Tilt/Trim Motor Goes Down, But Not Down Up

[PensacolaJason]

Motor is 1996 Evinrude 130hp (E130TLEDM)

Tilt/trim worked perfectly two days ago, but today it will not go up anymore. The tilt/trim motor is brand new and I have put two brand new relays in it as well. I tested both the switch on the motor and the one on the console and neither will let it go up.

When I try and jump power past the relay straight to the blue wires inside the relay switch box labeled #1 in the attached picture, it doesn't work, but if I jump power straight to the wires in box #2 in this picture, it does go up and down.

So to summarize what've determined:

1. The trim motor seems to work fine since I can jump power straight to it.
2. The Relays are brand new and I have swapped them around to verify.
3. The switches on the console and motor seem to be fine.
4. When I remove the relay on the blue side and use my voltage meter I am getting over 12v on the top slot where the red power wire is.
5. The Relay only on the blue side does not click when the trim switch is pressed.

I'm stumped and can't think of what's causing my issue. I believe I have determined that power is making it to the relay switch, but possibly not out of the switch unless I'm doing something wrong. Any other ideas would be great.

 

[brodmann]

One of those green wires looks like something has been chewing on it. I think from your testing that the relay has power all the time. So the switch basically completes the circuit by connecting the ground side of the circuit. I'd check all of those wires and make sure the connections are all tight. Follow the green wires and see where they go and make sure they are good and tight. My son replaced both of his relays on his 115 Evinrude as part of his routine maintenance with relays that he bought from West Marine. One of them was actually bad. He now has relays from Auto Zone and no problems since then. If you're relays are both good, tilt trim works if you jump the wires around the relay, one relay doesn't click, you've got a wiring problem I think. Figure out which wire is the ground wire on the working side and see if it's grounded on the bad side.

 

[Crosbyman]

the basic 2 wire T&T is fairly simple. Since your motor works fine with direct power application on major headache is taken care of.

the rest is mecanical (relays) or a wiring issue up side( likely oxydation because there is little if any bending flexing of those wires to cause a break.

what I sometimes do while trouble shooting is activate the problem issue (no more up) and simultaneously poke around the wires and connections till someting reacts. Check all connections or fuses if any.

you must of course confirm that either cowl and front end * "up switches" are getting and sending power to the "up relay" .

applying +12 directly on the UP relay with no reaction indicates a bad relay or missing/bad ground. in either relay sockets .

Since you swapped relays I would vote for bad /no grounding.. or oxydation in the relay socket base on the DOWN relay since it is the one feeding default ground to the T&T while non-active.

 

[PensacolaJason]

the basic 2 wire T&T is fairly simple. Since your motor works fine with direct power application on major headache is taken care of.

the rest is mecanical (relays) or a wiring issue up side( likely oxydation because there is little if any bending flexing of those wires to cause a break.

what I sometimes do while trouble shooting is activate the problem issue (no more up) and simultaneously poke around the wires and connections till someting reacts. Check all connections or fuses if any.

you must of course confirm that either cowl and front end * "up switches" are getting and sending power to the "up relay" .

applying +12 directly on the UP relay with no reaction indicates a bad relay or missing/bad ground. in either relay sockets .

Since you swapped relays I would vote for bad /no grounding.. or oxydation in the relay socket base on the DOWN relay since it is the one feeding default ground to the T&T while non-active.
View attachment 383590

Could an issue with the wiring to or with the tilt limit switch cause this issue? Or would that affect both up and down?

 

[Crosbyman]

as per the typical diagram tilt activation switches recieve +12v from the battery or via a switched function . the relay core windings are grounded and waiting to be activated up or down by the switches 12v .

the relays role is to alternate the application of power and ground to the blue green going down to the T&T motor (which works fine as per your testing)

the relay not involved (DOWN) with the desired motion (UP) keeps a solid ground to the T&T motor while the other relay transfers 12v

they exchange roles for the up or down function by inverting polarity to the motor

since your the down to up does not work suspect the blue-white 12v to the starbord relay (UP relay) or/ then the solid BLUE to the motor. . Yet the down relay plays a role to by furnishing the ground to allow current flow in the T&T motor via the solid green.

Since DOWN works the solid green is good but the down relay MUST apply ground in it's dormant state. check to see if the GREEN has a good ground on it. look for oxydation in the relay socket

 

[PensacolaJason]

UPDATE: I found the issue. It was the Tilt Limit Switch. I checked the wiring leading to it and everything seemed to be okay, so the switch itself must have been bad. After research on this switch, it does cause the tilt up function to stop working. Once I bypassed it I had no issues with the tilt up. So my main question is whether I should replace the switch or just leave it bypassed. I am always of the mind that if something is not absolutely needed than it's just one more thing that can malfunction while out on the water.

 

[Crosbyman]

great find ... I would replace the tilt limit because it is certainly not the weakest link .

as per this etec diagram....see tilt limit switch in series with the UP switch via the blue white !!