Little knocking sound when giving a little throttle
 

Started up the boat yesterday outside on the trailer... to get ready for today and noticed a little knocking sound while giving some throttle. It does not sound like it's coming from the engine... oil pressure good, checked the oil level myself. All good. (200/v8 merc)

I did notice that if I engage the throttle and the propeller spins a bit, knocking stops immediately.

Any ideas? I have had the boat out and running several times since finishing the rehab project and have not heard this sound. Thanks in advance!!

my outboard makes a ticking sound when u kill the motor with it in gear and moving forward. its the clutch dogs in the lower unit.

can u hear it when u spin the prop by hand?

Theres a good chance your shift linkage is out of adjustment or the shift cable going out to the leg is sticking or bad. You're probably hearing the clutch dogs touching from your description. Get it looked at as you do not want to damage the clutch dogs, if you do, it won't stsy in gear under power.

No noise when spinning by hand...

I agree with Terminator

Shift it into gear and out and see if it changes, agree sounds like the linkage might have some slop.