Trim Button

[neilmw]

Noticed today that the trim up botton on the control arm will not work, the down button works fine so does the "trailer" button. Any ideas ???<br /><br />87 mercruiser 4cyl 165hp

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trim Button

It sounds like your Trim Limit switch is Shot, <br />Or, the Wires leading to,+ coming from it have Broken............<br />The Wires tend to Rot,+ Break where they pass thru the Transom Shield.............<br /><br />The Easy Fix is to find the Bullet Connectors on the wire coming from the outdrive,+ By=Pass them where they connect to the rest of the Trim/Tilt wiring harness(Inside the boat)..............<br />The draw-back to this "Fix" is that the drive will continue Pass the Safe trim level,+ continue all the way to Trailer Tilt............<br />You'll have to Learn where to Stop, so that you Don't run the drive Toooo High.........

 

[tommays]

Re: Trim Button

NEIL<br />your going to need a serivce manual or at least some type of wireing diagram and a meter<br /><br />the system does work because it will move up and down<br /><br />so you need to test at the points were its not working to find a bad connection or switch <br /><br />there are a lot of things it could be like the trim limit switch on the drive which will allow the trailer switch to work but not the trim up button <br /><br /><br />tommays

 

[neilmw]

Re: Trim Button

Thanks for that chaps, will blow the dust off the manual and start checking, glad you mentioned the sensor as I didnt want to dismantle the throttle/shift controller unless I really had to.

 

[sailsmanship]

Re: Trim Button

Just had the same problem, it was the limit switch. replaced it, works fine again

 

[Trent]

Re: Trim Button

With the age of your drive. Im with Bondo. Look at the wires going thru to the trim limit (port side of drive). They will almost always be bad. VERY common!

 

[highaltitude]

Re: Trim Button

the "trim" is the first 18 degrees from all the way down-going up. the rest is considered the tilt. the trim switch is like being dependent upon a trim gauge to tell you what maximum performance is. have fun boating

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trim Button

the trim switch is like being dependent upon a trim gauge

No.........<br />It's Dependent on the Trim Limit Switch..........<br />And,<br />Either the Trim Limit Switch is Bad.......<br />Or,<br />More Likely, The Wires are Rotted Off..........

 

[neilmw]

Re: Trim Button

Well i noticed that the trim indicator isnt working either, wonder if they are connected???

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trim Button

2 seperate sets of 2 wires, that go through the Same Hole.......<br /><br />I'm Betting a Million Bucks that they're Rotten.....................

 

[Don S]

Re: Trim Button

As Bondo stated, there are 2 seperate sets of wires. The gauge sender wires go through the transom in the same grommet, but has noting to do with the operation of the trim system. The gauge sender has the same outcome as an engine oil pressure gauge, it tells you how much oil pressure you have, but does nothing in controlling the oil pressure. The wire corroding off the senders or inside the senders is a VERY common problem. Just unplug the senders inside the boat and check with an ohm meter to see if they are working properly.<br /><br />

 

[neilmw]

Re: Trim Button

Right, Thanks for your help guys, will be checking it soon.

 

[lakelivin]

Re: Trim Button

Originally posted by Bondo:<br /> .............<br />The Easy Fix is to find the Bullet Connectors on the wire coming from the outdrive,+ By=Pass them where they connect to the rest of the Trim/Tilt wiring harness(Inside the boat)..............<br />The draw-back to this "Fix" is that the drive will continue Pass the Safe trim level,+ continue all the way to Trailer Tilt............<br />You'll have to Learn where to Stop, so that you Don't run the drive Toooo High.........

Although it's obviously best to just fix the problem right, is there really much of a down side to the "fix" you mention above? By that, I mean is there really much chance that an operator will trim the drive too high? <br /><br />I ask, cause I've got an older smaller boat ('89 17' Seaswirl) that was designed with only one trim switch. I trim it a bit for optimum driving and all the way for trailering. I've got a trim guage, but it's been off for years (it 'works', but is way off, beyond just adjusting at the guage. need new trim sender unit but haven't seen the need to find & install one). <br /><br />It's easily apparent when I trim too much while boating on plane (porpoising), and even at slow speeds I can tell from the sound if I trim too high while in the water. Would this be different on other boats? Just curious....

 

[Don S]

Re: Trim Button

Around here, about 99% of the people with Mercruiser run that way already. Very few want to spend the money to fix it once they figure out how to operate the boat.<br />If you start trimming up, the prop will start cavitating when it gets to high and if they have any common sence they just push the down button till it grabs hold again.<br />The only down side is if the button sticks going up, nothing there to keep it from going all the way up. Which doesn't seem to be that big of deal, as Volvo doesn't even use a trim limit switch on the 2002 and newer SX/DP-S drives.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trim Button

Ayuh.......<br /><br />Once you've Learned to Drive By the Seat of Your Pants.........<br /><br />Both the Trim Gauge,+ the Trim Limit become Useless, or Irrevelant..........<br /><br />The Places you Might get into trouble, would be sneeking into Very Shallow Waters..............<br />I Know it's Hard on the U-joints, But, It's Still Cheaper than having the Prop rebuilt........