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270 outdrive will not lower

am_dew

Advanced Contributor
"Well, the intermittent issue

"Well, the intermittent issue I've had with not being able to lower my circa 1972 V/P 270 outdrive (no trim; tilt only) has manifested itself for good now it appears.

With the leg raised (boat on the trailer), when I attempt to lower the drive by moving the dashboard tilt rocker switch to "down" all I hear is a single click from the "down" relay (the one facing the front of the boat and mounted back by the tilt motor)...no tilt motor noise at all. If I try to raise the drive using the rocker switch, the tilt motor does operate so the motor is fine as is the "up" relay and the fuse.

In reading the Seloc manual, it says that if the drive does not lower, either the "down" relay is bad or the limit switch is bad, and to bypass the limit switch to determine which one is bad.

Can anyone describe to me exactly how I go about bypassing the limit switch? It has 3 wires coming off of it...two wires come off one end of the switch and the other comes off the other end of the switch. One of the former mentioned two wires attaches to the "down" the relay mentioned above. The other wires go to places unknown, of which are very hard to visually determine where due to where all this is located and subsequent space and sightline restrictions.

It kills me to think that I've worked hard at getting this boat running so well, only to have it grounded now due to not being able to lower the outdrive. If it's not one thing, it's another! Boats!"
 
"The 'click' means the

"The 'click' means the motor is not running when the contacts in the relay close. Take a voltmeter and look at the leads going to the motor. When the 'click' happens 12 volts should appear on these leads. If not, replace the relay. If yes, the motor may need servicing (brushes replaced, commutator cleaned, etc.)

On mine, the motor went bad (broken magnets).

Jeff"
 
"Try to remove the relay box f

"Try to remove the relay box from the tilt mechanism and inspect the condition of the limiter switch. Also, operate the switch by hand and see if it does make any difference.

If you managed to lift the outdrive, then chances are that the motor is not burned. My guess is that the problem is either the limiter switch or relay/associated wiring, the biggest likelihood being the limiter switch."
 
"Putting a voltmeter on the mo

"Putting a voltmeter on the motor leads is a good idea...thanks Jeff. The motor works fine in the "up" direction. Is it possible that the motor will not work in one direction (in this case, the "down" direction) and work just fine in the other direction?

The boat is back in storage now so I won't be able to put a voltmeter on it until later this week or over the weekend."
 
"El Pescador, thanks for your

"El Pescador, thanks for your reply. All of the relays and switches for the tilt system are mounted to a bracket mounted to the top of the tilt mechanism.

How would I operate the limit switch by hand?

What makes things especially difficult in all of this is that on my boat, all of these relays and switches and their related connections and wires, are covered with a approx. 1/16" thick rubber coating to prevent corrosion. It's very hard to tell the wires from one another and identify where the lead to/from, not to mention the wires are all just long enough to run where they need to with little excess."
 
"Hi Bob,

The limiter switch


"Hi Bob,

The limiter switch is in the middle of that bracket. If you remove that bracket, you should be able to access the limiter switch. Another way is to lift the bracket a bit until the tilt indication light is lit, which means the limiter switch is now in the postion that allows you to lower the outdrive."
 
"El, the tilt indication light

"El, the tilt indication light is currently lit (when the ignitiion key is in the accessory position) as it normally is when the drive is tilted all the way up like it is now. My Dad, whom I showed the tilt wiring diagram to which I found in the Seloc manual says that if the tilt indicator light is lit, then the limit switch is fine and the down relay is the problem. In any case, here is a pic of what this all looks like with some ID text added. I believe the limit switch is the one on top (?), and the switch in the middle of this mess, but hard to see in this photo, is known as the "motor protector" according to the parts diagram mentioned in my first post. Also, the relay in the foreground was unmounted from the bracket when this pic was taken.
25291.jpg
Tilt
 
"Your dad is correct. Just for

"Your dad is correct. Just for information, the light should be lit once the outdrive is not in its lowest position (it does not have to be all the way up).

You are also correct pointing at the limit switch.

If you hear the relay clicking, this means it is becoming energized, but either there is no power passing through the contacts to the motor (possible causes would be no power supply, faulty contacts, faulty wiring), or the motor is burnt.

How many wires do go to the tilt motor in your system: 2 or 4?"
 
"I'm not entirely sure, bu

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think there are just two wires going to the tilt motor.

At this point, I think a reasonable approach would be to buy a new relay, install it and see what happens. Know of a good source?

I sure hope a replacement relay will have it's connectors in the same relative physical location on the relay body as the old relay, otherwise how would you ever know which wires go to which connector?"
 
I have a 280 and motor works i

I have a 280 and motor works in both directions but appears to not enough to raise lower unit. When used in lowering position it lowers rapidily.
I was told that motor operates in 12v and 24v. If so I think that the 24v is turning the motor in wrong direction and the lift not strong enough. Any help thanks.
 
