Trim sender 3 wire

[tfpkrman]

New trim sender 1 white 2 black. Sender works when rotate by hand. 1/4 turn from up to down. When installed on stern drive gage does not move. I noticed the hinge pin only rotates about 1/10 of a turn from up to down. Do I have a bad switch or something else wrong. Makes no sense it works when manually rotated. Help would be appreciated.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy
Going to need more info then having a 3 wire sender. What are you working on? Happen to have a serial number?

 

[tfpkrman]

Its a Volvo Penta 4.3L 1999 stern drive. 3849411 is part number. Gauge works when rotate sender by hand but as i said it has to turn 1/4 turn to go from up to down when rotating by hand. When installed and i trim the motor the hinge bolt that the sender fits into only moves like 1/10 of a turn and gage on dash dont move. Makes no sense

 

[alldodge]

OK this needs to be in the VP section GA_Boater this way you will get more folks looking

Finding the part was listed as used on 1996 thru 1998 earlier production models NC, LK, BY, and ohm value is from 0 to 160

Need a motor serial number to verify, but do have wiring for digital trim for a DP

 

[GA_Boater]

Moved. Thanks, AD.

 

[tfpkrman]

This is an ANALOG Gage. The problem i see is the motor travels about 90 degrees from up to down. The 12 point hinge pin only moves about 15 degrees and therefore gauge oes not move. Is the hinge pin supposed to move with the drive?the gauge works and the sender works when I rotate by hand so it is not a wiring issue. Are the hing pins loose? Are they supposed to rotate? Volvo Penta SX-M1 SN:4202106814

 

[Horigan]

Hinge pins are supposed to rotate. Sounds like it is loose, which is not a good thing. I would check the torque spec on the pin. I believe thread locker is used.

 

[tfpkrman]

!/2 allen wrench to remove pin and reinstal lwith thread locker?

 

[alldodge]

Sorry not a VP guy and have issues finding parts, Merc is much easier for me.
As above the part you bought I found its for 1996 to 1998 and yours is a 1999

I found the part only on the following transom shield [h=1]Transom Shield[/h]
TSK SX-C1, TSK SX-C1AC, TSK SX-C, TSK SX-C2AC, TSK SX-R, TSK SX-R1, TSK SX-R2, TSK SX-CLT, TSK SX-CLT1

Item 74

https://www.volvopentashop.com/epc/...411&catalog=PentaPartsCatalog&name=7746040_44

I'm wondering if you should have a different type

 

[tfpkrman]

The part I removed was 3855074. The part I put in says its a cross reference part. I cannot move the pivot pins. They move with the motor to same spot each time raised or lowered. But when I manually move sender the same distance the gauge doesn't move. If I continue to rotate the sender then the gauge moves. The sender moves about 1/4 inch same as pivot pin but gauge does not move until i rotate sender another 1/2 inch. Im stumped

 

[tfpkrman]

My ohm readings are all over the place as I manually turn the sender. Anywhere from 16 to 375. When installed and trimming the motor the ohms only change by 50 ohms. Thought the range was 0 in down and like 110 in full up. Is my new sender faulty?

 

[alldodge]

Hey muc have any thoughts?

 

[dypcdiver]

The way I do mine when I replace it is to get someone in the boat watching the gauge set the outdrive with the cavitation plate parallel to the boat keel, then remove the sender and rotate the hexagonal nut/plastic bit until the person in the boat tells you it is set at '0' degrees, then replace it in the pivot bolt and fine tune it to '0' degrees again and tighten the screws.
Have fun.

 

[muc]

The trim sender should be set to 10-12 ohms before you bolt it to the gimbal ring between the 2 black wires. Sounds like you have a bad trim sender if it won't adjust to 12 ohms.

 

[dypcdiver]

I am under the impression that the DIGITAL gauge 3 wire sender will not go below 16 ohms (from experience), Which is why I install mine the way I have outlined above. I have just done this 3 days ago for the 7th time in my 21 years of ownership. The gauge now goes from -6 through 0 to 36 fully tilted.
Whilst I was in LA. 2 years ago I tried to purchase a Digital trim sender but could not get the same part number I had as there was only one listed. Turned out to be for the analog gauge. Don't ask how I know.

 

[muc]

I am under the impression that the DIGITAL gauge 3 wire sender will not go below 16 ohms (from experience), Which is why I install mine the way I have outlined above. I have just done this 3 days ago for the 7th time in my 21 years of ownership. The gauge now goes from -6 through 0 to 36 fully tilted.
Whilst I was in LA. 2 years ago I tried to purchase a Digital trim sender but could not get the same part number I had as there was only one listed. Turned out to be for the analog gauge. Don't ask how I know.

