2001 challenger 1800 W/ Merc m2 JET HELP!

[rossman]

Anyone else have this engine with similar problems?

Just bought this 2001 Challenger 1800 w/ M2 jet. I started it and throttled up, ran fine at the previous owner’s house. I put it in the water, it started and ran Smokey at idle while I went to park the trailer. About 5 mins till I got back to wife in boat and she said it just died. I restarted it and shifted in to forward, it died... I did that several times, each time it took longer to start. Eventually I burnt out the starter solenoid. Being a Ford Mustang guy, I knew how to manually jump the solenoid. It started several more times. Some how I even got it to start while in gear froward and reverse. Soon after the battery was dead, I had to pull it to the launch and go home. Next day I started it again for 30 seconds or so. Since then I can not get it to start at all... I have spark at the plugs. Fuel after the pump and water separator. The plugs seem wet. I checked the key switch, kill switch and even the neutral safety switch on the shift lever. They are all fine. Not sure how to check injectors or oil mix pump??? I was told it ran fine the last time it was used 2 years ago.... I just ordered a shop manual for the engine. I have never worked on 2 strokes before. Any help would be great. I think I am missing some thing simple.

BAD GAS? WATER IN THE LINE? New parts and manual on the way but cant wait... Ill try anything

 

[kevspyder]

Maybe Pay the 10 bucks to be a premium member and get instant access to the manual on the site?

 

[rossman]

Thanks, I am now a Premium member and have downloaded the manuals... I will work on reading the manuals ASAP... I would still like some direction if anyone has any ideas.

 

[rookie101]

If the boat has been sitting for two years, start by draining as much fuel as possible from the tank, draining the Vapor separator, changing the fuel filters and replacing the plugs. Two-strokes can be sensitive to old gas and spark plugs.

Aaron:cheers:

 

[rossman]

Thanks, When I tried to drain the Vapor seperator nothing came out... I remove it and cleaned it and the filter. It was packed with sand and gel like stuff. I have new water seperator and plugs ready to go in. I need the rubber gasket between the vapor separator and vapor bowl tank. The one that came off is stretched.. Once I find one I will reinstall and give it a go!

 

[rookie101]

Before you put the vapor separator back together, make sure the needle is clear. With the float in the down position you should be able to blow through the inlet hose for the VS. If you can't the needle passage is plugged with scale. That "sand and gel" are whats left of the old fuel and oil when they evaporated and is why you need to either drain the fuel, or add fuel stabilizer when the boat will be sitting for an extended period.

Make sure you replace all the filters and drain as much of the old fuel out as possible. You may want to consider removing the fuel tank and cleaning it as well.

Aaron:cheers:

 

[rossman]

Weird, The fuel in the tank was fine. I pumped it out and refilled it with fresh fuel. I will prime it up to the vapor separator exit port. Should I turn over the engine with the Spark plugs out, to further purge the fuel system? Is the final filter in the vapor separator enough to keep the kunk from getting to the injectors? Any cant do much until the Oring seal gets here...

Thanks,

Ross

 

[rookie101]

The fuel in the tank was OK, because they likely added a bottle of stabilizer to the tank after it had sat for a while, but it had no way of getting to the rest of the system. Hopefully the final filter was enough to keep the junk out of the fuel rail and injectors, but you will have to try to start it to find out.

I would pull the plugs and add an ounce or so of two-stroke oil to the cylinders before you try to start it the next time.

Aaron:cheers:

 

[rossman]

Its all back together... Runs great! thanks for you help... It was the fuel the whole time.. I did have a small problem while out on the water. The top volt regulator red wire started to burn at the regulator. I turned off power and it would stop. turn on power and it starts to burn. ( by burn I mean it was heating up the regulator to the point of smoking and oozing rubber stuff from the side of the regulator). I unplugged that red wire at the regulator and she ran fine the rest of the time, 20 mins or so. I had just replaced the starter solonoid. It apears thats where that red wire goes. What does the top regulator do? Why are there 2? Can I continue to run her with that wire off? If I change the regulator will it burn up again? The solinoid was hooked up the same as the old one (did not seem to matter what side was up). no marks to show positive or negative... It did look like the terminals were 1 copper and 1 brass. I kept it the same... What should I do?

 

[rookie101]

You can run it that way, but not for long. The red wire on the voltage regulator is your charging wire, so the battery will be dead in a short time. Before you do anything, pull the battery out and charge it for a while so you do not overburden the charging circuit when you run the boat the next time.

OK, lets start by making sure everything is hooked up right. Your voltage regulator should have five wires coming off it. Two yellow, two red and a grey. The two yellow go the the charging coil in the stator, the grey goes to the tachometer and the two red go to the same side of the starter solenoid as the large positive battery lead.

If that is all fine you most likely have a bad regulator, but do these resistance checks on it with your multimeter to be sure. Make sure your meter is set to ohms.

This first test on the regulator is a diode test, so it's important to hook the test leads up the way it calls for. Connect your negative lead to either yellow wire, and your positive lead to the thick red wire (repeat test for both yellow wires). You should get between 100 and 400 ohms. Now hook it up the other way, with the positive lead to either of the yellow wires, and your negative lead to the thick red wire (again repeat for both yellow wires). You should get 40,000 to infinity.

The next test just checks for a short. Hook your negative lead to either yellow, and your positive to the case ground. You should get 10,000 to infinity.

Aaron:cheers:

 

[northernlakesmarine]

Can anyone helpé..

My 2002 CHallenger 1800 240 runs beautiful, starts at a turn of a key, runs great.... but sometimes above 4000 rpm it will just die out. No alarm sounds, it just dies, you put it back in neautral and it starts right up again.