KermieB
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2010
- Messages
- 144
First of all, let me say, this is my first outboard motor. I have a Mercury 150 L on a 1996 Maxum 1900 XR. The boat is new to me by way of the Boat Angel program and I'm just now starting to work this boat after about a year of sitting in the yard.
I have a couple of issues, but this thread is about the trim on the motor working all by itself. I've only had the boat out twice and it happened while just floating, engine off. I reached over the engine and hit the trim switch on the motor and it went back down and didn't happen again that day.
So.. today, I'm in the boat in the yard, working on another issue and suddenly, the motor starts raising up. Trying to trim it back down by the control arm did nothing. I had to remove the power cable from the battery to make it stop. The first thing I thought was that maybe there was some water or gunk in the switch, so I pulled apart the connector for the trim wires coming from the control arm and ohmed through the switch to see if I had continuity. I didn't.
Then, with the trim button wire still disconnected, I reconnected the battery cable and the motor started trimming up again, so I know for sure that it's not the button on the control arm. It was out of the loop. I then started addressing the trim button on the motor and tracing wires and found the relay that I am guessing controls the trim motor. The one on the left is the one that I think is the culprit because the trim up wire color goes into this one and the trim down goes to the other one.
Please tell me this sounds like the probable cause and it's as easy as ordering a new relay..... Thanks.
I have a couple of issues, but this thread is about the trim on the motor working all by itself. I've only had the boat out twice and it happened while just floating, engine off. I reached over the engine and hit the trim switch on the motor and it went back down and didn't happen again that day.
So.. today, I'm in the boat in the yard, working on another issue and suddenly, the motor starts raising up. Trying to trim it back down by the control arm did nothing. I had to remove the power cable from the battery to make it stop. The first thing I thought was that maybe there was some water or gunk in the switch, so I pulled apart the connector for the trim wires coming from the control arm and ohmed through the switch to see if I had continuity. I didn't.
Then, with the trim button wire still disconnected, I reconnected the battery cable and the motor started trimming up again, so I know for sure that it's not the button on the control arm. It was out of the loop. I then started addressing the trim button on the motor and tracing wires and found the relay that I am guessing controls the trim motor. The one on the left is the one that I think is the culprit because the trim up wire color goes into this one and the trim down goes to the other one.
Please tell me this sounds like the probable cause and it's as easy as ordering a new relay..... Thanks.
