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2004 BF 20 power tilt issues

J

Jdris

New member
We have a 2004 BF 20 4 stroke Honda outboard that the power tilt/trim will not work when the engine is under load, when not moving the tilt works just fine, the fluid is full and makes no noises and is not binding. Off the boat we had it lift 50 pounds of lead weight. Any ideas of what to check?
 
Sorry....As your title says....it is a power tilt unit. It is not power tilt and trim.

On the 20 HP's and below with power tilt, the tilt is designed to only tilt the engine up when not under way or to tilt it up when the boat is moving very slowly, like when going into shallow waters.

Even if you start out with the engine tilted up and apply a lot of power, the engine will come down.

That is the way it is supposed to work.

The 25HP's and up have the power tilt and trim.

If you find that you need to have the motor slightly trimmed up, you will have to adjust the tilt pin at the bottom of the engine. Unfortunately, you have to find the trade off of the angle that provides an a decent takeoff with a decent full throttle.

That may take some experimentation with different props, whale tails, rebalancing of weight in the boat ,or some variation of trim tabs on the boat.

Wish I have better news.

Mike
 
What Mike said.

One thing you CAN do with the 20 (or 15 or 9.9) is start off trimmed UP a bit too much and, once underway, it WILL trim down.

This is useful for finding the "sweet spot" of tilt that provides the best performance. If you have a speedo or gps, (your phone may suffice if it shows ground speed) you can use this method to obtain maximum boat speed on plane.

I don't know why Honda doesn't offer a trim/tilt on the 20. They would surely sell the "upgrade" to knowledgeable boaters.
 
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