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180SE Challenger Hole Shot

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Young Again

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Hi All,

I'm not sure if I have a problem or not, so I'll ask the experts.

2009 Challenger 180SE 255HP - Now 20 hours but has been doing this from beginning

I sucked up a line first time out, but once cleared didn't appear to be too much of an issue.

My buddy that has a Speedster, gets out of the hole by "flooring it" from 0 to full throttle - wham bam. - (lighter boat 215 HP)

If I do that, my 180 cavitates for a 1 2 3 count and then bites and away we go - we hit 96 km/h today (that's about 55 mph for our friends south of the border)

When I had my 10 hour check up (at 20 hours), I mentioned this and the dealer changed out the wear ring (I probably shouldn't have said that I sucked something up as this was an invitation, but these guys are pretty good)

If I gradually apply throttle and coax it out of the hole, no problem.

Should I be expecting to be able to give it full throttle and have this thing jump out of the water?

I'm not all that unhappy with the boat, if it should be jumping out then I'll go looking further for another issue, if not, I'll keep doing what I've been doing.

Thanks,
Ian
 
Yeah it should move rather quickly. Look in there and see how the impeller and wear ring look. Also, what RPM's are you getting?
 
Well I'm assuming the wear ring is OK seeing as it is brand new, I get full RPMs right off the bat, 8000, problem is it stutters (cavitates) on the hole shot. The boat gets there, runs fine once it gets past the stuttering.

If I am already moving and I hammer the throttle, no problem - this thing really jumps, it's only from low RPM when I hammer it, it stutters.

Unfortunately it's going in to get winterized this week, so I'll probably ask them to water test it, they apparently ramp tested it after replacing the wear ring.......

Tx
 
Young again, funny you say this because my 09' does the same EXACT thing, I had the 150 sportster with the 215hp before I traded it in on this new boat, and that thing jumped out of the water when I gave it full throttle from a idle. On this new 180SE I have never sucked anything up, only ever lake ran, very clean water, my boat has 19 hours on it now, I notice that if I only give it about 1/4 throttle from idle it seems to move out ok and then keep giving it about 1/4 increments at throttle and she moves fine, it is all done in a matter of seconds to full throttle, but from a plane idle if I slam it full throttle she will cavitate a few seconds and catch almost like your saying 1,2,3. My boat also runs full throttle at 8000 rpms, and from like 30MPH to full throttle, she picks right up no problem. I wondered and haven't had the pleasure of wakeboarding yet, if this would be a problem in pulling someone up, I have also thought that maybe I was sucking air past something in the engine compartment like the carbon seal, I do know that this hull design is new for the 180 challenger in 09' if that has anything to do with it. I will do some more research myself and if you hear anything I would be interesting in hearing. also I always check my wear ring and impeller and they still look perfect
 
There is an excellent thread by Seadoosnipe in the How to Tech Articles on JET pumps and he makes a statement that I have been considering all along - with these new motors, I'm wondering if the pump is just trying to catch up.

The only other thing that comes to mind (which someone mentioned) would be the carbon seal and it could be sucking air.

I intentionally tried it right after they replaced the wear ring with only 2 of us on board (okay so I'm 1 and a 1/2), and less than 1/4 tank of fuel.

I'm actually fine with it running this way if there is actually nothing wrong with the boat, (keep in mind I came from a Searay 280 with twin V6's - this is a small rocket relatively speaking.......)
 
carbon seal leak?

I have often wondered if the carbon seal allowed air to suck in the pump, wouldn't it also allow water to leak into the boat when running at low speeds.
 
Hi All,

I'm not sure if I have a problem or not, so I'll ask the experts.

2009 Challenger 180SE 255HP - Now 20 hours but has been doing this from beginning

I sucked up a line first time out, but once cleared didn't appear to be too much of an issue.

My buddy that has a Speedster, gets out of the hole by "flooring it" from 0 to full throttle - wham bam. - (lighter boat 215 HP)

If I do that, my 180 cavitates for a 1 2 3 count and then bites and away we go - we hit 96 km/h today (that's about 55 mph for our friends south of the border)

When I had my 10 hour check up (at 20 hours), I mentioned this and the dealer changed out the wear ring (I probably shouldn't have said that I sucked something up as this was an invitation, but these guys are pretty good)

If I gradually apply throttle and coax it out of the hole, no problem.

Should I be expecting to be able to give it full throttle and have this thing jump out of the water?

I'm not all that unhappy with the boat, if it should be jumping out then I'll go looking further for another issue, if not, I'll keep doing what I've been doing.

Thanks,
Ian


I too have a 2009 180SE 255HP. I have 25 hours on it. In one of my earlier outings a piece of wood lodged in it some where and it cavitated big time - max speed 12kph. Mechanic fished it out and it then worked good 90-95kph. I don't know exactly where it was lodged, however he did not change the wear ring or anything. Also I don't see any permanent damage to wear ring or impeller.
As far as the hole shot thing,that is something I have never tried. I would guess if it will do 95kph there is not much wrong with it. I will try the hole shot trick myself on the Shuswap next May.
 
Mike, I'm told the 1,2,3 is the engine hitting the rev limiter - I'm at the boat show in 2 weeks so I'll get with the Seadoo techs and pick their brain - I've also told the dealer we're going for a ride as soon as I can manage the ice flows......
 
