New Boat Owner

[Boincali]

Hello all! I am in the process of buying a 2006 Seadoo Challenger 180 (I think it is the CS model as it has a windscreen). The boat has been sitting in the sun in a Broker's lot for a year and a half. I checked the oil and it was a good color, not black, she turned on right away (I only turned her on for a few seconds and then right off again). She needs a really good scrubbing and the vinyl cleaned and treated. I was able to get her for $6600! I think thats a great deal as around hear the next lowest price was $8900 and from there they jump up to $10k and $12k. I have several questions as this is my first boat and have no idea what to do...

I wanted to ask what should I do for maintenance before I use her on the lake? I have a place in Big Bear and will keep her there and use the boat on Big Bear Lake (6800 ft elevation for the lake and the garage is at 7400 ft).

The broker told me he had drained the fuel out and placed 1 gallon in for showings.

Should I change the fuel lines? Fuel filter? Oil Filter and oil?

These models have a closed cooling system so it has a small coolant tank which is circulated to the jet run bottom plate for cooling. So no outside water is used in the cooling. Do I need to flush the coolant?

While it is a closed loop system, does it use the surrounding water to cool the exhaust? And if so, is there a zinc anode in there somewhere? I could only see the zinc anodes on the outside of the jet drive (they are in good condition, no where near 50%, more like 70-75% (she was only run in salt water which worried me a bit until I learned she has a closed loop cooling system).

Where is the bilge pump located on these boats? How do I test it? I tried flipping the switch for the bilge to see if I hear anything and could not hear anything. The broker told me when he washed the boat several months ago it removed water out the bilge waste hole. SHouldnt I hear it hum or make noise?

I read something about ceramic washers on/in the supercharger. Should I take out the supercharger and change those?

Finally, there is no hour meter on this boat. Is there any way to hook up an OBD II scanner to read the hours off the ECM? I have a scanner (Altell) that I use on my cars. Can I use it on the Seadoo?

Thank you for having this site, I look forward to being a member and will be glad to post pics of my cleaning / maintenance as I do it (once I pick up the boat next Friday).

 

[rcookr1]

I would change anti-freeze oil and filter and spark plugs before I took the boat out minimum. It has a super/charger right?. How many hours on the engine.

 

[Boincali]

Hi! Thank you for your reply! OK will do, I will google / ebay those items and order them. It is the supercharged engine. I do not know the hours. In '06 they did not have a hour meter on it. I was wondering if there is a way to hook up a OBD II Altel scanner to the engine computer to read the hours? I do not think Seadoo use the same connectors as on cars. Will a service shop charge me to just read the hours? Maybe I buy the plugs and filter from them and then they will do it?

 

[rcookr1]

Well with unknown history I would get the S/C rebuilt. You can check the boat registration and maybe contact the last owner might give you some insight on what's been done or not been done..

 

[Boincali]

OK, I will try and find out the hours. The engine looks quite clean and the boat does not look like it has been used much. This was an ocean used boat (the seller lives in Newport Beach, CA and is selling cause the kids are grown and dont use it), and the zink anodes are not worn much at all. At how many hours does the supercharger have to be rebuilt?

 

[xintersecty]

I own the exact same boat and you can see my adventures here is you search under my screen name.

Here is my list
1) By a repair manual (this site offer such as a premium member) or search online for a sources.
2) Inspect everything, I found a vise grip on the exhaust line
3) DO NOT LEAVE IT overnight in the water! I will say it again, do not leave it overnight in the water. There are two areas where water can come into the boat a) The carbon seal b) the inlet grate control line
4) Since you don't have documentation and good reliable information on the motor get your supercharger rebuilt. The fine folks here have a rebuild service
5) If you are handy with tools go buy candoo, it can read the hours on your ECU much like an ODBII Scanner except the software is more expensive and specialized for boats/motorcycles/whatever.
6) Since this motor is really unknown don't be surprised if it let's go. Mine busted on my third season of use and mostly because one of the prior owners treated it badly.

Now, having said all than and the money I spent on my boat 8k purchase and 6K rebuilt engine, I am still happy and love it.

 

[Jcamaro]

OK, I will try and find out the hours. The engine looks quite clean and the boat does not look like it has been used much. This was an ocean used boat (the seller lives in Newport Beach, CA and is selling cause the kids are grown and dont use it), and the zink anodes are not worn much at all. At how many hours does the supercharger have to be rebuilt?

Unless you can verify that it's already had the charger rebuilt with the new steel/titanium washers.....it needs to be done immediately. The ceramic ones that came with the boat fail spontaneously at any hour reading and can take out the engine in the process. Exhaust Valves are another issue for pre-2008 boats. I've heard mixed information on them. They appear to have a high rate of failure on the PWC side of things.

 

[Boincali]

OK thank you for the great info. I will become premium member. Also (pardon the stupid question ... while I have rebuilt car engines I never worked on a Rotax or a Supercharger) ... the supercharger washers, are they washers that attache the charger to something or are they washers inside the shaft of the charger itself? I have seen charger rebuild kits on eBay ... do those include the titanium washers or do I need to buy those separate?

What is te carbon seal and the inlet grate control line?

When I inspected the boat I saw where the steering cable exits the boat to the power jet unit there was what looked like (silicone? it was hard not soft like silicone, perhaps another product ... looked like the mastic material cars have on seams that overlap on body panels). Is that supposed to have that type of material on the exit of the steering cable?

 

[Boincali]

Thank you for the great info. Do you recommend any particular seller of the rebuild kits? I am going to become a premium member so I may get the manual.

