Outboard tilt and trim problem

I recently bought a 19 foot Capri, with an 88 125 Force outboard. I have a few questions. Should I be able to use the power tilt when I am coming into shallow water, to hold the motor in between fully up and fully down, so that the prop does not hit bottom? When the engine is fully up it slowly bleeds back down again and when I have tried to partially put it up coming into shallow water, the force from the prop pushes it back down. I tore apart the lift cylinder and replaced all of the O-rings in an attempt to correct this problem and noticed that someone had already been in this cylinder before me. I put the cylinder back together exactly as it came apart, but it did not help the bleed down problem. The piston has two ports on one side and one port on the other. I noticed on the IPB, that it shows the two ports facing the stem and this is after I had put it all back together the way that it came apart, with the single port facing the stem. Can anyone tell me what the correct position is for the piston and if I tore the cylinder apart again and faced the piston with the double ports towards the stem, if this would correct the bleed down problem? Or is the problem in the pump instead?

You can take it apart a hundred times and replace everything in there and it still drifts down.
The hyd. motor probably needs to be replaced.

You have a manual?
There are test procedures for testing the T/T

It's possible the tilt ram is leaking(not likely but possible).
If you can't find the procedure? Let me know and I'll get it and post it.

Thank you for the information. I do have a repair manual, but it does not have any info on the T/T troubleshooting procedures. (cheap manual) Do you know anywhere that I might be able to purchase a new pump, or can this pump be repaired? In the mean time I would like to be able to narrow it down before I spend the bucks for a new or rebuilt pump. I guess that I will just have to be careful, coming into shore.

This site sells them(I think)
290564909177 e-bay
This one is about $140
Take the info I gave you and search.
I have seen them as low as $60
Look around.
I'll try to get the manual and get the procedures for testing.