I don't know much about the digital gauges on this generation of product. Rarely had to work on them. Never seen a ohm spec for the digital senders.
The way I understand it.
All digital senders are 3 wire.
But not all 3 wire senders are digital, some are analog.
All 2 wire senders are analog.

The way you are adjusting your sender is the way most techs do it.

There are a lot of trim senders. Things that come into play. analog vs digital gauge, single station vs dual station, and electronic trim limit vs mechanical trim limit.

Most older SX style product will use a 2 wire sender, but a 3 wire sender will work a lot of the time.

 

[tfpkrman]

I have a analog gauge. Just got a new sender. This is the second new one. When I rotate the sender clockwise it goes from 400 ohms to 12 ohms. When installed the the sender only rotates about 1/2 inch whin trimmiing engine. Your say with the engine down set the sender to 12 ohms then instal on gamble ring? Or should I rotate the sender until gauge reads down then install sender?

 

[ripjmk]

I've just done this, ensure the drive is trimmed all the way down. Set the sender to 11 ohms across the black wires ( two wire senders only travel 90 deg. but three wire travel almost a complet circle) (two wire resistance goes from 0 - 160 ohms, three wire resistance goes from 0 - 600 ohms) (the useful range for both is 11- 148). The three wire has a friction stop, you may have to turn it beyond the stop to align it with the drive. Mess with it untill it reads 11 ohms and can be installed when the drive is down.
If the resistance is above 150 ohms when installed the gauge will never move!

 

[muc]

I've just done this, ensure the drive is trimmed all the way down. Set the sender to 11 ohms across the black wires ( two wire senders only travel 90 deg. but three wire travel almost a complet circle) (two wire resistance goes from 0 - 160 ohms, three wire resistance goes from 0 - 600 ohms) (the useful range for both is 11- 148). The three wire has a friction stop, you may have to turn it beyond the stop to align it with the drive. Mess with it untill it reads 11 ohms and can be installed when the drive is down.
If the resistance is above 150 ohms when installed the gauge will never move!

This is pretty much what the manual recommends and will work.

Here red is a nice cheat sheet for ohms
https://fariabeede.com/site_manuals/IS0085d.pdf

As you can see from this sheet. The gauge must match the sender. Is it possible you have the wrong gauge?
the bolt that the sender fits into should only move when the pivot housing moves. The pivot housing is the thing that the drive is bolted to with 6 nuts.

The 11 ohms should be very close to full down on the gauge. But might not be exact because gauges are cheap and not perfect. Because of this, most techs do this slightly different. Here’s how we do it.

Install the sender completely except leave the sender hanging loose.
Key on and someone watching the gauge.
Turn the nub on the sender back and forth to get the gauge reading 1/2.
Turn the nub clockwise until the gauge reads about 1/8 from full down.
Put the sender into the bolt making sure that the upper screw hole is going to be lined up with the right side of the slot.
Lightly install the 2 screws and back them off 1/2 turn.
Slowly turn the sender clockwise until the person watching the gauge screams stop.
Torque the screws to specs and have the person trim the drive up and down to test your work.
Because of the small amount of play in the system, you always want to make your final sender adjustment in a clockwise direction.

If it still doesn’t work properly, you have.
Bad gauge
Bad sender
Bad wiring
Low battery

 

[muc]

Something else just popped into my head. Quick story about one of the last trim gauge problems I was asked to troubleshoot on a Volvo powered boat.
Boat came into the shop with a trim gauge not working properly. Brand new boat, only 2 weeks old. Gauge had been working right and now it wasn’t.
Tech that was assigned to it replaced the sender —— “because it’s always the sender”
When that didn’t fix it he went to another brand new boat on the show floor. Tried the trim in it and found that the trim gauge was working right. So he “ borrowed” the gauge from it and installed it in the first boat.
Still not working, so I was assigned to the job.
I tested the sender with an ohm meter, tested good. I inspected the wiring and noticed that these gauges had wires that plugged into the back instead of the separate wires going to studs.
I called the gauge manufacturer and explained the problem. They told me to replace the tachometer. So I “borrowed” the tach from the showroom boat and that fixed it.

What was going on, was that even though the gauges looked like they were analog with needles. They were not. They were digital.

You don’t say the year or brand of boat you have.
Is it possible you have this type of gauge package?

Edit; see that you have a 1999 boat. Don’t think this style of gauge was around then. Maybe this long post will help someone else.