96 125 Mercury, tilt problem

[mikeboston47]

96 125 Mercury, yellow manual release valve, tilt only raises motor at start and end of its tilting range,i.e. the motor will move when prop is at lowest point and at highest point, won't move motor when its in between(i.e. heaviest against tilt working) stuck in middle phase, help with diagnosis required please, the pump seems to work, but some problem is making the hardest part of tilting it up or down not possible, it is a one cylinder system, very small amount of leakage where rod slides out of cylinder cap, thought just changing the tilt fluid and bleeding would fix this, but have had little to no success, could it just be an airlock problem? something else? hoping the symptoms lead to an easy answer, thanx

 

[mikeboston47]

ok, just took tilt off boat and bled it with no tension, put it back, works but found a nick on ram that probably is causing the leaking, guess i need to break it all apart and replace all the 0-rings inside and carefully sand off the nick, anybody have any experience/success/tips doing this?

 

[Texasmark]

Sounds like a plan to me. Finding the smoking gun should give you a feeling of relief that your solution will solve the problem and it will stay solved.