88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

[LarryPitts]

Today I was getting ready to launch my boat and hit the switch to lift motor. I heard the motor start and then quit in about a half second. No smoke or weird noise, just quit. All I can hear is the relays clicking. I recently installed a new switch on my motor housing and it worked fine for one trip and then quit this one. Pretty sure it was installed correctly, like I said it worked fine. thanks

 

[Will Bark]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

Between the trim motor and the relay box their is a connector for the wires; seperate the connector and spray battery cleaner in both sections then reattach and see if this is where the connection is broken. This has worked for me several times. If that doesn't work tap (lightly) on the trim motor itself one of the brushes may not be making good contact. Hope this works for you.

 

[bayprowler]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

LarryPitts, an obvious question, but was your battery fully charged? If it was really low on charge the trim motor would quit as soon as it was activated. If it was properly charged, than Will Bark is right..tap lightly on the trim motor and check all your connections for corrosion. The trim motor is similar in nature to the starting motor.

 

[LarryPitts]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

K, I will check battery but it had enough juice to start my motor. I backed it in the lake and started it to see if that would jog something. Been checkn wires and connects and found no problem yet. I broke connection Will Bark mentioned and ran a hot wire to one side and used my test light for a ground. The light would come on but no motor. I used some stronger jumper wires and tried that but could get nothing. Do I need special screwdrivers to get motor off? One looks impossible with conventional driver. Any advice or directions? Thanks for your help.

 

[Will Bark]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

Hate to say it but if you used jumpers and put one hot wire to either blue or green and grounded the other with no running then the motor appears to be a dead soldier and will have to be replaced. The unit will have to come off just to get to that one screw. Raise the motor all the way up and use the tilt lock to hold it up. There a four bolts holding the unit on the brackets as well as you have to drive the pin out of the tilt ram. It would be better if you had a repair manual but this just takes time and common sense if you do it yourself. Good luck.

 

[bayprowler]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

I actually just did the repair Will Bark speaks of..it's not complicated, but some bolts and especially the tilt ram pin can be corroded. I had to drill out a broken bolt..took forever. But swapping the motor is easy hopefully your fastners aren't corroded.

 

[LarryPitts]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

How do I lift the motor. Is there a release somewhere to take pressure of cylinders (rams)?

Went out and looked at my rig. It looks fairly straight forward to remove. Guess I just remove pin out of top of ram connected to motor housing and lift unit up and block. Other than hopefully little corrosion just a lot of bolts to remove and line back up. thanks for your help.

 

[Will Bark]

Re: 88 Johnson 150hp, tilt and trim quit

On the starboard transom bracket there is a hole on the outside which you can see a slotted screw in there; it is a manual release valve, turn it out no more than two turns and the pressure should release an let you lift it. May help to have a buddy with you for this. After you get it up you can use your tilt locks or a 2x4 board to block it. Good luck.