A Williams Jet Rib Guide

[TurboJet385]

Hi everyone,
running a 2012 turbojet 385...don’t think the previous owner used it much in the recent years as I have been having a few issues that I have been able to solve. One I cant get my head around... when the jet is in the water,engine turns on after a few seconds, idles for 5-10 seconds then switches off. When out of the water and the fresh water hose is connected, engine turns on almost instantly and idles perfectly (without switching off).
I haven’t been able to look underneathinside the impeller to see if there are any blockages, I’ve hosed out the impeller grate quite thoroughly, didn’t notice anything come out...
Any ideas what else it may be?

Hi,

do you still have your

Hi everyone,
running a 2012 turbojet 385...don’t think the previous owner used it much in the recent years as I have been having a few issues that I have been able to solve. One I cant get my head around... when the jet is in the water,engine turns on after a few seconds, idles for 5-10 seconds then switches off. When out of the water and the fresh water hose is connected, engine turns on almost instantly and idles perfectly (without switching off).
I haven’t been able to look underneathinside the impeller to see if there are any blockages, I’ve hosed out the impeller grate quite thoroughly, didn’t notice anything come out...
Any ideas what else it may be?

Hi,

do you still have your turbojet385?

 

[GGiusep]

Hi, do you still have your Hi, do you still have your turbojet385?

hi There, yes I still do...

 

[TurboJet385]

Great! Nice to meet another Williams owner in the Sydney area. I have a 2009 Williams turbojet 385.

I am currently experiencing an intermittent limp modeWould love to chat to you about who you take it to for repairs etc. Is there a PM/DM function on this forum? As I don’t want to clutter this thread.

 

[jrudge]

When I have had this it had been a poor connection to a sensor. The temp sensor is particularly temperamental.

however there are lots of sensors and it could be any of them.

if you can’t find it then get the dealer to plug it in

 

[TurboJet385]

When I have had this it had been a poor connection to a sensor. The temp sensor is particularly temperamental.

however there are lots of sensors and it could be any of them.

if you can’t find it then get the dealer to plug it in

Thanks for the reply and the thread.

Is there only one temp sensor? Or is there a few e.g. exhaust temp, coolant temp and so on?

if there is only one, where is it located?

Cheers,
Sam

 

[V65]

Hi Everone,

i bought an overhauled exchange engine from a dealer 6 months ago.During this time I had light white mud in the oil container several times.(Water in the oil) The dealer has repaired and allegedly repaired the 325 built in 2012 four times.Now the oil is almost white after 2 hours of driving.I am thinking of a defective cylinder head gasket.Or does anyone have an other idea.I only ride in fresh water.

many thanks,

Arturo

 

[jrudge]

Sadly the only thing I know that makes oil white is water.

 

[vas]

vinegar can do that as well I think Jeremy

 

[TSO_Privat]

Hi Everybody

New Owner of a 285 Turbojet 2006 with 100h Located in Denmark. Engine is Weber MPE 750

The boat is like new and bought with a engine damage.

Previous owner tow it after a bigger boat and seems like Air intake was flushed with sea water :-(

I have splitted the engine apart and the only damage seems to be the turbo fresh air side is stucked with salt.

Any experience with that mistake ?

I am going to rebuild the engine (I am a marine engineer) and found very good information in this forum, thanks all.

I need the Engine manual complete, not the service manual. Anybody know were to find it ? I can find it on the Weber shop in us but the shipping alone is more than 100 USD alone.

Thanks in forward.

Thomas

 

[jrudge]

The usual reason the turbo gets salted up is the exhaust manifold has corroded. The part is close to £2000. It could be water ingress from towing but not likely in my view as the solid deposits are made solid by the exhaust heat.

 

[PalmaTarga]

I have a copy of the parts list if you need although mine is for the 2008 model which I believe there are differences.

Williams UK are great to assist, Phil Seymour runs all the aftersales there, I would suggest giving him a call and he'll advise, they do ship internationally. It sounds like the common problem as jrudge mentioned of a corroded manifold, which usually means the turbo will have corroded also. This happens from towing, and also from decelerating too quickly which fills the exhaust with salt water.

