Tilt motor stuck in the up position

[aqualoco]

I have a 2000 125 hp Mercury and the tilt motor's down relay performs intermittently. The motor is now all the way up and will not lower. How can I manually lower the motor so I can take the cover off to troubleshoot the relay? There is a plastic plug at the bottom of the tilt motor assembly that unscrews. However, unscrewing this plug does not release pressure in the tilt motor's hydraulic cylinder.<br />Thanks in advance for your reply!

 

[bruce7872]

Re: Tilt motor stuck in the up position

aqualoco,<br /><br />don't know if yours will be the same or not but on my 1989 90hp merc right now my motor is just the opposite. It's stuck in the down position and was a pretty embarrassing hour and a half trying to trailor my boat out of the river with people waiting to put or or out and I'm blocking one side of the ramp! Finally an old guy with a mariner came over and showed me a recessed screw on the right side under the powerhead where my pins would go to manually set the trim. It's recessed about an inch and about halfway down the motor and I had to come at it from the side cause it doesn't face towards the back. It was --- to find especially in the water! But it did the trick. I loosened it about a turn and was able to finally raise my motor manually to get the boat out. But I'd like to know what happened to my power trim. I can hear the pump or whatever run when I hit the down switch but up doesn't make a sound, nothing happens.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Tilt motor stuck in the up position

aqualoco, I am not familar with the type of T/T system you have on that motor. However, you can always loosen a hydraulic line (on the "UP" side of the trim cylinder)relieve the hydraulic pressure (and fluid) that keeps the motor tilted up.<br /><br />Bruce7872, the same advise applies to you as well, except loosen the hydraulic line on the down side.

 

[b.gagnon]

Re: Tilt motor stuck in the up position

There should be a screw somewhere on the hydraulic unit. Just turn it, a turn or so and give the engine a tug.

 

[aqualoco]

Re: Tilt motor stuck in the up position

Your clues solved the puzzle. The trim motor is a single ram type and it turns out there is a 1/2" plastic plug accessable through a hole towards the lowest point of the starboard side of the motor mount. You really have to look for this plug to find it. About 5 loosening turns with a large flathead screwdriver and a push on the lower unit and the motor swiveled down easy as pie.<br /><br />After I took the motor cover off, I could hear the down relay clicking as I pushed the down switch, but no current was sent to the tilt motor. So I tapped on the top of both relays (not sure which one is the down one) with the handle of the screwdriver and all of a sudden the down switch started working. So, I think that even though the relay is sealed, there was / is probably corrosion on the contacts that is preventing it from completing the power circuit in a reliable way. <br /><br />Bruce7872, you might want to try the tapping test or just swap relays to see if the up direction starts working. <br /><br />Next step is to get 2 replacement relays. It seems like there must be some type of trick to get the relay out of it's socket. There is an automotive type plastic latch that I have tried to carefully unlatch using a small flathead so as not to destroy it. The clearance for the thing is so tight that is seems like it was designed not to unlatch. Well nothing is easy when dealing with electrical systems on boats.<br /><br />

 

[bruce7872]

Re: Tilt motor stuck in the up position

i replaced my relay with a new one....cost me $23. Simple fix this time and not too expensive!