Logo
FULL SITE MENU

1989 Johnson GT150 Filling Trim/Tilt Reservoir Process

J

JACK LOWE

Member
Good afternoon, is it best to leave the Trim/Tilt reservoir plug (screw) "in'" or "out" when filing it up. I've seen videos where folks say to do both ways. I see that leaving it out and cycling the motor up/down where fluid runs out, but that guy says it helps air escape and then once you stop hearing that gurgling/screeching noise (indicative of trapped air, correct?) to fill one last time until it's full (fluid running out) and then put the screw back in. I submitted a post a while back and it was agreed by post responders to fill with fluid, put screw back in and cycle motor down then up and repeat process several times until I can't add anymore fluid. Yes, I understand the leaving the screw out and cycling will cause fluid to run out of the open filling hole. As always, thanks for your input.

Jack
 
Good morning, well...now the ole Trim/Tilt (TT) is stuck in the fully 'up' position and won't come down. I do hear the trim motor working though, so maybe that's a good thing, but that dude will not come down at all. I did find out that my motor's TT is a self bleeder (air escape) and so now the adventure, for a non-mechanically inclined person like myself, will not try to see what I can do. My boat guy is out of state until April 2023. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!
 
racerone said:
Added oil to the reservoir ??
Click to expand...

Thank you for your quick reply racerone! That is Priority #1 this morning and I'll hope for the best and I'll find out if that helps. My boat guy mentioned that once the reservoir is full it shouldn't lose fluid unless it's leaking somewhere. I'll be back in touch, thank you!
 
<Sigh>... 2.5 oz. added to resevoir and guess what, trim works just fine now. Bear with me as I'm an over thinker and feel free to correct me where I'm using the wrong terminology and/or share what I need to do, should look at, check, etc. I lowered the front end of my boat as far as possible on level ground. The Trim cylinder isn't perfectly vertically. If I could guess somewhere between 5-10 degrees angled back still. How important is it (if it is...) that? I cycled the TT up/down, after filling the reservoir full, about 10 times. The crazy squealing/creaking sound I was having is gone, but should there be any sneaky/gurgling sound at all? If so, is that air still trapped which just needs to work it's way out (however and where ever it bleeds out)? The TT is moving very smoothly now. It's not catching or going slow...nice and even moving up and down. I'm thinking that I should continue to check it over several days and trips to the lake after running it and see how much fluid I need to add to maintain it at full level. What else should I keep an eye on? Thank you very much for your help!
 
Looks like I've got a leaking reservoir. Had motor trimmed all the way down and was just letting it sit. Came back after a while and noticed quite a bit of fluid on the cardboard box I was using to catch any leaking fluid from when I filled it up. It initially looks like it's leaking from where the reservoir mates to the manifold.
 
Back
Top