2002 challenger wont start

[Scottsmach03]

I went on vacation and when I come back my 1800 challenger wont start. I have taken it out almost every weekend up until my vacation. It has sit for around 5 weeks now. I checked the battery and looks to be low. It is a everstart and its about 3 years old. I went to walmart bought a new battery and it still wont start. All my accessorys work(radio, fan, horn etc) but it still wont crank. I hooked my battery charger up to the new battery and it says its LOW. I thought that was kinda of odd since its a new battery(but it is a everstart:ack. I looked at the starter and its spinning. Im hoping that its just a low battery and its not giving enough spark to the plugs to fire it up. Is there a way to check for fire on the plugs with out holding it in your hand and cranking? Any ideals as to what my problem is? How can a boat just from sitting for a few weeks have problems? Will cranking the motor while it is out of the water have any long term effect? Im just trying to get it to turn it over, as soon as it cranks i will turn the key off.

2002 1800 challenger 210hp m2

 

[robin savell lloyd]

I believe that your boat suffers from depression. you did not take it with you on vacation. :rofl:LOL You should be fine trying to start it out of the water even if you do not have a hose hooked up to it. Just do not let it run for more than a minute at idle or higher. Is the engine spinning over or do you only hear the starter free spinning? :cheers:

 

[Scottsmach03]

The starter is spinning the large gear on top of the motor.

 

[Scottsmach03]

I wanted to take it to florida but gas prices prevented the haul

 

[robin savell lloyd]

I am a litle lost but if the engine is spinning over with the pistons going up and down than it should have spark to spark plugs. You can remove spark plugs and lay them on top of the engine and turn the engine over and see the spark jump across the gap in the plugs. Good luck Robin :cheers:

 

[Scottsmach03]

It is getting spark.

 

[robin savell lloyd]

If it is geting spark than it must not be geting fuel as I would not think it would be a compression issue as it was runing the last time you took it out. Did you forget to turn the gas back on? :cheers:

 

[Scottsmach03]

I dont think I ever turned it off? Is there a separate cuttoff switch?

 

[robin savell lloyd]

There may not be a seperate fuel shut off on your boat as I did not see one in your parts list for your boat. Many people would dissagree with me but to find out if you have a fuel issue spray some starting fluid into the intake. [carbs or spark arester] They make starting fluid with oil in it. To be honest with you I would not care if it had oil in it or not as I am not going to be runing the engine off of it, I am only useing it as a diagnostic tool to see if I have a fuel related Issue. You will hear all kinds of horror stories about starting fluid but I have used it for 20 plus years with no ill efect. Do not use it for more than a few seconds only to see if engine will start. If it starts than you know that you have a fuel issue. On a extremely rare ocassion a week spark can allso be the problem. The safest way to do this test is to use a spray botle with premix gas at a ratio of 40 to 1. Good luck Robin :cheers:

 

[kustomkarl]

Scott, did you try new plugs? Its possible that you seadoo needs new plugs if it has spark and fuel.
Let me know how you make out.

Karl

 

[Scottsmach03]

I replaced the plugs with new NGKS two months ago. Im going to check the fuel this evening. If that large gear on top of the motor is turning then that means that the engine is turning over right? I cant tell because how loud it is. Its different then a car.

 

[Scottsmach03]

I sure would like to get this thing going before the 4th. If I dont oh well. I guess I need to look at all my fuses. With is sitting for 5 weeks the only thing I can think of that would be a problem would be moisture. Maybe moisture dripped on a fuse holder. Possibly a fuel pump fuse. What is the best way to check and see if the fuel pump is working?