Mercruiser 170 Ticking Noise

[Wellcraft170]

[No message]

 

[Wellcraft170]

[No message]

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,... Sounds like a rod knock or wrist pin,....

Have ya pulled each spark plug lead, 1 at a time, to see if the knock lessens on 1 particular cylinder,..??

Use insulated pliers,...

 

[Wellcraft170]

Ayuh,... Sounds like a rod knock or wrist pin,....

Have ya pulled each spark plug lead, 1 at a time, to see if the knock lessens on 1 particular cylinder,..??

Use insulated pliers,...

I have not......How serious are either of those? Terms of labor and costs to replace

 

[alldodge]

Agree sounds like a rod issue. This is rebuild or replace time

 

[Wellcraft170]

Agree sounds like a rod issue. This is rebuild or replace time

The whole engine?

 

[alldodge]

The whole engine?

Yes, only way to fix a rod issue, need to pull, rebuild or replace. Since its a 470, I will let others advise to which would be the best path

 

[Wellcraft170]

Yes, only way to fix a rod issue, need to pull, rebuild or replace. Since its a 470, I will let others advise to which would be the best path

Yikes... never thought this would happen to me. Well thanks for the input man, much appreciated.

 

[alldodge]

Yikes... never thought this would happen to me. Well thanks for the input man, much appreciated.

Guess I should say, that to make sure its the motor making the noise is pull the drive and run the motor by it self

 

[Benny67]

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet....

Do a compression test

Do the one at a time plug wire removal to see if it changes tone and or volume

Take a peek in the back of the motor and see if that freeze plug on the head that blows out is leaking

Pour in some sea foam and see if it quiets down...there's a number of things you can check before calling the motor shot.

Condemning a motor via a you tube video is just not possible.

I'll tell you, it doesn't sound good but gather some more info before calling the hearse.

The increase of the knocking upon revving sounds like a lower end issue but again, anyone who thinks they can accuratly diagnose a low end problem via video is jumping to conclusions before gathering all the proper data.

Bondos call sounds accurate but be sure before scrapping it

 

[Benny67]

Removing the drive should be first order of business... should have put that in as well

 

[Wellcraft170]

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet....

Do a compression test

Do the one at a time plug wire removal to see if it changes tone and or volume

Take a peek in the back of the motor and see if that freeze plug on the head that blows out is leaking

Pour in some sea foam and see if it quiets down...there's a number of things you can check before calling the motor shot.

Condemning a motor via a you tube video is just not possible.

I'll tell you, it doesn't sound good but gather some more info before calling the hearse.

The increase of the knocking upon revving sounds like a lower end issue but again, anyone who thinks they can accuratly diagnose a low end problem via video is jumping to conclusions before gathering all the proper data.

Bondos call sounds accurate but be sure before scrapping it

By lower end do you mean the Out drive might be the issue possibly? Also, when doing the plug wire trick, i just pull of the plug wire on the plugs one at a time? Is it safe/ok to do that while running?

 

[Benny67]

Take the drive off the boat entirely but stick a running hose in where the water would be taken up when you run the engine.

If the drive is the culprit you'll know right away if it's the first thing off and you don't hear the knocking.

Pulling the wire off each cylinder is safe as long you are not doing it bare handed. Keep yourself isolated from the wire when you do it.

Obviously don't let the bare wire swing around when the engine is running..

I have hi voltage gloves from work I use....it's not an everyday item everyone has...use pliers that are insulated or maybe even kitchen sink gloves or something along those lines.

I hope it something simple

Good luck

 

[stonyloam]

Before you do ANYTHING, listen to Benny. The 470 is a modified Ford 460 head. There are a couple of plugs, one in the front and one in the back of the head. They plug the holes where the thermactor plugged in in a car. They sometimes rust out and the exhaust from #4 blows out making a noise. Hold your hand back there and see if you can feel the puffs of exhaust coming out. If it is, then you can go to a Ford dealer and get a new Ford 460 thermactor plug. If that is not it, then yeah probably internal. If that is a rod, you should be able to feel it when you hold your hand on the engine. Good luck.

 

[Benny67]

Stonys explanation on checking the back of the head with your hand( when it's running) would be the easiest check so I?d assume THAT should be the first check before removing the drive.

Although it sounds as if you are done with your season and would assume you needed to do the u joint grease and store the drive indoors for the off season anyway.

One other guy with the tranny fluid in the carb sounded like a neat trick...too messy for me but none the less was a creative way to find the leak.

One of my 470's had that issue..seems to be a common one. It did tick pretty bad before it was capped.

 

[QBhoy]

Oh man...doesn't sound good. 470 curse strikes again.
Like others have said...can't diagnose from a video, but if it proves to be another notch on the bedpost for the 470....my advice is not to persevere with them. Reasons given above....
Fire an old reliable 3.0 in it or get some glass work done for the mounts of a 4.3.

 

[QBhoy]

And sell the rest in bits....there is always someone who wants to persevere with these engines for their own purposes of torture...

 

[Wellcraft170]

So i sold the boat today for $2200 to a father and son who work on engines and said they will swap out the engine! Lol never wouldve thought i could sell it that quick. Thanks for all the input guys. Ive learned some very valuable over the last few days.... i will never buy a boat with a 470 in it ever.again. Lol

 

[alldodge]

Agree, make sure motor is toast before doing anything, but there is no way

Pour in some sea foam

(snake oil) is going to do anything. :facepalm: Have never seen how Napata, isopropyl alcohol and machine oil mixed with E10 gas going to change anything other then make things worst

Edit: well it's gone now so on to the next boat maybe

 

[Benny67]

Dodge,

If sea foam didn't help un stick sticky lifters and loosen sludge out of beaten and neglected motors why dIdnt they go out business years ago?

You must know better than their engineers...

Maybe you should send them a letter telling them they should just shut their doors because their products do nothing it claims to do.

They would be laughing so hard at your letter they would be wiping tears from their eyes with all the cash they make off their products instead of using kleenex.

Anyway... think what you want about the 470 motor. It isn't the best engineered internal combustion engine by any stretch. However, the ones I run have served me well so far (fingers crossed ) and that's good enough for me.

I'll run mine till they either die or I sell my boat.