rich allen

I know next to nothing about outboards, but I do know that if I ask here, I just might get an answer..
An old timer friend of mine sunk his boat on a lake nearby. We got over 12 inches of rain in a 24 hour period a few days ago, and his boat went down. It has a Honda 30 hp motor, maybe 3 years old. Motor is now all set, and running just fine, after doing all that you gotta do when this happens. His problem lies with the power tilt. It was working fine. Then, it stopped working, about 3 days later. All he gets is a clicking sound. He was told to open a screw in the back, which bled out some oil, and that allowed him to raise the drive manually so he could get boat into the garage. Battery is now brand new.He says it sounded like it might be coming from some small box in the back,( he thinks).He opened it up, and dried all the wires inside,no real hardware inside, sounded more like a junction box the way he explains it, a couple of posts with maybe 5 wires or so attached..Anyways, got any ideas on how to troubleshoot this, or what else to look for?
Also, I am assuming the tilt system will have to be re-bled. How do you do this one?
Is there anything else in this system he should look at ? Remember, the whole boat went down.
Thanks, Rich

PROFILE

The junction block is probably the relay box, most jap outboards use a single relay "box" with just terminals sticking out for the wires. The up and down relay are both built into this one unit. Its possible water got into this box causing it to fail. Use a test light between the thicker green and blue wires to see if your getting power out of the relay box. Did the motor go down in salt water? If so the eletrical/wiring problems are sure to come. The power trim system is self bleeding, with engine all the way up pull fill plug and make sure its full, then run it up and down several times to bleed. then recheck oil level.
Good luck.

rich allen

Thanks for the reply. No,it went down in fresh water.
I will check for power as you say, from those two wires. I assume you mean power should be there without having to activate the trim switch?

rich allen

Ok, got a pic of said box, showing both relays. Are you saying to jump the blue to the green, on each relay,with a test light to check for 12 volts, or jump each one to ground with test light to get 12 volts.Also, With switch activated or not? Anybody? I attached a pic. Thanks, Rich