trim gauge quit working

[bandit294]

I own a 2008 Tahoe Q4 with a 4.3 l and Alpha1. Everything was fine till I took the boat to a very rough lake and when I had the trim all the way down the trim gauge needle would jump to the UP position until I trimmed up a little and it would start working fine until I trimmed all the way down.
Then yesterday the gauge would read in the up position until I moved the trim about 1/4 the way up, then it read up when the trim was down and down when the trim was up.
Now I cant get it to read anything but UP. The trim itself works fine. A local boat mechanic said it could be the "trim set" on the right side of the outdrived and to try to adjust it incase it got out of adjustment. that did nothing.
Any suggestions on what to try? any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[gshldon]

Re: trim gauge quit working

you might want to try and look at the wires coming from the trim switches, they have a tendacy to rot and break. That is were i would look.

Good Luck

 

[Phantom_II]

Re: trim gauge quit working

On a '08 drive, I wouldn't think rot would be a problem yet.

It does sound like a loose trim sender though. Try pulling it out and turning the shaft by hand and see if your gauge follows.
If it does, you just need to adjust it back into the right position.

It's also possible that the shaft sheared. In which case you'll need a new sender.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: trim gauge quit working

Make the dealer fix their mess up Or you could lower the drive turn the wheel to the left, turn the key on have some one in the boat to watch the gauge, At the back of the drive area on the right side find the sending unit and pull the too aujuster screws out all the way, Then turn the sender over look at the gray shaft in the middle and look close for a line mark on the edge of the gray, [almost like a arrow but not] Then look for a line on the black part of the sender and turn and line them up, then put the sender in lining the too holes for the screws as center as you can to start, Then start slowly turning the sender and watch the gague, turn it so it will start to go up first so you get the hang of it then start going down slowly till you line up the needle in the gauge with the center of the down line on the gauge and then tighten the screws down, And then run the trim up half way up then back down to see if the needle relanded on the center line and if it is off a little then reajust as needed a few times slowly turning it and retest till you get it. If the rest of the system is working right then you are good to go, If not off to the dealer for warranty. Now chances are if they have that off aujustment then you might want to check the trim limit hight, To do that turn the drive to the right find the sender on the left side run the trim limit button on the shifter up half way up till it stops on it's owen, Then go back to the drive and find the too power trim rams that lift the drive up and down, At each end of the ram their should be a black cap covering the too pins that hold the rams on, You will need to measure from the center of one pin to the center of the other pin starting from the down spot going half way up and you will need to set the measured hight from pin to pin at 20 3/4 inches apart as it is heading up, and you will need to have some one in the boat running the trim button up NOT THE TRAILER BUTTON and you will need them to hold that button up the hole time your are try to find the pin to pin measured hight while going up hight. At the same time they are holding the button up you will be turning the sender unit clock wise to control the power of the trim up hight till you reach the 20 3/4 hight you need. Then tighten down the screws and run it down then up and recheck the measurement, If you go to hi the guy in side will need to lower the drive down till you get under the hight you need and then you will need to controll the up hight as he holds the button up for you. Well I hope this help you out good luck with it. [PS] forgot to say the alpha drive trim limit hight setting is, 20 3/4" Bravo 1-3 is 21 3/4" And all TRS drives is, 24 1/2" pin to pin.:redface:

 

[bandit294]

Re: trim gauge quit working

Thanks Boat teck and Phantom for the help! I have one more question and please excuse my ignorance with some of the boating issues and terminology. but today we were at the lake again and I was using the trim switch located on my throttle.I understand the switch has two stages when trimming up. The first stage trims the drive unit up about half way. When I put it on the trailer I have to push harder on the trim switch to activate the second stage of the higher trim. It has been working fine but suddenly today I noticed that the when I wanted to trim up after plaining out that it would not activate. I had to push the trim switch all the way in to get into the 2nd stage of the trim button to make it trim up. any suggestions on what would cause this and are than any simple fixes?
PS; I bought my boat at Gander Mountain and they suddenly and quietly shut down their powersports division and service department. The closest place for warranty repair is about an hour away.

 

[bandit294]

Re: trim gauge quit working

ok i guess what i am calling the 2nd stage to the trim button is actually called the trailer button which is what I was having to use today to get the trim to go up.

 

[danond]

Re: trim gauge quit working

Your trim pump has relays that run the pump motor one way or the other (up or down). There's also a trim limit switch in there somewhere.

There's an ADULTS ONLY sticky at the top of this forum - if you dig in there a bit, you can find wiring diagrams and should be able to trace everything and at least make sure you don't have a wire with a screw through it and all your connections are clean.

Being a new boat though I'd guess you have a messed up trim limit switch/sensor.

Sorry, I just know this stuff's in there. I'm an OMC guy.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: trim gauge quit working

ok i guess what i am calling the 2nd stage to the trim button is actually called the trailer button which is what I was having to use today to get the trim to go up.

Have you had a chance to do my long list in detail yet? The second step in my post might help with the trim up half point not the trailer part.

 

[bandit294]

Re: trim gauge quit working

not yet, but I really do appreciate the time you took to type that out to help me. I will get on it ASAP though!!