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new owner of a 2001 sea doo challenger 2000 looking for help

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burton9010

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I just bought a 2001 sea doo challenger 2000. I have not even gone and picked it up yet but looking for some tips. The owner had said that the plastic gear for the oil pump broke and the engine had to be rebuilt. He then said it ran good for 10 hours after the rebuild but is now not running. It starts up but idles rough and said it is getting low voltage. He thinks it a wire that is corroded and not making contact now.
Is there any main things I should check for if its not making good voltage? Are the alternators known to go out on these things or is it usally something else? I just ordered the manual for it and should be here in a few days. Thanks for the input.
 
Good news, if he's truthful, is that it's been rebuilt and ran ok.
Once you get the manual you'll be able to troubleshoot electrical system...
maybe battery just needs charging or replacing. What motor is in it? The Mercs
are dependent on good battery charge since it has stator/rectifier instead of alternator
and the injectors on the efi units are picky about voltage.
Use the search tool here and read all the old posts you can re: motor....
that's how I got mine going. If you don't mind, what did ya pay for it?
Good luck
 
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The engine is a v6 240hp. I am not sure if there are different engines in that style but thats all I know about it right now. When I looked up the parts break down online I thought I had seen an alternator on this engine but I must have been looking at the wrong model. I have looked around on the fourms but I see all different kind of electrical probelms from a TPS sensor doing something of the same problem to the timing advancing and the wire rubbing the flywheel. So I was just trying to see if there was a common problem I could look for but I am just going to start from sqaure one and work my way through the manual. Thanks again for the help
 
Low voltage causes many issues w/these motors. The 240 is what I have and it's been a learning experience. Definitely thinking about bypassing oil injection and premixing because of the gear failure issue. Make sure you have the hose running when you start it out of water...you never want to start it dry. Water on, start- diagnose - stop, water off.
Is the gas fresh? If it's got E10 gas in it and sits 3 months or more, phase separation starts and water settles at the bottom where the fuel pump pickup is---not good. May want to syphon out old gas and put it in your vehicle and lawn equipment. This is a great forum, but most of the owners here are ski or boat owners with rotax motors....still there's some guys with alot of Merc experience. Post some pics when you have some time and welcome to the forum.
 
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So as far as I can tell this is an open loop fuel system correct? Does anyone know what size injectors and fuel pressure the 250hp motors run at?
 
From Igneous - "Make sure you have the hose running when you start it out of water...you never want to start it dry. Water on, start- diagnose - stop, water off. "

Unless the V6 is different (correct me if I'm wrong) you should first start motor, THEN turn on water...*test*.... Turn off Water then shut down motor.
This procedure is the correct way for skis. This is to prevent any possible way of the engine ingesting any water whatsoever.
 
Unless the V6 is different (correct me if I'm wrong) you should first start motor, THEN turn on water...*test*.... Turn off Water then shut down motor.
This procedure is the correct way for skis. This is to prevent any possible way of the engine ingesting any water whatsoever.[/QUOTE]

PLEASE remember that this a MERCUY Engine, which you NEVER...NEVER run without the water turned on first. Listed below are three areas of the 240hp EFI manual.

Page 1B-8 of the Mercury Manual
CAUTION
Never start or run the Jet Drive without water circulating through the cooling system
to prevent damage to the unit.

Page 1D-26 of the Mecury Manual

WARNING
DO NOT run engine on flushing kit above idle speeds. Damage to engine from overheating, due to lack of water supply may occur.

1. With “engine off”, remove flush adapter plug and attach water hose.
2. Turn water hose “on” and flush engine block for a minimum of ten minutes.
3. Remove water hose from flush adapter and install adapter plug. Tighten plug securely.
Place flush adapter into adapter bracket


Page 1B-7 of manual
Flushing the cooling system is essential after each use in salt water, after the boat has run aground, or when the overheat warning horn sounds (possible debris in jet powerhead).
1. Locate the flush adapter in the boat. Some boats may have the adaptor mounted in the hull or mounted in the engine compartment. Remove flush adaptor plug and attach water hose.
a - Flush Adapter Plug Mounted on Hull
b - Flush Adapter Plug Mounted in Engine Compartment
2. The engine may be run using the Flushing Attachment: DO NOT run the engine above
idle speeds.
3. Turn water on and flush engine block for at least 10 minutes.
4. Remove water hose and install flush adaptor plug.
5. Flush outer surfaces of pump with water stream.
 
I got the boat now. First dumb question, how the heck do you open the engine compartment? I cant figure out how it opens and it doesnt say anything about it in my owners manual.
 
