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Yamaha F90TLR Tilt/Trim diagnosis

BoomerangJ

New member
Hi All-

New to the forum and like most newbies-need your help! I've googled around the internet and did find various You Tube videos on how to diagnose my tilt/trim issue-but I'm confused!

The issue:
-Tilt trim has worked perfectly-then one day when using the boat-no tilt/trim.
-The motor is on a 25 foot pontoon boat. Tilt trim switch on the remote control causes a clicking at the engine.
-Tilt/Trim on the side of the motor causes a clicking.
-Checked the fuses-all good. (Very impressed with the Yamaha fuse box! Tool and extra fuses-good job).
-Removed engine cover and removed the blue and the green wire from the relay. Jumped each wire to the boat battery (+ terminal) which is located just ahead of the engine. Also ran a wire from the - terminal to a bolt on the engine block. Nothing.

BTW-This is a 1988 F90TLR

My confusion:
-One diagnosis claims that the "clicking" relay is defective.
-Another diagnosis states that if the motor doesn't run when jumped it's bad

Both of these parts are expensive-do I need them both? Could a bad relay have taken out the motor at the same time? Or should I buy a new motor and start with that.

Auxiliary Questions:
I don't have a trailer. But I guess there is no way to change that motor with the boat in the water is there?
I had seen on some Yamaha motors there is a way to manually set your trim and lock it in. I don't see that on my motor. Is it too big and heavy to manually set the trim angle?

We have family coming in this weekend and plan to take several pontoon boat trips around the lake. One planned destination is about ten miles up the lake. Hate to have the motor trimmed all the way down-I'm probably the only one that will know-but it's irritating!

Lastly good source for parts? I am a marine dealer but for sailboats. I can get Yanmar/torqeedo and other sailboat engine parts-but none of my sources for those parts carry Yamaha.

Hope as a newbie I'm not already wearing out my welcome!
 
Check your ground wire on the bottom of the pump.
I had an instance where the ground was corroded and knocked loose.
once reattached it worked fine.
 
Once again - Darkstar and I think alike. A weak ground can cause all kinds of problems. I remember I was having issues with my trailer lights once - all kinds of strange things were happening. I was checking trailer fuses at the truck, testing voltage at the trailer plug on the truck, testing voltage at the lights, everything seemed fine. Friend said "bad ground". I looked at the rear lights where the ground is bolted to the trailer frame and sure enough, salt had built up and corroded the area of aluminum on the trailer where a whole had been drilled and the ground wire attached with a bolt, nut and washer... Cleaned all that up and problem was fixed. Drove me nuts tyring to figure out what was wrong.
 
Check your ground wire on the bottom of the pump.
I had an instance where the ground was corroded and knocked loose.
once reattached it worked fine.

Back to the drawing board. I would have bet money this would have been the issue. This motor is on a pontoon boat and this ground wire is just under the surface. We keep the boat in the water-so constant exposure to moisture.

By wearing my scuba goggles to see what I was doing-I removed the ground wire, cleaned both ends, cleaned both grounding surfaces-tilt/trim still didn't work.

Question: The relay "clicks" when the engine tilt/trim is moved and it clicks when the remote control tilt/trim switch is used. Does that confirm the relay is OK? and with the test I outlined above does that mean the motor is bad?

Looking for any more ideas before I pull the motor and get it up on land.
 
If the relay is "clicking" with both the helm and engine trim switches then you know both the switches are good.

If you're sure you effectively bypassed the relay with jumpers and the tilt/trim motor is still not working I'd say it is the tilt/trim motor but I don't like throwing parts at a problem unless I'm 100% certain I found the problem. The most valuable tool you can have when dealing with electrical issues is a cheap multimeter. Here is a link to the one I have for $13... https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Dig...F8&qid=1469397128&sr=8-34&keywords=multimeter Then, watch a few youtube videos on how to use it. They look far more complicated to use than than they are. The #1 thing about a multimeter... Don't take it out of its packaging and start sticking the prongs into electrical outlets not having watched a video on how to use the AC/DC voltage, amps, and ohms settings. I bet 50% of the multimeters purchased are runied by their owners within the first 10 minutes of opening the box.

With a multimeter you could check voltage and continuity throughout the wiring past the relay and truly know if the relay has gone bad, a wiring issue, or its the motor. A "clicking" relay can still have gone bad... Just because it clicks doesn't mean it's working.
 
I know this is am old thread but I don't see any answer to the problem. I had the exact same issue, trim just quit working.

I know this is a temporary solution and is an early indicator that maintenance will need to be completed during off season but at least it got the trim working for now.

Solution: using a piece of wood and a hammer/mallet give the electric motor portion a good wack. Apparently the brushes need cleaning/replaced
 
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