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Engine coupler
Hi,
I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? |
"Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? |
It is simpler then you could imagine. Outdrive was out (Alpha One). Went to
the mechanic, he used the alignment tool greased all and still could not get the drive inside (went in until last half inch and then stop, huge pain. Checked alignment several time is my presence , suspected misaligned engine but the tool was showing +/-OK. He said yoke is not right (wrong) although that was running OK as to the previous owner (bought with the outdrive out). Gave my money back after a fight, he has torn 4 outdrive gaskets and was in killing mode (he spent 4 hrs). I went to my friend , he runs marine services, he checked alignment, said "tight" but unlike the other guy managed to install the drive in 20 min. Interestingly when the drive was almost fully in (5-10 mm to go) the was a loud clunk, like the engine - drive combo got in place but that was "unusual" according to him yet he still proceeded, tightened the screws. Job done. Subsequently I did some engine work, wanted to test it and ran the engine dry for 10 sec. - clunk, stopped, all seemed OK, checked the engine, no issues, tried again 10 sec. same, stopped tried again more like 20 sec. the clunk was loud like a wrench inside a metal pipe rattling and hitting sided while rotating. Last try I ran the engine at fast idle (all was done on a trailer, no water.). Then I saw a small blue cloud and felt.rubber smell. I thought coupler, plus u-joint rattle due to misalignment (previous owner could have manipulated it (not me). My thinking was: replace the coupler, align the stuff install the drive and check then for further signs. 2 mechanics fu..ed up even though I told them both to align the engine if suspected. bad. Both said "we can handle it". Now I HAVE TO FIX THE MESS: I think that has prolly contributed to this was the outdrive in up position (but prop was not moving) so not in gear. Rear engine mounts look OK. I know I need to check all but coupler is tough as the only to conclusively test it would be on the water (for slippage). That would req. installing all back in, launching, and then going back home to start dismantling again, kind of stupid, don't u think? As to running dry, no big deal, I have fixed more then a few seized engines (running fine) so I know where the limits are. Water or no water, block temp is to low to cause and damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Within 1 min. the engine won't reach any temp that may be considered even close to dangerous. Same applies to cars. All u need is lubrication and oil in the crankcase. Done it several times and never seen any issue whatsoever even after a long time after that (2 years). To me it seems logical and according to laws of physics. U need water to cool hot/warm engine not the cold one. Just few remarks, nothing personal. After all this is a hobby for me, I'm not a pro, just happen to know few things (except as described, to say the least). Thanks. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr Wizzard" Newsgroups: rec.boats Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 3:25 AM Subject: Engine coupler "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? |
I agree that running the engine without cooling water for a brief time isn't
fatal to the engine...but it could ruin the plastic/nylon impeller. "Proxy" wrote in message ... It is simpler then you could imagine. Outdrive was out (Alpha One). Went to the mechanic, he used the alignment tool greased all and still could not get the drive inside (went in until last half inch and then stop, huge pain. Checked alignment several time is my presence , suspected misaligned engine but the tool was showing +/-OK. He said yoke is not right (wrong) although that was running OK as to the previous owner (bought with the outdrive out). Gave my money back after a fight, he has torn 4 outdrive gaskets and was in killing mode (he spent 4 hrs). I went to my friend , he runs marine services, he checked alignment, said "tight" but unlike the other guy managed to install the drive in 20 min. Interestingly when the drive was almost fully in (5-10 mm to go) the was a loud clunk, like the engine - drive combo got in place but that was "unusual" according to him yet he still proceeded, tightened the screws. Job done. Subsequently I did some engine work, wanted to test it and ran the engine dry for 10 sec. - clunk, stopped, all seemed OK, checked the engine, no issues, tried again 10 sec. same, stopped tried again more like 20 sec. the clunk was loud like a wrench inside a metal pipe rattling and hitting sided while rotating. Last try I ran the engine at fast idle (all was done on a trailer, no water.). Then I saw a small blue cloud and felt.rubber smell. I thought coupler, plus u-joint rattle due to misalignment (previous owner could have manipulated it (not me). My thinking was: replace the coupler, align the stuff install the drive and check then for further signs. 2 mechanics fu..ed up even though I told them both to align the engine if suspected. bad. Both said "we can handle it". Now I HAVE TO FIX THE MESS: I think that has prolly contributed to this was the outdrive in up position (but prop was not moving) so not in gear. Rear engine mounts look OK. I know I need to check all but coupler is tough as the only to conclusively test it would be on the water (for slippage). That would req. installing all back in, launching, and then going back home to start dismantling again, kind of stupid, don't u think? As to running dry, no big deal, I have fixed more then a few seized engines (running fine) so I know where the limits are. Water or no water, block temp is to low to cause and damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Within 1 min. the engine won't reach any temp that may be considered even close to dangerous. Same applies to cars. All u need is lubrication and oil in the crankcase. Done it several times and never seen any issue whatsoever even after a long time after that (2 years). To me it seems logical and according to laws of physics. U need water to cool hot/warm engine not the cold one. Just few remarks, nothing personal. After all this is a hobby for me, I'm not a pro, just happen to know few things (except as described, to say the least). Thanks. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr Wizzard" Newsgroups: rec.boats Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 3:25 AM Subject: Engine coupler "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? |