Thanks for the help. I got the engine hood open today so I was able to check everything out. Battery charge didnt seem too bad as it was sitting at 12.5 volts on my meter. I pulled it out anyways to put a full charge on it. I just real quick did a look over of the engine and it doesnt look too bad. Pulled the plugs and they were extremely oil fouled. 3 or 4 were really wet and the other two were not much better. The guy I bought it off of said it was just rebuilt 10 hours ago and was running great but all of a sudden it was running like crap and was ideling real bad and smoking like crazy. He thought it was getting low voltage or something is what he told me. For now I am going to charge the battery all the way and put some fresh plugs in and try it maybe thats really all it needed.
The plugs I pulled out where champion plugs so I would like to replace them with the stock NGK ones. I tried to get them from the auto parts store today and they said they couldnt even get them. I see I can get them online though. I thought I read a post the other day about someone saying to run a different plug then what the manual called for BPZ8HS-10 does anyone know if this is true or what that plug is or should I just order the stock ones online?
 
Run the NGK plugs the manual calls for. O'Reilly's can order them for you at about $7 each. I changed mine for the first time last year since I've owned my boat. They were probably the original plugs on an '02 240. They had plenty of carbon and oil on them, worked themselves loose to finger tight, and were still firing fine. No Champion plug is gonna do that.
 
Your second post said you had the 240, your third post you were asking about the 250. Which do you have as the 240 and 250 are very different engines. Both are Mercury, but the 240 is an EFI engine and the 250 is a Direct Injected Optimax. The service manuals should be different and require some different specs/parts.

The service manual I have for my boat is for the 240 efi specifically.

Good luck!
 
I have the 240. The guy I bought it from ended up having the mecury manual with it so I was able to look up all the specs. I have some NGK plugs on the way here so I should be able to try the boat in the next few days and see where I am at. The boat has a bimini top with it but has a broken plastic connector. When I was serching around online I found someone asking the same question and the dealer told them you have to replace the whole bimini top you cant just replace the plastic parts. Does anyone know if this is true or if there is anyway to get parts of fix it yourself?
 
Typical dealer BS...you can replace yourself. Google 'bimini
hardware' or search on ebay. I bought a large top online and replaced all plastic pieces with stainless steel. You just have to drill out rivets and re-rivet or use the set screws -simple job. I did it because one of the plastic parts was broken during shipping.
 
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I got the new NGK plugs put in the baot and got a chance to take it out on the water today. The thing seemed to run and idle great now so I am guessing that was half the problem because the last owner said it would not even idle and would just shake and smoke. So putting the new plugs in seems like I at least got rid of that problem but now it is having another problem. I am pretty sure its a fuel problem.
When I would get on the throttle it would get out of the water and start going then all of a sudden it would die. The first time I tried to just restart it right away and took a few seconds of cranking but then fired up and idled fine again. so then I drove it around at idle for about 30 mins when it cut out on my on idle this time. Now I turned the key off and then to on for about 10 secs before starting it to let the fuel pump fill it up and when I tried to start it it fired right up. I would die about every 5 or 10 mins or so from then on and I would start it right back up after it would die by turning the key to on for 10 secs first. I tried to give it throttle one more time and again it came out of the water for about 5 to 10 secs then died. This time it didnt want to start right away and idled for a few secs then died once or twice before returning to a steady idle again where I could drive it back into the dock.
I wanted to check all the easy stuff first like the fuel filters. I think there is only two (the quicksilver spin on, and one inside the fuel canister) if I am right. The manual shows a vaccum fuel pump also but I cant tell if thats just for the non fuel injected engine or does the 240 have both a vacum fuel pump and a electric?
 
Going back to what engine you have there are two 240 EFI's. It seems that there is a pre 2002 and a post 2002, though they may have switched over in the middle of 2001. The two pics below show the 240 EFI with the stator and the 240EFI with the Alternator (#4). Both views are of the Port side. The third pic is of my 240EFI if you pull the air cover off you will see the alternator, nothing is hiding it. From the manual it states, "Low battery voltage can cause EFI system to deliver fuel in an inconsistent manner. Inspect battery connections and charging system, refer to Section 2B. The EFI system requires a substantial amount of voltage to function properly. Operating engine at a low RPM for an extended period of time can cause low voltage." There is also a fuel filter inside the Vapor Separator. The spin on filter you are looking at should be the water separator, if it is attached to the port side of the engine.
240 EFI-Stator.jpg240 EFI Alternator.jpgIMG_20110714_165528.jpg

Eddie
 
I checked the voltage today while it was running and I was getting 14.5 so I think the charging system is working fine. My motor doesnt have an alternator so I mush have the older model.
I am going to check the filter in the vapor separator and also see if I can find the spin on filter somewhere local. I also see there is a small filter on the inlet side of the electric fuel pump. And it looks like there is a vacum fuel pump on the spin on filter side of the motor. I know in jet skis I have seen a bunch of those style pumps clog up so I am going to check that too.
 
From what you have said I would look at the fuel filters and fuel pumps. As it appears like it cant maintain the fuel level in engine end of the system.
 
Got the same issue with my challenger 2000 (240efi) after rebuild engine was installed.

Does anyone have a solution?
 
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deNick said:
Got the same issue with my challenger 2000 (240efi) after rebuild engine was installed.

Does anyone have a solution?
Click to expand...


This is an older thread. Please start your own thread, with the symptoms. It too easy to lose a question when it's tied into an existing thread.
 
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