high pitched ticking sound when motor is cranked over

[junkskier]

Hi guys, getting a high pitched clicking/ticking sound when I hit the start button and the motor turns over. little background here, bought the ski 3 months ago. the rear cylinder was seized. I just rebuilt the motor. new crank, new pistons and rings, had millennium re-coat the cylinders and bore them. rebuilt the carburetors, added the triple pisser kit. anyways, had it out on the river 2 weeks ago just to try and break it in a little bit before I winterize it. I start to do the winterization this morning and when I go to crank it over, it cranks but there's a sort of high pitched clicking/ticking sound while it's cranking. my 1st thought was reeds but I really have no idea. I'll probably be taking the motor out and looking it over over this off season but any ideas from you guys would help put my mind at ease as long its not about to blow up lol. anyways I attached link to a short video of me cranking it over and you can definitely hear the noise I'm referring to, almost sounds like one of those electric grill lighters. take a look and let me know. thanks guys!

[steve45]

Sounds sort of like a spark plug wire arcing to ground.

[junkskier]

it does sound a little like that, it definitely doesn't sound internal that's for sure. I'll have to fire it up at night with the lights off and see if i can't see any arcing. the plug wires do all seem fine to me though. I have heard of guys trimming back the wires that went bad going into the boot, but again, there is no sign of an arc at that point. no black marks on the blue boots or anything.

[K447]

Always good to specify which engine/model and model year you are working on

[Myself]

I believe that's an Ultra 150.

[FL_Rider]

I recently had something similar happen to my ultra. I rebuilt the engine last fall and put approx 20 hours on it with no problems. Around March I take it out after it sat for a couple months. I hear a similar ticking sound to what you have. I think its a piston slapping or a rod... I pull the top end and there's nothing wrong with the top end, and the rods were all tight... I finally narrow down the sound coming from between cylinder 1 & 2 when cranking. Even when turning over by hand it would do it. With the reeds removed, the sound stops. Put reeds back in and sound returns.
It turned out the labyrinth seal on the rebuilt crank was undersized in the OD. The crankcase wasn't holding it tight enough and it was moving for and aft in the journal as the pistons alternated pulling air. The pin on the labyrinth seal was hitting the front and rear part of the notch, and that was making the sound.

[steve45]

Now THAT'S some serious troubleshooting, RL_Rider!

[FL_Rider]

Now THAT'S some serious troubleshooting, RL_Rider!

I can say it definitely was an experience troubleshooting mine. In case the topic of this thread doesn't turn out to be what happened to my ultra, I started a new thread about mine titled Ultra 150 defective labyrinth seal and crank rebuild.

Junkskier, I hope yours is something easy and simple and not what happened to mine.

[junkskier]

damn, i never even would have thought of the labyrinth seal on my own! i'll have to check it out over the winter. might as well pull the motor and see. already checked for arcing and it wasn't that. FL_Rider how did you get it fixed? it sounds like a ticking time bomb, and from everything I read about these motors it'd be in my best interest to get it taken care of before i have a motor shaped anchor in my hull.

[FL_Rider]

I replaced the whole crankshaft. It was a rebuilt one, and was under warranty.
If you can't find out what is causing the noise and you want to check to see if its the labyrinth, you can just pull the intake and reeds and turn it over. When the reeds are out, it won't make the rattle. You can also figure out if its the front or back labyrinth by putting the reeds back in one at a time and turning the engine over. I just started another thread on it with video if you want to check it out.