 

[Jcamaro]

Thank you for the great info. Do you recommend any particular seller of the rebuild kits? I am going to become a premium member so I may get the manual.

I'm sure you can do the rebuild yourself if you are mechanically inclined. You want a new 200hr kit from bombardier which includes the supercharger shaft which was changed after 2008 There are a few how-to videos out there. The Supercharger is the same for 215hp PWC and for the boats so many things to do with the engines are the same. The washers are part of the clutch mechanism that drives the charger impeller i think.

 

[xintersecty]

Here is one of the best videos for the super charger
[video=youtube;-yahRa6_siA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yahRa6_siA[/video]

When they put in the control lines, they use a epoxy putty to seal the area. So that's what your looking at.

The carbon seal is the water seal around the driveshaft. It's designed to "leak" to lubricate the seal. For one summer I did leave my boat in the water and afterwards I decided I was lucky. However cleaning the crap off the side of the hull was not worth it. Now I keep my boat on a lift.

the ICS (Inlet control system) here is a picture of it.


Item 13 is the nut that holds/seals the cable into the hull. I don't trust it. So check it.

 

[Boincali]

Thank you XintercectY, your awesome!

 

[Mudnman]

Did you pay attention to the comment of it having hollow valves? They had a recall and there's a lot of boats that never went in for updated valves.You can take valve cover off to check #'s on valve stem.I don't remember the bad valve #'s so do a search .Its hard to see on stems.Perfect lighting ,borescope that saves pic's.Someone said they got 1 clear pic out of 200 saved shots.Hirering a photographer might work or use a black light? The only 2 I didn't try ! Post the #'s if you know.

 

[Boincali]

Oh wow thanks, I did not realize it was a recall. Would'nt the dealers know by engine block serial number?

 

[Mudnman]

Yep for got about that!

 

[Mudnman]

Post #79 says 72 no good,75 is good.http://www.seadooforum.com/showthread.php?76670-Helpppp!-Cruising-at-30-mph-and-Engine-Dies!/page4

 

[Coastiejoe]

Boat engines are a year behind. So your 2006 boat has a 2005 engine.

SC, 04 to 07 had ceramic washers. No matter how many hours are on the engine, it would need rebuilt as it is past the 2-year time lime. 100 hrs or 2-years, whichever comes first.

CS, it is the seal on the drive shaft that keeps the water you are riding on from entering the boat.

Your OBD compute will not plug into the Seadoo. You can buy a CanDoo Pro which will. With you you will see how many hours there are on the MPEM.

 

[pvamax]

You can also take it to a Seadoo dealer and they can hook up their diagnostic tool to check hours. My local seadoo dealer does not do boats, but still plugged me in and brought up the hours on my last boat.

 

[JPass]

3) DO NOT LEAVE IT overnight in the water! I will say it again, do not leave it overnight in the water. There are two areas where water can come into the boat a) The carbon seal b) the inlet grate control line

Do you mean never leave it in the water ever, or only until he's sorted everything out and confirmed he has no leaks?

 

[rcookr1]

Did you pay attention to the comment of it having hollow valves? They had a recall and there's a lot of boats that never went in for updated valves.You can take valve cover off to check #'s on valve stem.I don't remember the bad valve #'s so do a search .Its hard to see on stems.Perfect lighting ,borescope that saves pic's.Someone said they got 1 clear pic out of 200 saved shots.Hirering a photographer might work or use a black light? The only 2 I didn't try ! Post the #'s if you know.

Is that recall still in effect I will call what years did it cover I have a 2007 thanks

 

[Coastiejoe]

Do you mean never leave it in the water ever, or only until he's sorted everything out and confirmed he has no leaks?

Seadoo boats are not designed to remain in the water overnight. Due to the weight of the boat the CS can fail easier than on a ski and the boat will sink.

At a minimum, if you plan on leaving it in the water install a quality bilge pump.

 

[xintersecty]

Do you mean never leave it in the water ever, or only until he's sorted everything out and confirmed he has no leaks?

Castlejoe explained it very well. I have seen a lot of seadoo jetskis on the water for whole boating season and no problems. Currently I have a little bobble of water coming in the boat around the ICS cable. The next time I get my boat on the trailer will be going over that system again. Sigh. So while I was lucky with having my boat in the water for the season, I am much for conservative about it. Personally the crap I went through to clean up the sides of the boat

 

[JPass]

Good to know. Ours has an automatic bilge, I guess I'm putting too much trust in it. I thought there were a few members on here that left theirs in overnight quite frequently. It probably won't stop me from ever doing so on the rare occasion where I need to.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Many do. And many have sunk. It actually states in the manual not to leave the boat in the water.

That said, a bilge pump and QUALITY battery will normally save the day.

 

[Boincali]

Thanks for all the great info! Wow, now I am worried since this boat is a salty and being an '06 sounds likely I have hollow valves.

Question: wouldn't the manufacturer/any dealer be able to look up the engine serial number and answer whether the valves are hollow? Having to take off the valve cover seems like a pain, plus don't you need to change the gasket seal if you do so?

I never plan on leaving it in the water but I was thinking of buying one of those high volume 2000 gph bilge pumps as a backup ... is that a good or bad idea? I just dont want to end up sinking in the middle of the lake lol.

Question 2: since this is a closed loop cooling system with antifreeze, why is there worry of ANY corrosion from salt water in the engine? In a closed loop system isnt the engine being circulated with antifreeze and no outside water at all?