"Proxy" wrote in message ... It is simpler then you could imagine. Outdrive was out (Alpha One). Went to the mechanic, he used the alignment tool greased all and still could not get the drive inside (went in until last half inch and then stop, huge pain. Checked alignment several time is my presence , suspected misaligned engine but the tool was showing +/-OK. He said yoke is not right (wrong) although that was running OK as to the previous owner (bought with the outdrive out). Gave my money back after a fight, he has torn 4 outdrive gaskets and was in killing mode (he spent 4 hrs). I went to my friend , he runs marine services, he checked alignment, said "tight" but unlike the other guy managed to install the drive in 20 min. Interestingly when the drive was almost fully in (5-10 mm to go) the was a loud clunk, like the engine - drive combo got in place but that was "unusual" according to him yet he still proceeded, tightened the screws. Job done. Subsequently I did some engine work, wanted to test it and ran the engine dry for 10 sec. - clunk, stopped, all seemed OK, checked the engine, no issues, tried again 10 sec. same, stopped tried again more like 20 sec. the clunk was loud like a wrench inside a metal pipe rattling and hitting sided while rotating. Last try I ran the engine at fast idle (all was done on a trailer, no water.). Then I saw a small blue cloud and felt.rubber smell. I thought coupler, plus u-joint rattle due to misalignment (previous owner could have manipulated it (not me). My thinking was: replace the coupler, align the stuff install the drive and check then for further signs. 2 mechanics fu..ed up even though I told them both to align the engine if suspected. bad. Both said "we can handle it". Now I HAVE TO FIX THE MESS: I think that has prolly contributed to this was the outdrive in up position (but prop was not moving) so not in gear. Rear engine mounts look OK. I know I need to check all but coupler is tough as the only to conclusively test it would be on the water (for slippage). That would req. installing all back in, launching, and then going back home to start dismantling again, kind of stupid, don't u think? As to running dry, no big deal, I have fixed more then a few seized engines (running fine) so I know where the limits are. Water or no water, block temp is to low to cause and damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Within 1 min. the engine won't reach any temp that may be considered even close to dangerous. Same applies to cars. All u need is lubrication and oil in the crankcase. Done it several times and never seen any issue whatsoever even after a long time after that (2 years). To me it seems logical and according to laws of physics. U need water to cool hot/warm engine not the cold one. Just few remarks, nothing personal. After all this is a hobby for me, I'm not a pro, just happen to know few things (except as described, to say the least). Thanks. First order of business is that you need to learn about "impellers". Period. Not to belabor the point here my friend, but its not the tempreture that is the issue with running without water, but its the clean, dry rubber impeller spinning around inside a metal housing that will wipe it out in 60 seconds. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr Wizzard" Newsgroups: rec.boats Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 3:25 AM Subject: Engine coupler "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? |
"William Andersen" wrote in message news:dHxye.3791$HV1.1703@fed1read07... I agree that running the engine without cooling water for a brief time isn't fatal to the engine...but it could ruin the plastic/nylon impeller. In "60" seconds too I might add. Go read any Clymer, Force, Chrysler etc manual - they all have photos in 15-second intervals of what happens to the impeller with no water. 60 Seconds, its toast. (his clunk is probably the impeller itself getting all chewed up) hehe. "Proxy" wrote in message ... It is simpler then you could imagine. Outdrive was out (Alpha One). Went to the mechanic, he used the alignment tool greased all and still could not get the drive inside (went in until last half inch and then stop, huge pain. Checked alignment several time is my presence , suspected misaligned engine but the tool was showing +/-OK. He said yoke is not right (wrong) although that was running OK as to the previous owner (bought with the outdrive out). Gave my money back after a fight, he has torn 4 outdrive gaskets and was in killing mode (he spent 4 hrs). I went to my friend , he runs marine services, he checked alignment, said "tight" but unlike the other guy managed to install the drive in 20 min. Interestingly when the drive was almost fully in (5-10 mm to go) the was a loud clunk, like the engine - drive combo got in place but that was "unusual" according to him yet he still proceeded, tightened the screws. Job done. Subsequently I did some engine work, wanted to test it and ran the engine dry for 10 sec. - clunk, stopped, all seemed OK, checked the engine, no issues, tried again 10 sec. same, stopped tried again more like 20 sec. the clunk was loud like a wrench inside a metal pipe rattling and hitting sided while rotating. Last try I ran the engine at fast idle (all was done on a trailer, no water.). Then I saw a small blue cloud and felt.rubber smell. I thought coupler, plus u-joint rattle due to misalignment (previous owner could have manipulated it (not me). My thinking was: replace the coupler, align the stuff install the drive and check then for further signs. 