88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

[pozi240]

Hi,
New to this forum and pleasure boating in general. I just very recently bought a "new to me" 15' fibreglass speedboat with an 88 85hp Force outboard. It has a working power trim/tilt system and for the most part has been trouble free. But, today we were out and all of sudden we lost our PTT. We were trimmed for top speed, so, getting back to the dock was not an issue, but, we had no way of raising the motor once on the trailer. If there was some way to overcome the hydraulic system, then we could raise it manually. Luckily for us, it turned out the 12v breaker on the outboard had "tripped" and once we reset it, the tilt worked fine (it took us a bit to figure that one out, LOL). But that raised a question among us (several fellow boaters had no idea on how to manually override system)... how does one raise one of these motors in an emergency so that you can tow it home, etc.??? We couldn't fine a "relief valve" on the motor or anything. There must be a way. Thanks in advance, and yes, I know I have to order a manual for this motor and I will be shortly.... I just bought the boat a week ago.
Cheers,
Pozi

 

[Auckland]

Re: 88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

Pozi,

I came here tonight looking what may be wrong with my trim/tilt on my 1996 120 force. The manual overide on mine is on the starboard side of the transom(the second hole) . There is a plastic screw with a metal retaining pin fastened to it. My manual says to turn it 3 times counter clockwise and position motor and tighten plastic screw down. my plastic screw head is broken and the boat is stuck down at the ramp until I can figure out what is wrong with my trim. I here the trim when I push down, but I can not hear anything when I try to trim up.

HOpe somebody else reads this that might offer me suggestions. Best of luck!

Randy

 

[pozi240]

Re: 88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

Thanks Randy!
I spotted the white plastic screw (has the metal retaining clip on it) right away, I thought that might be a solution, but, we didn't mess with it since we got the PTT sorted out before we got "desperate", LOL. I'm sorry to hear about your woes, what we did to get the boat home (we didn't find the breaker switch until the boat was home in the garage), was to simply disconnect the two wires (blue and green) from the two individual relays and "jump" to the power bar directly ---NOT at the same time (one is for up and the other is for down). If the PTT motor is fine, this will at least get your motor raised up and get you home. It sounds like one of your relays is bad (I bought replacement ones for less than $10 a piece), but, in the end, it was just the breaker (I could hear both relays "clicking" when operating the PTT switch).
We discovered the problem when we got a multimeter on the circuits, and saw that the switch was triggering the the relays (both up and down), but no power was going the motor itself.... thats when we jumped the power directly for the "up" side and got the motor raised. Then discovered the little tiny power breaker box with the reset button on top..... voila! problem solved..... I felt stupid, but, was glad it was simple. A manual would have been a good thing in this case, and am ordering one as soon as I find a place that sells the Clymer for my boat (everyone says to not to buy the Seloc ones).
Good luck Randy,
and thanks for the tip!
Cheers,
Pozi

 

[RRitt]

Re: 88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

Pozi,
there is no manual release on 1988. 1988 does not usually break without warning. If it does then it is usually the breaker or a blown seal. A system with blown seal can be lifted by hand.



Auckland,
try connecting the blue motor wire directly to battery positive. You may get lucky and have a bad solenoid. However, if you turn the manual release three turns and the engine will not lift by hand then probably not. Maybe you can lift while somebody runs the pump?

 

[pozi240]

Re: 88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

Pozi,
there is no manual release on 1988. 1988 does not usually break without warning. If it does then it is usually the breaker or a blown seal. A system with blown seal can be lifted by hand.

Thanks! Good to know! We went again this afternoon, and the trip was problem free.... although, these old 2 strokes like to drink the gas! LOL. I think a tune up is in order.... not that it will help the gas consumption much, but, you never know.

 

[Auckland]

Re: 88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

thanks for the info, I just got back from the ramp after getting my plastic manual screw out, and releasing the manual tilt. What a chore that was. I tried switching the solenoids but that did not work I will have to try to connect the blue wire to the power cable and see if that works.

In the mean time I am hunting online to find a plastic screw to put back in the manual release that I tore up today. Any body know where I can get one?

Thanks guys!

 

[RRitt]

Re: 88 85hp Force - manual tilt override?

if the plastic tip is broken off then it may not be easy to fix. you can get many new parts for 1996 force trim from mercury dealer, internet parts (such as iboats), or ebay. It is same as Mercury and mariner.