2003 9.9 Merc 4 stroke noisy

[bassman284]

I bought this new for a kicker and haven't done anything about it in 13 years but it kind of bugs me. I've determined that most of the noise is vibration in the cowl. I've run it about half throttle and placed my hands on either side of cowl and squeezed in and it quiets way down. Anybody ever encounter this and have an answer?

I'm getting ready to sell it and told the prospective new owner about this. I just thought it would be a nice touch to solve this if I could.

 

[gm280]

bassman, does it sound like a vibration sound or a rattle or what? If it is a vibration, is the cowl seal intake? Could be the cowl is rubbing the lower engine casing and making th enoise. Just depends on the type of sound. I would also check for any wear marks on the insdie of the cowl. JMHO

 

[bassman284]

It appears to be vibration.I tried putting extra foam at the bottom of the cowl and around the front opening where the starter rope is with no effect. I also tightened the latch a bit and almost wasn't able to get it open again. tightening the latch helped slightly but not enough to matter.

The cowl on these is pretty big and it seems like there is a lot of flex in the sides and they flex back and forth making a lot of noise is my guess. I considered sticking some sheet foam on the inside of the cowl but basically ran out of ambition and I was unsure how a bunch of extra foam might affect other things. I decided it didn't really matter.

I never used it very much. I only used it on one nearby lake that has a 10hp limit from just before Memorial Day to just after Labor day. I used it once last year and once this year. I probably didn't run it more than 5 or 6 times any given year. Even though it's 13 years old I'd be surprised if it had 25 hours on it. I did some searching the first couple of years I had it and never found anyone else mention the problem. I thought of checking with the dealer but never got around to it.