2 mechanics fu..ed up even though I told them both to align the engine if suspected. bad. Both said "we can handle it". Now I HAVE TO FIX THE MESS: I think that has prolly contributed to this was the outdrive in up position (but prop was not moving) so not in gear. Rear engine mounts look OK. I know I need to check all but coupler is tough as the only to conclusively test it would be on the water (for slippage). That would req. installing all back in, launching, and then going back home to start dismantling again, kind of stupid, don't u think? As to running dry, no big deal, I have fixed more then a few seized engines (running fine) so I know where the limits are. Water or no water, block temp is to low to cause and damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Within 1 min. the engine won't reach any temp that may be considered even close to dangerous. Same applies to cars. All u need is lubrication and oil in the crankcase. Done it several times and never seen any issue whatsoever even after a long time after that (2 years). To me it seems logical and according to laws of physics. U need water to cool hot/warm engine not the cold one. Just few remarks, nothing personal. After all this is a hobby for me, I'm not a pro, just happen to know few things (except as described, to say the least). Thanks. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr Wizzard" Newsgroups: rec.boats Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 3:25 AM Subject: Engine coupler "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... Hi, I've been recently offered a used coupler as I suspected mine to be shot. I lifted my 4.3 Merc and removed the old one. Both "new"-used one as well as the old one looked exactly the same. I inspected the rubber, splines were no different and looked exactly identical to the smallest detail. Since the suspected damage was due to the engine misalignment So how did the engine get misaligned? or is this "suspected" misalignment ? As I see it, the only way misalignment could happen is the bushing in front tripod mount got beat out, or someone messed with the adjustment, or something in the transom mount, or the transom (or the entire structure) got shifted, or racked ot something. (lots of rattling and clunking in the back of the engine (sounded like a piston rod broke loose and was hitting cylinder walls) Sounds more like U-joints, or outdrive related. Did you check that ? Also, check it with the cups on (in neutral) - should be able to walk about the back and check it more closely. Since the U joints run at the same speed at the engine (and connecting rods), that could be your noise. (are you sure its *not* a connecting rod) ? Is this an Alpha One drive? (or an older OMC etc ?) and I ran the engine dry for about 3x 10-15 sec. How ? 15 seconds, and *three* times?? I'd revisit your boat operating procedures, because thats hard to do, and quite frankly, on and a stern drive, thats borderline operator abuse. (15 Sec is a LONG time). (last occurrence with some (not much) blue smoke from behind the engine, immediately shut down) Blue smoke? god gawd!. What did the smoke smell like? Oil, or other? (rubber, etc) I wondered how severe the damage could be with respect to the coupler condition.. So why do you suspect the coupler? Moreover, why do you suspect misalignment? What is the history of this rig ? Visually there is no way to tell the difference between the two. Is there any other way to determine how was my coupler affected, could it be still OK?. Again, I think you need to tell us more about the history of this situation. Why do you suspect misalignment? You should have pulled the outdrive and checked alignment with an alignment tool before pulling the motor. Was there ample greese in the splines? What would constitute a definitive damage to the coupler? Simplest would probably be to drop the boat on the water but this is out of the question at the moment (engine is still disconnected). Any suggestions? Your questions seem strange - why would you go and pull the motor like this without checking into some of the basics (like engine alignment) ?? |
"Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise.
When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
You have gotten a lot of good information so far. Here's some more.
Water is needed, not only to keep the engine cool, but also cools power steering fluid, and those rubber hoses between the exhaust riser and wishbone. The exhaust shutters, and plastic water pickup fitting in the upper gearcase are also in the path of hot exhaust gasses. Also, the engine should not be started with the sterndrive in the tilted position. You risk tearing the u-joint bellow, damaging the gimbal bearing, u-joints, and possibly the engine coupler. The u-joints, at the very least will make a very unhappy noise if run at extreme angles. Look carefully at the coupler splines and the splines on the sterndrive yoke. If you had an allignment problem, you should see evidence on the splines. To test for coupling, you will need an old yoke with the u-joint removed. Hold the coupler in a fixture or mount it on the engine. Put the yoke in the coupler and a 2' pipe thru the u-joint socket. The coupler should be able to take at least 200lb torque without slipping. One other test you might do is to check for runout. I'll let you figure out how to do that. You should take the top cover off the sterndrive and make sure everything looks happy inside. You should drain all the gear oil and make sure you don't see metal filings or water. You should install a new water pump body kit after finding and removing all broken impeller pieces. You should make sure the upper gear housing moves freely while feeling for a bad bearing.Same goes for lower gearcase,except you need to check for proper shifting. You should check for propshaft runout. I'm sure I left out a lot of details and would hope you have the proper OEM service manuals to guide you. Hope some of this information is helpful. Good Luck JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise. When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
Appreciate the info on the coupler.
