Tilt/Trim not functioning

[tacx]

A camera or cell phone camera is your friend. I never take anything apart without first taking a bunch of good pics.

 

[tonyjh63]

WTH??? Had a friend come over the other day and we hooked up the new solenoid. Everything worked fine - both the transom switch and the regular tilt/trim switch at the control box. We simply tested it by using both switches (one at a time, of course) to activate the trim. Getting ready to take the boat out a while ago, and now neither of the switches work! The "Up" switch worked briefly, then nothing - from either the Up or Down switch. I thought maybe the battery had gotten too weak, so I hooked up the muffs, and cranked the engine up and ran it for about 5 minutes. However, the old screwdriver trick works...so how could the solenoid have gone bad that quickly? From being used literally a couple of times?
Is there something else I'm missing here? Anything else I can try? Thanks for any/all advice!
Tony

 

[alldodge]

You need a voltmeter to see if power is being applied to the relay and where its not

 

[tonyjh63]

I have a voltmeter...but not sure exactly how to use it to diagnose the problem?

 

[AShipShow]

Sounds like a bad connection on the control wires. When you replaced the solenoid, were the small wire terminals clean?

 

[alldodge]

I have a voltmeter...but not sure exactly how to use it to diagnose the problem?

Connect the ground lead to a good ground, like the engine block or where the ground wires are attached to the trim pump.

Connect the positive probe to the small blue/white connection on the relay and push the up button. You should see 12V when the trim up is pushed.

Connect the positive probe to the small green/white connection on the relay and push the down button. You should see 12V when the trim down is pushed.

Note these are the small wires and not the larger ones

 

[tonyjh63]

Update: Apparently, it was just a blown fuse. When we pulled the fuse holder apart, the fuse itself came apart, with the end caps stuck inside the holder. So we installed a new fusible link, and viola! Everything works! Thanks for all the replies!
Tony