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Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

Mercury MerCruiser

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Old 07-08-2009, 08:29 PM   #1
 
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Default Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

I've been googling around and I'm outside with my multimeter but even after looking at the switch I'm not sure what wire is what. There's Green, White/Grey, and Red.

Can someone give me some direction?
Honestly I couldn't care less what wire is what, I'm really just trying to determine if it's the motor or the solenoid.

Thanks.

Edit: Alright, those are the wires coming from the switch. After looking closer I see the Blue (up) and Green (Down) wires coming from the solenoids to the motor. That clears the waters a bit but I could still use some guidance.

Edit Again: OK, so I took the Green wire and shorted it directly to the Red that feeds the solenoids and nothing happened. So I took the Blue and did the same, still nothing. Perplexed, I decided to just hook it back up like it was and walk away for a while. Before walking away I tried the switch just for giggles and it now clicks both directions but the motor still doesn't engage. I'm afraid I have my answer.

The odd thing is that it acted up a few times on the water over the weekend. I idled it up to near 4 grand for close to a minute each time and then it started working again for a while, I think I performed this routine three times. I was convinced it was the battery so I put in an Optima Blue Top this morning and now here I am, $200 later and still sitting in the driveway. grr

Last edited by Dredd; 07-08-2009 at 09:47 PM.
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  • Old 07-08-2009, 11:00 PM   #2

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    Default Re: Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

    The motor is cooked. reving the motor up for awhile will build charge in the battery that can give you a brief surge of more than the 12V motor input and more amps. This will allow a worn out motor an opportunity to get moving. Once its moving it is easier for it to carry on..
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    Old 07-09-2009, 01:21 AM   #3
     
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    Default Re: Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

    Makes sense. Thanks for the confirmation.
    Just two more questions.

    Did I cause this thing to give out by being hard on it by chance? I do play with the trim quite a bit, learning the sweet spots at different speeds.

    It's looking like about $250 is the going price. Does that sound fair or do I need to keep hunting?

    Thanks again.
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    Old 07-09-2009, 02:02 AM   #4

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    Default Re: Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

    Last trim motor I bought was around that much... I use the trim a bit too.. But mostly for slight trim adjustments.. If you are hitting the switch over and over and over than you are essentially shocking the motor with hi-amp start. The inrush of the current to make it start to turn can be tough on a motor.. The other thing that can be really tough is long duration on the motor. Most of the time a 12V motor (regardless of whether it is in you car or boat) should have a thermal breaker to protect the motor. However these normally only kick in upon extended use. But all the geek mumbo jumbo aside. Depending on how old the motor is, and the fact that it is in a boat with humidity, dampness and condensation is usually enough to cook a tilt motor or two.. If higher voltage is working than most likely you have a corrosion or winding issue within the motor. Though you could check the connection two to make sure they aren't corroded. That would increase the resistance and cause an increase in the require voltage for operation.
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    Old 08-17-2009, 03:10 PM   #5

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    Default Re: Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

    I'm having the same problem, however, to see if the tilt motor is actually working, I attached an alligator clip to the blue (up) and touched it to the battery positive - up it went. I did the same thing to the green (down) and down it went so my deduction from that test is that the motor is fine so must be the solenoids. I replaced the up solenoid with one that my buddy had but it didn't work so the solenoids must need two new replacements.

    Anybody else have ideas? It seems to me that it is one of two things; solenoids or tilt motor.
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    Old 08-04-2021, 06:08 PM   #6

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    Default Re: Trim Motor Doesn't Work - Clicks on Down but Nothing on Up

    Trouble Shooting your Power Trim & Tilt Motor System
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