alpha one clanking?

[dbergeron]

hey everyone i have an 89 alpha on gen 1 with the 1.84:1 gear set. i had the boat on the water and it started vibrating really bad, so i limped it back to the trailer and brought it home thinking maybe the prop loosened up a bit. so i torqued it back down to the 55lbs my manual recommended, and figured while i was at it id pull the drive and check the gimbal and ujoints.. both seemed new.. so i greased up the ujoints and hit all the grease fittings when i put the drive back in. when i fired it up i started hearing a clanking noise every few seconds in neutral.. any guesses? im new to I/O..

 

[dbergeron]

i can get the serial and model numbers if needed, but i dont keep the boat at my house so they're not currently handy..

 

[Rick Stephens]

Probably a V6 with 1.84. You might narrow it down by removing the outdrive and shoving a garden hose in the water hole on the bell housing and starting it up - see if just the engine makes the noise. I can see losing a bolt or two on the coupler or maybe shutters in the exhaust rattling, but clanking noise doesn't sound good if it is coming from the outdrive.

 

[dbergeron]

its the 3.7 inline 4 but it uses the v6 gearing i can try that this weekend where do i hook the hose to the bell housing? im concerned that the lower might have broken gears... :facepalm:

 

[Rick Stephens]

I'd be concerned too! The1 inch round hole in the middle of the bell housing with the o-ring around it is the water passage from lower. You can shove a garden hose with the connector chopped off in there and start your motor up with no cooling worries. Doesn't need to run long to know.

With the drive off you can put it into gear and spin the input shaft and see if something is broken - if so there would be no need to test the motor.

Good luck! Here's to it being a bolt broken somewhere.

Rick