Mercury 115 HP 4-stroke 2012 Tilt only works with ignition on

[cps22]

2012 Mercury 115hp 4 stroke.
The other day while fishing I noticed that I couldn't tilt up the motor. Couldn't tilt up from switch on throttle or switch on motor itself.
The curious thing is that the tilt works when the ignition is on. This is definitely a new issue and I often used the tilt switch while the boat was on a trailer and I was putting a motor support between motor and trailer.
I replaced both up and down relays but the problem remains.
I also replaced the 3rd relay which I believe is the master power relay, but the problem persists.

I didn't see any matches for this symptom here in the forum.

Anyone have an idea?

 

[ondarvr]

Did you do any testing, or just replace parts? Checking for voltage at each step in the circuit should locate the problem quickly.

 

[cps22]

No Title

Yes, at first I just replaced the relays as that seemed like the most likely.
But, after that didn't work, I removed the two tilt relays and measured the voltage at pin 86 within the wiring harness. Voltage at pin 86 on either relay should go to 12v as the switches cowel or on throttle are pressed. With the ignition switch OFF, I only see 12v at the down relay. With the ignition switch ON, I see 12v at both relays (pin 86). See photo of circuit I attached.
Again, with the ignition switch on, tilt/trim works fine. Its only when the ignition is off that only trim/tilt up works.

I'm stumped.... In my mind it appears that something is intentionally interrupting the circuit in the tilt up mode when the ignition is off. Could the tilt limit switch be involved? I do recall that in the past, the motor would only tilt up so far, then stop at its fully raised position.