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84 VRO V4115 trim issue

C

CPSTECH

New member
Hello guys and gals. I'll try to condense this and supply a link to a short video. So, this boat sat for a few years but it was covered. Took it out last year and it ran pretty well. However, iin the water it tilted and then went back down on its own. I asked my friendly boat mechanic and he said top off the fluid. It seemed to fix the issue. First time this year last week I was taking it out and the tilt went up but will not trim. It's not the normal not running solenoid or relay issue. Or it seems logical to me its not. It hums both directions but will not lower. I have checked fluid. Topped it off. Removed lines on the bottom and drained it. Refilled and tried it again. Same issue. I can stand on the motor and it will go up and down as you can see in my video. I did that many times hoping something would magically fix itself. I can turn the release pressure screw and it will lower. It makes a screeching noise occasionally that tells me its getting air or has air in the lines but one would assume it would eventually raise the motor. I checked the fluid level after standing on motor and forcing it up and down and the fluid did look very bubbly. I'm hoping one of you have had this issue and repaired it in your past. My best guess is the lift rod, don't know if its Showa or Prestolite rams, has a bad o-ring that allows it to not seal as it should when it lowers or tries to lower. However, logically, I can't understand how it doesn't affect the lift. It does look like only part of the very top of the o-ring between the shaft and the end cap. All of my knowledge is from diving into anything and not knowing my limitations and youtube. Thank you in advance!! jer

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UbaznTb-VxTe89b3_zEJHCHZ4AO1T6oc/view?usp=sharing
 
I had a similar issue years ago on a 78 115, there are two ball bearings that controll the flow, the case harding wears off them and they dont seal.
 
They are check balls inside the housing they direct the flow of oil as i understand it, i cant remember if there is two screws on the housing but i remember taking the unit off. The are very basic. I went to my local bike shop matched up two ball bearings and it was good. sorry i cant be of more help it was nearly 30 years ago and memory is fading,
 
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I think your seals are shot on the rams. I zoomed in on the video and it looked like your main ram had a lot of corrosion built on it. Those rams need to be smooth as butter or else they will tear every seal you throw in it.
 
I plan on taking it off and checking everything out. How and where can i tell what type of rams I have? Show or Prestolite?
 
Thought I would give an update. Took the unit off and left the motor on the boat. Took lines off of both feeds. With the pressure relief open we pushed the main ram up and down driving old nasty remaining fluid and water out of the motor area. Took valve screws out where we could. 3 of them on the back would not budge. With air pressure to clean out what fluid was left we found out that pressure on the top right hole where the upper line goes in main ram will force ram down. On your fingers that was holding the ram. Ouch. Air pressure in the bottom line hole in main ram finally broke it free and ram went up. We felt good about the possibilities. Cleaned out remaining fluid and blew out the two valves that we got open. Large flat screws are where you can get to valves. Installed unit back on boat and filled with fluid. No change to lift and tilt. Trim rams still not moving. Took unit back off and went back to work. Found that a flat bastard file fits into valve screws. Removed two of them and if you are looking at the back of trim unit there is one valve on farthest right that once we removed the screw I noticed the fluid was really grey and watery. Air pressure just blowing on the valve popped something loose and all hell broke loose so to speak. When I finally saw good fluid coming out we put the valve screws back in. Moving main ram up and down I noticed the trim rams moving inward. Looking good!! Placed the unit on boat one more time. Filled with fluid again and magic. Unit works flawlessly now. The valve opens about a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch when they pop open. My best guess is trash or rust maybe had frozen or locked up the valve. The fluid could not move into the position to push the main ram down and undoubtedly held pressure on the trim rams also. I don't know if my experience with this issue will help anyone but I hope so. Thanks everyone that tried to help out.
 
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