88 Bayliner with 88 Force 85hp o/b motor.
She ran fine last year, except the last time I was out it overheated... new water pump needed I think. So this year I got the parts to do the water pump, and lo and behold I can't get the motor to tilt down, just a click when I push the switch. So I turned the key just to see if she'd start, and again just a click. As far as I can tell the battery is good. So I removed the trim relays and connected the blue and green wires directly to battery, one at a time while grounding the other - nothing but a little spark and a little smoke, no motor noise, no nothing. So then I connected the starter directly to battery - nothing but a little spark, no starter noise, no movement. I thought maybe the neutral switch, so I bypassed that - no change. I thought maybe the emergency shutdown switch, so I bypassed that - no change.
What could this be? A bad starter and tilt motor at the same time seems a bit far fetched. And I don't want to start replacing expensive parts until I'm pretty sure that is what's wrong. Am I just missing something obvious here? I'm new to this o/b maintenance thing, so any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
She ran fine last year, except the last time I was out it overheated... new water pump needed I think. So this year I got the parts to do the water pump, and lo and behold I can't get the motor to tilt down, just a click when I push the switch. So I turned the key just to see if she'd start, and again just a click. As far as I can tell the battery is good. So I removed the trim relays and connected the blue and green wires directly to battery, one at a time while grounding the other - nothing but a little spark and a little smoke, no motor noise, no nothing. So then I connected the starter directly to battery - nothing but a little spark, no starter noise, no movement. I thought maybe the neutral switch, so I bypassed that - no change. I thought maybe the emergency shutdown switch, so I bypassed that - no change.
What could this be? A bad starter and tilt motor at the same time seems a bit far fetched. And I don't want to start replacing expensive parts until I'm pretty sure that is what's wrong. Am I just missing something obvious here? I'm new to this o/b maintenance thing, so any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
