• This site contains eBay affiliate links for which Sea-Doo Forum may be compensated.

Unhappy challenger

Status
Not open for further replies.

bigman

New Member
:confused:Have a 96 challenger that has a new prop and wear ring 4 weeks it ran fine now it wont plain out with just me in it. all it does is rev and smoke alot really confused.
 
A common problem in our older boats is cavitation caused from air being sucked into the jet stream from the engine compartment, via the carbon seal.

The compressed rubber "boot" that pushes the carbon against the metal part of the seal loses it's elasticity and then under pressure, it will let air seep past.

Mine has just started to do this in the past few trips out if I nail it from a stand still.

I don't plan on taking it all apart and fixing it any time soon. It will have to wait until something breaks down before I take it all apart. Just put a new engine, wear ring, and impeller in about 20 hours ago...

Not sure about the smoke. Likely not related.

Is it revving to full 6800 rpms or thereabouts?
 
Really confused..?

You kinda got me confused too. I own the 97 Challenger so I might be able to relate.

For a couple pointers, ....... if you rev your engine and the boat does not go anywhere, let off the throttle. Do not hold the throttle at high rpm without movement. The reason? The flow of the cooling system is dependant on your forward momentum. At idle, you have a low volume flow of cooling water running through the engine, the motor is under a low load, so it's not needed.

But, when you go to WOT (wide open throttle), your engine is heating up quickly and needs that forward thrust to providea a greater flow of water for cooling. So, if you were at WOT and you saw smoking, it's quite possible that smoking was steam.

When the boat will not move at higher rpm's, do not leave the throttle engage, lower the speed back to idle. The boat is not going to change anything by you just leaving it at wot......

Your bucket?.....have you checked to see if your direction cable to your bucket is working right. If your cable is off or broken, you might have your bucket at mid way, which means you can't go forward or reverse.....pretty much in neutral.

Other problems could be, wearing ring (which I know you said was just replaced, but it could have gotten damaged), impeller, shaft splines or heavy cavitation from your thru hull fitting or the stator vanes are bent up and damaged pretty bad....

So, inspect everything and holler back.......

This thread is more a trouble shoot thread than a "meet and greet" so I"m going to move it to the boat section.............>>Good luck!....:cheers:
 
Hmmm...I woulda never thought about checking the bucket.

How fast are you actually able to go at WOT?

How long does it take you to get there?

Does is sound like the engine is going right on up to redline immediately, or does it have to work it's way up like normal?

Cavitation will let the engine hit redline almost immediately. Wear ring will be pretty quick also.

Bucket would be a slower rev, just less forward motion, if wear ring is new.
 
Thanks for the replies: carbon seal? r u talking about the area were the grease fitting is? so it is not a direct drive from the engine? and it does rev up to 7000 rpm.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have inspected every thing and everything seem to be right. the only thing i found wrong was the vts was not right but whole cable was moving and i fixed it now i have full trim but that did not make any difference.
 
clearance of wear ring and blades..?, if good, might need to re-seal the rideplate, and with pump off, pull the carbon assy out, "lap" the steel collar. re-assemble all, and give shot...?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top