Trim Tilt below freezing

[Kootenay Troller]

This issue has me scratching my head

I had a 1971 24' Reinell hardtop that has been converted outboard with a bracket and 1991 200 HP mariner offshore fall in my lap and after getting it cleaned up and doing some fall fishing I found this problem

I went fishing the other day and it was right around freezing, but slushy. Trim worked fine. Parked it at home and the temperature dropped to 8-10 degree's F, or -11 to -13 Celcius for my fellow Northerner's!

Went outside to go trim my motor and nothing happened except I could hear my Relay's clicking. I charged my battery ( brand new but it was worth a shot)......Nothing. Tried jumpering the 30 and 87 terminals on my relay and ....Nothing. Knowing that the only factor that has changed is the temperature I put a little electric heater on the power trim system and an hour or so later and Voila.... Trim worked flawlessly.

Googleing like crazy I could still NOT find out what could be wrong that would cause this. I figured water in the oil so I just got a transfer pump, Tilted the engine up, removed the fill cap and sucked a measly ounce of fluid out. Didn't look milky, just dark red so I filled it with Dextron III and put the cap back on.....Cycled it up and down, topped it up and repeated.

I still have the heater on it right now.
Its got a Sierra 2 wire upgrade on it already 18-6273-1 and the date on the motor is 2008. Don't appear to be any leaks and all the components look to be in Grade A condition. Fresh Water use.


This is my winter fishing boat and I need the tilt/trim to work. Anyone know what could be wrong and I'm sure hoping I don't have to drop $500 on a new TT motor.

Thanks guys

 

[RRitt]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

did the motor attempt to spin?
if you hotwire blue to +12v and motor doesn't spin then you probably have a flaky ground connection.

 

[Kootenay Troller]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

It did nothing when the motor was cold, worked fine when warm.

The Motor is the 2 wire unit and the relay's ground to the block via a ground wire which looks good but I can attempt to improve it. Everything is clean and tight so I doubt it but I'll look at it.

 

[RRitt]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

It did nothing when the motor was cold, worked fine when warm.

The Motor is the 2 wire unit and the relay's ground to the block via a ground wire which looks good but I can attempt to improve it. Everything is clean and tight so I doubt it but I'll look at it.

with 2w motors you have to hotwire both blue and green, blue to positive and green to negative = up. flip wires for down.
if you hot wire a trim motor and it does not try to spin the it is defective (regardless of temperature).

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

if you hot wire a trim motor and it does not try to spin the it is defective (regardless of temperature)

Or it has internal leak and water was frozen to keep armature from spinning.

 

[Kootenay Troller]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

I changed the Hydraulic oil twice, while warm the trim works perfectly. I took the heater off the motor for a day and it won't work.
Next step I guess is to see if I can take the motor apart and check and see if there is moisture inside, the wires enter the motor on the top and it looks like water can possibly get in there, not sure how they sealed the wires from the factory, or if they even did.

Any one know if these motors can come apart?

will the outboard try to fall when the motor and pump are removed?

Thx

 

[RRitt]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

you should never work on trim/tilt without the engine being securely blocked in place. Additionally, I would suggest a backup plan such as a chain attached to a rafter. Fingers are nice things to keep.

if you have the showa system (japanese company) then your center ram is fixed into place. The other system has a center ram that pivots a little looper tube across the bottom. New chinese made replacement motors for the showa are only like $60 off ebay. it's basically 1/2 the motor for 1/4th the price. But it is far superior to having water drip through your old motor and get into the oil below. Water inside will ruin your hydraulic seals and rust the gears. If you do decide to gut your old motor, then be 120% positive that it is watertight before you put it on the lake.

 

[Dukedog]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

If ya got water in tha motor. It won't be long for this world at any temperature. Might be tha "Chinese acceptable" tolerances........

 

[Kootenay Troller]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

Took the trim motor off today, I'd like to smack the guy that was responsible for the bolt layout. Managed to get the rear allen head bolt out 1/8th turn at a time..

Motor was full of water, I don't mean a little condensation,,,,,,like 2 or more ounces of water spilled out when I separated the case

In the process of cleaning the components but found that one of the big half moon magnets has come free from the barrel housing.

Any idea if I need to use a special kind of epoxy to re attach the magnet or ??? I have marine-tex and devcon plastic steel reinforced as well as regular household 5 minute epoxy?

 

[RRitt]

Re: Trim Tilt below freezing

marine tex is good, but it has less to do with the glue you use than the surface. the magnets usually fall off because of rust. fixing usually requires bead blasting and phosphoric acid on the barrel housing.