Oil filled engine

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rstuyt

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Hi, I just bought my boat in the fall (Challenger 1800 twin rotax), haven't taken it out on the water yet but on the weekend I decided to start getting it ready. Like so many other posts in here, the engines wouldn't crank, i pulled the plugs and sure enough there was a lot of oil in the engine. After doing some research this probably requires the crank seals to be replaced but in the meantime i would like to get my engines started. As a work around i've read that a number of people have put a valve in the oil line going to the crank to stop the flow when the engine is in storage. Now when I look at my oil line I noticed a little yellow piece of tape with the words "oil pincer" on the oil line. Seems the previous owner had this problem already! Wish i noticed that piece of tape in the fall.

Anyhow. I've pulled the plugs, cranked and cranked and cranked the engines until virtually no oil is coming out. Washed the plugs in gasoline, poured a cap of gas in the cylinders and I can get the engines to start for a few (5-10) couple seconds but they won't stay running.

Anyone out there with experience with this problem? The engines fired up and seemed to run just fine in the fall when I bought the boat. Do i just need more persistence and keep at it trying to remove more of the oil or am I missing a step?
 
If you dribble fuel into the carbs will it stay running? If so. you have a fuel issue related to the boat, not the engines. Lines, filters, tank...
 
Easy path for you to take is bypass all valves, filters, lines, with a single piece of 1/4 fuel line and that will tell you if it's in the delivery system, you need to leave return lines hooked up. The fuel pickups, fuel valves and filters are all prone to clogging. Bypassing the delivery system won't tell you of the internal filters are clogged. Since you just bought it you should clean the carbs very good and so a rebuild on them with genuine mikuni kits and that includes the internal filters. At some point you're in for a rebuild since your crank seals are leaking but people have run like that for years. An engine full of oil will give false compression readings but once you get them to fire and burn that oil out you can get a feel for the condition of the top ends. Seems like alot of Challenger 1800 being bought this year I love mine, coastiejoe clocked it at 49mph flat out. Like coastiejoe said if you can keep feeding it some fuel will it stay running? You still have oil injection(a good thing)? Done any other new to you boat mantaince yet?
 
You should definitely be rebuilding the carbs, especially if the boat is new to you and you don't have a rock-solid history of maintenance. While you might have leaky seals, especially after a long cold winter, and especially if they are original, I would be more suspicious of a stuck needle in the carbs.
Don't be intimidated. Get yourself OE Mikuni rebuild kits and Dig In. There are plenty of resources on this site and others that will make your job very easy..... and don't be afraid to ask questions.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I am VERY happy to report that the port engine is running fine. Some persistence and as suggested I bypassed the fuel line and after a few minutes of cranking the engine I was smoking out the neighborhood but that stopped after a couple minutes. An hour later I tried to start it again and it fired up immediately. Tonight I will do the same for the other engine but I'm now confident that I can get the other running as well - just need some time to work on it.

My plan is to replace the fuel line, filter and it looks like there is a check valve as well and rebuild the carbs as you guys suggested. Hopefully i can get that done over the next few weeks.

@snikwad003 you asked if I've done any other new to me maintenance. Well, over the winter i replace one of the throttle cables which was on its last strand and replaced the bilge pump which was dead but is rather important. The biggest job was the upholstery, it was all still original, mostly non existent along with much of the foam. The only thing holding the upholstery together was a lot of green, white and grey duct tape but even that was pretty much worn through. I bought a kit online which worked out perfectly and I'm thrilled with how it worked out. Its currently sitting on my basement floor but when its all put back together i will send some before/after photos.

Thanks again for the suggestions! Exactly what i needed.
 
What oil is in the boat. Some that were running the wrong TCW-3 oil found switching to the correct API-TC oil reduced or stopped the oil flooding.
 
Hi mikidymac, I really don't know what oil the previous owner put in. It's a dark brown and the oil I bought from a local dealer is more red so I don't think it's oem.
 
Brown was the mineral oil. The old synthetic was gold and the new synthetic is red. It’s probably correct. The wrong oil is almost always blue or green.
 
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