As to the dry run seems that you are echoing same thing that I've already heard. Let me repeat then, no engine or major engine part will get hot within the time intervals that I'm talking about. Not even exhaust. Exhaust shutters are made for high temp, and plastic water pickup does not expel exhaust gasses, "those rubber hoses" you refer to are made for exhaust, let's not forget, and under normal operating conditions withstand very high temp. As I said before, no need to cool if something is still barely warm. Try it or you will never know. Nothing personal. "JIMinFL" wrote in message ink.net... You have gotten a lot of good information so far. Here's some more. Water is needed, not only to keep the engine cool, but also cools power steering fluid, and those rubber hoses between the exhaust riser and wishbone. The exhaust shutters, and plastic water pickup fitting in the upper gearcase are also in the path of hot exhaust gasses. Also, the engine should not be started with the sterndrive in the tilted position. You risk tearing the u-joint bellow, damaging the gimbal bearing, u-joints, and possibly the engine coupler. The u-joints, at the very least will make a very unhappy noise if run at extreme angles. Look carefully at the coupler splines and the splines on the sterndrive yoke. If you had an allignment problem, you should see evidence on the splines. To test for coupling, you will need an old yoke with the u-joint removed. Hold the coupler in a fixture or mount it on the engine. Put the yoke in the coupler and a 2' pipe thru the u-joint socket. The coupler should be able to take at least 200lb torque without slipping. One other test you might do is to check for runout. I'll let you figure out how to do that. You should take the top cover off the sterndrive and make sure everything looks happy inside. You should drain all the gear oil and make sure you don't see metal filings or water. You should install a new water pump body kit after finding and removing all broken impeller pieces. You should make sure the upper gear housing moves freely while feeling for a bad bearing.Same goes for lower gearcase,except you need to check for proper shifting. You should check for propshaft runout. I'm sure I left out a lot of details and would hope you have the proper OEM service manuals to guide you. Hope some of this information is helpful. Good Luck JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise. When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
The water pickup is in the upper gearcase exhaust path and holds the copper
pickup tube that fits into the top of the water pump, by means of an interfereance fit rubber bushing. The exhaust shutter is a stainless steel plate with a rubber edge which helps it seal better. Those are at the top of the Y pipe and directly in the path of escaping exhaust gasses. You can tell when they have either melted or are worn out by the annoying rapping noise they make. The noise is so alarming that you would think your engine is self destructing. Those rubber hoses I spoke of contain the exhaust gasses from escaping into the engine room and causeing a fire. I will guarentee you that if you can't hold your hand on one of those hoses for at least several seconds, the hose is charring and will eventually rupture. You may not have damaged anything, but the previous owner might have. I think you said this boat is new to you. Now that you have it all apart, you might as well inspect everything that you can. Can you run the engine on a stand to make sure the engine isn't making the noises? I understand the exhaust noise will make it hard to hear anything else but maybe you could poke around with a stethascope and listen to the various engine noises. Do some troubleshooting and report back what you find. JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Appreciate the info on the coupler. As to the dry run seems that you are ech oing same thing that I've already heard. Let me repeat then, no engine or major engine part will get hot within the time intervals that I'm talking about. Not even exhaust. Exhaust shutters are made for high temp, and plastic water pickup does not expel exhaust gasses, "those rubber hoses" you refer to are made for exhaust, let's not forget, and under normal operating conditions withstand very high temp. As I said before, no need to cool if something is still barely warm. Try it or you will never know. Nothing personal. "JIMinFL" wrote in message ink.net... You have gotten a lot of good information so far. Here's some more. Water is needed, not only to keep the engine cool, but also cools power steering fluid, and those rubber hoses between the exhaust riser and wishbone. The exhaust shutters, and plastic water pickup fitting in the upper gearcase are also in the path of hot exhaust gasses. Also, the engine should not be started with the sterndrive in the tilted position. You risk tearing the u-joint bellow, damaging the gimbal bearing, u-joints, and possibly the engine coupler. The u-joints, at the very least will make a very unhappy noise if run at extreme angles. Look carefully at the coupler splines and the splines on the sterndrive yoke. If you had an allignment problem, you should see evidence on the splines. To test for coupling, you will need an old yoke with the u-joint removed. Hold the coupler in a fixture or mount it on the engine. Put the yoke in the coupler and a 2' pipe thru the u-joint socket. The coupler should be able to take at least 200lb torque without slipping. One other test you might do is to check for runout. I'll let you figure out how to do that. You should take the top cover off the sterndrive and make sure everything looks happy inside. You should drain all the gear oil and make sure you don't see metal filings or water. You should install a new water pump body kit after finding and removing all broken impeller pieces. You should make sure the upper gear housing moves freely while feeling for a bad bearing.Same goes for lower gearcase,except you need to check for proper shifting. You should check for propshaft runout. I'm sure I left out a lot of details and would hope you have the proper OEM service manuals to guide you. Hope some of this information is helpful. Good Luck JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise. When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
