50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

[dman708]

My other/ past boats have power trim/tilt, and my new (approx 1980?) 50hp Mercury w/ manual tilt has me baffled. It arrived raised (& locked upright with lock-tabs) when I got the boat. To manually lower it, I unlocked/turned the locking tabs & moved the throttle lever forward (as I seem to remember an old fishing buddy's Merc outboard needing to be in gear to raise/lower the motor). After I lowered the motor down, the throttle is stuck in forward gear & wide open. Also, the steering wheel won't budge. It seems that all cables are locked somehow & I can't release anything to free them up. If I yank extremely hard on it, I can raise the motor back up, but it seems like the hydro pistons are resisting this.<br /><br />The only way I can get the throttle lever to move is by moving the little lever on the outside of the throttle (I thought this was a neutral rev lever), so when I move that lever all the way up, the throttle will slide back to neutral/reverse, but then the outer lever gets locked in the up position.<br /><br />Obviously, I'm clueless on the workings of this motor/controls setup & have no owners manual or even contact w/ the boat's original owner to help me out. Can anyone out there offer any advice? What is that outer lever by the throttle? And is there some magic release lever somewhere I'm missing? Thanks for any help.

 

[RICKRICK1]

Re: 50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

dman708--will try and explain this, you would understand this better if you had a manual. If you can go to you libray and read or check out one until you can get one of your own this will make better sence.<br /><br />1. You need to look at the area between the motor tilt pin and transom there is a lift/mount bracket that pivots up for trailering or loading the boat. If you manually lift the motor up this lever fits in a notched out area on the motor itself.<br /><br />2. You only need to place the motor in forward gear to lift the motor if the motor is in the down position. If you try and lift the motor in neutral or reverse the locking mechanism will hold the motor down to prevent it from climbing in the boat with you while in reverse gear.<br /><br />3. The little lever beside the throttle is called the warm up lever, it increses throttle RPM with out placing the motor in gear. Primarily it is used when starting the motor on first start and warming up the motor. If left up it will normally prevent you from acheiving full throttle in gear. It is not a neutral/reverse lever.<br /><br />3. It sounds like you have either bound up your controls and steering or they are frozen, by frozen I mean they are rusted internally or kinked to the point they will not move. You posted that the throttle is stuck in forward gear, can you move the throttle at all, if you forced the throttle into max forward with the warm up lever up you will need to disassembly the throttle control and reset everything as it is possible bound up there.<br /><br />This sounds like this boat and motor has set for quite awhile I would replace the water pump impellar and be sure and service the lower unit.<br /><br />Good Luck.

 

[dman708]

Re: 50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

Thanks, Rick. Boy, I wondered if anyone would reply at all (1st time here at this site), really surprised to get such a quick one!<br /><br />Your info is very helpful so far, and you can probably help even more with a tad more info on my part:<br /><br />That lever you call the "warm-up" is what I thought it was. By "neutral rev", I meant "revving the motor while in neutral". But what I don't get about it is that my throttle stays stuck wide open in forward (since I shoved it up there when I lowered the motor down the 1st time), but if I crank the warm-up lever all the way up, it clicks/releases the throttle to slide back to neutral or reverse position.... then the warm-up lever is stuck up!!! To get the warm-up lever down, I must shove the throttle way back up in forward again...the w-u lever goes down, the throttle stays stuck! <br /><br />As far as how long she's been sitting. I started it & ran it very briefly (dry) b4 I bought it, but it hasn't been on the water since June. I guess it could be frozen up, but I think more likely I jammed something by forcing the motor up/down while the throttle was maxed (if that even matters), or there's some release lever that I don't know about. Like I said, the steering cables won't work either, which puzzles me also. (Also, I got very cold here last night/today (20's)in Chicago, & she's been sitting outside.<br /><br />Thanks again for the info & any further nuggets are greatly appreciated. I guess I'll try to track down a manual also.

 

[RICKRICK1]

Re: 50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

dman708-- not sure if this will help but if you can remove the cowling and figure out how to disconnect the cable at the motor (Throttle and shift)then try and work out the throttle box problem, I doubt that you caused this just by lifting the motor. The steering shaft that goes through the tilt may be corroded and need lubed. I would disconnect it from the motor also to trouble shoot. Again a manual would help you alot. You can find one on this site by going to the bottom of this post and click on the manual icon. Again Good Luck. Also welcome to to iboats.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: 50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

Your control box may be thrashed. Either from age, past abuse, or both. Doubt you caused it though. I would do as the others suggest. Pull the cowls and disconnect the steering cable...see if the steering wheel frees up. Lube everything real well and reconnect it and see if it works then. If not, may be time for a new steering cable....but probably just temporarily seized. If your Merc control box has a single shift/throttle lever, neutral rev lever, push botton choke and terminal for tach on front I can help you with the manual for it. I can photocopy the one I have for you for a small fee. Email me at tmcalavy@llano.net. If it is thrashed, you can easily replace it for less than $50 by watching for another one on ebay. They turn up there often. Would be a good idea to pull the lower unit and replace the water pump and impellar too. Merc 500's are sweet engines when they're freshly tuned. Ebay is a good place to get Merc service manuals, too.

 

[dman708]

Re: 50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

Thanks, Tim. Yep, the motor you described sounds like mine. Black/blue Merc 500 w/ Thunderbolt ignition, the big horizontal fins on the lower unit above the prop & the same throttle lever setup as yours. I would like to know exactly what year mine is, both for my own knowledge & to make sure I get the right manual (if they even made sep. ones for each year). My serial is 4966301. My boat's a 1978, but I think the engine might be a tad newer. I think I'll start a new post w/ my man. date search in case others are done reading this.<br /><br />In the meantime... I really appreciate your info & I just might take you up on your photo-copy offer. I definitely want some literature in front of me before I start tearing this thing apart!

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: 50-HP Merc Manual Trim Locked? Help!

According to this site: http://www.marinshopen.se/index.htm <br />your 500 is indeed newer than 1978.<br />Pulling or lubing the steering cable isn't very hard to do. Pulling the lower unit isn't hard either, but make sure the shift is in N or F before you start...this makes getting it back together after and impeller replacement much easier. For what its worth, the aftermarket manuals don't offer much...Merc service manuals are much better.