Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

[central50]

Hello all,

This is my first time to the forums. I have a 85 Sea Sprite with a v6 Vortec motor and a Mercruiser outdrive. The person before myself who had the boat stated they heard a very loud sound while they were cruising in the water, but were not to clear on what the sound was.

I have the boat on the trailer and was running it to flush it out after being winterized. I engaged the drive and noticed a very loud clicking coming from the outdrive, the propeller was still spinning. This was happening both in forward and in reverse, with the sound becoming louder with the increased RPM.

After shutting the motor off, I mainly was spinning the propeller in both directions hearing a clicking noise coming from that area.

P.S. I am a complete car guy, so I am learning the boat world and would like to tackle any problem I can - which is how I learned to work on cars, motors, etc. so I appreciate any help and info you offer.

If there is anymore information you need let me know and I will provide.

Thanks!

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

spinning the prop by hand only spins the prop shaft. a slight ckicking could indicate a poorly adjusted shift cable .
try running it with the prop off, if yours is SS.

 

[central50]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

spinning the prop by hand only spins the prop shaft. a slight ckicking could indicate a poorly adjusted shift cable .
try running it with the prop off, if yours is SS.

Okay,

My next step was removing the prop. I will do some searching on adjusting the shift cable - does the cable come out of adjustment with age?

 

[dubs283]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

does the cable come out of adjustment with age?

the cables wear and create slack, or they bind up and quit working properly

some people will try to adjust the cables when they wear with little success

more often the only fix is to replace the lower shift cable, common item on mercruiser sterndrives

 

[central50]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

So I jumped back in the boat and adjusted the trim just to see if that might of been an issue, it was not. I can be a little clearer on what is going on with video. The prop does spin but you hear the clacking - the prop is only really spinning at its own speed no matter how much I lay on the throttle.

Here is a video:

You can hear the clacking somewhat over the exhaust. It sounds like something is stripped but you guys know better then I do.

Thanks!

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

2 things, it looks like your not pumping any water. too much splash at the muffs and the exaust sounds dry. cant hear the clicking.you should turn those rectangular muffs to the vertical position.

 

[central50]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

2 things, it looks like your not pumping any water. too much splash at the muffs and the exaust sounds dry. cant hear the clicking.you should turn those rectangular muffs to the vertical position.

Tried that this morning.. same result. Exhaust barely has any water flowing out of it. I originally thought that the muffs just had to much water pressure and that's why they are blowing out.

 

[dubs283]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

Exhaust barely has any water flowing out of it.

time for a water pump

with the engine off and the remote in nuetral - turn the prop by hand, if you feel anything catching there is an issue with the shift cable adjustment or wear

 

[mxcobra]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

first you need a new impeller asap before you over heat her wrose then allready done. fiberglass cumbusts at 230 deg. without water in the exhast manifolds you may just burn her to the ground..... I would pull outdrive to do impeller while you got it off, the gear shafts can be inspected along with u joints (wich may be the problem) while off turn the shaft by hand, and shift in and out of gear to see if it works or not...

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

+1 on the water pump/impeller... Sounds like you need to do some reading up on maintenance methods in the adults only stickies at the top of this forum. On another note, you may be hearing U-joints. Not advisable to run your engine very long at all in the trailered position. Everything in the outdrive is turning whether you are in gear or not while the engine is running and U-joint clacking can be heard when running on muffs in trailered position (U-joints just dont like to be run at that much of angle for very long). Best to set up the trailer so you can put the outdrive in a good, flat running trim position. And you typically wont see much water coming out of the prop while on muffs... Most comes out the idle relief ports on the transom. How are your engine temps when running on muffs? If the boat is new-to-you, you definitely need to pull the entire outdrive off and do the typical annual PM program (checking bellows, checking/greasing U-joints, changing your impeller, Pressure testing outdrive, etc). Welcome aboard!

 

[central50]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

Thank you all for the great information, I wanted to pull the out drive off and inspect everything anyway because I know that has not been done in years.

I only ran the motor for about 10 minutes and the temps stayed cool but that's not much time to heat up.. glad I did not leave it on longer. The water pump had to be working for the P.O. as he winterized the motor.. had antifreeze in. Of coarse it could of been barely working at the time as well.

 

[dubs283]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

I only ran the motor for about 10 minutes and the temps stayed cool but that's not much time to heat up.. glad I did not leave it on longer. The water pump had to be working for the P.O. as he winterized the motor.. had antifreeze in. Of coarse it could of been barely working at the time as well.

did you feel the manifolds or just look at the guage??

the temp sender won't read properly without water in the motor

10 mins with no water is long enough to cause major damage to the engine

older style alpha water pumps will work great in the fall only to have the impeller set over winter storage and then not pump a drop in the spring

 

[central50]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

No did not feel the manis. I have to get out of the sealed coolant system mindset.

Well I won't be kicking over the motor anytime soon before I address the water pump issue and removing the out drive and doing and inspection and maintenance.

 

[central50]

Re: Loud clicking from outdrive when in gear

So the out drive is off sitting in the custom stand I made. Took the top off and found that the impeller was shot so I am replacing it the housing and gaskets with the kit I got off this site. Drained the gear fluid which looks like it has not been touched in a few years and checked for any metal shavi GS and did not find anything. The shaft that is exposed on the lower half looks clean with no rust and the splines look strong with no sign of damage. The u-joints on the top half's drive shaft are free moving with no clicking or any type of resistance.

I do now have the repair manual as well. Besides the physical inspection does anyone have any other recommendations on what I should inspect before I reassemble the drive? At this point I do not know when the last time the u-joints were greased so I will check that and fill in new gear fluid once the unit is back together.

With the out drive in the stand, do you have a recommendation on checking the shifting rod and clutch just to be sure I do not have any other issues before this goes back onto the boat?

Thanks!