I haven't had much luck asking my dealer, then just say that they never heard of that. Sounds good, keep me posted, thanks
 
I to have an 09 challenger that does the same thing. If I give it full throttle out of the hole I hit the rev limiter for a couple seconds and then the boat takes off. If I give say 3/4 throttle it takes off fine without hitting the rev limiter. I am getting full rpms and 49mph on gps...hmmm, glad I am not the only one with this problem. Let me know if anyone gets this figured out.
 
Mee too

i have a 2010 255ho C180 se and am experiencing the same thing. i bought the boat new and it did it from day 1. I took the boat back and they re sealed the ride plate saying that it was never sealed properly from factory. It still cavitates when you give it full throttle out of the hole but like you say once you get up and going I can hit 52mph.

I have no problems pulling tubes, knee boards or wake boards out of the water with out cavitation.

I would be great if someone knew why this is happening.

i have read on other forums that the pump is too small for the size of the boat but there are some boats that don't do it apparently so I don't think that's it???
 
I tried to call BRP to get technical assistance and was told that I needed to discuss technical problems with the dealer. I find it a little disconcerting that they won't even take the call - which should I decide to change boats - will factor into my next choice.
Don't get me wrong, I really like my boat and can live with this idiosyncracy - but the mfg not being approachable is not sitting well with me.
 
My 07 180 challenger is doing the same 1,2,3 thing. It just started this. It did not do this last weekend. Did anyone get a fix? Maybe change out the wear ring?
 
180 SE Challenger- Hole shot

Hi All,

I'm not sure if I have a problem or not, so I'll ask the experts.

2009 Challenger 180SE 255HP - Now 20 hours but has been doing this from beginning

I sucked up a line first time out, but once cleared didn't appear to be too much of an issue.

My buddy that has a Speedster, gets out of the hole by "flooring it" from 0 to full throttle - wham bam. - (lighter boat 215 HP)

If I do that, my 180 cavitates for a 1 2 3 count and then bites and away we go - we hit 96 km/h today (that's about 55 mph for our friends south of the border)

When I had my 10 hour check up (at 20 hours), I mentioned this and the dealer changed out the wear ring (I probably shouldn't have said that I sucked something up as this was an invitation, but these guys are pretty good)

If I gradually apply throttle and coax it out of the hole, no problem.

Should I be expecting to be able to give it full throttle and have this thing jump out of the water?

I'm not all that unhappy with the boat, if it should be jumping out then I'll go looking further for another issue, if not, I'll keep doing what I've been doing.

Thanks,
Ian

I had my 180 SE Challenger (with 24 hours on it) out on Mara & Shuswap this week. I tried the hole shot thing and I didn't seem to have cavitation, but it seemed like the engine faltered briefly like it was missing, then it took off very well right up to 90kph plus on the speedo. Maybe it was cavitation and just sounded like an engine sputtering, I will try again next time. It was just like a short 1 2 3 count, then gone.

Others on the forum had questioned this boats ability to go 95kph, so this week I took my GPS along. They are correct, the boats speedo is reading 8-10 kph too high. Still fast enough for me. 8000 RPMs plus at WOT seems a bit crazy hard on the engine. Once on plane it really cruises nicely at half throttle, 6000-6500 RPMs, 50-60kph.
 
I also had this same problem on my 09 challenger 180. I took it to my dealer and they had found that the that the ride plate wasn't sealed properly. Problem fixed.
 
Well, based on the input from this forum, I took mine back in to the dealer and they found the ride plate was causing the issue, including the 2nd wear ring already starting to show signs after 45 minutes. I pick mine up on Saturday, I'll let you all know if this thing rockets out of the hole like I'm told it should.
Thanks to all that read, listen and commment

If you want to be part of an extended family (and I'm talking seriously extended.....) buy a boat or a bike :thumbsup:
 
I posted this on another thread same topic - and figured I should close out my original thread with my end result.

Picked it up yesterday, guys (and gals) at Quinns were awesome. They went through the whole process and one of the service techs actually took the time to climb under a boat in the showroom to illustrate what the problem was. They did a soapy bubble test and could see where water was coming from the side of the ride plate into the pump, which was causing the cavitation. You should have seen the groove cut into the wear ring after only 2 hours. The groove was circular, indicative I'm told of the impeller vibrating due to the cavitation, whereas if you suck up a stick or something you will likely see an irregular cutting. Took the boat out today as it was raining yesterday.
This pops up and out of the water without any hesitation, nor does it hit the rev limiter. It always ran well once under way, but i hit 93 km on Lake Simcoe with quite a bit of chop.
We're still waiting for the warranty to be approved, and I'm pretty confident they will - otherwise I'm out 1400.00 and looking for a different boat......
Sure does demonstrate how touchy these drives can be, I will be learning how to do my own wear rings, but hopefully won't need to worry for quite a few years.
One thing the service guy noted was that the amount of wear that was on my ring if it were on a PWC - no problem, but when you start dealing with boats the size and weight of the Challenger, things become a lot more evident.
Hats of to the guys at Quinn's Marina, they could have just as easily have given me the run around and said "wear ring", but they took the time to dig deeper and do a proper diagnostic - in other words, they listened to their customer - not something many are willing to do these days.
I've heard more than once that the ride plates have been a big problem with these boats, which is one of the reasons why I asked them to take a harder look.
No - there are no Technical Bulletins out on this from BRP as of yet.
 
Glad to hear that you got it sorted!! Any chance you or someone could post a picture of what to look for?? I get some cavitation out of the hole with my speedster 200 and I just had both wear rings replaced and the impellers re-pitched and edges cleaned up. What is the typical repair..?? Is it just a matter of sealing everything off with some good 3M caulking??
 
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