randy_oneal1
New Member
What happened:
I recently bought a 1997 Challenger 1800, I was told by the seller not to put it in the water until I bought this little vent cap that goes on the side. Well, I didn't listen and put it in the water for a bout 2 hours and I got into some pretty rough water for about 10 min. or so., this was last Saturday. With the help of this forum I discovered that the little piece I was missing was the cap for the fuel vent, which leads directly into the fuel tank! After getting in the rough water I rode around in "no wake" zones for about 30-40 min. before putting back on the trailer. It didn't miss or run rough, except when I went to put it on the trailer the port engine died several times but would start right back up (I thought maybe the engine got cold, because it set for about 1/2 hour before puting it on the trailer). Since then I started it to flush it on Wednesday but then decided that I probably should check to see If I had water in my gas before running it much more, what time it was on it ran smooth.
What I have done so far:
I wanted to check the seperator (they had some kind of liquid in them, couldn't tell if it was water or gas) but I couldn't get the top off either of them (any pointers on this would be helpful). So, I decided that I would sypher some gas out into an empty water jug to see if I could see any water seperating to the bottom. The hose on my sypher pump wouldn't reach through the fill hole so I took the "baffle" out of the tank and syphened about a gallon of fuel out. There was about a 1/2 of water seperated to the bottom of the gallon. I didn't think that could possibly be good for my carb so I decided to syphen the rest of the gas out of the tank.
What now:
What else should I do ? Am I ready to put it back together and fuel it up and hit the water?
Do I have to go through the whole fuel pressurization process now?, Is there any special fuel treatment suggested for this situation special for these motors (I've seen lots of people talking about Sea Foam)?
While I have everything apart:
My gas gauge/oil light does not work but it lights up when the lights are on, I saw on another thread that it has to be one of 5 things but how do I test/repair:
1.) Floater doesn't float: Do you just take it out and put it in a cup and see if it sinks?
2.) Magnets Missing: Would these be located on the outside of the baffle ? If so mine doen't have any and from what I have read they are prob. somewhere in the gass tank but I can't see the if they are.
3.) Sending unit: I don't really know how to test, this I saw someone suggested to tilt the baffle and let the floater role from end to end and see if you get any movement on the gauge, will that work?
I guess if these fail just buy a new gauge and rewire it if that doesn't work (I'd probably just live with it before I do either) ?
I really appreciate your help!
I recently bought a 1997 Challenger 1800, I was told by the seller not to put it in the water until I bought this little vent cap that goes on the side. Well, I didn't listen and put it in the water for a bout 2 hours and I got into some pretty rough water for about 10 min. or so., this was last Saturday. With the help of this forum I discovered that the little piece I was missing was the cap for the fuel vent, which leads directly into the fuel tank! After getting in the rough water I rode around in "no wake" zones for about 30-40 min. before putting back on the trailer. It didn't miss or run rough, except when I went to put it on the trailer the port engine died several times but would start right back up (I thought maybe the engine got cold, because it set for about 1/2 hour before puting it on the trailer). Since then I started it to flush it on Wednesday but then decided that I probably should check to see If I had water in my gas before running it much more, what time it was on it ran smooth.
What I have done so far:
I wanted to check the seperator (they had some kind of liquid in them, couldn't tell if it was water or gas) but I couldn't get the top off either of them (any pointers on this would be helpful). So, I decided that I would sypher some gas out into an empty water jug to see if I could see any water seperating to the bottom. The hose on my sypher pump wouldn't reach through the fill hole so I took the "baffle" out of the tank and syphened about a gallon of fuel out. There was about a 1/2 of water seperated to the bottom of the gallon. I didn't think that could possibly be good for my carb so I decided to syphen the rest of the gas out of the tank.
What now:
What else should I do ? Am I ready to put it back together and fuel it up and hit the water?
Do I have to go through the whole fuel pressurization process now?, Is there any special fuel treatment suggested for this situation special for these motors (I've seen lots of people talking about Sea Foam)?
While I have everything apart:
My gas gauge/oil light does not work but it lights up when the lights are on, I saw on another thread that it has to be one of 5 things but how do I test/repair:
1.) Floater doesn't float: Do you just take it out and put it in a cup and see if it sinks?
2.) Magnets Missing: Would these be located on the outside of the baffle ? If so mine doen't have any and from what I have read they are prob. somewhere in the gass tank but I can't see the if they are.
3.) Sending unit: I don't really know how to test, this I saw someone suggested to tilt the baffle and let the floater role from end to end and see if you get any movement on the gauge, will that work?
I guess if these fail just buy a new gauge and rewire it if that doesn't work (I'd probably just live with it before I do either) ?
I really appreciate your help!
