2011 115HP Yamaha power lift/tilt

The power lift/tilt on my engine is having problems. When I press the button to lift the engine , it works fine. When I press the button to lower the engine, I hear the relay click but I hear no sound (like I do when I tilt up) and the engine does not move. I have had this problem for a while and it would come and go... I could press the tilt down MANY times and it would work... Had the boat out last week and initially it would not tilt down but once I got it going, it worked fine (tilted up and down and 15 times during the ride with out a problem). Now the down tilt will not work at all... yesterday pressed it 20 times or so and today the same... Up works but not down...

I am assuming I need a new relay.... they are NOT CHEAP... $250plus.... where is the best/cheapest place to buy an OEM relay?

Try swapping the 2 you have,also check to see if you have 12 volts at relays and 12 volts on green wire going into motor

Not sure what you mean "Try swapping the 2 you have"... I only have one engine with one relay box... (maybe you mean swap the up and down power wires going to the tilt motor?)... Today I will be opening the engine up and will check the voltages... I assume I have two "relay activation" inputs (one for tilt up and one for tilt down coming from the up/down switch on the side of the outboard motor itself), a common ground wire and TWO "motor power wires" going to the tilt motor. I should start by checking the working tilt up control wires/inputs first. For up tilt, when I press the tilt up button I should see 12 volts on the up "relay activation" input AND I should see 12 volts on up "motor control wire"... Then I should test the down tilt input and down power wire... When pressing the tilt down switch, if I see 12 volts on the down input and zero (or very low) voltage on the down power wire (I assume that is the green wire you mention to test) I can assume I have a bad relay box. Does this sound correct?

I did find the Yamaha part number 68V-8195B-01 on ebay for $189... The seller on ebay says it is brand new in the box.... If I need one I think I will try ebay…

Thanks for the help.. will let you know what I find..

hmmmm… yesterday I must have pressed the tilt down button 40 or 50 times throughout the day with absolutely no downward movement and only a click sound for each button press... this morning before starting my more detailed investigation, I pressed the down tilt button 4-5 times and nothing again. pressed up tilt button and engine raised as usual... then pressed down tilt button again and down movement started (with accompanied motor sound)… let go of down tilt button and then pressed it again to continue downward movement of the engine and got nothing but a click and no engine movement... pressed it 5 more times and still only click sound.... so I have an intermittent problem....

I think I will just order the new relay and replace the old one.... I can only image my problem is the relay itself...

probably final update..... I opened up the cowling and located the relay.... The engine only has about 250 hours on it even though it was purchased in 2011 (I have a trawler I use more often)… The engine is clean and free of corrosion... but I loosened and tightened the green and blue wires on the relay...they appeared perfectly clean and free of corrosion/oxidation... now it is working both tilt up and down every press of the up down switch... shows 11.75 volts green wire when the up down switch is held depressed.. shows same voltage on blue wire when switch held depressed in the opposite tilt direction...

I still suspect it will go out again …. I will let it sit for a week and try it again.... but I do not trust it.... So will order the relay

Do you experience same issue when using PTT switch located on engine? If so I'd say it's an voltz/ground issue. If the engine side PTT switch works without fail, but the remote control PTT switch has issues, then I'd say the contact points of the control switch needs to be removed and cleaned.

The problem occurred with both engine side switch and throttle switch... and as I mentioned it completely stopped working... 10s to 20s of depresses of the engine side switch where I heard a distinct click of the relay but no down tilt... but up tilt work all the time.. I removed the engine cowling and unscrewed the relay connections and then put them back together and now it has worked daily (both up and down tilt) for 5 days… I do not know why it did not work... then worked.. then stopped working.. and now working again... I have the ebay replacement replay ($200) and will replace the old relay if it stops again..

Gotcha...in the future, if you experience intermittent operation of ptt switch I'd first check the contact points. Zero cost, probable cause.

Do you mean the place on the relay assembly where the ptt button wires attach? I may have wiggled them... but more importantly, I wiggled a lot of wires trying to get to look at the plastic connector coming out of the relay.... But that does not explain something to me.... Prior to touching any of the wires, The relay actually clicked when I depressed the ptt button but the motor would not move... I assumed the click noise was the actual contacts of the relay coming together... can it click without the relay contacts coming together?

Jim, I recently had the similar issue with my 2011 Yamaha 115HP lift/tilt motor. I was wondering what you ended up doing with your issue?

So your engine would tilt up all the time but not tilt down? I ended up buying a new trim tilt relay on ebay for $200 (local dealer wanted $317 plus tax).... I have not installed it because the original relay seems to have started working again. For 6-8 days in a row, I tilted the engine up and then down; tilt up and down work first time on each press of the engine side tilt button. Prior to, and after, I bought the new relay I opened the engine cowling to look at the relay to determine how it was installed and how the wiring looked.... The relay itself (as purchased) has only two wires that come out to a snap on connector; it also has a couple of screw holes to attach the wires that go to the tilt motor. To make sure the new relay would fit/install correctly, I dug down under other wires to find the connector on the original relay. It matched and appeared to be connected ok but I had jiggled the connector to make sure it was secure. I loosed and then retightened the screw on connections as well. Maybe I had a loose/corroded connection but they all look pristine with no sign of corrosion and here tight. The thing I still do not understand is... apparently the wiring from the tilt switch to the relay (through the snap on connector) must have always worked as I always heard a click of the relay on each depress of the switch when the down tilt did NOT work... I assume it was the primary contacts coming together... maybe the down wire going to the tilt motor had a bad connection at the relay and loosening and retightening them fixed the problem... Let me know what you find on yours...

My motor will not tilt up. We're about to check the connections to see if we have a corroded connection. I have found new motors and relays if we need to order them, I'm going to try the simplest and cheapest solution first.

As I mentioned in past posts... my engine ALWAY tilted up (with each and every depression of the engine side tilt switch) but in the past I had intermittent problems with it tilting down. In the past to solve it, I REPEATEDLY (like 10-30 times) hit the down tilt switch and eventually it would work and then work fine for the day. During that problem period, I could depress the up tilt switch and each and every time the motor tilted up.. Then down tilt stopped completely... for days (like daily for a week) I would try it with 10-30 depressions of the down tilt switch and it NEVER worked... Now it magically works after I "touched connections".

Amorris10, when your engine fails to tilt down, do you hear a click sound coming from the relay assembly when you depress the down tilt switch?

If you were to open up the remote control's throttle arm, under the toggle switch is the rocker contact. This contact should be clean. If when you open and expose contact it has black burn marks....need to clean that off. That minute layer of soot is preventing the toggle switch from conducting through the rocker contact. Had intermittent t/t issues as you've described...then intermittent became permanent. Opened the throttle arm as described above...cleaned contacts, reassembled. Worked like new and has done so since cleaning, over a year ago. Same contact points are under the cowling switch.

but if the tilt relay is clicking when the tilt switch (on throttle or on the side of the motor) is depressed, what does that mean? I assume clicking is the actual contacts inside the relay from the battery to the tilt motor is moving and making contact. and the actual contacts are "dirty" and not passing current to the tilt motor..