trim limit/sender chaos

[freeone]

Ok, thanx in advance for all your posts. I searched and searched looked up my seloc and servman only to confuse myself more. i have a 1986 io alpha one and merc 350. installed new sender and limit sensor and switch(per the instructions). the sender makes the gauge erratic(either full up or full down no in between) and the limitor doesnt limt. i have a two position switch with up/dn on the throttle with three wires to it(G, on top/R, in middle/B, on the bottom) and another two position switch on the dash with up/dn with 7 wires(G, GW/ R, O / B, BW, V) from top to bottom. also when underway unable to trim or down, i hear the pump working but no change in trim, but when dead in the water works perfectly.

 

[JustJason]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

have you checked the oil in the pump yet?

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

shure did,, at the full mark with trim/steering fluid.

 

[Don S]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

Sounds to me like you either have them installed on the wrong sides, or the wiring from the trim limit switch is going to the sender. Check the wiring with and OHM meter to determine which is which in the wiring if you are not sure.l

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

limit switch is hooked to blue with white/blue on one and violet on the other
the sender one side grounded the other to brown with white going to the gauge.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

The trim limit will have "TL" embossed and the sender will have "TS" .Make sure you do in fact have them hooked up correctly.

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

have the trim limmiter on the port side, and trim sender on the starbord. i,m pretty shure i have them hooked up right. the one thing im not sure about is the switches, i dont know if anyone looked at the diagram. I know the witchesw wont affect the sender but pretty sure they will affect the limmiter.

 

[Don S]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

Do you have an OEM service manual for the drive? If not, then here is a link to download one. Look at the troubleshooting section, there are wiring diagrams of how the switch should be wired.

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf

Scroll down to the outline and click on the section letter you want to download/save to your computer.

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

thanx for the manuals DonS. where I'm stumped is the switches. these manuals show three way switches and none of them have the wiring option of a trailer switch. all i see is the up up/out and in button, i think thats why i have two separate switches one on the dash and one on the shift/throttle lever and both switches are two way. the way i understand is blue/sky is up green/grass is down. to get the up button to limit is the purple and red supplies power to the switches. to make things more clear I'm a mechanic by trade and electrical has always took a lot of my time to figure out. and i understand what others say in response to these posts about the indicator gauge and limiter they do it by feel, im pretty new at boating(about 2 years now) haven't got the feel yet.

 

[Don S]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

these manuals show three way switches and none of them have the wiring option of a trailer switch. all i see is the up up/out and in button,

The up/out position is for trim and only allow the drive to come up within the trim range. You have to push both the up/out button and the up button to get the trailer up position. The up button does nothing more that overrides the trim limit switch.

Do you have a picture of your throttle control?

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

***UPDATE*** alrigth i was able to track down the problem, the wires going from the pump Bw, Gw, R, and the p(coming from the limiter) all goes to the trailer switch which is suppose to bypass the limiter switch, the the purple from the switch which is the limiter wire and the Gw, R goes to the throttle,shift lever switch. well the problem was the purple(LIMITER WIRE) is suppose to go to the handle directly to limit trim up. so i cut the purple from the trailer switch and pluged it to the blue(UP) wire to the throttle adjusted the limiter switch and it works like a charm.

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

now that the limiter issue is resolved I still have the indicator sender problem, the gauge either shows full up or full down nothing in between. Any ideas? Oh and thanx again Don S and all of you that replied.

 

[Don S]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

Did you line up the marks on the switch before installing it? Have you checked the switch with an ohm meter?

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

here is how i did it. first put the outdrive full down, aligned the two marks on the back of the sender the installed the sender on the gimbal ring and adjusted to show the dash indicator full down as it is suppose to. here is when it gets haywire when triming up the gauge jumps to full up then down maybe 1 inch of travel from the rams, then full up through the full range of the outdrive the gauge never shows in between. im starting to think i have a bad sender it just sucks cause you cant just buy one got to buy in a set. thats not even the worst part you know what it takes just to run the wires.
one thing i havent done is test it with the ohmeter, none of the manuals outline what values or how to test, can you help me with that Don S.

 

[Don S]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

Check it with an ohm meter and see if it may just have the index marks wrong. The rotating part will go all the way around, but only one section will work properly.

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

what range would i be looking for on the ohm meter?

 

[freeone]

Re: trim limit/sender chaos

i gave up testing the sender, i went to buy a new one the parts guy asked if i had checkedthe gauge. woul the gauge case the issues im having? how would i check the gauge?