Williams sell a manifold and turbo kit as they usually fail together. From what I remember is not much different to just purchasing the turbo and includes all the gaskets etc. I've just had ours replaced, the part number is below if it helps, it's not a cheap part!

The sensors will be the something you will want to check/replace also, some are cheap, some not, and can be difficult to diagnose on the older models.

02-0034 - Weber 750MPE Exhaust Manifold & Turbocharger 103100 - GBP 2,339.51 (although this is

 

[TSO_Privat]

I have a copy of the parts list if you need although mine is for the 2008 model which I believe there are differences.

Williams UK are great to assist, Phil Seymour runs all the aftersales there, I would suggest giving him a call and he'll advise, they do ship internationally. It sounds like the common problem as jrudge mentioned of a corroded manifold, which usually means the turbo will have corroded also. This happens from towing, and also from decelerating too quickly which fills the exhaust with salt water.

Williams sell a manifold and turbo kit as they usually fail together. From what I remember is not much different to just purchasing the turbo and includes all the gaskets etc. I've just had ours replaced, the part number is below if it helps, it's not a cheap part!

The sensors will be the something you will want to check/replace also, some are cheap, some not, and can be difficult to diagnose on the older models.

02-0034 - Weber 750MPE Exhaust Manifold & Turbocharger 103100 - GBP 2,339.51 (although this is

Thanks a lot

But Were Can I get my hands on the complete repair manual ?

cheers Thomas

 

[PalmaTarga]

no idea I'm afraid, I can only see the service manual. Try Phil at Williams UK?

 

[TSO_Privat]

no idea I'm afraid, I can only see the service manual. Try Phil at Williams UK?

thanks. I see many dealers in UK. Were is he located ?

 

[PalmaTarga]

At Williams HQ - www.williamsjettenders.com/contact-us/

 

[TSO_Privat]

At Williams HQ - www.williamsjettenders.com/contact-us/

Got the repair manual ?

 

[TSO_Privat]

Servicing

Servicing is simple and takes about an hour. See Service manual above. DIY or get someone to do it. Oil ( see below), plugs, fuel and oil filter and cover it in WD40. There is an anode on the back but it does not wear as the boat is not in the water for long enough.

The engine is 109hp from 750cc - so 145 bhp per litre.

A Porche 993 only has 76 per litre and a Ferrari 458 is only 133 bhp per litre so the engine is highly stressed!

Oil changes are CRITICAL as is using the correct fully synthetic oil.



Things in the Impeller

This is a fact of life. Old fishing net, old rope, plastic bags and your own ski line.

There are two ways to solve this ( neither are in the manual)

1. Lift it, remove the grill on the bottom ( 2 x cross head screws) and then fish / cut out the debris. This will only work for small things. If a ski line you can take 20 feet of it in in the blink of an eye. Pulling it out will not work. It melts to the shaft. 

2. Remove the jet unit.

This takes about 45 mins to remove and replace. You disconnect the bucket, undo the 4 retaining bolts ( you need long sockets - short ones cant get over the stud) pull the whole thing out, get rid of the mess, and put it back together again.


What goes wrong?

This is my list and what was done about it .


Sterring cable stiff

Can happen, especially if not washed off. It can free itself in the water, but if not it needs replacement. There is a special tool Williams use to feed the cable through and I would just ask the local Williams agent to do it.

Water in Fuel - Bang

I have had 2 engine failures under warranty. I met someone else in Cala Dor who had the same. They tend to drop a valve and water in the fuel is blamed. My second engine lasted 40 minutes. They had changed everything other than the fuel so whilst not conclusive it seems plausible.

I need to look at a water separator I suspect if you can get one small enough.

Exhaust Manifold - Sea Water Leak

This was expensive!

The boat was losing power and eventually did 4000 rpm. I identified the turbo has stuck. Free off and basically fine.

Happened again.

Taken to bits. Turbo salt covered. Clean. Back together. Suspected build up over time. Wrong happened again .

