"seeray28" wrote in message
...
its too late in the evening for me to do tonite. Ill warm it up in the
driveway when I get home wed. and let you know

I think I know what sound your talking about. I refer to it as the engine
sounding like a model T.

Bing-****in-O!!. er, ah, opps, sorry about that,
but that's EXACTLY what it sounds like!. Gosh,
why didn't I come up with that. But yea, I can't
describe it any better than that.


I dont think that it is piston slap. The iron duke
engine has been around since the mid 60's and does not have an issue with
slap. But it is a hydrolic lifter engine so the valve adjustment may be
off
a little. But all 8 lifters? I kinda doubt it. If it was the coupler???
First coupler either work or they dont. When they dont they make an
exceptionally expensive noise and smoke. So I dont think thats it.
Ill nose and ear around tomorrow
Steve

So here's an update, and sort of the conclusion.
So taking Jim's (and others in this threads) advice,
I did call the dealer to schedule an appointment.
and the service guy at this Olympic Boat Center
was really great - we talked in depth about this.
He explained the whole history of the Iron Duke,
and this clacking sound. He went on to say that
this is normal for this engine, and in fact, he told
me of another customer that just brought the same
boat in a couple days ago for the same thing.
This service manager himself said he went out
in the pit to listen to it when they brought it in,
and the customer (much like me) was worried
about valve tappet adjustment, so they went and
did the full valve adjustment, and he himself went
back out in the pit to listen to it afterwords, and
he said he couldn't tell the difference. He said
there "might" have been a difference, but it was
so minute, that you couldn't tell for sure if it made
a difference. Basically, the dealer told me to
go out and have fun, keep the oil changed and
clean, and bring it in during the winter if I'm
still worried about it, (and get it winterized).
He says this proven platform is bulletproof,
and you'd be hard pressed to hurt it. Worst
case, if it scatters, you'd get a new motor
under warranty. But wait!, there's more...
As I "think" I heard Steve say before, the
idle really was too low for my liking, so I
bumped the idle screw maybe 1/8 turn
(if even that), and that helped a LOT!.
I haven't had it in the water since the new
idle adjustment, but it seems MUCH
better (and quieter), and I'll bet I didn't
increase the idle but 75 Rpm's. Amazing.
So I conclude this: Its a noisy valve train
by the natural design of the ole "Iron Duke",
and excessively low idle was making it
clack itself to death since it always seemed
like if was on the very edge of stalling.
So thanks to all - not gonna worry about it
any more, let it clack a bit at idle, and
let er rip on the open lake and have fun!







"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
Steve,

Take a look at this post I recently made,
and let me know what you think. I like
your opinion since you are usually good
and verbose, and full of details. Anyways,
can you idle your boat (out of gear) with it
warmed up and take the cover off and stick
your head down on that non-manifold side
and see if you got this same clacking noise I
got? - 'preciate comparing notes. Thanks!

Here's what I recently posted:

So I finally got about 20 hours (I think) on my new 2005
Bayliner 175 Capri, and within the forst 10 hours, I
noticed a noise in the engine, and it seems pretty
pronounced at idle. It like a rattling noise, but the
best way to describe is that it sounds just like that
rattling sound of a diesel engine. I stuck my head
clean down in the engine compartment, and it seems
like its coming from the cover on the left side below
the head (where I think the lifters are at). This is a
Merc 3.0L straight 4. I'd "like" to think that it is
valve lash, but that "rattling", diesel-like sound has
got me worried, because in my car engine days,
this sounds just like piston slap/wrist pin type noise.
And when I really wedge my head down in the
engine compartment, it "almost" sounds like its
loudest from the back of the engine near the
flywheel/coupler, but I can't say that for sure.

Is this normal? - can someone shed some light
on the nature of this sound, and why it sounds
so much like piston/wrist pin type noise, and
not like the lifter noise of the old V-8's of years
gone by? Could it be just the physical layout
of the Merc 3.0L straight 4 and its valve train
layout? And if it is valve lash, is it normal to
need adjustment after 20-ish hours on a new
motor?. And one last question, does anyone
know for sure if the 2005 Merc 3.0L has
solid lifters, or hydralic lifters ? Is this
something that Olympic Boat centers is used
to doing in the fist few hours of new Merc 3.0L's ?

Thanks in advance!