You can run the engine without the outdrive. You can just hook a garden
hose onto the water line coming in from the outdrive and run water through it. You just need a piece of plastic tubing to clamp the hoses to. I've run mine that way. When you've got the outdrive on put some muffs on it. If you don't have any muffs buy some, they are only about $15 and you need them anyway. Even with a bad impeller you can usually get enough water through the muffs from the garden hose pressure to keep it cool running in the driveway. As others have pointed out the rubber exhaust components will get hot pretty quickly and they will melt. They were not made for straight exhaust, they were made for wet exhaust. And the lower unit water pump is IN the exhaust stream going out the prop. It is plastic too. Just no reason to not give it water since all you need is a garden hose. If you have burned up the coupler you should be able to see evidence of that. Melted rubber, etc around the outside. It won't strip the splines, the rubber will spin inside the housing. If it has spun at all then it is shot. You're trying to transfer a couple hundred hp through the thing. I'm guessing you burned up some exhaust rubber or the water pump impeller. Or maybe the oil from when it was winterized last. Get some water in the thing so you can run it for awhile then you can troubleshoot. It is not odd for mercs to not be a 'perfect' fit even after being aligned. Anyone doubts me just get yours perfect and then turn the engine 1/2 turn and you'll see what I mean. Merc couplers have no center alignment bushing so they are never perfectly centered on the flywheel anyway. Slightly out of alignment is not going to bother the u-joints or make them 'catch'. They take far bigger stresses on turns and trimming. "JIMinFL" wrote in message link.net... The water pickup is in the upper gearcase exhaust path and holds the copper pickup tube that fits into the top of the water pump, by means of an interfereance fit rubber bushing. The exhaust shutter is a stainless steel plate with a rubber edge which helps it seal better. Those are at the top of the Y pipe and directly in the path of escaping exhaust gasses. You can tell when they have either melted or are worn out by the annoying rapping noise they make. The noise is so alarming that you would think your engine is self destructing. Those rubber hoses I spoke of contain the exhaust gasses from escaping into the engine room and causeing a fire. I will guarentee you that if you can't hold your hand on one of those hoses for at least several seconds, the hose is charring and will eventually rupture. You may not have damaged anything, but the previous owner might have. I think you said this boat is new to you. Now that you have it all apart, you might as well inspect everything that you can. Can you run the engine on a stand to make sure the engine isn't making the noises? I understand the exhaust noise will make it hard to hear anything else but maybe you could poke around with a stethascope and listen to the various engine noises. Do some troubleshooting and report back what you find. JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Appreciate the info on the coupler. As to the dry run seems that you are ech oing same thing that I've already heard. Let me repeat then, no engine or major engine part will get hot within the time intervals that I'm talking about. Not even exhaust. Exhaust shutters are made for high temp, and plastic water pickup does not expel exhaust gasses, "those rubber hoses" you refer to are made for exhaust, let's not forget, and under normal operating conditions withstand very high temp. As I said before, no need to cool if something is still barely warm. Try it or you will never know. Nothing personal. "JIMinFL" wrote in message ink.net... You have gotten a lot of good information so far. Here's some more. Water is needed, not only to keep the engine cool, but also cools power steering fluid, and those rubber hoses between the exhaust riser and wishbone. The exhaust shutters, and plastic water pickup fitting in the upper gearcase are also in the path of hot exhaust gasses. Also, the engine should not be started with the sterndrive in the tilted position. You risk tearing the u-joint bellow, damaging the gimbal bearing, u-joints, and possibly the engine coupler. The u-joints, at the very least will make a very unhappy noise if run at extreme angles. Look carefully at the coupler splines and the splines on the sterndrive yoke. If you had an allignment problem, you should see evidence on the splines. To test for coupling, you will need an old yoke with the u-joint removed. Hold the coupler in a fixture or mount it on the engine. Put the yoke in the coupler and a 2' pipe thru the u-joint socket. The coupler should be able to take at least 200lb torque without slipping. One other test you might do is to check for runout. I'll let you figure out how to do that. You should take the top cover off the sterndrive and make sure everything looks happy inside. You should drain all the gear oil and make sure you don't see metal filings or water. You should install a new water pump body kit after finding and removing all broken impeller pieces. You should make sure the upper gear housing moves freely while feeling for a bad bearing.Same goes for lower gearcase,except you need to check for proper shifting. You should check for propshaft runout. I'm sure I left out a lot of details and would hope you have the proper OEM service manuals to guide you. Hope some of this information is helpful. Good Luck JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise. When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
As I see there are some other creative ideas being born here. Nothing wrong
