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Trim pump strangeness

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dhyams

Regular Contributor
I was wondering if anyone could give me a direction on where I should look to fix this...

My trim pump is behaving strangely...when I hit the "up" trim, sometimes I'll hear the solenoid click, the stern drive doesn't raise. It sometimes does it also on "down" trim as well.

The only thing that is consistent is if I let the boat sit for a while, the first hit of the up or down trim usually doesn't work....hear solenoid click, but no trimming takes place. If I hit the up or down trim again, it will usually work.

Today, I raised/lowered the thing quite a few times to try to determine a pattern...no pattern though...just works sometimes and doesn't work other times.
 
bad connections
clean up all the wiring - clean wire terminals until they shine from the trim pump right back to the battery and tighten everything
check the hydraulic fluid for milkiness

after that look for motor issues - DC electric motors are famous for dirty brush to commutator connections- need to be disassembled and cleaned up with a file/seal pick - brushes inspected
 
I apologize...in rereading my post, it wasn't clear that I hear the solenoid click every time....it's just that sometimes the trim goes up or down as appropriate, and sometimes it does not. For every 4 times it works, it doesn't work the 5th time.

Sorry about that.
 
You could get someone to hit the trim button while you use a test lite on the solenoid to see if power is coming out the back side and to motor. Do it until you can replicate the condition. If dc power is going to the pump motor and nothing is happening then Hystat is probably right about the brushes in the motor being all crapped up. You may have a dead spot in the field where it only happens when motor stops spinning and hits this particular spot then every 4 or 5 or 6 times you get nothing to happen. (maybe) Start with connections and work your way back to the pump itself if everything else looks good.
all the best, Tom
 
dhyams said:
I apologize...in rereading my post, it wasn't clear that I hear the solenoid click every time....it's just that sometimes the trim goes up or down as appropriate, and sometimes it does not. For every 4 times it works, it doesn't work the 5th time.

Sorry about that.
Click to expand...

Ayuh,... Regardless, Hystat hit it,...

Clean up the corrosion on the wiring ends...
 
Thank you fellas; I'll start cleaning, and also check the output to the trim motor from the solenoid. Thanks!
 
I say replace both solenoids and be done with it........They are known to do this and the same for the slave solenoid for starting.......
 
solenoid design is weak at best, and not sealed well. (loosen the studs,and they will rattle around) contacts are prone to corrosion. arco is working on an improved, heavy duty replacement, but it's not out yet.
 
I can't physically see what your solenoids look like at this point but I do know that when I attempted to clean up the original wire connections on each solenoid on my boat, I ended up breaking something internally on one of the posts and was forced to replace like kghost mentioned. (mine were severely oxidized and looking pretty nasty!) Usually a good indication that the parts are what you could call: "too long new" Anyway, hope yours are not in as bad a shape as mine were. Could be many things, and you will eventually work your way through it one at a time. all the best, Tom
 
Sounds like bad solenoids to me but you can check for voltage at the load side of the solenoids while someone activates the trim. If no voltage on load side, replace them. Also check wiring for corrosion as mentioned and don't forget to check the ground wire on the unit for good clean contact.
 
It's just the solenoids. Make sure you purchase the correct ones when replacing them. Flat base or raised base. Problem is, the new ones will do the same thing next season.
 
Some feedback on this one, it's fixt! Thanks for all of the help.

I took the old solenoids out, which I think were 1996 originals, and cleaned them of corrosion. Tested them individually with a voltmeter and they worked. Put them back in, and while it looked like, at first, that things were OK, they stopped working fairly quickly (still in driveway). It is possible that I missed something in the corrosion cleanup.

Anyway, I went to the marina and picked up two new solenoids, installed them, and everything works fine.
 
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Cleaning the outside (visable) connections does not clean up the inside contacts or wire connections. That is what your issue was and what was refered to as a "common issue".
In my experience RARELEY is it the outside connections. Many years back it was a some what common issue to have paint creep at certain connections and this needed to be cleaned away but this does not appear to happen much if ever today.
 
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