Challenger 2000, Starting problem.

[azirkhan]

Liquid Heat Sink "A Must"

Before going out on the lake yesterday I reinstalled the head temperature sensor using a Heat Sink Compound from Radio Shack. I had red in another post and in the service manual that to get an accurate temperature reading one must use a heat sink compound to ensure a good thermal contact between the cylinder head and sensor. Yesterday the boat did not miss a single start!! I was out on the lake for about 5 hours, we must have started the boat may be 15 to 20 times during the 5 hours and each time it started right up with no problem. See attached Heat Sink Compound photo. Thanks to all of you for helping me solve this problem.

 

[johnhibbs]

I'm going to redo mine too. I used a thick marine grease but I know I should have used the real stuff from radio shack. I'm getting much better gas mileage too. It sounds crazy but I think it's 40% or more better.

 

[azirkhan]

I use regular gas (87Oct), not having an hour meeter on the motor i cannot tell how much gas I am using. But yesterday I may have had just over an hour run time on the motor, and I used about 10gallons. Mostly running just over half throttle towing a tube. The boat is so new to me that I don't really have previous history to compare.

I am very satisfied now, motor starts right up every time, got my confident back, nothing like being in a "dead boat" miles away from the marina with kids on board, never want to experience that again.