Alpha 1 trim not working

[liquidlew]

1989 4.3 Merc alpha 1 with oildyne trim pump, getting the boat ready for season and operating the trim, I am getting nothing, no solenoid clicks. Freshly charged battery, but neither up/down switch or trailer switch does anything. Trim motor is only year and a half old and can't have more than 40-50 hrs. on it. Cleaned and tightened all connections and did numerous tests per Merc outdrive manual with unit in boat. Tests point to bad solenoids (both), everything else checks out, fuses good.

But then I took the unit out of the boat and hooked it up to a battery and the solenoids now click, but doing the other test to see if the motor runs by jumping battery + to the upper blue/white or bottom green/white wire terminal, I get nothing. The solenoids appear to be old, probably been on there along time. One more thing, last time I had the boat out was last Oct. and I did notice a few times when lowering the drive, when I pushed the switch it seemed to hesitate and not engage right away, but it worked normal the rest of the day. Any words from the wise? Am I missing something?

 

[Don S]

Re: Alpha 1 trim not working

There should be a square 110 amp fuse mounted on the solenoids with your main power wire going to it. Is it ok?

 

[liquidlew]

Re: Alpha 1 trim not working

Yes Don, the 110 fuse tested good and the 20 amp fuse good also. I also checked to see if the up/down and trailer switches were good and they are, at least I think so, I got 12.5 volts when I hit the trailer and up switch, but only got 7.5-8 volts when I pressed the down switch, and did those tests 3 times and got same results each time. The manual also shows a 20 amp fuse behind the up/down switches in the control box, how do I get to that to check it, remove the unit from the side wall? If there is a fuse there and it is blown, I would get no voltage reading on the switches would I? Thanks!

 

[Don S]

Re: Alpha 1 trim not working

Are you sure you have a good ground????
If you have a fuse under the helm, you have to look and see if it's good. I have no clue if you have a button on the throttle lever or the 3 button panel.
How you get to it, is also up to you, I'm not there and can't see it to even see if there is a fuse.

 

[liquidlew]

Re: Alpha 1 trim not working

Yes, I have good ground, double checked that. I have the throttle lever, not the 3 button that the manual shows, so I will look again for a fuse under the helm. I can see the 4 wires coming out of the back of the throttle lever box, but I don't see any fuse before the wires dissapear into plastic conduit on the way to the stern. I don't want to start buying parts if I don't need to so I'm trying to make sure it's not a wiring or a connection problem. So far all the wiring looks good. I will clean all the terminals and connections again and put it back in soon as I get a chance next day or 2 and see if there is any change. Thanks again!

 

[Ron-O]

Re: Alpha 1 trim not working

I had the same problem. It's the trim sending units on the bell housing that caused my problem. Wires are shot and the units need replaced one of these days.

Ron

 

[liquidlew]

Re: Alpha 1 trim not working

On a quick visual inspection, the wires look fine coming from those units, I suppose I have to remove the drive to check the whole length huh? I haven't removed the covers to those and looked inside there yet, but I did do the test where I unplug the connection to those units and bypass them and the trim motor should run, but it doesn't. I'm gonna clean everything really good and start all over again this weekend, but I have a feeling I'm gonna be back here crying for more help. Thanks for all your help guys!