Hey, everyone, pleassssssse help me, my 1980 ski-doo citation engine cuts out while riding it? The spark plugs have been changed but it still cuts. The engine starts up cold great, it will ride great for about 20 minutes or so,,,but it seems after you start increasing the speeds and range/fluctuation of speed it will suddenly just stall out and the rider will coast to a stop, sometime it refires quickly, other times it has to sit for 15 minutes or so? Can anyone please help me. thanks, alot, p.s. it also doesnt idle if that might have something to do with it.

Carbs are a good place to start, make sure all passageways are clean. Check fuel cap and tank vent, it could be vapor locked. next time it stops, take off cap and see if it will flash up!

Thanks i will try the fuel cap thing. I have new spark plugs, a complete carb clean, and a new fuel filter, now the sled has progessively gotten worse, it hardly moves any more, and smokes a lot. if i hold full throttle, the engine will die out slowly.

replace the fuel pump. check your gaskets, might be sucking air. the excessive smoking- mabey a worn out oil pump? Also crappy/old fuel can cause your problems. drain the tank, fuel lines, and replace or clean the fuel pump.

An 80 Citation SS was still premix. One thing that comes to mind though is a bad ignition coil. When a bad coil warms up they sometimes act like you are describing. Another thing that the 80 SS had was points and condensor instead of CDI. The points might need to be filed and adjusted or even replaced. If you replace them, don't waste your money on aftermarket ones -- use OEM.

One more thiing you can look at is crank seals.If it quits after 20 min that tells me that the engine gets hotthen the seals sweel up then sucks air. Start the engine up and get a porpaine torch and turn it on but dont light it just turn it on wile the engine is running take the torch and run it around the clutch and recoil if the rpm's go up then the seals are bad.
Hope that helps you