92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

[typewritertrew]

Hi all, I've lurked around this site for a while without signing up because I've never had issues and I've never had anything much to contribute either. I picked up a runabout with a 90hp Force on it a couple of months ago, after owning a tinny with a massive 6hp merc on the back since I was 13. Done all the maintenance myself, so I'm mechanically able, but not exactly proficient. Also, never done work on an engine this big other than changing gearbox oil.

Anyway, I've had it out 6 times since buying it and it's been flawless once we loosened up the choke solenoid. Flawless that is, until last Thursday. Took it out with a couple of mates, fired up easy at the ramp, went for a 15 minute drive to the next bay and bought bait etc, went back out about 1km and went fishing. After fishing for a couple of hours with f*ck all success, decided to head in at 4:30pm before last light at 5:30. Nothing from the starter motor. Made sure battery connections were all good, still nothing. No tilt/trim either. Tried to rope start the bastard, assuming the battery had died, but didn't get it going, also ripped my hands to shreds on the rope. Tried in vain to find out what the problem was but swallowed the pride and called the coast guard who sent over a couple of lovely coppers to help us out. Tried jumping with their leads to the battery, nothing. No tilt/trim either. Then tried connecting motor leads directly to jumper leads, again nothing, tilt included. Got a tow back to the ramp, had my fat mate lie in the boot to give us about 3 inches of skeg clearance and dropped the boat off at my grandfather's beach house, an hour away from home.

If you're still following my essay, I need to get it back to my house to work on it, I don't have time to travel back and forth an hour at a time. How can I get the motor tilted up enough to bring it back? Also, does anyone have any theories as to what went wrong? I was thinking somewhere where the cables to the battery come from the motor... No clue really though. Most explanations I come up with don't explain why the tilt wasn't working.

Anyway, thanks for reading and any advice is appreciated. Cheers!

 

[JB]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

G'day, Mate.

Welcome to iboats. :welcome:

I think you have hidden corrosion in a connection of the battery cables to the engine. Yes, I understand that you "checked" them, but even a clean and tight looking connection can be trouble.

Take both battery cables off, both ends, and scrub the connectors shiny. Also check the cables themselves for swollen or weak spots from hidden corrosion.

To confirm my suspicion, jump a fresh battery directly to the starter motor. If the starter runs you have confirmed a bad circuit.

High current DC circuits are a mystery to many because it takes only an unmeasurable fraction of one ohm of resistance to shut them down. Cleaning up those connections should be part of routine maintenance.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

The motor should have 2 circut breakers.Check power to and trough them.
There might be a fuse under the dash that controls the ignition.
Then like JB suggests check all connections and using a test light check all the power points on the motor.
I think the 92 has a wiring harness with the plug in connectors. Check it. It might nave came loose??

 

[RRitt]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

well, my answer to all problems electrical is to divide and conquer. Hotwire the part in question and see if it works. If it does then you have a wiring problem. If it doesn't then you have a motor problem.

 

[typewritertrew]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. It's looking like an electrical problem I'd agree, but all my tools and **** are at home! Someone on reddit suggested there was a screw I could loosen which would let me manually tilt the motor up to get the support bracket in - does this sound right? Going to have a crack at it tomorrow.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

You know if you find the pressure release on the T/T if you use it you might not ever get it to reseal.
Just undo a couple of hyd. lines and lift.
Oh yea cover with a rag as it's gonna shoot everywhere.

Depending on the pump?Older pump.Pic?Serial #
There might be?? As you look at it.
There is a small circle at the bottom of the unit.Facing you.
It will have a snap ring holding in a plug/cover.Some won't have a cover.
It will have a screw in it to release the pressure.
I shouldn't have told you that.If you mess with it it might not work again.
Just undo a couple of lines.

 

[RRitt]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. It's looking like an electrical problem I'd agree, but all my tools and **** are at home! Someone on reddit suggested there was a screw I could loosen which would let me manually tilt the motor up to get the support bracket in - does this sound right? Going to have a crack at it tomorrow.

there is no manual release on '92 Force. One of the cylinders looks like a shock absorber with tubes. That is your tilt cylinder. if you can identify which tubes go to the tilt cylinder then you can loosen them and manually lift engine. Make sure that you have a bucket (or liquid-tight plastic bag) to catch the oil as it squirts out of tubes.

 

[typewritertrew]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

there is no manual release on '92 Force. One of the cylinders looks like a shock absorber with tubes. That is your tilt cylinder. if you can identify which tubes go to the tilt cylinder then you can loosen them and manually lift engine. Make sure that you have a bucket (or liquid-tight plastic bag) to catch the oil as it squirts out of tubes.

Right, it was actually a bloke from a marine shop who told me that now I think about it. Is that hard to replace? And is the oil I need to replace it easy to find?

EDIT: Looks like I'll be desperately trying to fix up the electrics before mucking around with the tilt. F*ck that, wanted to go out Sat night rather than be at Grandparents' beach house fixing sh*t. Ah well. Joys of boat ownership.

 

[typewritertrew]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

Okay guys, just thought I'd follow up with the fix, maybe down the track someone will have similar problems to me. Had a second look at the fuse and decided it wasn't 100%, replaced it. Still not sure whether it was gone, but it didn't look perfect. Then there was a split in the lead from the motor to the battery, deemed not influential and covered with electrical tape. Battery connections filed, cleaned and reconnected. Checked battery, all good. Tightened up connections at the junction where it goes out to the forward control (left side of engine block) and found that previous owner had mucked around with these, connections were of poor quality and wire in one was touching another terminal, possibly the cause of fuse? Cleaned all that up and attached battery cables, tilted up, down, fired it up, all perfect. Very happy I didn't have to go down the path of draining the ***/trim etc.

Thanks all for your help, I'm sure I'll be back again soon!

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

Glad you got it the easy way!!

 

[typewritertrew]

Re: 92 Force 90hp - No start, tilt or trim.

Glad you got it the easy way!!

Very lucky! Could've been much more expensive...