Trim pump question

[IanFS]

Hi from across the pond again....

Mercruiser 4.3L Alpha One.......1988 (I've learned not to call it a Gen 1 anymore )

I been experiencing the dreaded solenoid click so I worked through the first steps of cleaning all the connections and refirbing the mounting plate...... ?80 (what's that in US about $112 or thereabouts?) for a new one over here!! :facepalm:

Managed to unbolt the pump without removing the hydraulics etc. so de-rusted and painted, cleaned connections and solenoids and put it back together......and......didn't work!! But worse still the trim won't go down and there's no solenoid click. I think I may have damaged a connection though when stripping down.

I've ordered a couple of solenoids but suspect it could be the pump motor commutator or windings. According to the Manual (which Don very kindly got me the download..thank you Don) it takes one through a stripdown process to get at the motor.

Does anyone know...and I have no doubt the you do, if I can take the motor off without removing the hydraulics? Oh and the screws/bolts which look as if they are it's mounting bolts look incredibly rusty.......am I in deep trouble?

 

[IanFS]

Re: Trim pump question

Hi English Mariner

Welcome back to the forum, long time no see.

The answer to your question is yes you can take the motor off without removing the motor, but you need the right sized spanner and the bolts must be in good condition. If the bolt heads are worn from rust then you will require some sort of removal tool like a small clamp the remove them.

I think the solenoids will do the trick for you though.

 

[IanFS]

Re: Trim pump question

Hi, thanks for your reply

Yes I found out yesterday from a friend on another forum here in the uk that he had removed his motor successfully in this way. Bolts heads are well rusted though so may have to try to cut them off with a Dremel at a later date.

You were right though two new solenoids fitted and it works perfectly.

I thought this would be useful information to others on the forum, I managed find the information and sort it out for myself.

 

[achris]

Re: Trim pump question

If you have no click anymore, then it's not the motor. The solenoids will click without the motor even being there. It sounds more like you have painted yourself a ground somewhere (thus, not a ground anymore). You need to use a DMM (Digital Multimeter) and do some thorough checking of your grounds.

Chris........

 

[achris]

Re: Trim pump question

...

You were right though two new solenoids fitted and it works perfectly. ...

2 solenoids failing at the same time??? not very likely, in fact you would need a shed-load of zeros for that one! I still say you have/had a ground problem... I bet if you test the old solenoids they'll be fine....

Chris......

 

[IanFS]

Re: Trim pump question

Hey Chris

How's WA, I miss it terribly, coming back early next year.

Thanks for your replies. I'm not sure I was clear enough in the first post. This is whats been happening.....

Boats been laid up waiting for parts and some Aluminium welding on the Gimbal Housing over the Winter of last year. Put it all back together last Summer and noticed that when testing stuff that raising and lowering the leg both solenoids clicked before the motor kicked in. The DOWN solenoid "the lower one" would sometimes work perfectly though, but usually it would take one or two clicks would before motor worked. The UP "the upper one" on the other hand would take about 5-10 clicks before operating the motor.

When I refirbed everything last week I cleaned all connections thoroughly, the Earths are bolted to the mount but only to clamp them together and they were sparkling clean. However I think I may have damaged the better solenoid......the DOWN one as it didn't work at all and the UP was the same as it was previously,with all the clicking then it would go. (At this point I was thinking MOTOR)


However stripping it all down again and fitting new solenoids it works perfectly, so doubt it's an Earth as I haven't done anything differently to the first time.

I hope this explains it better than my first attempt.

As a matter of course I would at some stage like to refirb the motor, but the bolt heads are well rusted so cannot get a spanner on them, it's either get a small clamp or cut them off and get new bolts but the sizes will be a nightmare to find over here.

 

[achris]

Re: Trim pump question

ok... got it now....
WA's still just as nice as the way you left it.
When you know when you're coming, give me a few months notice... I'll try and set something up for when you're here. I'm currently on a boat (working, not funning) up off the north-west coast. We're just heading back to Dampier after running away from a cyclone... (big windy thing). Check it out, the cyclone is called Lua....

Chris.......

 

[IanFS]

Re: Trim pump question

Wow Chris thank you, I sure will let you know.

Cyclone Lua, currently being upgraded to Cat 2 ......thats Beaufort Scale 10-11 (Storm/Violent Storm, 70mph - 100mph (125 - 165 kph winds). Sat observations are giving winds of 70mph with gusts of 85mph which is Cat 1 but rising.