9 replies to this topic

[Pete Z]

I have tried the search function on this forum as well as talked to a couple of BRP dealer techs, but I have been getting conflicting answers. Can someone tell me definitively if my boat came with the ti-coated washers or the failure-prone ceramic ones? I am also wondering what the service schedule should be for the supercharger? In asking different dealers and techs I have been told that it should be rebuilt at 50hrs,100hrs, 200hrs and even had one dealer tell me to keep up on my oil changes and not to worry about it. He say's that he has "lots" of SCIC sport boats and PWC's out there with hundreds of hours on them and no supercharger problems. I just bought this boat with only 7 hours on it, and having followed break-in procedures to well past ten hours, I am doing the first service and want to keep this boat maintained to the highest standard for as long as I own it.

I was also wondering if anyone has had any problems (such as the engine loading up or plug fouling) after extended running at low speeds? The reason I ask is because where I boat there are several stretches of river etc. that are speed restricted to 10kph so there will be times when I will have to run for up to 45 minutes at 10 klicks. Has anybody else ran thier SCIC like this and with what results?

I actually work at a Polaris / Kawasaki /' Yamaha dealership, but this boat suits my needs better than any other boat or PWC and we don't sell the Yamaha sportboats due to the price. I can tell you for sure that we have had zero issues with either the Kawi or Yamaha SC motors in the PWC's regardless of hours but I will admit that after reading some of the supercharger horror stories that this Rotax has got me a little nervous. Anybody care to comment?

Thnx. PZ

[Kevin Leclair]

Take a look at this post http://seadoosportbo...180-challenger/ it has more details on the ceramic washers.

This is one of the most heavily debated topics among our boats, there have many people that have changed them out just because they are worried they will fail. Personally I am a believe of "if it isn't broke then don't fix it". There have been owners that have serviced their boats regularly and have had no issues with their washers.

We still have the ceramic washers in our 180 Challenger and haven't seen any issues thus far. This is just my opinion but I believe if you respect your boat then you shouldn't have any issues. Do you have the B.E.S.T. extended warranty, if not this might give you some extra piece of mind if you are worried about the washers failing?

[Pete Z]

Thanks Kevin. I have often wondered wondered if the supercharger issue has been a bit overblown (pun intended) as often happens on internet forums. Having intimate knowledge of most things Polaris, I can tell you for sure that many seemingly horrible issues that you read about on internet forums regarding thier products are almost always waaay overstated.

Any comment on the extended low-speed running?

[Kevin Leclair]

You're welcome. As far as the low speeds, I haven't run our boat for extended period of time at low speeds so I don't have any results that I can add. To me it does seem odd, I wouldn't think that you should have any issues in doing this for an extended period of time.

[Pete Z]

Well I did have some odd RPM fluctuation around 3000 - 3500 when running slowly in the river. Also ran into a bog once or twice when putting the boat up on step, which usually happens instantly. For now I'm chalking it up to old gas or plugs fouled from winterizing oil or both. Boat is in the shop right now for the 10 hour and it's getting new plugs as well. Our tech is going to compression and leak-down test the engine at the same time, just to be sure. I might run some Seafoam in the fuel when I get it back in the water and see if that improves things.

I have priced the extended warranty and will likely buy an extra year or two before the standard coverage expires.

[Kevin Leclair]

Sounds good, keep us posted if you find out what works to solve the issue.

[Pete Z]

Sounds good, keep us posted if you find out what works to solve the issue.

As per the discussion in another post I will do my best to follow up with anything that I find out.

[Kevin Leclair]

Good deal, thanks Pete we great appreciate it!

[Pete Z]

OK, so this is all I've got so far. The plugs that came out of it all look OK. A little grey on the electrode maybe, but otherwise none appear badly fouled or really show any sign of not firing the same as the other two. The oil that came out of it doesn't smell of fuel, nor was it overfull at all, both of which would be a good indication of the engine dropping spark on one cylinder and raw fuel dumping into the cylinder. The engine compression checked fine 150psi across the board, but there was no time to do a leak-down although I suspect that the result of that would also be fine. There were no loose clamps or hoses off in any of the supercharger or intercooler plumbing that would be causing boost to bleed off which could make the RPM hunt. Soon as i get a chance I'll be taking it to the water. I think I'll top it up with Shell hi-test and some Seafoam first and go from there.

Has anybody ever needed to have the fuel filter at the bottom of the pick-up/pump replaced? Seems unlikely that it would be plugged after only 12 hours, but you never know what kind of crap might have made it into the tank.

[Pete Z]

Water tested the boat on Saturday. I put a whole can of Seafoam in the tank and topped it up with Shell premium before launching. I idled out of the marina and the channel until I cleared the 10kph zone. When I went to put the boat up on step, I got that same hesitation I noticed before. We continued to run the boat for the next hour or so out in the lake, doing some low speed running then putting it back up on plane accelerating at or near full throttle. Initially the bog was still there but as we ran the boat it continually became less noticable until it was gone entirely. We tried some WOT runs that netted about 7850 rpm and a maximum indicated speed of 85kph. That was with 3/4 tank of fuel, full safety gear and two people aboard. Also at full whack we hit a surprise set of four 3-foot rogue waves cross-ways that a big cruiser must've put up. That was good for a series of full-on chine to chine flops with plenty of air in between. Finally (after we cleaned out our shorts) we ran back up the lake to the Trent Canal and ran the 10 kph zone all the way up to lock 42 and back out to the lake which would be about a 1/2 hour of low-speed cruising. When we hit the lake the boat came up on step instantly with no hesitation whatsoever. The boat seems to be running fine now, something that from experience I would attribute to the Seafoam in the fuel more than anything. I'm usually not much of a fan of "mechanic in a can", but that sh*t flat out works, I've seen it time and time again.