Tudorc
Member
Hi - my 97 Challenger is taking forever (15-25 seconds) to get onto a plane but eventually gets up to 37mph at full throttle and 7000 rpms. With two adults on the boat in the rear seats, it won't get onto a plane at all until one adult shifts forward. If I give it full throttle while it is trying to achieve a plane, the engine seems to intermittently (every 1 second or so) lose revs and regains; if I pull back from full throttle a touch, that stops.
A nearby Seadoo mechanic did a quick diagnostic compression test about a month ago (this was happening then) and got 130psi in both cylinders. I did another test and got 120psi in both (but gauge was cheap so maybe inaccurate) - so assuming the mechanic's reading is more accurate.
Since I got the boat a month ago, I've cleaned the rave valves, rebuilt the carbs and reset to factory specs, replaced the gas, readjusted the throttle cable and replaced the wear ring with an SBT wear ring - and put in a neoprene seal to replace the previous black silicone that had been sealing it. I was hoping the wear ring replacement would address the issue but only produced a slight improvement - though my top end speed improved by 5 mph.
The Solas impeller has small rock indentations all the ways across on each of the blades on the leading edges but doesn't look too bad (?). Could the rough leading edges be causing the planing issue? And am I better reverting to the original impeller, new Solas or other recommendation? I don't care about maxxing out top speed, more about making the boat a workable ski/board/tube boat - which it clearly isn't right now!
I haven't done anything drive shaft-related - but when I removed the impeller housing there was a lot of up/down and side-to-side play in the shaft (2" roughly) but no play backwards and forwards. Is this amount of play normal and could it indicate a carbon ring issue that is causing the planing issue?
The red adjuster on the rave valves are not entirely flush - maybe one full turn up. And the red adjuster on the water pressure thing is also one turn up.
Probably unrelated, I also have a problem where the engine won't start warm (it does eventually) but starts right up and fine cold... Am I right in assuming this is a carb needle seating issue where it's not seating properly and flooding the engine? I replaced the needles during the carb rebuild with SBT needles. Is this fixed by new needles or...?
I'm doing all of this work myself to avoid and reduce mechanic costs, and want to replace parts that will most likely improve things rather than taking a shot gun approach - any next steps guidance would be appreciated.
A nearby Seadoo mechanic did a quick diagnostic compression test about a month ago (this was happening then) and got 130psi in both cylinders. I did another test and got 120psi in both (but gauge was cheap so maybe inaccurate) - so assuming the mechanic's reading is more accurate.
Since I got the boat a month ago, I've cleaned the rave valves, rebuilt the carbs and reset to factory specs, replaced the gas, readjusted the throttle cable and replaced the wear ring with an SBT wear ring - and put in a neoprene seal to replace the previous black silicone that had been sealing it. I was hoping the wear ring replacement would address the issue but only produced a slight improvement - though my top end speed improved by 5 mph.
The Solas impeller has small rock indentations all the ways across on each of the blades on the leading edges but doesn't look too bad (?). Could the rough leading edges be causing the planing issue? And am I better reverting to the original impeller, new Solas or other recommendation? I don't care about maxxing out top speed, more about making the boat a workable ski/board/tube boat - which it clearly isn't right now!
I haven't done anything drive shaft-related - but when I removed the impeller housing there was a lot of up/down and side-to-side play in the shaft (2" roughly) but no play backwards and forwards. Is this amount of play normal and could it indicate a carbon ring issue that is causing the planing issue?
The red adjuster on the rave valves are not entirely flush - maybe one full turn up. And the red adjuster on the water pressure thing is also one turn up.
Probably unrelated, I also have a problem where the engine won't start warm (it does eventually) but starts right up and fine cold... Am I right in assuming this is a carb needle seating issue where it's not seating properly and flooding the engine? I replaced the needles during the carb rebuild with SBT needles. Is this fixed by new needles or...?
I'm doing all of this work myself to avoid and reduce mechanic costs, and want to replace parts that will most likely improve things rather than taking a shot gun approach - any next steps guidance would be appreciated.
