Trim pump justs clicks and doesn't pump in the up or down position

[Ed Harris]

Went ahead and took the pump out before reading you guys responses because I figured it was gonna have to come out anyway. Going to take apart and have me a look.

 

[OMAC]

Mine was doing this exactly ,try tapping with a hammer on the unit a few times and also check your trim wires to the lower unit are clean, mine were gummed up,with grease and weren’t making a solid connection

 

[Ed Harris]

Ok. Pulled motor off pump. Took brushes cap off the end and found corrosion between the brushes and armature end. Hooked my drill to pump end of motor and took a piece of 150 sand paper to the corrosion. Cleaned up nicely. Put it all back together and hooked my battery charger to the terminals. It spun for about 10 seconds in either direction then it would just sort of pulse spin

 

[kenny nunez]

Pull it back apart. Remove the brushes then slightly stretch the springs and be sure the brushes move freely In their respective holders. If the commutator is out of round with high and low spots that will cause the symptom with the “pulsating”. If that is the condition then try to get it turned on a lathe to clean it up.

 

[scoflaw]

Those slots in the armature need to be cleaned out. You need a battery not just a charger

 

[Ed Harris]

I was thinking that I needed a battery instead of the charging unit. I Cleaned those slots with a razor blade and got it put back together. going to go ahead and install it back into the boat since it is super easy to get to. Yeah those brushes had a layer of white between the brush and armature and were also a little stuck but not so bad where you couldn't turn it over by hand. Thanks for all the advice, I will update on the how it turns out once back into the boat.

 

[tank1949]

Trim pump justs clicks and doesn't pump in the up or down position. Boat also has a Mercruiser 140 but I have lost the lower manifold drain plug. What size is this plug and thread design?

TIA

edharris

Bad contacts!

 

[Ed Harris]

Reinstalled the pump hooked up all the wiring and boom we going up and down like strippers booties go. How much ATF does it take from add mark to full?

 

[alldodge]

No ATF, use 10W30
The amount varies depending on how much is needed for the cylinders. Once full it will stay that way even with going up or down

 

[kenny nunez]

Good job ED, now you are a Graduate of the Stuck Brushes repair school.

 

[Ed Harris]

AD the fluid in it is red ATF. That is what was in there when I bought it. Should I drain it and refill with oil?

 

[achris]

If you have AFT, stay with AFT. Run the unit up and down, leave it down, fill to the bottom of the fill screw threads. Whole unit only takes about a litre or so...

Chris.......

 

[alldodge]

AD the fluid in it is red ATF. That is what was in there when I bought it. Should I drain it and refill with oil?

Many owners use ATF instead of buying Merc trim fluid, IMO many because they didn't fully read the manual. ATF works in the trim system but the systems was not designed to use it. It works, will there be issues later, that would be my question?

Folks wouldn't put motor oil in there transmission no more then ATF in the motor. So its your boat, your decision

 

[Ed Harris]

Thanks for the replies. I may or may not swap it over to oil. I would hate to cause a leak or pump failure due to a seal breaking down because of a fluid swap. I guess it’s a 300$ question.

 

[achris]

The only risk with using ATF instead of oil is if you have water ingress, the ATF will 'foam' a little more than oil. ATF is a modified hydraulic oil. One of those mods is more detergent, to help keep things clean. If it caused problems to seals, why would it be used (for years and years) in automatic transmissions?

Merc specified ATF in the trim pump for many years. It's only when they repackaged 30W oil into a bottle labeled "Power steering and trim fluid" did they change the spec from ATF to 'Merc power steering and trim fluid'. It's a marketing execise to get people buying 'their' oil, and not just any tranny fluid you can pick up in walmart (at 1/4 of the price).... Your ATF will do you well for many years to come.

Chris.......

 

[Ed Harris]

10...4 with that chris. This is the old pump or I say old style pump because it doesn't use the plastic reservoir. The reservoir is built into the pump itself. I am gonna stay with what is working and run it to failure.