with that. As to the subject matter I have to say that I'm almost sure that coupler was spun a bit (few sec.) although as I said looks like new after that. That got me thinking : can the coupler survive a short slippage and be still OK? My outdrive must have been somewhat misaligned as I was not able to put it back in. It went in,caught the spline and jammed about 3/4 of an inch before full insertion. Alignment tool that techs used was showing a position that was close to good/or good yet the outdrive couldn't be installed. 2nd mechanic somehow managed to push it a bit more so he could put on a nut and used it (and other ones) to slide it in. Yet a thump could be heard when the outdrive finally went in (while tightening nuts). This was a clear signal that even though the outdrive was installed engine mounts were not happy. I suggested removing it realigning the engine and heard only "it's gonna be OK now". Well, it wasn't. As a result the whole engine had to be taken out to find out that the coupler I had was a wrong one (there are two types A5 and A7 and I needed the other one, a bit bigger). But with the engine out I could examine the outdrive and was surprised to see that it was perfectly fine, at least visually. I was wondering is this still acceptable or even 1 turn makes it useless. "JamesgangNC" wrote in message hlink.net... You can run the engine without the outdrive. You can just hook a garden hose onto the water line coming in from the outdrive and run water through it. You just need a piece of plastic tubing to clamp the hoses to. I've run mine that way. When you've got the outdrive on put some muffs on it. If you don't have any muffs buy some, they are only about $15 and you need them anyway. Even with a bad impeller you can usually get enough water through the muffs from the garden hose pressure to keep it cool running in the driveway. As others have pointed out the rubber exhaust components will get hot pretty quickly and they will melt. They were not made for straight exhaust, they were made for wet exhaust. And the lower unit water pump is IN the exhaust stream going out the prop. It is plastic too. Just no reason to not give it water since all you need is a garden hose. If you have burned up the coupler you should be able to see evidence of that. Melted rubber, etc around the outside. It won't strip the splines, the rubber will spin inside the housing. If it has spun at all then it is shot. You're trying to transfer a couple hundred hp through the thing. I'm guessing you burned up some exhaust rubber or the water pump impeller. Or maybe the oil from when it was winterized last. Get some water in the thing so you can run it for awhile then you can troubleshoot. It is not odd for mercs to not be a 'perfect' fit even after being aligned. Anyone doubts me just get yours perfect and then turn the engine 1/2 turn and you'll see what I mean. Merc couplers have no center alignment bushing so they are never perfectly centered on the flywheel anyway. Slightly out of alignment is not going to bother the u-joints or make them 'catch'. They take far bigger stresses on turns and trimming. "JIMinFL" wrote in message link.net... The water pickup is in the upper gearcase exhaust path and holds the copper pickup tube that fits into the top of the water pump, by means of an interfereance fit rubber bushing. The exhaust shutter is a stainless steel plate with a rubber edge which helps it seal better. Those are at the top of the Y pipe and directly in the path of escaping exhaust gasses. You can tell when they have either melted or are worn out by the annoying rapping noise they make. The noise is so alarming that you would think your engine is self destructing. Those rubber hoses I spoke of contain the exhaust gasses from escaping into the engine room and causeing a fire. I will guarentee you that if you can't hold your hand on one of those hoses for at least several seconds, the hose is charring and will eventually rupture. You may not have damaged anything, but the previous owner might have. I think you said this boat is new to you. Now that you have it all apart, you might as well inspect everything that you can. Can you run the engine on a stand to make sure the engine isn't making the noises? I understand the exhaust noise will make it hard to hear anything else but maybe you could poke around with a stethascope and listen to the various engine noises. Do some troubleshooting and report back what you find. JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Appreciate the info on the coupler. As to the dry run seems that you are ech oing same thing that I've already heard. Let me repeat then, no engine or major engine part will get hot within the time intervals that I'm talking about. Not even exhaust. Exhaust shutters are made for high temp, and plastic water pickup does not expel exhaust gasses, "those rubber hoses" you refer to are made for exhaust, let's not forget, and under normal operating conditions withstand very high temp. As I said before, no need to cool if something is still barely warm. Try it or you will never know. Nothing personal. "JIMinFL" wrote in message ink.net... You have gotten a lot of good information so far. Here's some more. Water is needed, not only to keep the engine cool, but also cools power steering fluid, and those rubber hoses between the exhaust riser and wishbone. The exhaust shutters, and plastic water pickup fitting in the upper gearcase are also in the path of hot exhaust gasses. Also, the engine should not be started with the sterndrive in the tilted position. You risk tearing the u-joint bellow, damaging the gimbal bearing, u-joints, and possibly the engine coupler. The u-joints, at the very least will make a very unhappy noise if run at extreme angles. Look carefully at the coupler splines and the splines on the sterndrive yoke. If you had an allignment problem, you should see evidence on the splines. To test for coupling, you will need an old yoke with the u-joint removed. Hold the coupler in a fixture or mount it on the engine. Put the yoke in the coupler and a 2' pipe thru the u-joint socket. The coupler should be able to take at least 200lb torque without slipping. One other test you might do is to check for runout. I'll let you figure out how to do that. You should take the top cover off the sterndrive and make sure everything looks happy inside. You should drain all the gear oil and make sure you don't see metal filings or water. You should install a new water pump body kit after finding and removing all broken impeller pieces. You should make sure the upper gear housing moves freely while feeling for a bad bearing.Same goes for lower gearcase,except you need to check for proper shifting. You should check for propshaft runout. I'm sure I left out a lot of details and would hope you have the proper OEM service manuals to guide you. Hope some of this information is helpful. Good Luck JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise. When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