"12 volts only--like, where is

"12 volts only--like, where is the 24 volts to come from?

The motor needs rebuilding or replacement. You might get away with cleaning the brushes and aramature (asuming the problem isn't simply bad connections).

Jeff"
 
"have cleaned up motor and app

"have cleaned up motor and appears motor is working ok, but runs stronger in one direction.it also shows to have a 12v relay and 24v relay. I did not think you could get 24v from 1 12v battery but did not know weather there was a inverter. It the motor suppose to run same speed in both directions?"
 
"Bob,

Ther relays you need


"Bob,

Ther relays you need are parts 23 and 24. The Sierra equivalent for 23 is 18-6271, not sure about the other one.

http://www.dougrussell.com/partscatalog/volvo_omc/index.cfm?fuseaction=comp&grou p=1856&GroupList=1852,1824,1893,1892,1891,1890,1840,1841,1842,1888,1889,1821,182 0,1822,1823,1853,1851,1834,1835,1894,1837,1838,1836,1854,1839,1833,1844,1847,184 9,1845,1850,1825,1856,1857,1828,1830,1831,1832,1829,1826,1827,1855,1843,1846,184 8

If you have two wires going to the motor, follows Jeff's recommendation and check for voltage when you actuate the toggle switch. If there is no voltage, the motor may be good and you could have either a defective relay or faulty wiring.

The motor should turn when you attempt to raise the outdrive, even if it is fully up. If it does not, then either the motor is burnt, relays are faulty or there is no voltage reaching the motor.

Also, check the condition of the overload relays (if installed) they can be a source of trouble especially if the connectors are rusty."
 
"Charles, the motor will alway

"Charles, the motor will always run slower when trying to lift the outdrive, as it has to overcome the outdrive's weight. Conversely, the motor runs faster when lowering the outdrive."
 
"Thanks El. Now the question

"Thanks El. Now the question is which one of those relays (23 or 24) is the DOWN relay, so that I order the right one? The old relay has no markings on it at all and you cannot tell from the online parts diagram which one is which."
 
"I think that your Volvo deale

"I think that your Volvo dealer could tell you which one is which one. But in any case, I think you should first make sure the motor is working. Afterwards, you can test the relays by identifying which terminals go to the coil and which ones go to the contacts. You can then energize the coil with 12V and measure with an ohm meter whether the contacts open and close.

If the relays work and so does the motor, then you will have to determine what else may be causing the fault."
 
"El, I highly suspect that the

"El, I highly suspect that the motor is fine since it operates when I toggle the dash mounted tilt switch to "up". Of course, the drive does not raise since it's all the way up, but the motor does operate.

I have never had much luck with getting dealers to give out much info, especially on an old boat. One of the larger local dealers in my area just laughed at me when I asked them if they had, or could get, parts for my old boat. And if they do talk to you, the first thing that usually comes out of their mouth is "Bring your boat in and we'll take a look at it" (for a hefty price tag of course), but even if I had the money to spend on having someone else fix it, it's very difficult to find someone willing to work on a 30+ year old boat."
 
"I did some troubleshooting to

"I did some troubleshooting today and found that I had 12V feeding the tilt motor, both up and down direction. Just to verify the motor was bad in the down direction, I applied 12V directly to the tilt motor and sure enough, it only operated in one direction. So, I started calling around looking for a new motor and found at a used one at a nearby marine recycling center for about 1/2 the cost of a new one. So I buy it (just in the nick of time before they closed for the weekend), come home and test it before I installed it and it worked in both directions. So, I install it (a royal pain) and flip the tilt toggle switch and all I get is clicks in both directions of the tilt switch. Before I installed the motor I noticed that if the nuts (#21 in pic below) on the motor face that hold the threaded mounting shafts in place are too tight, then the motor shaft cannot be turned using your fingers, so I made sure that these nuts were tightened up just so that they made contact with the motor body and there was no play in the mounting shafts. So, knowing that if the motor's face was too tight against the motor body that the motor shaft would not turn, I thought that perhaps I had tightened the two nuts (#43 in pic below) used to attach the motor to the tilt assembly were too tight, so I loosened them a bit. A test then revealed that the tilt motor did in fact work in both directions and was able to lower and raise the outdrive.

Even though the motor does raise the drive, it sounds like it's strainingg pretty hard to do so, so I am a bit concerned that perhaps that I still have the mounting nuts a little too tight and the motor shaft is straining to turn in the up direction (it sounds fine in the down direction). Does anyone have any good advice on how tightly the motor should be mounted against the lift assembly so as to not cause the motor to not work but still tight enough so that the splines on the motor shaft are able to make contact with and rotate their intended targets? A few years ago I had to remove and reinstall the old tilt motor and I don't remember ever having a problem like this where the tilt motor did not turn because the motor was mounted to snugly...I just snugly tighted the #43 nuts and all was fine.

25425.gif
Tilt motor
 
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