Trim indicator

[CaptainTerry]

When I got the boat out this year I noticed the trim indicator was not working when I put it on the lake. It goes up and down and works but the meter on the dash is burried in the down position. Now this past week I noticed when I raise the motor all the way the needle goes all the way up. At some point when lowering the needle drops to the bottom of the guage no matter where the motor is setting. I suspect it has an up and a down sensor but do not know where to look. It's a 1989 70 HP johnson/evenrude. HELP!

 

[boatguy823]

Re: Trim indicator

raise the motor all the way up , and on the port side motor bracket on the inside you will see where the tilt system wires go through the bracket. directly on the other side of that you will see a thin plastic arm attached to the sending unit for the gauge this arm should move freely up and down if it doesnt it could be sticking in which case you can try some wd40 shot at the spring area there. if its hitting the top of the tilt motor GENTLY try bending it upwards a bit til it clears.

 

[CaptainTerry]

Re: Trim indicator

Thanks, I found it. It's a little different than way you described but it was good enough for me to find it. It's mounted on the inside like you said but the arm (springloaded) is also on the inside as the motor lowers it pushes the arm in a counter clockwise motion but not for more than 1/2 turn. I assume it is some sort of poteniometer or rheostate that sends an electrical signal to the meter. everything appears normal (not sticking) so it is either slipping inside or in need of repalcement (good thing its location is near the model/serial plate for the unit)
Thanks again!

 

[Reggie08]

Re: Trim indicator

Check your gauge to make sure your connections on the back are tight and not corroded.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Trim indicator

The Trim Gauge can be tested by giving power the gauge by connecting a positive wire to the "I" terminal and a ground wire to the "G" terminal. Have no other wires connected to the gauge. Pointer will read full down. Next, with the power still connected, short the sender terminal at the gauge to ground. Pointer should go to the full up position.

The trim sender is a variable resistance thing. You set your multi meter to measure resistance (ohms). Make sure the battery in the multimeter is good because current is needed for it to measure resistance. Then, you put the multimeter probes on the two sender wires and measure the ohms when the sender is in the full up vs. full down position. Up you should be getting 1 ohm, and down 88 ohms.