1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear. Impeller Housing Spacer?

[stevenmurray1987]

first of all god bless you folks for the free suggestions and advice.

I have a knocking sound when throttle is applied. the engine is running fine and I know it only happens when in gear and the drive shaft is spinning. i revved it up with the choke lever on the controls and the noise did not occur. i removed the lower unit and found the plastic drive shaft spacer that sits above the water pump assembly was chewed up a little. I flipped it upside down since it is the same on both ends, but the noise still happened.

my next step is to open up the lower gears to see if anything looks out of the ordinary.

I am convinced the knocking is somewhere in the gearcase instead of the powerhead.

anyways if anyone had had this problem or has any advice it would be much appreciated.

thank you and god bless.

 

[Daviet]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

When you pull the lower unit spin it with a drill, shift it and see if you can hear the knock. At least that will tell you for sure that the noise is in the lower unit, or you have to look elsewhere.

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

good idea,

i forgot to mention the first thing I did was drain the lower oil and it looked fine, no big metal peices or anything.

 

[Daviet]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

That's a good thing, no metal in the lower unit oil.

 

[Beek14]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Is it a knock or a rattle? How frequent?

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Is it a knock or a rattle? How frequent?

It's more of a knocking sound or a hard clicking noise i guess. It becomes audible as I give it throttle to get up on plane.

It gets a little bit faster as I give it full throttle. It's about 2-3 "knocks" per second.

After work today I will remove the lower and spin the prop nut while in gear. Im assuming I can just pull the shift rod out to put the gears in the forward position.

 

[Beek14]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Do you notice anything odd about your travel speed? Does it feel like the outboard is slipping at all or not going up to speed as fast as it should be? Drill test should yes help you with your lower unit answer anyways. You can shift the rod by hand but just be careful when doing so, they can be somewhat easily bent.

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

No, nothing odd with performance, and it's only happening in gear when applying throttle.

I figure if something was knocking in my cylinders, It would happen when I'm revving the choke lever on the controls.

It does have loose/broken rubber motor mounts to the midsection. Pretty wiggley when you jiggle the lower, but I don't see that causing this kind of noise.

I should have seen if it happened in reverse too or just forward.

oh well hopefully I find out what the culprit is tonight. Thats the hard part.

Thanks again guys

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Okay I'm back at it again with an update. I guess I am stumped as far as what to check for now.

I removed my lower unit from the midsection and gave her the old drill test. I lifted the shift rod into the "forward" position and hooked the electric drill up the the prop hub nut and spun it as fast as the drill would spin. It sounded fine, I did not hear and clanking like I did in the water.

I do want to share a picture of one possible culprit. There is a hard plastic "impeller housing spacer" that sits on the drive shaft above the water pump housing. Part # 64 in the diagram.



i noticed that the end of that spacer was chewed up a bit. It was chewed on the top end side closest to the engine. I don't know if this would cause a loud noise such as what I was hearing, but maybe possible. I figured since the spacer was the same on both ends, I would flip it around and test drive the boat. I took it down to the river and the noise persisted. When I got home i took it apart and now both ends of the spacer are chewed up. this particular part is considered an "obsolete" part, but even if i could get one, i would just ruin it. something is not seating correctly. i did the impeller a few months ago and it was not all chewed up like it is now.

Here are some pictures, hope someone can offer some direction. thanks guys!

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

anyone have this happen to you?

 

[jasper60103]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound

anyone have this happen to you?

Never happened to me, but I'm wondering if the top side of the spacer is seated
properly?
I would shine a light up the leg and see if anything looks strange?
Is this a short shaft motor?

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Short shaft I believe.



Not really sure how important this spacer peice really is. I guess it prevents water from spraying up through the shaft splines. I would like to test run the engine with the peice removed, to see if the noise stops.

 

[jasper60103]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Short shaft I believe.

View attachment 147836

Not really sure how important this spacer peice really is. I guess it prevents water from spraying up through the shaft splines. I would like to test run the engine with the peice removed, to see if the noise stops.

Yea, that's pretty much it. Else, the drive shaft could rust to the crank and get stuck.
Many threads about that problem on this forum.
A test run without the spacer probably wouldn't hurt though.

edit:
just curious about the history of the problem.
Is this a "new to you" motor or the problem just started?

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

I have had this outboard for two years and I run it 3-5 times a week. The problem just started recently.

We did the water pump impeller & housing this spring, so I guess I didn't get that spacer back in correctly. Hopefully the spacer is what's causing the noise. I finally found the part in some shop across the country. Hopefully I can figure out why it's getting all chewed up. The tab's are supposed to face forward on the spacer according to the manual, which I thought I made sure of when doing the water pump.

 

[jasper60103]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

OK. I should have recognized the new water pump.
In fact, I use the same kit on my 30hp.
I changed mine a couple years ago.
I didn't notice how the tabs were orientated though.

Anywho, I'm sure you'll get it figured out. Keep us posted.

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Well tonight I will take the peice off and run it at the ramp real quick.

If that eliminates the noise, then I will try to make a peice out of garden hose or something to serve the same purpose.

I figured out that the tabs actually face the rear of the motor for the spacer to seat correctly. I'm hoping this is my noise, I will find out tonight after work. Dang job always interfearing with the important things in life.

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Okay here is my update

I removed the impeller housing spacer and ran the engine on the boat ramp. The clanking noise still happened, so it is not the spacer. I also figured out how to properly seat the spacer so the chewing up will stop. anyways...

at the ramp I verified that the noise only happens in forward gear, in reverse the noise did not happen. also in neutral while revving, it did not happen. Only in forward with about 40% throttle applied.

so I would like some imput, but I believe it is maybe a chipped tooth in the forward gear.



I decided to try disassembling the lower gears. I removed the prop and the bearing housing, but i cannot get the retaining ring out. I bought a tool at advanced auto parts, but the handles of the tool do not fit inside well enough to fit in the retaining ring holes. I ended up just using some needle nose pliers. I can compress the ring until the two ends meet, but still not enough clearance to remove the ring. here are some pictures.







Do you guys think it is the forward gear? the noise is slower than the revolution of the shaft, so i think it's a tooth on a gear since it's a larger radius and would sound slower, you know?

any tips on removing the ring? i have a buddy at an automotive shop that can probably get it out for me.

 

[Daviet]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

If it was a gear problem, I would think that you would have heard it when you were running the lower unit with a drill.
But if it only happens in forward, maybe you have to have a load on the gear and shaft.

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

yes I agree

I used a nice dewalt plug in drill, so no weak battery drill

 

[stevenmurray1987]

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

Re: 1984 Evinrude 35hp knocking or clicking sound, only in gear

So would you folks be checking the gears? I hope I am going in the right direction.