Tilt And Trim Issue

[Garfield28]

G'day all,

I'm new to the forum so firstly hello.

I have a Mercury Saltwater series 125 out board and it has just stated out of nowhere giving me problems with the tilt and trim. Started yesterday at first I got to the boat ramp and when I tried to tilt my motor up from the forward controls there was nothing. I went to the back of the boat and tried to do it from the actual motor but same thing. Anyhow left it down and got the boat on the trailer and went home. At home it come good and started to go up with no dramas, but now it will go up all the time but will only every now and then go down. A few times I'd have to go up to get it to go down, but mainly it just will only go down intermediately. 

The batteries are good, when I press the button either on the forward controls or on the outboard itself, there's no clicking, no drowsey flat sound, its just completely dead not making any noise and just not responding. I think mine is a 91 year of manufacture, and just hopeful there is a few things any of you can guide me on checking to rectify the problem. 

 

Thanks 

Geoff 

[Doyley]

Hi mate, welcome to the site.

Try searching 'faulty solenoid' or 'faulty relay' in the search bar on this site.  Hopefully that might be the answer. 

[aussie123]

It's quite rare for both solenoids to play up at the same time.

I'd suggest you remove all wires off the battery and clean the terminals, battery posts and wires and put them back on and see how it all works.

Good chance you have a dirty connection somewhere.

[Garfield28]

19 hours ago, Doyley said:

Hi mate, welcome to the site.

Try searching 'faulty solenoid' or 'faulty relay' in the search bar on this site.  Hopefully that might be the answer. 

Hi Doyley, Thanks for the tip mate, will look that up. Cheers

17 hours ago, aussie123 said:

It's quite rare for both solenoids to play up at the same time.

I'd suggest you remove all wires off the battery and clean the terminals, battery posts and wires and put them back on and see how it all works.

Good chance you have a dirty connection somewhere.

Would you believe that I only took the terminals off to clean them the day before this problem happened! 

Everything else electrical seems to be working fine aussie... could it be possible for the tilt/trim to play up, but everything else like the sounder, radio and starting the boat etc is working fine? 

 

Thanks 

Geoff 

[aussie123]

Sure can Geoff

Considering this only started after you played with the wiring, you can bet that is where the problem is.

You need to also clean all the brass terminals on the ends of the wiring, battery terminals and battery posts.

Make sure you have stainless nuts on the terminals and not those useless wing nuts.

[Garfield28]

3 hours ago, aussie123 said:

Sure can Geoff

Considering this only started after you played with the wiring, you can bet that is where the problem is.

You need to also clean all the brass terminals on the ends of the wiring, battery terminals and battery posts.

Make sure you have stainless nuts on the terminals and not those useless wing nuts.

Thanks mate. I'll pull the leads off and clean them somehow... maybe with the dremmel and a small wire brush attachment. On one battery I have the wingnuts and on the other I have what I believe is stainless wingnuts. 

[Garfield28]

I pulled the terminals off the batteries and gave them a real good clean with my dremal tool. Put them back on, and still only going up not down. I then pulled off the relay switched and swapped them over, and then it started to go down but not up... would that seem like the down relay switch was no good? 

 

If so anyone suggest where I could buy another set also?

'

Thanks 

Geoff 

[aussie123]

If you swapped them over and the issue reversed, it is definitely a relay.

You will need to get them off a Mercury dealer or get the model number off the relay and have a look at Ingrams as they may have an aftermarket one that will suit.

 

[rickmarlin62]

any automotive parts supplier will have them  take it in to one...repco bursons.auto one.etc etc   mercury will charge you 4x the price for same part...rick

[Garfield28]

Thanks boys.

 

If I put the new relays in and it still does the same thing, is there anything else I could check that could be causing it? 

 

Thanks 

[aussie123]

Definite relay issue.

Replace them and it will be fine.

[Garfield28]

Hi men, 

 

I put the new relay in and it appears to have fixed it. 

 

Thanks for your advice and help, really appreciate it.

 

Cheers 

Geoff 

[Luke Landrunner]

The great thing about this site !

[Drop Bear]

15 hours ago, Garfield28 said:

Hi men, 

 

I put the new relay in and it appears to have fixed it. 

 

Thanks for your advice and help, really appreciate it.

 

Cheers 

Geoff 

good on ya mate. and thanks for letting us know. Well done to all the clever people above that helped.