2003 Seadoo challenger 240 EFI won’t reach full acceleration, hoppin’ and skippin’

[Hawk111]

Went for a ride with a buddy and after 3-4K RPMs sounds like engine is skippin a bit. It won’t reach full acceleration. Put the “inline ignition lights” on and found 3 intermittent coils. They didn’t appear to have steady BPMs or pulse tempo at the higher RPM range. First thought is to replace the coils, but then I’m thinking, really all 3 went bad? Fuel pressure tested out good while running and accelerating on water. Any thoughts? Maybe a voltage problem or some module I missed? Could a leaky or clogged injector cause this?

 

[ripcuda]

The service manual has good troubleshooting details about the ignition system. The coils (CDMs) are connected and grounded through each other. As well as the Trigger (under the Stator under the flywheel) triggers cylinders in pairs (1&4, 2&5, 3&6). So if you are seeing multiple coils drop spark.... likely a single cause.

On my 240, the Trigger was bad and I was dropping cylinder #1 and #4 spark above ~2400 rpms. My engine couldn't rev beyond ~4k running on only 4 cylinders.

Determine exactly which cylinders are dropping spark... and that could help point the diagnosis.

Cheers!

 

[Hawk111]

What is “the trigger”? And good thoughts on the coil being connected. One is faulty, then that means the other 2 aren’t but would show symptoms from the bad one because connected? In series? I have an 03’ = no stator, I have an alternator. It’s the next generation up before the 250 Opti. Anymore thoughts?

 

[ripcuda]

On my gen1 240, the Trigger sits under the magneto stator under the flywheel. Pretty sure you still have the Trigger assembly even though your engine swapped the magneto stator for an alternator. The Trigger has 3 hall-effect sensors that detect a magnet on the flywheel snout and trigger pairs of coils.

I'd get the service manual... the one for your version... the 2002+ 240efi version... and follow the ignition troubleshooting section. It's surprisingly thorough and helped me track down my Trigger issue.