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A little help

hoseman

Contributing Member
I have pulled the out drive al

I have pulled the out drive alpha 1 to replace the gimbal bearring . What I found was a little water in the bellows it was a little where and what should I look at to fixand I also need to replace the trim limt switches on the bell housing how do I do that and do I need to take any more things off to replace them (just the oudrive is off now) how do i find out where the little bit of water got in to the bellows and what should I check on the shift cable thank you all for your time Darrin
 
"Look for cracks in the bellow

"Look for cracks in the bellows. While the OD is off, you might as well replace all 3 of the bellows and water inlet hose. Also put in a new impeller if its been more than a year. What makes you think the trim position sender and trim limit switch need replaced? Just curious about them.
Guy"
 
should i buy some type of rebu

should i buy some type of rebuild kit to complete the rebuild of the out drive right just want to do this right ty
 
how do you check for the crack

how do you check for the cracks in the bellows is it just by sigth and do you need to take them off to check them?
 
"Darrin:
For the bellows, t


"Darrin:
For the bellows, they are made of rubber and will dry rot just like a trailer or auto tire. Look at the condition of the outside of them. Small cracks will develop in the valleys of the bellows from age and constant up/down movement. If they are more than 5 years old, replace them while the OD is off.

You can get a bellows kit to do it. Make sure you have a manual and use the bellows adhesive. Change the water inlet hose; very simple job. Same goes for the impeller. Lubricate the U-joints while the bellows are off.

Carefully align the grease hole on the gimbal bearing during installation to the zerk fitting at 3 o'clock.

Clean the engine coupler splines and inspect them for wear. They should NOT be rounded like the ends of your fingers but nice and square cut just like the splines on the drive shaft.

For the trim/tilt problem you are experiencing, if the wires from the limit switch (port side) and trim position sender (starboard side) are in good condition, they can be disassembeled to clean out the old hardened grease. SCRIBE the sides of each one and the OD for a reference mark before removal. Clean out the old grease and pump fresh Mercruiser 2-4-C grease thru the zerk fittings before reinstallation. Clean the small brass contact points with solvent and a pencil eraser until shiny; repack w/ 2-4-C grase and reinstall by aligning reference marks.

Since you have Trailer UP and Trim DOWN control, the problem is not the switches you want to replace. The power trim unit is also not the problem. I suspect that there is a defective trim toggle switch wire connection.

How the trim/tilt works--Before you tear anything apart or replace wiring and switches, test it out; first by visual inspection by pulling back and forth on the wires while operating the swithes and then test with a meter. At the commander switches, the red wire will always have 12 volts. The green wire gets 12 volts when the trim toggle is held down. The blue wire gets 12 volts only when the toggle is held up or the trailer switch is pushed in. The purple wire is part of the limit switch circuit.

If the switch voltages are as they are supposed to be then go to the trim/tilt pump assy. and make sure the purple wire connector (single wire) and the blue wire connector with two blue wires on one side of the connection are not corroded or loose. These are the trim position and limit switch wires. Pull them apart and inspect; they should be clean and tight; reconnect them.

Next check the three wire connector (RED, BLUE & GREEN) at the pump assy. This plug can vibrate loose and cause your problem. Pull it off and see if the pins are clean and not corroded; reconnect it.


The RED wire in the plug sends 12 volts from the pump assy. to the toggle up/down and trailer up switches. The BLUE & GREEN wires bring 12 volts from the toggle trim/tilt and trailer switches to the two solenoids on the pump assy.

The GREEN wire goes to the DOWN solenoid while the BLUE wire goes to the UP solenoid.

Did you check the switches with an ohmmeter? The trim/tilt switch is a 2-way switch and will show continuity only when it is toggled in each direction between two of the wires.

Up toggle connects the RED wire to the BLUE wire. Down toggle connects the RED wire to the GREEN wire. The TRAILER UP switch also connects the RED wire to the BLUE wire.

The OD trim limit switch will only send voltage to the trim/tilt switch in the upward toggle position if the OD limit switch is below the adjusted trim limit that keeps the OD being out of the water.

To test the limit switch circuit, lower the OD to the down position and slowly raise it with the trim toggle up until it stops. Then measure the distance between the trim cylinder attaching bolts. If the distance is approx. 22 +/- 1/4 inches, then the trim limit switch is adjusted properly and the commander trim toggle switch is working in the up/down mode.

Go to the trim/tilt pump assy. and make sure the purple wire connector (single wire) and the blue wire connector two blue wires on one side of the connection are not corroded or loose. Pull them apart; they should be clean and tight; reconnect them.

Next check the three (RED, BLUE & GREEN) wire connector at the pump assy. The RED wire in the plug sends 12 volts from the pump assy. to the toggle up/down and trailer up switches. This plug can vibrate loose and cause your problem. Pull it off and see if the pins are clean and not corroded; reconnect it.

The BLUE & GREEN wires bring 12 volts from the switches to the two solenoids on the pump assy. The GREEN wire goes to the DOWN solenoid while the BLUE wire goes to the UP solenoid.

Disconnect the trim/tilt assy. wires from the battery and then check each of the nuts and studs on the solenoids for clean and tight fittings. Each solenoid has three wires and the buss bar connected to it. The bases of them have a black ground wire and a small blue wire to one and a small green wire to the other.

On top of each solenoid, the large BLUE wire from the pump motor attaches to a large copper stud with the solenoid that has the small blue wire at the base while the large GREEN wire from the pump motor attaches to a large copper stud with the solenoid that has the small green wire at the base.

The other copper solenoid studs are connected together with a copper buss bar. One of the two studs will also have a funny looking 110 amp fuse attached to the bar. The large RED wire from the battery connects to the 110 amp fuse. This large red wire is the power for this buss bar. A small RED wire attached to the bar stud sends 12 volts to the switches which in turn sends the 12 volts to the solenoids which turns on the pump motor.

Important: if the studs on the either solenoid are dark and not like a clean penney, especially the BLUE wired solenoid, this solenoid is failing due to age and/or a loose bottom copper stud nut. The dark color comes from heat generated inside of the solenoid by the contactor because it is arcing like welding similar to points wearing out. Change the solenoid.

Guy"
 
"Nice Summary. Guy must be ret

"Nice Summary. Guy must be retired! Any more effort from Guy and he'd be on a plane to help fix it!

Make sure you get the tool to do the drive and exhaust bellows. You might get it together without the tool, but i promise you will string together curse words that would make a longshoreman blush."
 
"YES--RETIRED FROM A PAYING JO

"YES--RETIRED FROM A PAYING JOB JANUARY 19, 2007 AT AGE 55. Now it's "Honey Do This & That" full time w/o a check! Guy"
 
Sounds like trim limit switch

Sounds like trim limit switch may not be getting a good connection. Had to clean mine when I had the same problem. Sucks having to use the trailer button pulling a tube or skier!! Good luck!
 
I never drive mine fast enough

I never drive mine fast enough to worry about trimming it (If I was going that quick I may spill my beer!!!!)

Hickup.......

Cheers
Peter C
 
"My trim limit went, wire brok

"My trim limit went, wire broke off, and damned if I could get the screws out so I just made up a jumper and plugged them together inside the boat.. The trim switches were doing exactly the same thing, down worked, trailer worked, but up was not working. I rarely ever use the trim, I usually put it all the way down, bring it back a couple of inches, then do all my trimming with the hydraulic trim tabs.."
 
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