Mercury 4 stroke noisy idle

[<Callyfisherman>]

I bought a new Merc 115 EFI four stroke in 2001. The motor was perfect when new, it was very quiet and ran great. After about only 20 hrs running time I noticed a whirring/grinding noise from the engine, but only at idle. The Dealer replaced the gearcase under warranty and the noise went away for another 20 hrs or so, then returned. The last thing the dealer did was to grease some bearing in the driveshaft? This was the latest fix from Mercury and it did not solve the problem either.
I wrote to Mercury Canada and was told that this grinding noise was "normal",however they were aware of some simillar complaints and the engineers were working on the problem. The motor has only 84 total hrs on it! You can hear the whirring/grinding noise from 30 ft away and guests on my boat frequently comment "Is it supposed to sound like that".

Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with Mercury and won't stop fighting till I get some satisfaction.

Does anyone else have this symptom on their 115 Merc 4 stroke? I wish I'd have bought a Honda...

[<KeyWest2020>]

I am not familiar with your problem, just posting to say that you need to keep after them since you have thier attention. This is probably the case of who yells the loudest the longest will get results.
With the fact they admit there is something wrong, you would hope that they fix it for you.
Good luck.

[<Callyfisherman>]

Thanks,

Well, the Mercury "Consumer Care Manager" hasn't exactly admitted there is a problem, just that "preliminary engineering findings reveal that this type of noise may be more pronounced in some boat/motor power package applications versus others." Which is total BUNK.

If they had paid attention to my complaint I said that the motor when new was "very quiet", only after 20 hrs use did the noise appear. Like,I didn't change anything on the boat,(Larson 18ft) so why would the boat/motor package after 20 hours use have anything to do with it.
Fact is I've been trying to get a fix for the last 2 years and now my warranty is up.

I just fired off another letter, so it will be interesting to see what the response will be.

[<SkeeterFin>]

Thanks,

Well, the Mercury "Consumer Care Manager" hasn't exactly admitted there is a problem, just that "preliminary engineering findings reveal that this type of noise may be more pronounced in some boat/motor power package applications versus others." Which is total BUNK.

If they had paid attention to my complaint I said that the motor when new was "very quiet", only after 20 hrs use did the noise appear. Like,I didn't change anything on the boat,(Larson 18ft) so why would the boat/motor package after 20 hours use have anything to do with it.
Fact is I've been trying to get a fix for the last 2 years and now my warranty is up.

I just fired off another letter, so it will be interesting to see what the response will be.