1985 bayliner capri 1750 ls 2.3L omc sterndrive klunk. please help!

[ryndoit]

We was out memorial weekend on the last day it started making a loud clunk when in drive. (see video) took it home tried to see if anything was slipping. prop is fairly new. took it out last weekend the clunk was still there but not as frequent. dogs slipping? First time boat owner i can do engine work but little lost on sterndrives. I have a oem book, it was the first thing to buy when i purchased the boat this spring. Have a week vacation coming up 4th july with family trying to avoid any problems on the water. thank you everyone! https://www.facebook.com/10001371321...63447315867608 only way i could get video to load.

 

[alldodge]

Not an OMC guy but maybe my comment will bring others in. Have you changed the drive lube? Is the drive lube full?

 

[southkogs]

'85 should be a mechanical shift Stringer - has your shift cable come loose anywhere?

Welcome aboard.

 

[ryndoit]

Thank you for responding I haven't seen anything come loose, Starting to think maybe the cable is just wore out. The shift cable would cause that clunk when driving. Were you able to view video? here is what is in the boat

 

[ryndoit]

...

 

[southkogs]

Can't see your image yet (you needed to make three posts before it would put it up, try again). Photo tutorial HERE.

There are a lot of things that can cause a clunk. Not quite as many that can cause regular clunking. Kinda' hard to single it out from a video - and honestly I don't know the mechanical shifts very well. Shift cable is just the first thing I would look at and rule out. After that I'd probably look at the upper gear case and rule that out.

 

[ryndoit]

In the video its about 4 seconds in and then at the very end of the video, can see it shake the boat sounds like hit a hard wave. thanks for input, ready to start learning my way around working on a watercraft. appreciate any input.

 

[southkogs]

I didn't think they were building Cobras in '85, but that's what the serial number is. I actually don't know the Cobra though. If you can post a photo of the stern drive just to make sure.

Think ya' hit something maybe? I actually hit a stick last weekend that surprised me - I thought I tagged a dead head the way things bumped, but it wound up being a pretty light stick.

 

[ryndoit]

No Title

 

[Scott Danforth]

cobra was introduced late 1985.

 

[ryndoit]

I haven't hit anything. its actually a 1989 bayliner

 

[Big Gee]

I had a similar issue on a 2.3L OMC a couple of years ago, The klunk was only in FWD when accelerating from a stop. It occurred about 5 or so seconds after shifting into gear. After I adjusted the transom shift cable where it connects to the lower unit, the issue was resolved and has never returned.

It's been a few years since I made the adjustment and I don't remember the details of it well enough to talk you through it, but the information I used was from the Don S. Adults Only Section ---> OMC Information ---> Information on the Cobra outdrive from Stuart Hastings

Try this link: http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/index.html

About half way down the page there's a section on making the adjustments.

It was a little frustrating at first, but eventually it made sense and I worked it out, good luck with it, ​

 

[ryndoit]

My klunk turned into throwing my lower unit out while trying to get it adjusted. believe I'm switching it to a SE116 outdrive.