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power tilt and trim not working

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Paul89

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I have a 1981 Glastron Carlson with a 160 HP Mercury outboard. The tilt and trim somewhat worked when I first bought it, then over time, it worked less and less.

I don't know anything about boats beyond how to turn it on and steer it. Has anyone run into this issue before and can help me out?
 
Year/number of outboard and style of tilt trim will help.Does the pump motor work?Check fluid level,with engine tilted up.Could be solenoid or relay depending on type of tilt trim.
 
haventaclue said:
Year/number of outboard and style of tilt trim will help.Does the pump motor work?Check fluid level,with engine tilted up.Could be solenoid or relay depending on type of tilt trim.
Click to expand...

don't have that info off hand. when you say fluid you're talking about hydraulic fluid right? and what motor pump are you referring to? I don't even know that I have one.

im gonna trace cables tomorrow and see if there's a bad fuse or relay, but I wanted to know what color wires I should be looking for for tilt and trim. I have a table that says what colors go with what but with it being a 1981 boat, will the ABYC color standard even apply?
 
Hydraulic fluid,yes,but it's usually ATF in tilt trim units.
The wires will be blue,which is trim up,and green,which is trim down.If it's a three wire system,there will be a black ground.
There will be a pump,needs to be to,raise and lower the engine.It may be inside the boat,again depending on the unit you have.Post a few pics
 
haventaclue said:
Hydraulic fluid,yes,but it's usually ATF in tilt trim units.
The wires will be blue,which is trim up,and green,which is trim down.If it's a three wire system,there will be a black ground.
There will be a pump,needs to be to,raise and lower the engine.It may be inside the boat,again depending on the unit you have.Post a few pics
Click to expand...

I'll post pics when I can. I'm seeing a few sources say you can troubleshoot this by hooking up the tilt trim motor directly to the boat battery, that way you can see if the motor is good first and foremost. Can I get step by step directiions, I.e. do I just plug negative end of battery to negative point on tilt trim motor and positive end to positive point? and once that's done, try operating it? or am I missing any step?
 
Basically,yes.If it's stuck in the up position,you'll need to open the manual release valve,but until we know which system you have,then directions can be given
 
haventaclue said:
Basically,yes.If it's stuck in the up position,you'll need to open the manual release valve,but until we know which system you have,then directions can be given
Click to expand...

I'll take some pics later today. Some more info: Yesterday it was working fine on the lake until I got back to the boat launch. It was stuck in the down position. When I pressed the switch for tilt I would hear a clicking sound coming from the pump. There's a little attachment to the pump with 3 wires sticking out of it, I think two were blue and one was green. I removed this attachment and pressed the tilt switch and got the same clicking sound again. There are wires sticking out all over the pump, wanted to do the jumper cable bypass trick but didn't know what I was doing. again, pictures will come later. after 10 minutes or so, it randomly worked again so its up now. I did notice there is oil leakage to the right of the pump on the floor and below a fuel line. On the pump it says something about putting in 5W30 oil but I have no idea where to fill it. there's also a knob and it says you need to turn it all the way left when running and all the way right when its off. what's that about?
 
The black thing with the three wires is the power from the tilt switch,it sends the power to either up or down solenoid.The solenoid facing you is the up,it's got the blue wire.The one with the green will be the down solenoid.
Before you do anything,fix that leak.I'm guessing you are low on fluid.One of the hoses may just need a quarter turn on the union underneath the pump.
Then open both screws on the right hand side,they are your fill and vent,the lower one is the fill.Fill the pump with ATF until it reaches the lip of the fill screw,operate the system a few times leaving the vent screw out,check and top up to bottom of fill screw threads.
The knob is the reverse lock control,stops the motor kicking out of the water when you reverse.
 
The "union" is underneath the pump.You may need to unscrew the bracket to reach the union.You will need either a 3/8th or 7/16th spanner.
 
you must use different terminology than from where I live. I had to look up spanner, its the equivalent of a wrench it looks like. still don't know what a union is
 
The union is the fitting on the end of the hydraulic hose where it screws into the bottom of the pump.
Yep sometimes the terminology differs,and depending on the context in which it is used,around where I live,calling someone a "spanner" can mean calling them and idiot.:DBut I do mean a wrench.For grounding,I would normally say "earthing" this side of the Atlantic or call an outboard an engine rather than a motor.And on that note,I think the larger of the hydraulic hose ends are 1/2",the auld brain is getting a little addled these days.
 
how would I go about attaching jumper cables from the battery to the pump just in case I need to move it up or down in an emergency situation
 
If insitu in the boat,all you need is a single jump lead as the system is already earthed/grounded.Clamp to the battery pos+ and directly to the tilt/trim solenoid,the blue wire,if you want or raise or the green wire if you want to lower.
But if you are low on fluid or air in the system,I think you are and have,it will not work,or at least not properly.It will continue to work the same as it is now.
 
UPDATE: I tightened all visible screws on the bottom of the motor. It seems to have stopped any leaking. I filled it with fluid. I did the bypass using jumper cables, and at first it was working, up and down. Now it doesnt work at all. My boat battery is good, multimeter is good, car battery is good. When I press the tilt and trim buttons by the throttle, I hear clicking but when I do the jumper cable bypass, I dont hear clicking. Also, the knob; it doesnt seem to affect anything when I turm the knob.

Im also not familiar with how to properly test for continuity. Do I just put the positive lead to a nut, for example, the one connecting the blue wire, and the negative lead to the negative battery post?
 
Give the tilt trim motor a soft tap with a hammer it could be sticking brushes in the electric motor, my blackmax does the same clicking noise when operating the switches.
 
If the tap on the motor doesn't work.Disconnect trim up wire,the trim down wire,not shown as it is on the other side of the trim down solenoid,it will be green,and the ground.Connect a jumper from ground to battery ground.Use another jumper to connect either the blue or green to positive side of the battery,if motor works,bad solenoids.
The reverse lock will/should work if the boat is in the water and in reverse.
 

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