2004 BF200 Tilt/Trim Questions

I swapped out the rod guides and all seals my trim cylinders over the weekend and everything was going well until it came time to refill the reservoir and bleed out the air. Basically, I couldn't get enough fluid in there for it to do anything. I think I screwed it up as I was looking at the Bleeding procedure instead of the installation procedure. I believe that process works if you've already got a good bit of fluid in the reservoir.

I circled around afterwards and was looking at other areas of the shop manual and found a few things in the assembly/installation procedure. Here are some things I messed up and could use some advice on.

1. The shop manual calls for 50-something ft.-lb. of torque on the rod guides. The instructions that came with the new rod guides called for 104 ft.-lb. Have I damaged anything by overtightening? Can I back these off and continue to use them?

2. In the shop manual, it specifies that you should maintain a lint free environment. Rookie mistake, I wiped out the cylinders with a shop rag when i was cleaning out the old fluid. Is there anything I can do at this point to try to get any lint out?

The rod guide set was about $45. Of course I don't want to buy another set, but will if necessary.

Any other tips on the procedure for filling the reservoir from empty would be helpful. Thanks!

Engine needs to be tilted up.Iv'e used the plastic bottle with a small fuel hose attached to spout on a johnson175 on the water, some applications boat needs to be trailered. Lint ????

The best way to bleed is to loosen manual release valve,raise the motor and lock in upper most position,easier said than done. Then squirt 10W30 engine oil into resevoir using an oil can. After a can of oil has gone in, tighten manual release, trim up,again while squirting oil into resevoir, until motor loads up. Release tilt lock and trim up and down, checking each time it's fully raised if it will take more oil. Finally trim fully up and check oil level. In answer to cap torque, you have not damaged them.

I should have mentioned, always fit resevoir cap before trimming dpwn or all the oil will be pushed out.

Thanks for the info, guys.

Any thoughts on if I can reuse the rod guides I just put on but probably over-tightened?

Should I be worried about lint in the system?

Ian - Here in the US the preferred hydraulic fluid for the T/T mechanism is automatic transmission fluid (ATF). In fact that is what is specified in the Helm Shop manual. Is there a better reason for using 10W-30 oil?

Randy - the rod guides should be OK, but you'll only know for sure when you reassemble and test out the system and check for leaks.

Our Mercury tech guru put me on to 10w30 (showa trim units same as Honda) mercruiser recommend it in their trim units. It is just less likely to leak past o ring seals.

Randy, Honda worshop manual states 114 ft lbs as the correct torque

Roger that. Sort of makes sense. I suspect that you would need to completely drain the ATF before using 10W-30. That would be a pain, I think.

A little cursory research on line indicates that the ATF has more/better additives for seal protection.

Randy - sorry about the diversion on your post.

A turkey baster might work for removing atf from reservoir, A manual lift pump from harbor frieght