Tilt and trim

"Where is the fill plug for th

"Where is the fill plug for the hydraulic fluid on a suzuki dt 115s 1998? It was sitting for a couple of months and when I charged the battery and tried to tilt the motor, it would not move. I'm thinking it has a leak, but do not know how to tilt it or where the fill plug is. Does anyone know?}"

"If... when you try to tilt yo

"If... when you try to tilt you get a crazy noise like water trying to go through a garden hose that is pinched but the engine does not tilt, I would say you are low in fluid. Is there a puddle under the engine? The fluid will not just evaporate unless the boat is kept in the water, that case you will never see the leaking fluid.

The fill cap is only accessible by tilting the engine full up. To manually tilt your engine will take at least two people or a chain hoist.

With a large flat tip screw driver, open the manual release valve at least 2 turns. Careful, it can come too far out. It is located on the port side of the engine with an access hole through the engine bracket.

Lift the engine all of the way up and engage the tilt latch for safety. YOU can try to lift it but I have never had any luck. It is too hard. I would use a chain hoist. You'll never break a sweat.

Close the manual tilt valve now or you (I do) will forget.

The reservoir is on the right under the lifted engine. Fill it with power steering fluid. Filling is fun. The hole is tiny and at the wrong angle. Hey, you're a boat owner, nothing is supposed to be easy.

Now you must bleed the air out of the system. Safely tilt the engine down after removing chains and tilt lock. Tilt the engine up again and wait 5 minutes. Top off the reservoir. Tilt it down and back up, wait 5 minutes, fill again. Keep doing this until you run out of beer or your favorite beverage. You are done when most or all of the fluid noise stops. You may have to do it again after running the engine a few time.

If your tilt cylinder is shot let me know I have two spares that I could sell. You will need to find the leak and fix it. Good luck. Parts are crazy expensive and you can't get the seals you need to fix a leak around a piston. They just don't sell them. You will have to figure it out. I used my diesel mechanic friend that has millions of o-rings and fixed the one on my boat now. I wouldn't attempt to work on the tilt cylinder without the official Suzuki shop manual ($60+/-).

I've rambled enough. I hope this helps."

"THANKS A LOT YOU HAVE BEEN A

"THANKS A LOT YOU HAVE BEEN A GREAT HELP. ON MY OLDER BOAT A HAD THE SAME THING HAPPENED, BUT THE FILL PLUG WAS READILY ACCESIBLE. WHEN I BOUGHT THAT BOAT IT WAS ALREADY LEAKING, BUT I DIDN'T MIND FILLING IT UP EVERY TIME WE WENT OUT. IT WAS A SMALL LEAK. THE MECHANIC THEN TWO YEARS AGO, TOLD ME IT WOULD BE TO EXPENSIVE TO FIX OR IT WOULD BE HARD TO FIND THE PARTS. SO I LEFT IT LIKE THAT. NOW THAT I AM TRYING TO SELL THE BOAT IT STARTED LEAKING MORE AS TO IT ONLY TILTS UP AND DOWN ONCE AND IT IS EMPTY. SO I TOOK IT TO ANOTHER MECHANIC AND HE BASICALLY TOLD ME THE SAME THING EXCEPT FOR THE PRICE. THE FIRST MECHANIC TOLD ME IT WOULD BE ABOUT 200.00 - 300.00 TO FIX. THE SECOND MECHANIC TOLD ME IT WOULD BE ABOUT 300.00 FOR THE CYLINDER, IT HE COULD FIND IT. HE SUGGESTED I REPLACE THE WHOLE HYDRAULIC UNIT, IT WOULD RUN ABOUT 700.00 NEW OR 550.00 USED INSTALLED. I ALMOST WENT FOR THE SECOND CHOICE BUT DECIDED TO THINK ABOUT IT. I STARTED MESSING WITH THE CYLINDER, CAME TO FIND OUT THERE ARE TWO O-RINGS INSIDE. REPLACED BOTH OF THEM AND THE LEAK STOPPED. GUESS HOW MUCH I FIXED THE LEAK FOR? A WHOLE 3.49 CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I COULDN'T. JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT YOU CAN'T REALLY TRUST MECHANICS. AGAIN THANKS."

"OH, AND I THINK I WILL GET TH

"OH, AND I THINK I WILL GET THAT MANUAL."