Tilt/Trim Issue

[wvit1001]

I went down and started the boat up for the first time this afternoon. It started right up and everything was working. I went out in the lake and ran around for about 30 minutes and the trim quit working. It stopped in the full down position so it wasn't a real problem and I thought maybe the handle connection had come loose or something.

After I got back to the marina I started looking and you could hear the up, down, and trailer button clicking at the trim motor but the motor wasn't doing anything. I checked all the fuses and everything is good.

I didn't have a meter with me to check if power was getting to the trim motor so I jumped a wire from the battery staight to the trim motor and still nothing but a click in the motor either on the green or blue wire.

What do you think? Does it need a new trim motor or what else might be the problem?

It's a '95 656 zp Stingray with a 5.7 mercruiser, alph 1, gen II drive.

It was getting dark and I didn't look very hard for numbers on the trim motor. I'll have to go back over to the boat tomorrow.

 

[Don S]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

Did the motor sound ok when the drive went down? Usually when they die like that, it's after setting for a long time.
Check the ground wire, if it's not good, it won't work.

Here is a link to the OEM manual. Look at the troubleshooting section (1C) for detailed troubleshooting with wiring diagrams.

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/14/14cover.pdf

 

[wvit1001]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

The trim motor work fine for 30 minutes or so. I trimmed it up and down a couple of times while I was running. I didn't hear it making any different noise than usual, but then the engine cover was closed and I was under power.

I pulled up and stopped the engine to check the oil and make sure there were no leaks anywhere. It was probably the third time I'd stopped and started back up. When I started it back up and got up on plane I tried to trim it our and the trim wouldn't work.

I was planning on going over with the trailer tomorrow and bringing the boat home for the day so I could install a new radio. But now with the outdrive stuck in the down position at the marina that probably won't happen unless I can get the drive up. I'm not sure I feel like getting up to my waist in the cold lake water quite yet to life the drive manually.

 

[wvit1001]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

http://www.stingrayboats.com/MyStingray/ppost/showphoto.php/photo/16591

 

[Don S]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

Did you look at the ground?
Did you check out the manual link I gave you?
Are you sure you attached your jumper to the proper terminal on the solenoids?
Did you try using the trailer button insead of the trim button?

 

[wvit1001]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

I didn't check the ground yet, it was getting dark.

I looked at the link you gave but all I got was the first two pages and they didn't have anything on them except the front page and one following page.

I jumped it straight to the wires into the trim motor past the solenoid.

Yea the trailer button just clicks the solenoid like the the trim switch.

 

[Don S]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

I didn't check the ground yet, it was getting dark.
I jumped it straight to the wires into the trim motor past the solenoid.

There are 3 wires going into the motor, a green, blue and black. The black is the ground. Try jumping from the blue (sky) with a jumper from the + battery terminal and another to the ground (Black) wire and see if it will go up.

I looked at the link you gave but all I got was the first two pages and they didn't have anything on them except the front page and one following page.

Would have been a good idea to mention you couldn't open it instead of just avoiding it.
Move your curser over the red box that says "Sterndrive units" and click it. The next page to open will be the outline.
Click on Section one on letter C under troubleshooting.

It's a PDF file, so allow it time to load, it's 544 KB in size.
Then start looking at page 1C-12 of the manual pages.

 

[wvit1001]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

I went over to the boat today and cleaned all the connections with sandpaper and tightened everything down good. The trim motor sprang to life and is now working. The groudwire along with all the other connections at the batteryt had a good bit of corrosion on them.

Thanks for the input Don.

 

[Zim]

Re: Tilt/Trim Issue

Simple quick fix... glad to hear it 8)