Re: Honda BF225 Tilt rebuild?
The other day, I was trying to get the boat on the trailer and had to tilt the engine up. I noticed under full power the engine wasn't tilting which is unusual. I never noticed it not working correctly while moving throught the marsh. I usually tilt and trim the moter serveral times a trip because of the low water in the LA marsh. I put the motor to idle and tilted the engine, the engine came up and then I full thorttled it to get the boat on the trailer and the engine sunk right back down. The trim unit looks very easy to come out compared to the johnson's I used to run. No splitting the motor mount or pulling the motor off the boat. Can they be rebuilt? Do they sell rebuild kits or do I just fork out the ~1900.00 for another unit? ouch..... Motor is a 2003 Honda 225, 25" shaft. Any advice would be great. Thanks Joe
I just went through getting my BF225 tilt/trim working again and it was not easy. Last year, it was increasingly slow and got to the point that it would only trim in the lower ranges, and the tilt (upper lift range) was nonoperative. I thought there was some valve or seal or filter or pump problem, because of the operating problems and squealing noises. What I came to find out after several hours' work is that it was low on fluid. Last year, it began with minor problems, so I lifted the motor and checked the fluid level, which was low. I bought a cooking syringe at Wal-Mart, topped off the fluid, and replaced the cap--I figured out while fixing it last weekend that the cap is easily cross-threaded and I probably cross threaded it upon my first filling resulting in loss of a lot of fluid and all of the operating problems.
The biggest problem I had was believing the amount of time and effort it takes to get this unit filled and bled. As low as the fluid was, the motor had to be manually lifted, the long tilt rod disconnected, topping off the reservoir (the manual calls for Honda Automatic Transmission Fluid), manually working the tilt rod up and down with the screw relief valve open and repeating the process umpteen times. This barely got enough fluid in it to get the two lower trim rods working marginally (I had to use the pump to extend them and manually push them down.) All of this had to be done by hand with the tilt rod disconnected from the motor. The mechanism would not have lifted the motor enough to access the fill cap otherwise. From this point, follow the manual's bleed instructions with the motor still disconnected from the tilt rod, that is, use the hydraulic motor to retract all rods fully (you may need to help push them down initially), wait 5 minutes, then extend them fully, wait 5 minutes, fill the reservoir with fluid, replace the cap MAKING SURE NOT TO CROSS THREAD IT SO THAT THE CAP'S O-RING SEALS FULLY, AND THE O-RING WANTS TO COME OUT OF THE CAP SOMETIMES, then repeat this process 5 or 6 times. I generally waited more like 3 minutes in each direction, thinking the bubbles and pressures would subside by then. I now have a fully functional tilt/trim, but I would have never imagined that filling/bleeding the unit would be so difficult. If anyone has an easier way, please post it.
I kept thinking the unit needed to be disassembled and repaired until it started working. The design of this unit has got to be improved. Mine is a 2002 model. If they just added a bleed cap, the whole process would be straightforward, maybe they will. And again, this was all probably due to operator error, but cross threading that cap is really easy.
Hope this helps.
Bill Harrison