If the coupler slipped at all it is toast. The rubber is not a pressure
fit, it is solidified in the coupling. Even if it just slipped an inch it is no longer bonded. When you put the thing in the water all the power has to transfer through it. Frankly I don't think your coupler slipped. I've pulled my outdrive the rest of the way in with the bolts. If it is aligned enough to even get halfway it it is aligned enough that the coupler is not going to spin. There is a bearing between the u-joints and the coupler anyway. The shaft inserts through the bearing and then into the coupler. But you will find out for sure when you put it in the water. "Proxy" wrote in message ... As I see there are some other creative ideas being born here. Nothing wrong with that. As to the subject matter I have to say that I'm almost sure that coupler was spun a bit (few sec.) although as I said looks like new after that. That got me thinking : can the coupler survive a short slippage and be still OK? My outdrive must have been somewhat misaligned as I was not able to put it back in. It went in,caught the spline and jammed about 3/4 of an inch before full insertion. Alignment tool that techs used was showing a position that was close to good/or good yet the outdrive couldn't be installed. 2nd mechanic somehow managed to push it a bit more so he could put on a nut and used it (and other ones) to slide it in. Yet a thump could be heard when the outdrive finally went in (while tightening nuts). This was a clear signal that even though the outdrive was installed engine mounts were not happy. I suggested removing it realigning the engine and heard only "it's gonna be OK now". Well, it wasn't. As a result the whole engine had to be taken out to find out that the coupler I had was a wrong one (there are two types A5 and A7 and I needed the other one, a bit bigger). But with the engine out I could examine the outdrive and was surprised to see that it was perfectly fine, at least visually. I was wondering is this still acceptable or even 1 turn makes it useless. "JamesgangNC" wrote in message hlink.net... You can run the engine without the outdrive. You can just hook a garden hose onto the water line coming in from the outdrive and run water through it. You just need a piece of plastic tubing to clamp the hoses to. I've run mine that way. When you've got the outdrive on put some muffs on it. If you don't have any muffs buy some, they are only about $15 and you need them anyway. Even with a bad impeller you can usually get enough water through the muffs from the garden hose pressure to keep it cool running in the driveway. As others have pointed out the rubber exhaust components will get hot pretty quickly and they will melt. They were not made for straight exhaust, they were made for wet exhaust. And the lower unit water pump is IN the exhaust stream going out the prop. It is plastic too. Just no reason to not give it water since all you need is a garden hose. If you have burned up the coupler you should be able to see evidence of that. Melted rubber, etc around the outside. It won't strip the splines, the rubber will spin inside the housing. If it has spun at all then it is shot. You're trying to transfer a couple hundred hp through the thing. I'm guessing you burned up some exhaust rubber or the water pump impeller. Or maybe the oil from when it was winterized last. Get some water in the thing so you can run it for awhile then you can troubleshoot. It is not odd for mercs to not be a 'perfect' fit even after being aligned. Anyone doubts me just get yours perfect and then turn the engine 1/2 turn and you'll see what I mean. Merc couplers have no center alignment bushing so they are never perfectly centered on the flywheel anyway. Slightly out of alignment is not going to bother the u-joints or make them 'catch'. They take far bigger stresses on turns and trimming. "JIMinFL" wrote in message link.net... The water pickup is in the upper gearcase exhaust path and holds the copper pickup tube that fits into the top of the water pump, by means of an interfereance fit rubber bushing. The exhaust shutter is a stainless steel plate with a rubber edge which helps it seal better. Those are at the top of the Y pipe and directly in the path of escaping exhaust gasses. You can tell when they have either melted or are worn out by the annoying rapping noise they make. The noise is so alarming that you would think your engine is self destructing. Those rubber hoses I spoke of contain the exhaust gasses from escaping into the engine room and causeing a fire. I will guarentee you that if you can't hold your hand on one of those hoses for at least several seconds, the hose is charring and will eventually rupture. You may not have damaged anything, but the previous owner might have. I think you said this boat is new to you. Now that you have it all apart, you might as well inspect everything that you can. Can you run the engine on a stand to make sure the engine isn't making the noises? I understand the exhaust noise will make it hard to hear anything else but maybe you could poke around with a stethascope and listen to the various engine noises. Do some troubleshooting and report back what you find. JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Appreciate the info on the coupler. As to the dry run seems that you are ech oing same thing that I've already heard. Let me repeat then, no engine or major engine part will get hot within the time intervals that I'm talking about. Not even exhaust. Exhaust shutters are made for high temp, and plastic water pickup does not expel exhaust gasses, "those rubber hoses" you refer to are made for exhaust, let's not forget, and under normal operating conditions withstand very high temp. As I said