85 rinker omc 3.0 and omc outdrive

[Lbrown13]

Just bought a boat that had been sitting for years. Got it tuned up and running great. Today, I tested the tilt and trim just on the trailer and i have it trimmed all the way down but will not go back up. Wiring is all good from everything I can tell, but I can hear it click when I hit the up for the trim however the down still works and so does up and down for the tilt. Read an old conversation on here a guy had the same problem so I took the gear apart where there’s a worm that drives that motor. It was completely full of water and very brown milky oil. Just looking for what exactly the next steps are to fixing it and how water might have gotten in there and what kind of oil I need to use to refill it. Any help would be awesome.

 

[alldodge]

Might be a bad relay, check circuits first

 

[Scott Danforth]

First, welcome aboard

Second, prior to using the boat, you have a lot of maintenance to do. On the stringer, you have 3x the amount of maintenance compared to a mercruiser

Third, the stringer tilt motors are known to go bad. Mainly because water gets into the motor

You will need a factory manual

wish you would gave come to the forum before your purchase.

 

[Lbrown13]

Thank you both! I believe I found that the relay is bad. Not getting voltage out when I hit the up button. However still concerned with the tilt motor gear case being full of water? Nothing seems to be the least bit rusty or bad. Could I be able to just clean with alcohol or parts cleaner then use form a gasket on the case cover and fill back with gear oil? Also, I drained oil out of lower gear case. I think I found 4 or 4 different plugs and seems as though there is 2 different compartments that hold fluid separately. The bottom one seemed to be fine and about a quart of oil came out as expected. The top one however came out a bit shiny as I’m sure that is very bad news. What is in this top part? There was a cap with a dipstick in this part. Oil level seemed to be fine bur very little came out when I took the plug out of the side. Maybe a quarter of a quart at the most

 

[kenny nunez]

Every tilt clutch housing has water, I think they came from the factory like that. Anyway do not take the clutch pack apart unless it is the later style that was held together with a tension bar loaded by the Allen screw in the shaft. If so take the pack apart, clean and soak the plates in motor oil. Snug the allen plug then give it 1/2 of a turn.
Replacing the seal may help.
If your clutch pack is not loaded like I described you need special tools to service it so leave it alone.
The power relays are not the automotive type. They are grounded differently with one of the small studs. Have someone try the switch and see if the relay is making the connection.
The power trim motor may have stuck brushes or trashed from water intrusion.
The power tilt motor is sealed very good and usually the brushes are just stuck and you have to take it apart to free them up.
Tilt motor Sierra #18-6755. Power trim motor Sierra# 18-6764
tilt clutch housing seal kit Sierra# 18-8360
trim tilt solenoid Sierra# 18-5814
This should help along with the wiring schematic from A.D.

 

[kenny nunez]

The upper gear case does not hold that much oil. Try flushing it out by filling it with diesel fuel and run the engine for 5-10 minutes. Drain it Over a magnet to see how much metal is in it and refill with the same oil for the lower unit.
If it is tearing up that can be a real problem because it takes shimming and special tools to repair.

 

[Scott Danforth]

there are 3 gear boxes on a stringer drive. the intermediate on the back of the motor, and the upper and lower half of the drive.

how do your ball gears look? if worn more than 30%, you need a replacement set.

 

[southkogs]

... and make sure you know the difference between trim and tilt on the Stringer. Sounds like ya' got it, but TRIM happens at the front of the engine, and TILT happens at the stern drive. The Stringer is operated in FULL DOWN tilt (unless you're putting along in shallows).

 

[Lbrown13]

Thanks for all the help. Very much appreciated. Was just reading another post that said that these things are designed to run in full down tilt. So I’m guessing the ball gears are pretty worn now. Does anyone know of the part number for that or where I can find it? And also how to change them?

 

[Lbrown13]

Also, when I use the buttons to tilt, it seemed to move very fast, especially going down. Not sure if that’s a problem or not. But a lot of the lakes around here have some pretty shallow and long channels. Since I’m not supposed to run it with the tilt up how would I go about that? Thanks again everyone

 

[Scott Danforth]

you need the factory manual. you can buy a factory manual from ken cook company https://www.outboardbooks.com/ there are also some videos on this site http://sterndrive.info/

to change the ball gears, you must have the drive off and on your bench. i would try to avoid GLM parts for your OMC. however that may be all you find since there is not much support anymore for stringer drives

tilt does go down fast, gravity helps. if I recall, about 3 seconds to go down and about 9 seconds to go up.

you can run at idle speed with the drive tilted up slightly in really shallow water, however only at idle speed.

 

[southkogs]

Like Scott said on the shallows ... tilt up, keep it at idle/way-making speed, and it's fine to do that.

As a rule with tilt on the Stringer, you don't wanna' just hold the switch and let it go down. Kinda' "bump" it in stages. That'll ease up the "whump" when it gets to the bottom.