Bravo 3 Knocking noise ONLY in neutral.

[Jmangus22]

I have searched google and come up with a few possibilities but have not seen anything exactly like this.

Long story short, boat has been a bit of a nightmare. Bought it 4 years ago, motor instantly needed to be replaced, transom assembly too.

Put a new 383 stroker FWC in and a new bravo 3 transom assembly.

The old bravo 3 seemed okay so it stayed.

FFW 3 years later and the transom assembly is leaking at the gasket.

Motor comes out, the out drive hole is redone, reglassed, smoothed out, and everything is put back in.

At this point the noise starts. It is coming from the REAR of the motor and if you use a bar to try to hear where it's coming from it comes from the TOP of the bravo 3 the loudest.

Bring it back to the mechanic.

11,000 dollars later I have a new Bravo 3 special salt water whatever drive.

Noise is gone, for the FIRST FIFTEEN MINS OF OPERATION.

Came back real fast. Same symptoms, no noise in gear, but noise in N.

Here's the video and while I'm not a sea ray, I've gotten no where on the rinker forum because I'm just lucky and no one else has seen this issue.

Gimbal has been replaced twice. Engine has been aligned.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...I thought I was doing the right thing by always going all new, vs fixing. Apparently not!!

 

[Pirate Lady]

Been thinking about this, first before I say anything, is engine an inboard or outdrive?

 

[techmitch]

I have searched google and come up with a few possibilities but have not seen anything exactly like this.

Long story short, boat has been a bit of a nightmare. Bought it 4 years ago, motor instantly needed to be replaced, transom assembly too.

Put a new 383 stroker FWC in and a new bravo 3 transom assembly.

The old bravo 3 seemed okay so it stayed.

FFW 3 years later and the transom assembly is leaking at the gasket.

Motor comes out, the out drive hole is redone, reglassed, smoothed out, and everything is put back in.

At this point the noise starts. It is coming from the REAR of the motor and if you use a bar to try to hear where it's coming from it comes from the TOP of the bravo 3 the loudest.

Bring it back to the mechanic.

11,000 dollars later I have a new Bravo 3 special salt water whatever drive.

Noise is gone, for the FIRST FIFTEEN MINS OF OPERATION.

Came back real fast. Same symptoms, no noise in gear, but noise in N.

Here's the video and while I'm not a sea ray, I've gotten no where on the rinker forum because I'm just lucky and no one else has seen this issue.

Gimbal has been replaced twice. Engine has been aligned.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...I thought I was doing the right thing by always going all new, vs fixing. Apparently not!!

How far up is the drive tilted in that video?

 

[Pirate Lady]

Mitch, he not reply yet, but I wondering flappers.

 

[Pirate Lady]

Cause last summer had a bad one that made a racket when idling in slip, but noise went away under power, had mechanic replace this winter.

 

[Lazy Daze]

How far up is the drive tilted in that video?

My first question, as well.

Pirate - he mentioned he has a Bravo.

 

[Espos4]

Been thinking about this, first before I say anything, is engine an inboard or outdrive?

.............

 

[Pirate Lady]

JFC, I am losing it.

 

[Pirate Lady]

Now that we solved my dementia issue, could it be flappers?

 

[Jmangus22]

Drive is all the way down and I barely ever move it up. Could replicate the video anytime day or night with the drive trimmed in any position, although as I said I try to never trim up...

If it were the flappers why would the noise go away in gear?

It's an I/O bravo 3.

Everything on it is 4 years old or newer, the drive is somewhere around 6 months old.

Thank you for any insight, I'm down in the keys and while I do have a dependable mechanic they don't see many of these down here so it's kind of in my hands to do as much research as possible.

 

[douglee25]

Was the coupler replaced?

 

[Jmangus22]

Was the coupler replaced?

4 years ago, yes, it was replaced. It was an entire new package from the transom assembly forward.

 

[douglee25]

Hmmm...

There is a bearing in the top of case which isn't under much load when in neutral. It's possible that putting it into gear takes away the lash and it quiets down. You could remove the drive and see if the noise is completely gone while idling. That isolates it to the drive vs the engine.

 

[Thornton69]

Maybe a runout issue with the new coupler? Was the alignment checked with the crankshaft barred in different positions?

 

[mblockb]

Did they use the original U-Joint when put back together? Just a thought but could be "U-Joint chatter" while not under load.

 

[Brite Idea]

First off sorry for your ongoing troubles, having to throw money at problems endlessly takes the fun out of what we love so much. You've done more than enough with this mechanic, find another one. I feel your pain my boat which is new to me as of last August had extensive maintenance work done six months before I bought it, the survey came back clean with minor issues but once the boat was mine the truth showed that the previous mechanic was a parts replacer and not a good one. My mechanic is currently redoing ALL the work the wanna be mechanic did.
So your noise could be from the shifter fork in the drive. Don't ever shift a Bravo drive in and out of gear when it's not running it could result in a bent shifter fork. The drive is warranted so bring it to another shop and my bet is they'll figure it out.

 

[Pirate Lady]

About that don’t shift in gear, I have seen many mechanic and dealer service do this, typically put in forward before removing outdrive. Just saying what I’ve seen.

 

[scoflaw]

About that don’t shift in gear, I have seen many mechanic and dealer service do this, typically put in forward before removing outdrive. Just saying what I’ve seen.

That's an Alpha thing

 

[jim98zj]

So what was the result? I have a similar noise on my 2001 240 sundeck, 5.7, B3.

 

[Jmangus22]

So what was the result? I have a similar noise on my 2001 240 sundeck, 5.7, B3.

Hi - Meant to come back and update, thanks for the reminder. It ended up being ENGINE ALIGNMENT.

This is what most people online told me it was, including mercury itself. However I was dealing with 2 different mechanics who told me no way + THE MECHANIC WHO PUT THE MOTOR BACK IN and CLAIMED HE ALIGNED IT. I asked him three different times in writing.

I finally found a mechanic who was willing to listen to the "average guy" (me) and give it a shot. He aligned the motor to what he thought it should be. NOISE GONE!

Really crazy how bad some marine mechanics are (the guy who did the heavy work was recommended to me!) and how they will dig their heels in when the CUSTOMER asks them to take a second look.

At the moment, the noise IS there after long runs of 30+ mins at high RPMS, but it settles down quickly, within minutes and is gone before I turn it off.. If you do a low speed cruise it the sound does not show up.

As of this video it was there 100% of the time, cold or hot and LOUD. I think the only reason I can hear it now is because I'm on high alert for anything that sounds like that.. as even after long high rpm runs it's no where near as loud as it was before.