1999 Evinrude making ticking noise ???

[4strokes]

My cousin just purchased a 17' Stratus Bass boat with 1999 Evinrude 115 h.p. on it from an estate sale.
The boat has very low hours on it .. but it is 10 years old so he did the following before ever trying to launch it.

1. Cleaned the fuel tank, added new fuel and lines.
2. New batteries.
3. Greased every zerk fitting he could find on cables and engine housing, steering is still stiff but usable.
4. New spark plugs.
5. Drained the foot and found the oil to be only SLIGHTLY milky so he just replaced the gear oil.
6. Cranked the engine using hose ears and it cranked right up and seems to run fine. At idle he shifted it into forward, then neutral and then reverse, no problem. Water pump is putting out a good stream too.

7. He takes the boat and launches it, runs it at various speeds for 30 minutes or so and everything seems to be normal. He turns the engine off and cranks it a few times without any problems, checks the plugs and they look fine, engine is running perfectly !


8. He idles up to the dock to load the boat and a guy tells him that he could hear a faint ticking sound coming from his boat while he was headed towards the launch. So ... my cousin takes the boat out again and sure enough he hears the ticking sound ( after listening for it ) and it does it in both forward & reverse at all speeds, can't hear it in neutral !

Now here's where I come into play, I own a motorcycle repair shop and everyone that ever branched from our family tree believes that I should be able to fix everything they own

I just got the boat here this morning and we don't know ANY service history on it whatsoever other that what he has recently done to it.

So here's my question, can any of you kind folks lead me in the right direction as to what I need to check, maybe the shifter or cable adjustments and how to go about it ?

Oh yeah, forgot to say that it definitely sounds like it's coming from the foot and not the powerhead.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1999 Evinrude making ticking noise ???

I'd check the lower unit gear oil and run the engine in the dark to check for arcing. The spark is powerful enough to arc to just about anything nearby if the connections are weak at all.

If the engine is coked up, the rings may start to snag under load, so you might want to go ahead and de-carb. The kit from the BRP dealer makes that an easy job using the schrader valve on the primer solenoid.

 

[4strokes]

Re: 1999 Evinrude making ticking noise ???

I'd check the lower unit gear oil and run the engine in the dark to check for arcing. The spark is powerful enough to arc to just about anything nearby if the connections are weak at all.

If the engine is coked up, the rings may start to snag under load, so you might want to go ahead and de-carb. The kit from the BRP dealer makes that an easy job using the schrader valve on the primer solenoid.

Thanks ... I'll check for arcing as the sun goes down this afternoon and also run do the BRP as I have a kit here already. The engine runs like a dream so I'm pretty sure what we are hearing is mechanical though but not from the power head like a wrist pin or piston slap would sound.

Thanks

 

[F_R]

Re: 1999 Evinrude making ticking noise ???

Thanks ... I'll check for arcing as the sun goes down this afternoon and also run do the BRP as I have a kit here already. The engine runs like a dream so I'm pretty sure what we are hearing is mechanical though but not from the power head like a wrist pin or piston slap would sound.

Thanks

Um....isn't that a Ficht? It's the fuel injectors ticking. They are supposed to tick. And that sums up my knowledge about Fichts. Except for their notably bad reputation.

 

[4strokes]

Update

Update

Turns out that the pinion gear in the lower unit is failing, maybe more. I flushed the gear oil several times and found several metal shards on the magnet end of the drain plugs everytime the engine was ran !
Pulled the lower unit and disassembled it, going to replace the pinion and whatever else needs replaced.

Thanks for the help.

 

[jonesg]

Re: 1999 Evinrude making ticking noise ???

yer doin great, you sound fearless. (or nuts)...

were that me I'd have told the guy on the dock to mind his own business
"tickin, what freakin tickin"
then ran it til it exploded.

 

[4strokes]

Well ...

Well ...

I don't know about FEARLESS but a little bit nuts would fit the bill

35 years as a motorcycle tech and I seriously doubt if building a outboard lower unit can be any worse than splitting open the case on a big jap bike