So my 1989 Larson DC190 has an Alpha1 Gen.1 and it's making a sort of whining noise, especially at higher speeds... It was making the noise the day I bought it (last week). So I immediately assumed gimbal bearing. I got a transom seal kit, which includes the gimbal bearing and new bellows and got u-joints just in case. Well before I dug too far I wanted to see what the gear lube looked like, because if it had water in it or was dis-colored I was just going to quit and sell the boat... Anyhow, I drained the gear lube and it was gorgeous. No white streaks, no browning, just nice and blueish-green. So I then went to take the drive off and sure enough water came out of the u-joint bellow. After pulling the drive, replacing the u-joints and the TERRIBLE gimbal bearing I was sure that after doing so it would resolve my noise issue. I installed all the new stuff, checked and double checked the bellows fitment, torqued everything to spec and greased all the zerk fittings. Then I threw on the ear-muffs and it fired right up and sounded great. It engaged into gear smoothly and made no evident whining noise. Now before, when I initially got the boat it didn't make the noise on the muffs, it only did so when in the water, so the true test was to take it to the lake. Today I brought it out and sure enough, it was quieter, however it is still making that damn whining noise. I trimmed up and down at varying speeds as well as steering hard left and right to see if it would change the tone of the noise, but it hadn't. The noise does fade away as I pick up speed tho... Could it be the lower unit is bad? The gear lube looked great... I know it has to do with the outdrive because the motor sounds perfect and enjoys the throttle. I'm baffled. HELP!
