2008 challenger 180se engine problems

[terrye]

i have a 2008 seadoo challenger se the first day i had it out was about three weeks ago and it ran no so good for a few minutes till i cleared it out it was surging ,i fill the tank up every season and put the blue stabilizer in it ,i took it out yesterday and the engine shook like a plug wire was of,so i brought it home and hooked up the flush kit to it and let it run for about 20 min thinking it needed to get warm to clear it out ,well it did start to run much better and smooth out but then i heard a bad vibrating sound coming from it so i shut it down ,i have been told for running that long with th flush kit could have damaged the carbon exhaust ring ,if so how much would that cost to fix and the boat only has 13 hours on it ,also i was told to change the plugs ,how could it go from running like a scared dog to this in 3 weeks of just sitting on the trailer

 

[devonte007]

Yikes, I think you may have damaged your boat. Also, you posted this in the PWC section not the boat section so you may want to repose in the correct section to get the most help.

Running it on the hose for 20 min. is WAY to long as you suspected. You are only supposed to run these machines out of water on the hose for max. 2-3 min, pretty sure it is right there in the owners manual. Reason is that the propulsion system, when out of water, is not lubricated or cooled and it will heat up quickly and wear out in no time. Take a look at your jet pump and look at the wear ring, it might be melted and/or your drive shaft seal (carbon ring) is shot. Your entire propulsion system needs to be inspected by someone with experience. You could also post some pictures here and some of use could probably indicate to you what the likely problem is. Did any of the dash alarms sound or any engine codes pop up? Running the boat that long out of water could also overheat the engine b/c the heat exchanger is out of water.

To have the dealer replace the carbon ring is probably about $500, because there is a lot of labor involved. Parts alone are probably only $150. I suspect that you may also need a new wear ring and maybe even impeller housing if it got hot and warped. It is plastic after all. Throw all that together an you are looking at over $1000 for the work.

Back to your original problem, before you ran it on the hose, the engine vibration was probably just spark plugs that needed to be changed. These engines are very sensitive with the spark plugs for some reason. Tie that together with old gas, burning off fogging oil at first start up of year, and sitting for several months and sometimes the engine just won't run well. Even though the maintenance manual does not require it, most of us replace the spark plugs at the beginning of the season regardless of hours to avoid any running problems. Plugs are cheap and easy to replace at about $10.

Sorry to hear about your troubles and hopefully the woes are not as bad as I described, but I fear the worse. An expensive lesson to learn. Good luck, and let us know if we can provide any additional info.

 

[terrye]

i put plugs it was very easy to get to ,if i back the boat on the trailer into the water and the seal is bad will water come into the bilge

 

[terrye]

no codes came up , if i put the flush kit on it and run for maybe a min if the seal is bade will water come in the bilge

 

[Michael211_2000]

Terry this forum is really for people with PWC's not boats... you'd get better more correct responses in the boats forum I imagine. While the watercraft often share the same ROTAX engine and sometimes the same jetpump even, there are many differences in the installations.

ps. On PWC's the carbon seal on the jetpump has nothing to do with the flush port... if the carbon seal is bad, the hull will sink when you put it in a body of water possibly taking on water as soon as you put it in the water but sometimes not pouring water in until you start and run the engine.

Good luck!

- Michael

 

[devonte007]

The carbon ring/drive shaft seal components can wear out to various degrees. Sometimes it will not leak water into the boat, but will cause an air leak when under power and you will have cavitation. If it does not leak water, then you need to drive it and see if you have any cavitation/performance issues.

You described a bad vibration and sound coming from the boat before you shut it off after 20 min., and this is what worries me. Your jet pump, impeller, and wear ring need to be thoroughly inspected. If all looks good, start it up and try to figure out where this vibration is coming from; it is likely somewhere in the propulsion system from what you describe happened.

Keep us posted!