08 Challenger 180, First Time Out, Problems

[pwirch]

Hi .. I'm new here and this is my first post. Unfortunately it's not for a good reason. We just purchased a 2008 Sea Doo Challenger 180. We took it out last Tuesday with the dealer and went over everything and today we took it out to just cruise around and work on the break in. Various speeds (keeping it under 6k) and just enjoying being on the water with some family. There were 6 of us in the boat. Just before we hit the 3 hour mark the boat started choking and would seriouly bog down to the point where I thought it might stall. We headed for the dock but were about 2 miles away. I could run it around 3k rpm and it would put along okay but with the current against us we weren't making very good progress. If I ran it up to 4k or 5k it would run okay for about 10 seconds and then start to bog down again. I thought maybe something was in the intake under the boat so we got it finally to the dock and as we were loading it there started to be smoke from the back of the boat. I shut it down, pulled it out and crawled under it, nothing in the intake. We're supposed to go out with some friends tomorrow but not I'm afraid to put it back in the water and then NOT make it back to the dock. Any ideas? Suggestions? I'm really hoping this doesn't ruin our Memorial Day weekend. Also I check the oil and cooland and they're both good.

 

[robin savell lloyd]

Sory to hear about your ruined weekend sounds like you need to take it back to the dealer for work. That sure does suc* hopefully next time you take it out it will be a long time before you have a problem like that. good luck:cheers:

 

[pwirch]

I did some reading and found something about air bubbles in the fuel lines. We did go out into Lake Ontario for a bit shortly before this started and came back into the bay because it was so rough out in the open lake. It was tossing us around like crazy. It ran okay though when we came back through the channel and into the bay then for a 5k rpm run down the bay where it bogged out.

I also read on another thread about running it out of water to see if it bogs. The thread was related to another boat bogging down in the water but not on dry land. Is that safe to do? Running it on the trailer out of water and revving it up to 4k to see if it bogs?

 

[pwirch]

So I just talked with a Sea-Doo technician and it really sucks because they said that something in the engine communicatinos didn't come back right and tripped the computer into a limp home mode and I talked to him on his cell phone and he won't be into the dealership until Tuesday and it has to be connected to a computer, checked and then cleared. So pretty much we're SOL for the rest of the weekend. He said the causes are probably something simple like overheating, bad fuel, or something else. He doesn't think it's something major. Just sucks that if one of those things happen then you have to tow it back to the dealer. There isn't exactly a dealer close to me. It's an hour hike to get to the lake which is where the closest dealer is. At this point I'm almost tempted to just trade it in with only 3 hours on it. Probably half the time I use this boat will be up at our cottage in northern Canada where there isn't even a gas station (aside from the litle marina) for over 30 miles. Arg .. I'm really aggrivated now with this boat.

 

[kustomkarl]

NO, DON'T RUN IT ON THE TRAILER OUT OR WATER! That jet boat has a intercooling system and will over heat in about 30 seconds! I would check all the connections and fittings..give it a once over and replace the plugs with
NGK brand, DCPR8E Gap/ 0.7-0.8 MM or .028-.031in.(Auto Zone sells them) Chances are it just fouled a plug. To replace the plugs remove the Oil dipstick, remove the plastic cover over the engine, replace the dip stick. Unplug the wire from the spark plug coil ( it's part of the spark plug cap) wiggle and pull the cap/coil out of the spark hole. Becarefull not to break it. Loosen the spark plug, incert the cap/coil in to grab the plug and remove it.
Gap the new plug, remove the screw top on the top of the plug, insert it in the cap/coil push it in the plug hole. Use a socket to tighten it. Snug it up go about 1/4 turm, loosen and snug it up(this compress the seal ring on the bottom of the new spark plug). Put some grease on the coil cap where it meets the cylinder and insert on the plug. Connect the coil wire. Do one spark plug at a time. replace the plastic cover. This should solve your problem.
Keep us posted.

Karl

 

[pwirch]

I checked all the plugs and they are all at the required gap setting and they all look nice and clean. So I'm guessing it's something else. Any ideas?

 

[pwirch]

I talked with the dealer where I bought the boat this morning and I'm dropping it off tomorrow morning for them to look at. He said that he's not sure what it is and he doesn't think it's in limp mode but should be able to figure it out rather quickly once he's got his hands on it. I hope so. I'll post up the results as I get them.

 

[pwirch]

Dropped off the boat and talked with two techs. They are going to call me this afternoon with the diagnosis (hopefully). They said from the sounds of it the problem is supercharger related. They also said not to worry because it's all under warranty. Phew!

 

[kustomkarl]

Yea the warranty is a good thing...let us know the results.

Karl

 

[pwirch]

The boat is fixed, tested and running great. He told me "I guess not ALL 2008 Challenger 180's have steel spacers in the supercharger." Don't know what other kind of spacer they might have been .. plastic maybe .. but he told me that all 2008's should have steel and ours did not and it really should have them. He said they changed them out, launched it, ran it hard and said it's running great and we can come pick it up. I'm very happy.

I asked him if they replicated the problem and he said that he launched it before working on it to see the problem for himself and as soon as he got on it, it bogged and he knew it was the supercharger.

 

[kustomkarl]

That's great news...I keep that info Handy if I hear anyone else having the same problem. now go have some fun with your new toy...post some pictures too if you can.

Karl

 

[pwirch]

If the weather holds we'll get it out this weekend. Storms are on their way though. Figures .. all week was beaufitul and the weekend is supposed to be thunderstorms. I'm itching to get the first 10 hours on it so I really open it up and see how it runs. So far I'm very happy with it.

 

[pwirch]

Well .. looks like the boat isn't fixed. After riding around for about an hour this past Sunday it suddenly did the same thing. At least it seems like the same issue only now I can't get even off idle. Really wasn't a good thing because we were on the Niagara River which is a rather fast moving river if you don't have power and luckily another boater saw the smoke coming from the back of our boat and came over and towed us back to the marina. I'm taking it in to the dealer this morning. My wife was scared to death that we'd go down river and over the falls and swore she'd never go out in this boat again. She wants it traded in for something with two engines. I'm so frustrated .. two weekends out, both end in disaster.

 

[pwirch]

As of today I no longer have our Challenger .. it was into the shop for the second time and they blew the motor on the test drive. They are replacing it with a Speedster 200 310hp model. Well, sort of replacing it, I agreed to pay $4k more that I already paid and get the new boat. I pitched a fit at the dealer on Monday about it being broken twice with only 4 hours on the boat. The dealer isn't exactly close either, about an hour each way.

 

[Gunsrunner]

The other type of washer is ceramic, they have had heaps of prob's with the ceramics and everyone has been replacing them with the stainless steel ones.
If when you first had the problem they didn't clean the shattered ceramic washer out of the motor properly then this would have caused the second problem. I think what has happened is the best outcome you could have hoped for, 2 new motor's, i think the wife will feel better as well and you will be happy for the extra power and the fact that there are no more superchargers to worry about, just ask Karl how good this boat is!!!!:hurray:

 

[pwirch]

Thanks. So do I.

 

[kustomkarl]

I own the same Jet Boat...I Love it and can't say enough good about it. It is really dependable, and reliable. It gets great fuel mileage too. I have played with the Super Charged version and wasn't impressed. I'm glad I didn't get the supercharged based on fuel consumption and top speed not much different than mine. They only walked away from me at top speed and the owners weren't that impressed with that either.
Check out my avatar.

Karl

Karl

 

[pwirch]

I'm really looking forward to getting it. It's supped to be in the 80's here this weekend and sunny so we'll be out a lot.