1977 OMC 190 tilts down but not up

[balloonatix]

I was leaving dock to load out and put the boat in reverse. The drive raised up out of the water on it's own. I had to hold the switch in the down position to keep it in the water. When I moved forward all was fine until I went to load the boat. That's when it wouldn't go up or down. I could hear the motor run but nothing happened. I strapped it in the up position and took it home. Today (5 days later) I went out to investigate. I removed the straps and it stayed up. So I ran it down (worked fine) but now it won't go back up. I can hear the (new) motor run but it doesn't raise. I took the cover off and it had milky fluid in the clutch case and water. This is an electrical/mechanical tilt. Trim tabs are hydraulic and work fine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wire2]

Re: 1977 OMC 190 tilts down but not up

Water in the tilt gearcase isn't serious. It probably needs a pair of seals on the pinion shaft. All the parts in there are either bronze, stainless, etc.
I think your clutch pack is slipping. After it sits a few days it grabs for a bit again. Hit the button briefly with the cover off to see.

You could try washing the internals out with solvent or degreaser, then put in 30 wt motor oil and run it.

If it still slips, squeeze the pack in a vise and clamps on 2 sides, remove the circlip by the cupped spring, then add a 1" washer .015 to .020 in there, put it back together. That's not as good as a new clutch pack but it will keep it going a while longer.

 

[balloonatix]

Re: 1977 OMC 190 tilts down but not up

Water in the tilt gearcase isn't serious. It probably needs a pair of seals on the pinion shaft. All the parts in there are either bronze, stainless, etc.
I think your clutch pack is slipping. After it sits a few days it grabs for a bit again. Hit the button briefly with the cover off to see.

You could try washing the internals out with solvent or degreaser, then put in 30 wt motor oil and run it.

If it still slips, squeeze the pack in a vise and clamps on 2 sides, remove the circlip by the cupped spring, then add a 1" washer .015 to .020 in there, put it back together. That's not as good as a new clutch pack but it will keep it going a while longer.

I'll try that. It sounds like your telling me the clutch disks are slipping because of the lack of oil and presence of water. I know the book says it must be able to hold 16# of pressure so if it's leaking oil out and water in that could be the cause?

Thanks for the info.

 

[wire2]

Re: 1977 OMC 190 tilts down but not up

What I meant was, the clutch discs are under a set tension so that the slip torque is xx pounds with 30 wt oil in there. If there's a gooey mix of oil & water, the torque figure is out the window.
Can you overdrive the clutches by lifting up on the outdrive and spinning the gear?
If it isn't the clutches slipping too easily, the next items to look at is the small pin in the motor extension shaft that drives the worm gear, or the bronze coupling at the motor. Should be able to see with the cover off & hit up or down momentarily.