look for, have anymore questions let me know I'll see what I can do
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Thanks for the input.
I am waiting for a manual hoping that will show me more detail on the water path. We have another lake outing scheduled for Labor Day and I am wanting to get it back in business for that event. But with only this weekend and next weekend, today i plan to start disconnecting and inspecting hoses.
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Here are some photos. It is a little difficult to see. The plastic exhaust elbow is deformed and there is plastic coming out of the water box.
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for some reason the photos are not uploading.
I started at the inlet, which i believe is in the jet housing. This is clear up to the check valve. The check valve is clear. Now I am moving farther forward.
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Still can't get any photos to upload.
I have the exhaust out. Both chambers are clear. The water hoses have free passage from the check valve up through the intercooler, through the turbo and through the exhaust.
So far I have not found any grit or crud.
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How large are the pictures?
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How large are the pictures?
Looks like they may be too big, I just checked them and see that they are between 3 and 5 MB. I will try to get them smaller.
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I will try gain with smaller photo files
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I can see them!
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I can see the pics the other 2 things that can cause the water box to melt is being clogged or check valves are setting themselves to default (CDI box) that controls the check valves to open or close.
The water inlet was just something that happened to me years ago where it costed me to pass on the finals of a race I was at no water came out of the water by pass & you could've fried a eggs & bacon on the cylinder head it was that hot.
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So far we have traced out each of the water passages. All clear. Between the inlet and the exhaust I am only seeing one passive check valve. And again, that circuit is all clear. At this point I am putting it back together and plan to put it back on the hose to see how everything responds.
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Now I am completely confused. Took apart as many hoses as I could reach. All clear with no debris. Pulled off the resonator and checked as much as I could inside the exhaust manifold cooling jacket. All clear with no debris. Blew through everything with air and no evidence of restrictions. Put it all back together and ran it on the hose for about a half hour. Temperatures stabilized nicely just under 100. Highest temp measured was on the hot side of the turbo at about 125. Water coming out of the weep hole, out of the water box and some out of the jet. I assumed the latter was leaking past the check valve. No water leaks inside of the hull. At this point I don't know what else to do except put it back in the wate
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Sounds like time to drive it.
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If you take it out tie it to the dock and take your temp gun along to check where the heating bottleneck is while running.
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OK, new data point, I fired up the 2002 Aquatrax on the hose and visually there was a marked difference in the quantity of water coming out of the exhaust. The 2002 had more water coming from the exhaust than did the 2004 and the weep hole was not as strong a spray on the 2002 than there was on the 2004. So, now I am thinking that we are not getting enough water out of the resonator into the exhaust. Just have to figure out what to do with this information.
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Check on a Honda website the exhaust schematics on the exhaust system see if the 2002 has different gaskets then check your model compare the 2 a gasket with holes verses no holes will determine the correct water out (cooling)
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We put the ski back in the water this weekend. We are still overheating the exhaust. We were able to confirm that engine temperature circuits are working. Engine temperature is fine, it is only the exhaust that is overheating. If this were a snowmobile I would retard the timing a bit. But in this case it appears that we have an exhaust restriction. Exhaust Body is coming out again this week.
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Update. Exhaust body came out. Reconfirmed passages ways are clear. Paid special attention to passageways through exhaust body. Made sure water flow was good. Reassembled. Hope to water test this weekend. Just in time to winterize.
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I was able to put the ski back in the water yesterday. Air temp was about 60 so a little cooler than normal. Ski ran well and temperature seemed to stabilize right where it should. Temperatures between skis seemed to be comparable. So I am thinking - hoping and praying - that this issue is behind us. Just in time to put them to bed for the winter.
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Question does this machine have a thermostat in it ?. I talked with a friend that races the ocean quite a bit they had to put in a thermostat in it to control correct water temperature. Just a thought
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Question does this machine have a thermostat in it ?. I talked with a friend that races the ocean quite a bit they had to put in a thermostat in it to control correct water temperature. Just a thought
As near as I can tell there is no thermostat on these engines.