Trim Tilt Sticks in up position

What is causing my Trim tilt on my Honda 225 to intermittently stick in the up position? If I wiggle the outboard or put downward pressure on it, it gives way and lowers. It lets off a lound moaning noise on its way down.

Sounds like it dont haveenough oil in it.

This might be a tough one to diagnose. First off, a few questions.

If your outboard power trimmed while underway, both up and down, does it still do so? I don't work on the 225 but it is supposed to power trim while underway.

Have you ever hit anything with the outboard either while underway or while trailering? Impacts such as these can bend a tilt ram slightly and cause it to bind.

Have you ever trimmed the motor down when it was resting on the tilt lock? This can damage the pump.

Have you lubed the tilt shaft and the swivel shaft with a grease gun? Often an overlooked maintenance chore. Page 63 in the owner's manual.

Try manually tilting the motor up and down using the manual release valve and see if you can detect where the moaning sound is coming from. Page 58 (and others) in your owner's manual. Then, lock down the manual valve tightly and try the remote switch again to see if the problem goes away.

The link below has a parts blow up of the tilt mechanism. Look for any damage to items 9 and 22.

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H... VIN# BAHJ-1300001/POWER TRIM-TILT/parts.html

If your motor is less than 5 years old, it may still be covered under warranty and you might want to take it to a Honda service center. There is always the possibility of water entering the tilt unit through the water seals on the tilt rams or through a failed O ring. This could be an early symptom of water intrusion into the unit.

If your motor is no longer under warranty, I strongly urge you to seal the wires where they enter the trim motor housing. USE ONLY OXYGEN SENSOR SAFE GASKET MAKER OR SEALANT!! DO NOT DO THIS IF YOUR MOTOR IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY!!!

Permatex Right Stuff is an excellent sealant for keeping water out of the motor housing but any oxygen sensor safe sealant will do. The bushing/water seal for the wires dries out over time and needs help.

Good luck.

Thanks for the helpful tips! I checked the fliud level and it appears to be low. Upon removing the cap,pressurized air released from the fliud resevoir. I did lower the motor with the manual valve, retighten and raised it electronically and the motor went up and down without a problem....still moaned on the way dowm. What type of fliud does this resevoir take? I will also take you up on your advice on sealing the wires as well

Unfortunately, if the unit is low on fluid, that's not good. These don't "use oil", they can only leak. If they are leaking, then, eventually, water will enter. The good news is that, since your trim motor still works OK, it is probably undamaged and sealing the wires at the outside of the housing will allow the motor to live quite a while longer. The electric part of the pump is isolated from the hydraulic oil via seals and Orings.

As far as the fluid, I don't know what Honda spec is on that. I asked their tech line once and they did not respond. I did not have time to mess with them so I use clear power steering hydraulic oil when I do mine and it seems to work just fine. Funny how that's not addressed anywhere in the owner's or service manuals to my knowledge.

I rebuild the motors, only, sometimes because of water intrusion and when I do that, I add a small amount of LUCAS power steering stop leak additive to the oil when I put it back together. I've got a couple of trim units out there still working daily that I rebuilt almost 4 years ago.

If it were me, I would try and make damn sure that there is no water in the unit by getting as much fluid out of it as I could. Not sure on yours but on the smaller ones, there is a sort of "drain plug" located right next to the manual tilt valve. As a matter of fact, people get the two mixed up and accidentally drain oil out when trying to just manually tilt the motor. Could this have happened to yours? If you bought it used, anything is possible.

I would drain fluid out of the lowest part of the hydraulic portion that I could into a clear container and see if there is water in there. If I detected water, then I know that there will be corrosion and damage taking place inside and that would necessitate a tear down, inspection and cleaning with a reseal job as a bare minimum. If I found no water, then I would refill with fluid and stop leak and then cross my fingers before putting it back in service. Be advised that it can take many, many, many attempts to completely fill the unit with fluid and purge all the air out. Allow plenty of time and patience for this chore if you decide to do this yourself.

Your trim unit is MUCH more expensive (over twice as much) and a bit more complicated than the 20 hp units I work on so you may want to go a different way with your repair approach. Be sure to keep your frame IE: tilt tube, swivel tube and steering tube lubed with marine grease.

Good luck.

P.S. After looking closely at the parts blow up, I don't think that your unit has the drain next to the manual valve. It looks as if you would need to drain the unit at the reservoir fill plug. the only way to get most of the fluid out would be to remove the unit and turn it up on it's side.

I noticed that the O ring at the filler cap was missing and when I filled up teh reservoir it begain to seep. The Honda Mechanic told me to refill with ATF Dextron. I noticed your reply states Power steering fluid. I filled it with ATF Dextron III fluid, I hope that is correct?
Mean while it seems to raise and lower without any issues. It does moan on an occassion.

I think they all moan on the upstroke, but not usually on the downstroke.

If the O-ring was the problem, then you need to get any air out. Lift the tilt all the way up (and set the manual lock.) Top off the reservoir with the ATF Dextron. Release the manual lock. Open the manual release valve and let it slowly down all the way. Let it sit for 5 minutes or more to let the air bubblies migrate to the top. Repeat the process until there is no air pressure being released when you open the reservoir and no fluid is needed in the reservoir.

Thanks for the advice chawk man. The missing o-ring from the Fluid refill cap is the only spot that I notice the leak. Not sure if water was able to enter or not. I will purge out the air and see how it goes. Thanks for the tips.