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2001 Seadoo Challenger 1800 won't start after sitting

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scottsmiley

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I have this boat that sat for a number of years, the motor started and ran fine last time it was in the water.

I did the following before trying to start it:
Installed New Battery
Installed New Starter
Installed New Spark Plugs
Installed New Fuel Filter
Pumped out the fuel tank and added fresh fuel
Changed 2 cycle oil in the large resevoir

The motor cranks but doe not start.

Do I have to prime the fuel system?
 
There's lots of stuff to check.

1) Make sure the fuel is getting up to the engine. There's a small electric lift up that runs while cranking.

2) If you have fuel in the vapor separator... then make sure you have good pressuer. (There's a Schrader valve on the high pressure line)

3) Check the fuses.

4) Is your lanyard on? (it will crank, but won't start with it off)

5) Do you have spark?
 
Dr. Honda

I determined I had no pressure on the Schrader valve on the vapor separator and I replaced the high pressure fuel pump in the vapor separator. I now show good pressure on the vapor separator Schrader valve but I still don't seem to be getting gas to the cylinders.

I have good spark.

Do I need to bleed the fuel system past the vapor separator somehow?
Also I can't seem to determine where the air intake is on this engine. You've instructed me to spray fogging oil in when turning the motor over. Where do I spray that?

Thanks for your help.
 
The intake is just some big openings on the back-side of the injection box. If you look between the intake manifold runners... you will see the butterflies. There's no air-box, or "Flame Arrestor" on the 240 engine.

Fogging oil is hard to get into the 240... and I try to get as much as possible into the throttle body while running... but I will go directly into the cyls on this engine also.

No... you don't have to bleed the fuel system. It's self filling. If you have pressure... it's fine. I would verify that the injectors have power.
 
Do you think I need to bleed the fuel line somehow after changing that pump and all the filters?

Could the fuel pressure regulator be bad even though I have pressure at the Schrader valve?
 
No, and no.


If there's air... it will push up to the vapor tank, and just go out the vent.

If the regulator is bad... the fuel will just circulate free... and you won't build much pressure. ( a few PSI at best) So... if you have correct pressure... then the regulator is OK.
 
I got the boat started! Seems to be running fine. I will take it out to the water and give it a test when I get back home in 2 weeks. I remember it seemed to have a cavitation issue last time it was in the water. Well see what happens.

I am sure I will have some more questions for you.
Thanks for your help.
 
Challenger 1800 240 EFI ran great than lost power and RPMs

I decided to inspect the impeller and wear ring before taking the boat out.
I took apart the jet pump ad saw the impeller and wear ring were trashed so I replaced both of them with new.

I took the boat out yesterday for the first time on the water and it ran perfect for about 10 minutes then it lost power and would no longer rev past 3500 RPMs and would not get up on plane. after a couple minutes like that it stalled and would not start.

I let it sit for 15 minutes and it started again but still would not go over 3500 RPMs so I limped back to the dock and took it out of the water.

Keep in mind the following things were just done to the boat in the last several weeks before the test run.
Installed New Battery
Installed New Starter
Installed New Spark Plugs
Installed New Fuel Filter
Installed new fuel water separator filter
Replaced High Pressure fuel pump
Cleaned Vapor Separator Tank
Pumped out the fuel tank and added fresh fuel
Changed 2 cycle oil in the large reservoir
Replaced Wear Ring with new brand new Wear ring
Replaced impeller with new impeller
Replaced steering and shift cable bellows (outside transom)

What could be the issue? I know I've read some posts where people had similar symptoms and fixed the issue by replacing a sensor on the engine.
I just can't seem to find those posts.

update 10/5/2015
I took off the fuel pressure requlator to check the screen and it was clean.
But I found the vacuum hose on the fuel pressure regulator was torn and barely on. See pictiuretorn hose.JPGregulator screen.JPG

Do you think the vacuum hose could be the culprit? I changed the hose and the boat started an idles fine in the driveway again.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
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Starting and idling in the driveway doesn't count. There's no load on the engine.


I would verify that you have spark on all 6 cyl's... and compression. If that's OK... then go out for a water ride, and see how it runs.

3500 RPM is kind of a magic number, when you loose 3 spark plugs.
 
Thanks for your reply. I will check compression and spark on all the cylinders this week and let you know how it goes.

Also I purchased new spark plug wires but am not sure how to replace them.
What's the trick to get the new wires into the CDM modules?
 
They should be threaded into the posts... but they are also glued in place. SO... they are not easy to remove.
 
I checked compression on all cylinders - had 120lbs on them all. I removed the CDM modules and replaced the spark plug wires wires. After that I now have no spark on 2 cylinders. I will take the CDMs off on those two and check the wires and connections as soon as I have time this week. I almost positive I had good spark on all cylinders before changing the wires today. But I didn't check them first today I checked them a few weeks ago.

Is there a shop that still services these boats?

Dr. Honda you are in Pitt and I'm in Cleveland. I would gladly take the boat to Pitt or Erie to have it fixed. I can't seem to find a shop around Cleveland that wants to work on this boat.
 
I don't work on the boats anymore. I closed my shop a couple years ago. Not to mention... the weather is starting to get cold, and I just don't want to be outside. I made the mistake of taking in a boat for an engine replacement last fall... and I was fighting the weather for 3 weeks before I got a 1.5 day job done.

With that said... in the spring... when it starts to warm up... I may be able to help. (ask me again in about 5 months)


As Scott said... talk to Merc dealers, they will work on them. Seadoo "Officially" told their dealers to stop working on the Merc boats in 2008~2009, because they couldn't get parts, and by that time, the warranty's were done. (I guess it was an ugly separation) Some dealers will still work on them, if they are friendly with a Merc dealer, and can get parts.... but the vast majority of them won't touch them.
 
I'll be out of town on business for the next week but will try and contact a Mercury shop or keep plugging away at it myself when I get back.
I will keep this thread updated.

Thanks for your help.
 
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