[Douglas Alderman]

My Alpha1 stern drive won't go up or down. but, the motor will still work. Has water in it due to being milky in color. Will fluid drain out of reservoir by taking off lines itself or can you turn on trim switch on and let motor pump it out? Is the system self bleeding after replacing fluid. Will the air work itself out.

[WetWilly]

Hello Douglas,

According to the Merc manual, the trim system is self bleeding through a process of up and down cycles, also, there are a few more steps involved for new or empty trim rams.

The most difficult part will be getting all the bad oil/water out of the rams as flushing the pump is fairly easy.

You may want to consider becoming a contributing member, there are various levels that will give you access to a growing library of brochures, wiring diagrams, and all sorts of other things related to Mariah boats including service manuals for Mercruiser and Volvo.

For example, you will find the trim system bleeding instructions on page 5A-7 of the manual.

This link will take you to the contributions page so you can see what each level has to offer: Click here

Keep us posted on you progress with your trim system.

Good luck,
WetWilly

[Douglas Alderman]

Today, I opened up the lines on the stern drive. Fluid drained out slowly. Sure enough,fluid was milky. Stern drive came down as from being stuck in up position. Turned on up-down trim button for a short time. Not to over heat motor. Did the same with trailer button. Still can't figure out what the trailer button does. Placed clear zip lock bags around openings of open lines to catch fluid, and to watch for the new fluid to coming out. Stern drive locked in the down position after taking off lines. Lifting up and down on drive worked out bad fluid from rams. Filled with milky fluid too. Moving drive up and down help removed the bad stuff out.
Filled fluid reservoir with 10-30 wt. oil. Started to see good fluid coming out. Just had 3 quarts to use and ran out of oil. Going to get more tomorrow. Let you know what happens.

[WetWilly]

Great work Douglas!

It depends on what type of throttle/shifter controller you have, typically, your trailer button raises the outdrive above the maximum up trim angle for gaining extra clearance for trailering your boat so you don't scrap up the skeg like many of us have done...

It also allows you to very carefully use this higher position for maneuvering in very shallow water, but be forewarned, keep the RPMs near idle and don’t use this mode very long as there is a lot of stress on the drive shaft U-joints and gimbal bearing due to the severe angle of the outdrive.

After your finished removing the water, let me know and we can go over the various outdrive controls and how they function if you like.

I am curious as to how the water got in there in the first place, We had oil like yours and it was due to failed ram end seals, had to replace the starboard ram because it wasn't rebuildable.

I'll be looking forward to your latest news,
WetWilly

[Douglas Alderman]

I'll try taking off both rams and spray dishwasher soap on them while under pressure. Watching for fluid or air bubbles.

[Douglas Alderman]

Sprayed liquid dish-washing soap on rams and found no leaks or air bubbles, reinstalled rams and lines to drive. Lowered drive down by hand. Used a Gallon of 10-30 wt. oil through reservoir to clean out milky fluid. Plastic baggies around lines where very useful. Tried my trim and trailer switches and everything works!! Hope this helps someone else.

[mikeyt]

Good stuff Douglas. Glad you were able to get her fixed!

[WetWilly]

Hi Douglas,

I agree with Mikey, good stuff!

Glad you were able to get the trim working, some oil is far cheaper than a ram or two. Let us know how she holds uo after you've taken she out a few times!

WetWilly

[Douglas Alderman]

Going to try it out this week. Give you an update later!

[jmills224]

I got a bunch of water in my trip pump reservior through the yellow cap. I think Mercruiser even had a service bulletin about this. I took a big wake from a house boat over the stern while stationary and water poured in from the vents. It smoked my bilge blower and got water in the trim pump reservior.

HTH
~J