New Guy...1998 SeaDoo Challenger bought about a month ago, lots of problems

[caseys500]

Here goes:
Ive been looking into these boats for a couple years. Found one for a decent price and it looked to be in great shape. Battery was dead so it wouldn't start. Guy said it ran great last year, but hadnt had it on water this year.

I buy it, drop it in the lake and could barely get it to start and wouldnt hold idle. I'm mechanically inclined. but know nothing about boats, so i found a dealer that said they work on them.

They call me 2 weeks later saying they have it running great (bad battery replaced and bad neutral switch). I pick it up, drop it in the lake and same problem. take it back, they had it for another week and a half before I just got mad and picked it up. I knew the problem was that it was flooding out, yet they never looked into it.

I pulled the carbs, cleaned them up (2 of the 4 carbs had the needles stuck in the seat).

Drop it in the lake. Idles fine, I floor it and RPMs on both motors go to 7, left side drops to about 4500. When I try to ease into it, left side will only get up to about 3500, then sputters and hangs around that point.

More investigation leads to exhaust Rave valves need cleaned. Great, I do that (obviously it had never been done before). The 2 rave pistons on the right side had stripped the threads. Found some helicoils to do a temp fix. Left side valves were super carboned up.

Drop it in the lake, now Ive got it figured out I think (again). Now, the boat is beeping. Constant, continual beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...etc, the whole time while running. I get out on the lake and it reacts the same way. Im googling to see what the beeping is, I turn off the boat. then it took forever to get on of the motors to start up and I limped it back in.

The owners manual is of no real help in the beeping category of troubleshooting. It points at several things, but doesnt say what it means by continual beep. I know overheating is one solid beep, thats not what im getting. From looking around, multiple beeps is either, loose battery connection (which is tight) or low fuel warning (its at 3/4 tank) Gas guage of course doesnt work either. Some threads Ive read say to hit the fuel sensor reset switch on the dash for the alarm...umm, there is no switch on this.

I also noticed it tries to hydroplane to the right when up on plane. The service manual says a vane isnt shut all the way...I dont know what it is talking about. The only thing I see is the weedless grates, and they are closed and open when they are supposed to be...

When up to speed, it looses power quickly when turning sharp, more so to the right than left. (possibly because of the bad impellers/wear rings?)

I officially know more about these boats than the seadoo dealership does, but i still havent gotten it running right.
This things runs and revs up great on the trailer. The only thing I think is left is the impellers, wear rings and carbon rings to get this thing running right. (I can see the condition of them isn't very good). But, the question is, do I drop the $500 more on the hope that it fixes it, or sell it for a loss?

Any help or direction would be great. It seems like this boat is close to running right, but everything thus far hasnt gotten it.

 

[dbracela]

After you did the carbs, and the raves, did the engines run properly?

The planing to one side sounds like one pump is pushing more water than the other, or steering needs to be adjusted. Because you said the drive seals and wear rings and impellers are toast, it would be hard to tell the cause until that's been fixed. It's a fairly quick and straightforward job.

Have you done a compression test?

I have had that same beep come up on my boat twice. Last year when I had low fuel, and this year right before I roasted an engine. I've never received a straight answer as to what it means.

 

[caseys500]

I did notice the steering issue the first run out after cleaning the carbs, and I adjusted the steering after that. It still had that issue. I think you're right, because the right side motor was running at full 7k while the other had dropped to about 4500

Boat shop did a compression test when it was there, they said they were good...they didn't tell me what it was though.

The engines do seem to run properly...this is what is leading me toward the propulsion

 

[Coastiejoe]

You need to do a compression test and post the numbers for us.

Also, anytime you are looking at a boat it a ski and you hear,, it only needs a battery,,, or,,, it only needs a starter,,, you can expect issues.

Either buy it cheaper or have them pay for the fix and get the work done before you accept the boat/ski...


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[dbracela]

People seem very reluctant to buy a compression tester. They are cheap, easy to use, and it's a tool you'll want to have for as long you own a machine.