before, no need to cool if something is still barely warm. Try it or you will never know. Nothing personal. "JIMinFL" wrote in message ink.net... You have gotten a lot of good information so far. Here's some more. Water is needed, not only to keep the engine cool, but also cools power steering fluid, and those rubber hoses between the exhaust riser and wishbone. The exhaust shutters, and plastic water pickup fitting in the upper gearcase are also in the path of hot exhaust gasses. Also, the engine should not be started with the sterndrive in the tilted position. You risk tearing the u-joint bellow, damaging the gimbal bearing, u-joints, and possibly the engine coupler. The u-joints, at the very least will make a very unhappy noise if run at extreme angles. Look carefully at the coupler splines and the splines on the sterndrive yoke. If you had an allignment problem, you should see evidence on the splines. To test for coupling, you will need an old yoke with the u-joint removed. Hold the coupler in a fixture or mount it on the engine. Put the yoke in the coupler and a 2' pipe thru the u-joint socket. The coupler should be able to take at least 200lb torque without slipping. One other test you might do is to check for runout. I'll let you figure out how to do that. You should take the top cover off the sterndrive and make sure everything looks happy inside. You should drain all the gear oil and make sure you don't see metal filings or water. You should install a new water pump body kit after finding and removing all broken impeller pieces. You should make sure the upper gear housing moves freely while feeling for a bad bearing.Same goes for lower gearcase,except you need to check for proper shifting. You should check for propshaft runout. I'm sure I left out a lot of details and would hope you have the proper OEM service manuals to guide you. Hope some of this information is helpful. Good Luck JIMinFL "Proxy" wrote in message ... Thanks. At this stage I'm not even thinking about rattling/clunking noise. When I put the engine together I'll have one more chance to reexamine everything. I have the engine hanging on chains and wonder how do I go about the coupler. The rest will come later. One thing I know 4 sure that 2 mechanics have missed the alignment part (or thought that it may be ignored for a while and both were wrong). Most upsetting is that I pointed that out to both and from that moment became an annoyance. They seemed to have no appreciation for other point of view at the moment. Now, I've had a look at the coupler and seen zero damage but.since the idea of the coupler is to inject a weak point into the drive system to protect crank and drive shafts I wonder where is the breaking point for a coupler. If a spun coupler (for a few secs) may still be usable or regardless of its look should be replaced anyway. With other words, is this enough to spin it just one turn to break the rubber layers bond or does it remain good until the spinning visually separates rubber bushings (burned, melted rubber would be visible then). Since the engine is stripped of exhaust I have to work backwards, start with the coupler, put the exhaust, linkage, electrical together and test yoke/u-joint play, engine alignment and potentially outdrive issues. Just don't want to put it back together to later have to dismantle it again to yank the coupler out. I don't feel like going back and forth few times over. As indicated impeller is just a cost of testing which I don't mind. Otherwise I see no issues with running the engine dry as long as there is sufficient lubrication. As I said I've done it several times on different engines always successfully without any issues or signs of trouble (no need for cooling something that is still cold). But that issue is beyond the scope of this subject. Coupler is. Btw. Cobra has the best setup allowing impeller removal in just few minutes. Very handy, at least in my opinion. My take is this: the engine was out of alignment which has caused u-joint jamming momentarily and that has caused coupler to let go for a moment (blue smoke from the engine compartment - back of the engine - typical for coupler failure) and was immediately shut down. "Mr Wizzard" wrote in message ... "Proxy" wrote in message ... damage except for impeller that I have written off anyway for this experiment. Ah, Ok, I didn't realize that you wrote off the impeller (I missed that) (but the rubber smell could be the impeller galling up down there) So, you didn't say anything about the U-joints. And when mechanic dude said the yoke "isn't right", whats that mean? Wrong one, wrong size, or bad, or what? have you peaked inside the outdrive? bled a little bit of grear juice out the bottom of the lower unit to look for shavings? You replaced the coupler, or said that there is no visable damage, or difference between that one, and the one that was given to you, so I can't see that being the problem. Besides, think about it, there is nothing really to rattle there - the spline is a very percision fit, and nothing really to rattle. Things that can rattle a connecting rods, pistons, U-joints, yokes, bevel gears etc. Could they have missed the shift-shaft lever alignment when putting the outdive on? - dog clutch caught between gears? Its all a pretty solid chunk of metal down there, so noise can be transmitting from anywhere. Hate to be stupid here, but are you SURE its not the motor? i.e. since your not worried about water, cooling, impellers, can you pop the outdrive off, and try to run the motor wihtout the outdrive ? And whats the gimbal bearing look like ? The front input shaft bearing for the outdive unit itself ? Keep us posted. |
"Proxy" wrote in message ... As I see there are some other creative ideas being born here. Nothing wrong with that. But with the engine out I could examine the outdrive and was surprised to see that it was perfectly fine, at least visually. Ok, I gotta ask about this one... How does taking the engine "out" make it so that you can examine the outdrive ? I mean, you wouldn't be able to see any more from inside the bell housing than you would if the outdrive was off, and laying on the ground. Right ? |
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