BF225 trim tilt leak - repair possible?

I have had such great success today from this forum I thought I should try my hand at asking another question:

I seem to have a leak on a seal somewhere on the trim tilt unit. I topped it up back in July and I sense it needs topping up again as the tilt is faltering once more. I haven't yet tried to source the leak but am guessing one of the seals on the rams and wondered whether they are serviceable units or should I start looking for money to cover a replacement unit?

Thanks in advance.

The seals on the trim rams are fairly straight foreword, I believe the tilt ram seals are a little more involved. I find the diagrams on boats.net to very helpful in deciding whether or not to tackle a project on my bf225. Here is the page showing the trim/tilt. http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard Engine/2002/BF225A2 XA/POWER TRIM-TILT/parts.html

Brilliant! Thanks 20fish. Very kind of you to assist.

Are you sure that the manual release is tight and sealing correctly?

Are you getting any gurgling sound when you raise the motor? If so, it might be a simple issue of air having gotten in there.

Raise the engine and throw the safety latch. Top off hydraulic fluid. Flip up the safety latch and lower all the way and let sit for an hour or so. Repeat until it will take no more fluid. Then exercise the tilt/trim a bunch of times. Let sit again for an hour or so. Recheck fluid level and repeat as necessary. When there is no air left in the system, you should not get any gurgling sound.

Hi again Chawk and thanks for coming in on this. History - it failed on me in July, I had to enter the water at the mooring to lift her and then filled her while afloat which is not ideal. I did as you say and she eventually was fine up until about a month ago. One of the guys who uses the boat has his own mooring some way from me. He told me he had struggled to lower the motor. When I told him she maybe needs a top up again he said that he had witnessed oil on the water so it's led me to suspect the seals. I guess it could also be the manual release so we will check that first when we lift her for the other work!

Thanks again!

Roger that. Let us know what you find.