 

[howie099]

ok, do a compression check on the engine or rent the tool just to verify. Me I bought a good some from Motion Pro, worth the $140 I paid since it is made for 2-4 stoke motorcycle,ATV, & PWC engines. I have had bad luck with the harbor freight ones they have always been off. Your beeping is more than likley the engines or engine are over heating do run the boat until you check the cooling line for clogs, hooked up wrong, or bad lines. You will burn up the motor/motors

I would of put new rubbers and needle/seat kits in the carbs. That is me but until you do a bunch of them you don't really know what you are looking for. You can get the kits from osdparts or anyone else. Will spend about $200 for 4 kits w/Mikuni needles/seats. Need to test the popoff pressure also to make sure that is correct.

Also you can try to adjust the carbone seal in your drive shaft has slots in it or Dr. Honda has a post with some tricks you can try ti stop the cavitation. If you impellers and wear ring look good it will be the carbone seal. You really can't tell them they are wore out they look about the same new and they do old.

Weedless system works off 2 cables that hold the grate is place. When they break the grate will drop. You can use vice drips for a temp fix to hold the grate up if broken until you can locate a used cable. Those cables suck to find.

 

[Fallsguy]

Guessing needles and seats especially due to the hard start issue. I'm a novice at this but I had the same problem. Btw the fuel switch should be at the bottom right. But if you're not low on fuel I'm betting its over heating

 

[caseys500]

Thanks guys!
I will check the cooling lines...the motors dont seem hot though. When the boat shop mechanic was running the boat without water hooked up, it was giving a single continual beeeeeeeeeeep, which I imagine is overheating.

This beep starts 10-15 seconds after you start the boat and is evenly spaced multiple beeps, not a single continual one like overheating is. It doesnt matter which motor is running either...

Sometimes my beeper is SUPER loud, and sometimes I can barely hear it...Now I know that it was doing this beeping when I was trying to figure out the motors, and I ran it for over an hour with no problems, but could hear the beeping then, but it was more like a ticking since it was quiet.

So, I checked the compression...all 4 cylinders are at 120psi...so, top ends are gonna need to be done, but that doesnt explain why the motors dont run the same. Im still leaning toward the propulsion (impellers and wear rings). Id also replace the carbon rings while at it.

I could spend ~$1000 and basically have a brand new boat...what would you guys do?

 

[caseys500]

Oh...and is there a way to adjust jetting to get it dialed in? All I see is the slow adjustment, which is hard to get at without the carbs off. The reason I ask is this boat is from california, and now Im at pretty high elevation (Utah). Would I need to change jets, etc? Ive worked on tons of motorcycles/dirt bikes, but these carbs are way different.

Oh, the the spark plugs still look pretty good, a little on the oily (darker side).

 

[caseys500]

Btw the fuel switch should be at the bottom right.

The red toggle type switch?

 

[howie099]

I don't see anything in the manual on adjusting for higher altitude like most eninges do some have a different impller. If your plugs look good and no hesitation I would mess with the carbs past the idel speed screw to factory specs. I do on most 2-stokes I give a little extra on the high speed screw. The high screw is more than likely all the way in I give an extra 1/4 turn to make me feel better. Plugs are cheaper than engines, but at higher altitude I don't think you have to worray about that.

I would say you might be throwing money away just doing topends. Seadoo's usually start to leak oil at the RV assemblies on higher hours engines also. If you knew how the engines were kept up you could go maybe with the topends but with out knowing you could just install them the blow the engines in the a year.

 

[dbracela]

How long did the mechanic run the boat without water?

As for the top ends - I would double check that your gauge is right, and confirm the compression readings. I thought you said the mechanic said the numbers were good, but you're only getting 120 on all 4? Although that would explain why it doesn't run well in the water. If they are toast my vote would be to rebuild or exchange and not just do a top end. Unless you are just wanting to use it for a year and get rid of it. High compression on a tired bottom end can lead to failure. If the engine grenades you'll lose a rebuildable core. People do just do the top ends, I suppose it boils down to how much risk you can handle.

The buzzer is an easy fix. I did mine today for 6 bucks and 15 minutes of work. Buy a replacement at radio shack and splice it in. There's a good thread on it here.

 

[grinditout]

Harbor freight or auto parts store compression testers are not accurate.