challenger 2000 240 efi won't start back up when warm.

[Tzerambo56]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to track down a starting issue with my 2001 Sea-Doo Challenger 2000 (Mercury 240 EFI M2).

The boat starts and runs great when cold — fires right up on the hose and at the ramp. It runs perfectly all day as long as you don’t shut it off. It idles smooth, gets up to 50 mph, and has strong takeoff.

The problem is after it gets warm and you shut it off. It doesn’t want to start back up. When you try, it’ll pop once like it wants to fire, then just crank and crank. If I manually hold the throttle wide open, it eventually clears out and starts — like it's flooded. One time, I even saw fuel dripping out of the throttle butterflies, so it was definitely overfueling. That’s when I replaced the 3-wire temp sensor on the port side.

After replacing that sensor, I took it out with the engine cover off and it started up fine four separate times while warm. Thought I had it solved.

But today I put the engine cover back on, and the hot start problem came right back. Crank, crank, crank — just like before.

I’m thinking it could be a fuel pressure regulator issue. I plan to check fuel pressure soon, but if anyone has had this issue before or has tips, I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[cbjustDOOit]

not a fix, but a band aid.... turn the wheel all the way to right or left, so that the throttle bump engages to start it. I would look at the TPS - Throttle position sensor. all kinds of threads here on it, and how to test yours.

 

[ripcuda]

Had same problem on mine. It's a flooded restart condition when hot. If it doesn't catch and start right-away... then it will just crank and crank. The full steering lock trick helps... it cracks the throttle a little which helps get more air through and helps with the flooded condition. Having my fuel injectors serviced (tested/adjusted) helped with mine... but didn't fully solve it. On the 1st gen 240 with ECU mounted to the intake... it has a fuel enrichment wire (think choke) that is hard-wired to the starter solenoid. So anytime the engine is cranking... it's adding "choke" (enrichment... more fuel via injectors). I cut this wire and wired it up to a push button on the dash... so I could still use it when cold... but not when hot restarting. Helped a lot. GL

 

[Tzerambo56]

Had same problem on mine. It's a flooded restart condition when hot. If it doesn't catch and start right-away... then it will just crank and crank. The full steering lock trick helps... it cracks the throttle a little which helps get more air through and helps with the flooded condition. Having my fuel injectors serviced (tested/adjusted) helped with mine... but didn't fully solve it. On the 1st gen 240 with ECU mounted to the intake... it has a fuel enrichment wire (think choke) that is hard-wired to the starter solenoid. So anytime the engine is cranking... it's adding "choke" (enrichment... more fuel via injectors). I cut this wire and wired it up to a push button on the dash... so I could still use it when cold... but not when hot restarting. Helped a lot. GL

Thank you I will look for that wire and try that. I haven't tried the steering wheel turn yet either. Now after I cleaned my Injectors and reinstalled everything it seems like I need to crack the throttle every time I go to start it. Cold or hot. And the idle got rough. I'm thinking maybe the injectors are having issues. Or my TPS sensor is going out.

 

[ripcuda]

Yeah... with good injectors and fuel pressure... I would test TPS voltages next. It absolutely affects fueling. Be sure to unplug the port head temperature sensor (it's tied into the TPS signal) when testing the TPS. GL.

 

[Tim75]

Yeah... with good injectors and fuel pressure... I would test TPS voltages next. It absolutely affects fueling. Be sure to unplug the port head temperature sensor (it's tied into the TPS signal) when testing the TPS. GL.

Hold onto your wallet when you look up the price of the TPS.