Power Trim Up not working

[SkipperSam]

The power trim up on my Mercruiser 5.0 Alpha I/O on my 2000 Bayliner Capri doesn't appear to be working. The trim down and trailer work fine.

I just put it in for the summer and while motoring over to my slip, noticed that. IT could be that I tripped the circuit using the trailer mode but it should have reset by the time I had tried the trim up. Although I was having battery issues at the time as well.

Any thoughts? Could it be a bad trim motor if the trim down works fine?

 

[dubs283]

Most likely trim limit switch located on port side of gimbal ring is misadjusted or has failed

 

[Rick Stephens]

Also consider corroded connectors at the trim motor.

 

[SkipperSam]

Also consider corroded connectors at the trim motor.

I'm only a year in to boat ownership, so bear with me please... My boats in the water and I only had about 15 minutes to take a look yesterday, but I think I found the motor attached near the top of the boat engine with a circuit on it. I pushed the circuit, still nothing. I didn't have time to dig into checking the connectors.

Follow up question from a rookie: I know the Trailer up will raise the stern drive up higher, but is it essentially the same as the trim up, but just trims higher? The reason I'm asking is, can I use that to get my boat to the launch? Or does it trim the motor up at a different angle or something?

 

[aidanmurphy]

You can use the trailer button to tilt the outdrive up for trailering sure, it is the same as trim up but with no limit. I would try to avoid doing that underway, as it will tilt the outdrive past the safe point for your u-joints.

 

[wn6ngp]

If the trim works anything like an outboard then there are pair of relays that serve to reverse the voltage going to the trim motor depending on whether you want to go up or down. In my case one relay failed and I could only trim up. Relatively easy and cheap to replace. In my case it was intermittent so I was able to get home without fanfare.

 

[highfigh]

If the trailering switch works, it's most likely that one or both of the wires to the limit switch is bad, or the sender is out of position. You won't be able to correct anything until the boat is out of the water. It only has one motor for both directions. These have two relays but the trailering switch bypasses the limit switch on the outdrive.

It's a pain to replace the senders, but there are some tricks that make it 'not so bad". This is only true if the boat doesn't have a non-removable swim platform over the outdrive. In that case, it's always a PITA.

 

[Alumarine]

I know the Trailer up will raise the stern drive up higher, but is it essentially the same as the trim up, but just trims higher? The reason I'm asking is, can I use that to get my boat to the launch? Or does it trim the motor up at a different angle or something?

You're correct.
The Trailer up just raises the drive higher than the Trim button.

Yours is a common problem and many people use the Trailer up instead of Trim when the Trim function fails.

 

[SkipperSam]

If the trailering switch works, it's most likely that one or both of the wires to the limit switch is bad, or the sender is out of position. You won't be able to correct anything until the boat is out of the water. It only has one motor for both directions. These have two relays but the trailering switch bypasses the limit switch on the outdrive.

It's a pain to replace the senders, but there are some tricks that make it 'not so bad". This is only true if the boat doesn't have a non-removable swim platform over the outdrive. In that case, it's always a PITA.

The power trim up on my Mercruiser 5.0 Alpha I/O on my 2000 Bayliner Capri doesn't appear to be working. The trim down and trailer work fine.

I just put it in for the summer and while motoring over to my slip, noticed that. IT could be that I tripped the circuit using the trailer mode but it should have reset by the time I had tried the trim up. Although I was having battery issues at the time as well.

Any thoughts? Could it be a bad trim motor if the trim down works fine?

Thank you all, this gives me some things to check. I'll start with the wiring and then replace the senders if needed. One symptom I read about that is indicative of a bad sender is that the trim indicator is pegged at full up. That seems to be the smoking gun for replacing the senders.

 

[Scott06]

I'm only a year in to boat ownership, so bear with me please... My boats in the water and I only had about 15 minutes to take a look yesterday, but I think I found the motor attached near the top of the boat engine with a circuit on it. I pushed the circuit, still nothing. I didn't have time to dig into checking the connectors.

Follow up question from a rookie: I know the Trailer up will raise the stern drive up higher, but is it essentially the same as the trim up, but just trims higher? The reason I'm asking is, can I use that to get my boat to the launch? Or does it trim the motor up at a different angle or something?

That circut breaker is the 12 v supply to boat I think trim gets it direct off the battery cable to starter so resettting it will have no effect.

It is working in the up so as previously mentioned likely the trim limit switch is bad. often time folks will jumper around it as it is a pain to replace best done when bellows are replaced. It is ok to use the trailer button from trimming just need to not go past about 1/2 way up as it will damage u joints.
Google mercruiser trim wiring diagram and trace it out see if you are getting 12 v to the up solenoid when hitting trim button. try to jumper out the trim limit likely that will be the issue

 

[SkipperSam]

The power trim up on my Mercruiser 5.0 Alpha I/O on my 2000 Bayliner Capri doesn't appear to be working. The trim down and trailer work fine.

I just put it in for the summer and while motoring over to my slip, noticed that. IT could be that I tripped the circuit using the trailer mode but it should have reset by the time I had tried the trim up. Although I was having battery issues at the time as well.

Any thoughts? Could it be a bad trim motor if the trim down works fine?

Ok, this is embarrassing, and I debated admitting to this, but if others can benefit from it, it's worth some humility on my part. I had been afraid to trim down any further since I couldn't trim up, but based on the great feedback here, I knew now that I could. I figured I would trim down to check to see if the guage was truly pegged at full up. You may already know where I'm going here... apparently I hadn't trimmed down enough for the trim up to work. Lowered all the way, trimmed up just fine.
Lesson learned. I appreciate the advice, as without it I wouldn't have come to this point as quickly and cheaply as I did. And, I'm now well equipped for when the trim sender, limit, etc does go bad.

 

[Scott06]

Ok, this is embarrassing, and I debated admitting to this, but if others can benefit from it, it's worth some humility on my part. I had been afraid to trim down any further since I couldn't trim up, but based on the great feedback here, I knew now that I could. I figured I would trim down to check to see if the guage was truly pegged at full up. You may already know where I'm going here... apparently I hadn't trimmed down enough for the trim up to work. Lowered all the way, trimmed up just fine.
Lesson learned. I appreciate the advice, as without it I wouldn't have come to this point as quickly and cheaply as I did. And, I'm now well equipped for when the trim sender, limit, etc does go bad.

That was an easy fix…

 

[achris]

When you need the circuit drawings, let me know.

 

[poconojoe]

You might want to check that the trim limit switch is set correctly.
It's easy to check and adjust.

Look at post #4 in this thread by @alldodge

Alpha One trim limit switch adjustment

Just about to wrap up all of my mechanics (other than my lower shift cable issue) and was wondering if anybody had a procedure to adjust these "hockey puck" looking devices that are mounted on the sides of the bell housing.. I removed them when I took the bell housing off planning on just...

forums.iboats.com

 

[highfigh]

If you think that was embarrassing, I was working on my boat and finally got around to re-installing the outdrive. Once it was on, I needed to raise it to A) make sure the wires at the control were connected correctly (one of the wires in the handle wasn't the same as the harness (OEM wiring), so I was a bit baffled when it didn't do anything when I used the switches. I checked the fuse, bypassed the limit switch, scratched my head and when I moved a plastic storage container that was in front of the battery, I saw a fairly heavy red wire that didn't have a home.

These fancy trim & tilt pumps work a lot better when the power cable is connected to the battery.

DOH!