trim guage malfuction?
 

I just purchased a 1995 Mariah Sahab and the trim guage shows the outdrive in the full up position even when it is all the way down. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fit this problem? Birdwatcher

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

I have the same issue on our '94. I'm told there is an adjustment on the outdrive, but that will probably not solve the problem. Ours does register when it is about half way down-I'm stopping at my local boat guru tomorrow am and will ask him-I believe he said last time that the sensor would have to be replaced but never talked how much??

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

Hi guys,
The trim on my Talari was DOA when I picked it up this year. I should have insisted that the dealer fix it but didn't. Replacement requires that the drive come off. Never a cheap job( I was quoted $4-500). Being frugal I took the senders off, cleaned them with electronic cleaner and reinstalled them as instructed in the manual. Been working great ever since! Total cost $9.00! Well worth the effort to try it before you take it to the stealership. Good luck:yes_grin:

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

J green I will try the cleaning idea first. Sounds likea good FIRST STEP.... Thanks birdwatcher

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

what manual has instruction on how to clean your trim switches or can you post them

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

mike, Here's the instructions for adjusting the sensors. Cleaning is obvious when you get them off, just a couple of brass contacts. Mmine were a beautiful shade of green with a nice crust. I used DEOXIT cleaner (you can get it at Radio Shack) and a brass wire brush.
Hope it works for you, good luck.
http://www.mercstuff.com/trim_limit.htm

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

My boat guy says it can be solved with an adjustment. It is a sealed unit, so the cleaning that is mentioned is for the electric contacts as already mentioned. The $ 4500 says Mr. Ron would be to replace the entire outdrive-definitely something that isn't necessary! I would never bring my boat to that guy-he must charge $ 500 for an oil change! Ron is a straight shooter and definitely reasonable. His business is Ron's Marine in Grand Haven, Mi. He will answer questions-616-842-5215. I've talked to him when he's on vacation in Mexico!!

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

It's not a sealed unit. If you remove the two screws on the sender, the cover can be removed, and you gain acess to the electrical contacts. Just dont drop the little disc if you are cleaning it. It's quite fragile (ask me how I know...:( ) If you clean it up this way make sure to grease the o-ring before you re-install the cover. As noted above, this often is the only problem.

If it's in particularly bad shape, it can only be replaced by pulling the drive according to service manual. My gauge sender is still inoperative, but I rarely use it anyway, my trim limit switch is still working and it's the more important of the two.

Does anyone know of a supplier of the inside parts? Around here everyone only want to sell me the entire package.

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

Hey Thanks Jay
Mike

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

Hey all,
Got a z275 Shabah and the trim guage is stuck in the up position. Think cleaning the contacts will fix or is it a major repair? Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
Tony

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

Read Z202's response along with the others below. It's not hard to take the sensor cap off & clean the contacts but you have to follow the procedures to do it right. If that doesnt fix the problem you may be in for a replacement which means removing the outdrive. Most of us just forget about it at that point.

You can view an explanation on what to do here at this link. 'jgreens' post below shows the same link.

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

Hey guys, just reminded me to post a recent experience. Agree on the cleaning first as most mechanics swap out unnecessarily and if they don't re-align the drive properly you'll have other problems later.

My last issue was a new one on me after 7 years so might be helpful for anyone finding this thread in future.

I had the engine pulled for some work this year and while the leg was off I got them to replace the trim sender as it was getting a bit wild. Would normally clean but just less hassle at the time.

When she came back the trim switch on the throttle only worked one way, no trim up anymore although trailor button and transom switch worked fine.

After days of troubleshooting the shop concluded that it was a faulty trim switch and wanted to swap out the whole throttle assembly. I left it as didn't want to loose the original Mariah fitting and thought that i might be able to source a new switch eventually.

A few weeks later it suddenly started working again and was fine for a couple of weeks, then next service dead again. So figured it wasn't the switch and that there was a loose connection somewhere in the engine bay that they had disturbed, sure enough after a few weeks back it came and a few weeks later off it went again.

Anyway to cut a very long story short, I had a different engineer inspect and re-align the leg (gimble bearing had been fitted the wrong way by first!) and as he was re-fitting the drive he found that the starboard fixing bolt had been cross threaded and no longer tightened down.

This bolt has a kind of hex nut head and the trim limiter slots into it so that it knows how far up and down the drive is. As the bolt was loose it would occasionally rotate a little through vibration, sometimes activating the limit, sometimes not, hence the switch not working and the long periods of time with and without the issue. The system was working fine, just the physical connection was messed up.

They must have cross threaded during the original work and and just left it, not surprising if they were incompetent enough to have the gimble bearing back to front and the drive miss-aligned!

It's a really unlikely one, but if you've tried everything else with the senders and you get a problem that sounds like this, it might save you a few hours tracing for faulty wiring :)

Steve.

Re: trim guage malfuction?
 

I would like to say thank you to this forum, for the great advice. I just picked up a 94 190 talari. I did have a problim with the trim not going up all the way. After reading some of the threads, I removed the trim limiter and cleaned same. Works like a charm. Thanks to all again.

Re: trim guage malfuction?