Odd noise from my 2013 Yamaha 115 Outboard

[willy13]

I have an odd noise coming from my 2013 Yamaha 115. To me it sounds like a metal to metal bearing noise. It is sporadic and intermediate. It never happens on start up, only after running the engine for at least a few minutes at normal speeds. Below is a youtube video of an example of the noise over the weekend. It occurs through out the 31 sec video, but the best example of the noise occurs at 24 sec. At times the noise is more consistent, but this was the worse case example from the weekend.

On edit: Forgot to mention that the outboard has 84 hours on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWiXYVK ... e=youtu.be

Thanks!
William

[Bamaman]

Is your engine still under warranty? If so, run it to your Yamaha dealership.

It's hard to diagnose sounds very often. My little Chromebook speakers are not very good.

Any gear grinding signs usually come from the lower unit as that's where all the gears are. The driveshaft turns all the time from the powerhead down into the gearbox.

[willy13]

I was suppose to have a 5 year warranty but my dealership screwed up the paper work. It is currently out of warranty. Though I am still fighting for it...

From what I know about mechanics, I do not believe the sound to be coming from gears grinding. Plus it does it in idle. Unless there are gears before whatever engages the motor into forward or reverse. While I do not know a lot about the internals of outboards, I have been playing with street rods my whole life. That being said, I could be wrong.

It sounds just like the hydraulic throwout bearing that went bad on my street rod a couple years ago. A quiet metal to metal grind, before actual bearing failure. It even acted the same way.

[Drago]

Sounds pretty much like our F225 every since we had it 8+ years ago. I'm listening on Bose bookshelf speakers. If you suspect a real issue, run it on Muffs out of the water. After that have a real Yamaha mechanic take a gander to the recording.

When did you begin hearing it?

[Drago]

I might even consider draining a bit of lower unit and crankcase oil to inspect. Run it through a coffee filter to look for trash.

[Bryden24shp]

I don't think its lower unit related, either. Pull the hood and run it on a hose/muffs. It sounds like something in the alt/timing belt/tensioner area to me. Spray the belt lighty, with a little brake clean while its running, see if the noise goes away. May just be a glazed belt. If that doesn't do it, I'm gonna guess.... Tensioner bearing!

[willy13]

From further research on the internet, it seems like this is probably the driveshaft bushing making the noise because the grease has started to wear off. Apparantly there is a bushing above the lower unit that the driveshaft goes through. It needs to be greased with the proper grease or it will squeak in a matter of months. In my case, since I have not replaced or inspected the impeller yet, the grease is showing its age. When ever the lower unit is removed, the driveshaft, splines, and this bushing needs to be greased. I am having a marina replace my impeller next week and thus grease the bushing. Hopefully this fixes the issue. The boat is buoyed on the lake, and I am simply to lazy to pull the boat out of the water to do the work myself.

[willy13]

I don't think its lower unit related, either. Pull the hood and run it on a hose/muffs. It sounds like something in the alt/timing belt/tensioner area to me. Spray the belt lighty, with a little brake clean while its running, see if the noise goes away. May just be a glazed belt. If that doesn't do it, I'm gonna guess.... Tensioner bearing!

I will look into this, even though I am pretty confident about it being the bearing. I am going to the lake tonight and take a closer look.

Either way, It probably is a good idea to replace the impeller even though I am only at 90 hrs. And this is when that bushing gets greased.