LVChris
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 124
I have a 1984 Renken 18'4 Cuddy Cabin (950) with a mercruiser 898, and I believe an Alpha 1 out drive. A few weeks ago I got stuck at the dock after a great day on the lake, my tilt switch wouldn't work. Several kind boaters tried to get the outdrive up with no success finally a boater took off the pistons at the drive and we lifted it up and tied it off. Got my mechanic to look at it and found the solenoid had gone bad, replaced and worked like a champ..
Two weeks later similar story...fuse was blown at the solenoid (but not the dash fuse?) replaced fuse, still nothing. Frantic call to mechanic who very kindly walked me through jumping the posts on the solenoid to get the drive up, (Thanks again Wes, you're a lifesaver!) This was not an easy task as the posts face the rear of the boat, so it was really blindly reaching a screwdriver into the darkness right in the most fuel smelling rear of the boat..scary but it worked.
So Solenoid is good, fuse is good, power is there...but no up or down tilt or trim? Where do I start troubleshooting? Believe the mechaniic is coming to fix her, but I hate feeling stupid when it comes to my boat. Are there any books, on-line resources, schematics, troubleshooting charts, etc. that any of you can recommend? I'd love to see the wiring diagram of my boat (I was in electronics for half my life) And would really like to have the equivilent of a Chiltons manual for cars for this boat.
Thanks for being here, and I appreciate al the help so far.
Chris in LV
Side note; please if you see someone in need of a hand at the ramp, if you can't help at least be understanding of their situation. I am sure they (me) didn't mean to inconvience you getting your boat out of the public ramp quickly so you can rush back home. Screaming "get your damn boat out of there people are waiting!" is not going to speed the process up...I was doing everything I could...
Two weeks later similar story...fuse was blown at the solenoid (but not the dash fuse?) replaced fuse, still nothing. Frantic call to mechanic who very kindly walked me through jumping the posts on the solenoid to get the drive up, (Thanks again Wes, you're a lifesaver!) This was not an easy task as the posts face the rear of the boat, so it was really blindly reaching a screwdriver into the darkness right in the most fuel smelling rear of the boat..scary but it worked.
So Solenoid is good, fuse is good, power is there...but no up or down tilt or trim? Where do I start troubleshooting? Believe the mechaniic is coming to fix her, but I hate feeling stupid when it comes to my boat. Are there any books, on-line resources, schematics, troubleshooting charts, etc. that any of you can recommend? I'd love to see the wiring diagram of my boat (I was in electronics for half my life) And would really like to have the equivilent of a Chiltons manual for cars for this boat.
Thanks for being here, and I appreciate al the help so far.
Chris in LV
Side note; please if you see someone in need of a hand at the ramp, if you can't help at least be understanding of their situation. I am sure they (me) didn't mean to inconvience you getting your boat out of the public ramp quickly so you can rush back home. Screaming "get your damn boat out of there people are waiting!" is not going to speed the process up...I was doing everything I could...
