teamgreen737
New Member
Hey guys, I've had these twin 787 challengers for quite a few years now and have done everything including bottom up rebuilds on both 787's and fixing or replacing almost every component on this boat throughout the years owning. I'm pretty sure I have the shop manual memorized by this time with the Challenger 1800.
This is a new problem that has started a few weeks back that is absolutely driving me crazy which has been very difficult to figure out. First three outings this year were flawless per usual, as it should be on a boat with fairly fresh motors who's carbs are rebuilt every year. Three outings ago, both motors suddenly shut off as if my knee bumped the key off the DESS post. They quickly restarted and I was on my way, only for it to happen again. By the end of this outing the twin motors had randomly shut down over 8 times. Each time they fire back up instantly (not a fuel issue). There is no rhyme or reason to this electrical shut down of both motors, no similar RPM, no big wave or bump, and no specific condition that I can relate to this happening.
I researched the forums and found that the DESS key post was most like the culprit so I pulled my post off my other challenger 1800 that works perfectly and ordered another off of ebay. Installed each of these and have still run into the problem of random shut downs. I've cleaned the key contacts very well (this is a fresh water boat and they were already clean) and have checked connections from the DESS post to the electrical box in back. My second last outing I ran the boat for 3+ hours without a single issue. Yesterday I went to take it out thinking I had fixed the problem and experienced the random shut downs once again.
Does anyone have any other ideas to check regarding this problem? Do you think I have a faulty ECM that is randomly shutting down signals to both motors??! Anyway to check or diagnosis this?
This is a new problem that has started a few weeks back that is absolutely driving me crazy which has been very difficult to figure out. First three outings this year were flawless per usual, as it should be on a boat with fairly fresh motors who's carbs are rebuilt every year. Three outings ago, both motors suddenly shut off as if my knee bumped the key off the DESS post. They quickly restarted and I was on my way, only for it to happen again. By the end of this outing the twin motors had randomly shut down over 8 times. Each time they fire back up instantly (not a fuel issue). There is no rhyme or reason to this electrical shut down of both motors, no similar RPM, no big wave or bump, and no specific condition that I can relate to this happening.
I researched the forums and found that the DESS key post was most like the culprit so I pulled my post off my other challenger 1800 that works perfectly and ordered another off of ebay. Installed each of these and have still run into the problem of random shut downs. I've cleaned the key contacts very well (this is a fresh water boat and they were already clean) and have checked connections from the DESS post to the electrical box in back. My second last outing I ran the boat for 3+ hours without a single issue. Yesterday I went to take it out thinking I had fixed the problem and experienced the random shut downs once again.
Does anyone have any other ideas to check regarding this problem? Do you think I have a faulty ECM that is randomly shutting down signals to both motors??! Anyway to check or diagnosis this?
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