1986 Merc 43Alpha 1 making clanking noise

"Coming in from an afternoon o

"Coming in from an afternoon of cruising, I opened up the throttle to WOT and ran for a 1/2 mile. Clanking noise came from engine area soon after opening up. Speed started falling off as noise grew louder, throttled back to half throttled but noise continued. Engine popped and died, had to be towed in. Checked engine next morning, turned over Ok, oil was OK. Reset breaker and started engine using muffs,it has a random "clanking" sound coming from rear of engine. Shifter will go into forward, but grinds severely in reverse. Oil pressure and temperature are good. Any suggestions or ideas about what this might be??"

Gene.
Do you have any idea w

Gene.
Do you have any idea why the breaker needed to be reset?
This would seem strange.
Did you look for metal flakes in the oil in the engine and drive oil?
Sounds like more than one problem. Bad engine bearing. Bad engine coupler. Drive U joints. Shift cable.
Could be any of these things or none of them. Hard to tell from where I'm sitting.

"I didn't see any metal in

"I didn't see any metal in the engine oil, but I do have oil and water mix dripping from the lower unit. Have not pulled the lower unit yet, waiting on a service manual before tearing down."

"Pulled lower unit and upper c

"Pulled lower unit and upper case. Oil in upper very milky, mixed with water, but gears and U-joints appear OK. Drained lower unit, oil not mixed but did have some metal filings on magnetic drain plug. Have not disassembled lower unit. Any idesa??"