Two options (a) the spray head ( sea water cooled) about £300 or the manifold ( sea water cooled) £2000. Changed the head first. No . Bugger! Change manifold. Sorted.

If you dont flush the engine after use ( the instructions are clear!) then sea water eventually corrodes the jacket. There is no anode in the exhaust system presumably as it is not kept in the water and is designed to be flushed.

Flush after every use.

The symptom is Turbo whine. You can always here a little at low rpm, but if it noticeably increases then something is going past the turbo and that something is sea water.

The Williams way of replacing this is to remove the engine. This then needs the rib lifting, and the engine mounts replacing. I did it in situ - it is tricky and it took me 4.5 hours, but it can be done if you remove the battery and solenoids on the left side and dont mind that a few bolts take some ingenuity to get on and off. I doubt removing the engine is any faster - probably longer to be honest - but it would be an overall simpler job .

Speedo / Tacho

The speedo and taco are know to fail - especially post winter.

The official Williams ones (from memory) are about £100 for the tacho and £180 for the speedo. The 2008 ones are obsolete and you need a wiring adapter kit. I bought mine on eBay from china as whilst unbranded a complete set of speedo ( GPS - the original is paddle wheel) with heading, tacho and fuel gauge was £100 delivered in 4 days from China. Fitting all three took an hour.

3-3/8"/85mm GPS Speedometer 40MPH35Knots Odometer White For Car Truck Boat Yacht | eBay

85mm White Car Tachometer 8000RPM For Gas Disel Engine Car Truck Marine ATV UTV | eBay

Universal Fuel Level Gauge,240-33 Ohms,White,E-F,Oil Tank Level,2''/52mm,12V/24V | eBay

The fuel gauge is the USA standard - 240-33. I also replaced the fuel sender ( from Williams) as the gauge was mildly inaccurate.

Rear “Wings”

The wings either side of the drivers seat can only be stepped on in the facelift model that has the small backrests for the mid seat passengers. The new versions are not compatible with the former model and if stepped on ( it really looks like a step) the GRP will craze. No matter now many no step signs you put on it someone will step on it. Any one you buy will have crazed wings and I would not bother to get it repaired! Yes I got mine repaired. Yes they are now crazed again!

Upholstery

The upholstery wears and gets water logged. A new set from Williams is roughly £1000. MJ did mine to match the boat for £300.


Tubes

My tubes failed a few months after the boat ( 2008) was bought. The end caps both sides failed. I assumed the glue had failed so decided not to repair. I got a very good second hand set from boats.co.uk in cala dor as i needed it there and then, however new PVC tubes are only £1k and £2k for hypalon which i thought reasonable given they are totally unique to Williams and they could simply name a figure. Changing the tubes takes about 40 minutes.

The grab handles are not very strong, and whilst fine as handholds will come off is used as fender tie points or used by people to drag themselves out of the water.


Lifting on Paserelle

If using the paserelle to lift the rib I have two tips …

a. put the throttle fully forward. A strap got caught and almost ripped it off. It cant if fully forward.

b. buy a removable steering wheel boss on eBay. I bent the first wheel ( which was to be changed anyway) as the straps got stuck behind it.



I appreciate that the above will put most people off! The engines were under warranty and the exhaust manifold was hence the only extremely unwelcome bill.

Take away one thing. FLUSH IT OUT


Extras

The 2014 rib had a depth sounder factory fitted. It never worked despite being replaced several times, and it is too small to see anyway. I would not bother.

I retro fitted a Fussion 205 unit. Took a few hours. It sounds great as the area under the front seat acts as a boom box, but if you like going fast dont bother. Anything about 15 mph and you cant hear a thing!

Is the originally tubes PVC ? (2007 285 Turbojet) ?

 

[jrudge]

Std is pvc. Hyperlon is an upgrade

 

[TSO_Privat]

Hi Again
Anybody knows the colorcode of the hull for gel repair ? (Turbojet 285 - 2007)

 

[TSO_Privat]

Weber 850.

I can get my hands on a good deal with a brand new Weber 850-155HP. Any experience with that engine or a setup in a Turbojet 285 ?