Trim was stuck all the way up now its not working

[SierraMark]

Hi all.

I am on vacation with my boat for the first time. Last night the boat was tied to the dock in about 2 feet if water. I trim the motor up enough to keep the skeg off the bottom.

The motor is a 1991 Mercury 40 with electric start and power tilt and trim.

So last night i was sitting at the house looking down at my boat and a boat went by that created a huge wake. I saw the water come over my splashwell and into the boat. I looked to see if the bilge pump came on but it did not so there was not that much water.

This morning I go out to go fishing and I notice my motor is trimmed all the way out. I try to lower it and it does not work. I first thought that it was caused by the water so I check all the fuses and they are OK. I found out how to release the pressure and I was able to lower the motor. I tried the trim again and nothing.

I can hear the relays click when I press the buttons but nothing else happens.

I see in the repair manual that there is some kind of shock feature but there is no information about it. I am wondering if the large wake hit the motor on the bottom and the motor trimmed itself up. Does that make any sense?

Does anybody have any ideas on how to get my trim working again?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Blown Challenger]

Re: Trim was stuck all the way up now its not working

At one point my motor would trim down but not up and it was one of the trim solonoids.as I recal,the solonoid still made a clicking sound but was still bad.

 

[SierraMark]

Re: Trim was stuck all the way up now its not working

Well I'm home from vacation now. I was able to salvage the vacation by using my trolling motor to at least fish...no tubing or joy riding around the lake though :-(

So yesterday in between tropical downpours I was able to verify that the switches and solenoids are working correctly. Today (in between tropical downpours) I hope to get the pump motor out and check it. I am guessing (based on the manual) that is the problem.

I will update when I learn more.

-Mark

 

[SierraMark]

Re: Trim was stuck all the way up now its not working

Just to close this out and give the solution in case anybody is wondering....

I diagnosed the problem to be th trim motor. I took the motor off and took it apart and it was a complete mess. I cleaned it and and tried to get it running but no way so I ordered a new trim motor from Arco.

When I got the new motor I hooked it up before mounting it and the first thing I noticed was that the motor turned on before I pressed the trim switch. I hit the relays and it turned off. I then operated the switch and the motor worked as it should.

So it seems as though I had 2 problems....a stuck "up" relay which it seems trimmed the motor up and kept going until the motor died.

I wonder why the 20 AMP fuse did not protect my trim motor?

Either way, it seems to be fixed now....now getting it mounted is another story.


-Mark

 

[aussieflash]

Re: Trim was stuck all the way up now its not working

You need to clean all connections to solenoids including grounds.Switch and wiring may also be dodgy....scrub till shiny.

 

[SierraMark]

Re: Trim was stuck all the way up now its not working

Thanks Aussieflash...will do when I put it all back together.

-Mark