Mercruiser 470 engine / merc 470 outdrive
When this was first noticed: I was at the lake and started to notice that my drive wouldn't come out of gear easily like my interrupter switch wasn't working. Started on my way home and decided to go WOT around the lake a few times and all of a sudden my engine died - a few times - fuel water separator was later found to be full of crap from the fuel tank. So I got the engine going again and retrieved the boat. Took it home, ran it on the muffs to get the brackish water out and the drive was clicking loud in neutral indicating that it was too close to either forward or reverse gear it was trying shift into - shifter in neutral. Moved the lever a bit and the noise went away. Decided to get new throttle and remote shift cables as I have never replaced these yet.
Okay, so I got all my shift cables in etc; drive shifts great. I had to adjust my control box as well as the adjustable stud on the reverse lock and it is shifting perfect. Now; fire up the engine and let er warm up. Shift into gears and it shifts fine. The only thing is I now have a kind of clank coming from the drive unit (It is not the sound as if it is trying to grind into gear). I ran it at idle and listened on the engine side of the transom and there was no noise. Felt the top of the drive and felt a kind of bang. I carefully felt the exhaust port portion of the propeller while it was turning and felt no resistance or banging; as well as put my hand on the bottom back part of the lower unit and felt nothing. The bang/clanking is only coming from the top of the drive and sounds like it is coming from inside the transom and can be felt while standing in the boat. My u-joints were replaced a few months ago BUT my drive has been operated harshly for a lengthy bit of time with it trimmed ALL the way up (never let anyone you know borrow your boat!!)!!. My gimbal bearing, bellows, etc was also replaced and of course engine was aligned (which of course could have changed with the rough 470 idle etc). The noise seemed to be worse when turning to the extreme left. This noise only happens when the drive is in gear - is fine in neutral. I took the top cover off of the drive and my oil looks as new as it did when I pumped it in - no metal and no chipped teeth from the portions of the gears I could see.
Am I due to fix U-joints again? Could it possibly be the gimbal again?! This didn't start happening until after that portion of time when I was running WOT and having the engine die on me repeatedly. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
When this was first noticed: I was at the lake and started to notice that my drive wouldn't come out of gear easily like my interrupter switch wasn't working. Started on my way home and decided to go WOT around the lake a few times and all of a sudden my engine died - a few times - fuel water separator was later found to be full of crap from the fuel tank. So I got the engine going again and retrieved the boat. Took it home, ran it on the muffs to get the brackish water out and the drive was clicking loud in neutral indicating that it was too close to either forward or reverse gear it was trying shift into - shifter in neutral. Moved the lever a bit and the noise went away. Decided to get new throttle and remote shift cables as I have never replaced these yet.
Okay, so I got all my shift cables in etc; drive shifts great. I had to adjust my control box as well as the adjustable stud on the reverse lock and it is shifting perfect. Now; fire up the engine and let er warm up. Shift into gears and it shifts fine. The only thing is I now have a kind of clank coming from the drive unit (It is not the sound as if it is trying to grind into gear). I ran it at idle and listened on the engine side of the transom and there was no noise. Felt the top of the drive and felt a kind of bang. I carefully felt the exhaust port portion of the propeller while it was turning and felt no resistance or banging; as well as put my hand on the bottom back part of the lower unit and felt nothing. The bang/clanking is only coming from the top of the drive and sounds like it is coming from inside the transom and can be felt while standing in the boat. My u-joints were replaced a few months ago BUT my drive has been operated harshly for a lengthy bit of time with it trimmed ALL the way up (never let anyone you know borrow your boat!!)!!. My gimbal bearing, bellows, etc was also replaced and of course engine was aligned (which of course could have changed with the rough 470 idle etc). The noise seemed to be worse when turning to the extreme left. This noise only happens when the drive is in gear - is fine in neutral. I took the top cover off of the drive and my oil looks as new as it did when I pumped it in - no metal and no chipped teeth from the portions of the gears I could see.
Am I due to fix U-joints again? Could it possibly be the gimbal again?! This didn't start happening until after that portion of time when I was running WOT and having the engine die on me repeatedly. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks guys!