Drive trim
 

I am trying to help a buddy of mine get his drive trim to work properly. The drives will trim down but not back up. We used a jumper wire and got the pumps to run up also, but they won't work with the switch. The fuses are not blown either. Any ideas?

each direction has it,s own solonoid,check to see in the switch is activating the solonoid.

Trim limit switch bad???

The switch isn't activating the pump for some reason. But the solenoid works if we use a jumper wire. Where would the trim limit switch be? Is it on the pump? The original switch broke today while launching and got stuck running in the trim up position. But it never blew the fuse.

Will it raise with the trailer switch? It should as this bypasses the limit switch and goes directly to the up solenoid. Don't know what your working on but most have the limit switch on the port side of the gimble ring where the drive hinges.Wire connectors would be back by the transom inside the boat. Volt meter can track it pretty easily. Disconnect connectors. Purple-white from helm should be hot with trim up activated. If not problem is at the helm switch. Blue-white from helm should be hot with trailer activated. If purple -white is hot when activated reconnect it. Now hit the trim up and see if the other wire from the limit switch is hot WITH THE DRIVE DOWN. If current isn't passing through the limit switch with the drive down than the limit switch is bad. Blue-white should be hot anytime the trailer button is activated as it bypasses the limit switch.

To test for bad trim limit switch... In Phragles diagram remove the purple and blue bullet connectors. They are probably near the pump. Use a jumper/ paperclip to jump the purple and blue wires. Pump side should be female side. Then try using trim switch. If it works properly you have a bad limit switch. You can run it with the jumper and not use the limit switch we do it all the time or you can replace the limit switch. If the jumper doesn't fix the issue you most likely have a bad trim switch or a problem in the harness.

A test light would be a handy tool here .

I had this problem for a while, turned out the wiring for the trim limit switch had become damaged and it was occasionally shorting out near the gimbal assy. Very frustrating to find. At least I have a spare trim pump now.

If you jumper the solenoids, they will work, however, you are bypassing the internal "switching" device inside of them. 99% sure that is your problem. Bad solenoid.

Sorry to hi jack this thread, but I have a very similar problem. My problem started out as intermittent a few years ago, but now doesn’t work at all. My single trim switch on my throttles that work both drives now will only lower both drives and just raise the port side only. The individual port drive switch on the dash for raising and lowering that drive works. The individual starboard switch only lowers the drive but will not raise it either like the switch on the throttles. . My trailer switch on the dash raises both drives simultaneously. After chasing wires behind the dash to all the switches I think the culprit is a male and female electrical junction connector that joins about 6 wires together. When I was wiggling the connector it ended cutting power to the drive switches that worked originally. I took the connector apart tried cleaning it and got a few momentary responses where the starboard drive started raising, but then quit all together again. So as of now I feel that’s the issue and will make all new connections to those wires under the dash. I never thought about the trim limit switch though, which is a very good idea to check that was mentioned on here.

When you use the trailer switch you bypass the trim limit switch and the wiring that goes through the transom out to the switch. Easy test would be to disconnect the bullet connectors that go to the trim limit switch and test

Thank you, I will rule this out next.

Really - IF you don't own or know how to use a volt meter it might be a good idea to let the experts fix electrical problems. Because if you do the wrong thing you just might damage more than the cost to have someone else fix it. These are SIMPLE problems for someone with the right skills. A mechanic should be able to fix both of your problems inside of an hour.

First... make sure your test light WORKS! I once spent an hour trying to find a short.. I tried checking everything 3 times thru a battery charger on it so I knew I had power but nothing under the dash, I was going nuts... then i figured out I had power, it was just that the bulb in the test light was dead....... I won the moron of the year awards for that one.

ONLY THE YEAR ???

Just kidding.

Thanks for all the responses. We ended up getting it trimmed about a quarter of the way out and just ran it that way for the weekend. Will look into the issue further after tickfaw.

Sounded like he was firing the solenoids, not jumping across the top. The most common is the solenoid. Next most common is wiring thru the transom assy.

Slight test light sidetrack also. I have two of these (1 at work, 1 at home). Love'm !
Figured I'd post this in case no one has heard of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUsYeNVaWpQ

Pickup a power probe and you wont ever reach for a test light again, i have the 3 https://www.pricefalls.com/product/p...FYSDaQodi_AFBw

The problem with a probe is that it tells you that there is power there but not what or how much.

Power probe shows how much voltage. If it has + or - and has the ability to power the wire with 12v's or ground it.

So if you have a bad limit switch, will unplugging it enable the throttle controls? I'm trying to understand if they just need unplugged or if you need to close the circuit on the lines from the pump. My trim level is off and my limit is not functioning which prevents me from being able to use the throttle controls. Or, because they're both not functioning properly, are they both bad?

Just got a $700 quote (R&R, level/limit, bellow) to replace the level/limit switch for the one drive and I'm not overly eager to shell out coin for that.

Unplugging the limit switch inside the transom will enable the trim switch (if that wiring/switch is the problem however it will work the same as the trailer switch so be careful)

Cool. So as I understand it, thats what I was looking for. Would the fault limit switch cause the level switch to act wonky too?

Not just unplugging. You also then have to connect the two in the harness together so you are then bypassing the limit switch.

Yes a bad Limit Switch can make the trim switch appear to act wonky though in reality it's the limit switch causing the wonkyness while trimming. BTW some of those limit switches you can take apart and clean them up and make the work again.

I had a trim limit switch that was acting up intermittently for a few seasons till it eventually stopped working. You should have 2 black wires that are molded together that look like a “lamp cord” coming out of the back of your transom assembly inside your engine compartment. Chase those wires to either removable electrical connectors, or in my case I cut them off close to the drive pump and butt connected the two coming out of the drive pump together. Now my starboard drive has no more issues going up with either the switch that trims both drives together or the individual starboard switch on the dash. Drive trim limit switches are probably overkill. I know I could never trim my boat on plane high enough without the props cavitating before the limit switches came close to stopping the drives going up.

You all rock! Thanks for playing along with the word "wonky". I couldn't think of anything else that was fitting.

I found that the trim position has male and female but the trim limit has two females. Also, from reading, the trim limit should be headed over towards the trim pumps. I'll unplug them and make a connector to tie the two of them together. After I disconnect the trim limit I'm going to pull the trim position and make sure the hatch marks on the back side are positioned correctly and go through the tuning process for the gauge. If that doesn't work I went ahead and ordered the rotor assembly and I'll swap it out. The wiring is solid. I went through tracing that last year.

Oddly enough, there are about 230498234098234 of these threads on the inter webz. That's where I stumbled across the part number for the trim position rotor. Here it is if anyone ever needs it. Worth a shot for $17 and a little 2-4-C on the O-rings. My guess is the originals, as with many, don't have enough lube to seal it which allows water intrusion and ends up roasting the resistor plates.

805134A 4

If you tie them together you will not be able to trim up. You need an open circuit to bypass the limit switch. The indicator problem is probably a warn out trim sender

Ok, now that just confused me as it contradicts everything I have read... Even the posts on this thread. What you're saying is just unplug them and leave them be, correct?

[QUOTE=CrownLPX;4441224]Ok, now that just confused me as it contradicts everything I have read... Even the posts on this thread. What you're saying is just unplug them and leave them be, correct?[/QUOTE

jim is correct I was thinking backwards

The limit switch connections have to be connected to make the pump operate. When the connections break the pump stops.