82-83 Volvo Penta 270 trim issue

zell66

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 6, 2007
Messages
211
I have a 1982-83 Bayliner 195 with a AQ 125 4cyl. Volvo engine and a Penta 270 out-drive. I have a electronic trim and after I trim the lower unit down and run around lake it will not trim up or down (tried doing this when I was trying to get into sand bar). It is locked in place even though throttle is in neutral and engine off or on. I can manually release the lock and lift lower unit by hand but using switch nothing happens.

I have taken cover off of relay and switch cover and heard a click and trim worked fine. it seams if cover is to tight or lose trim does not work. Any ideas of how to fix it? Looked on line and all they sell is whole trim unit, not just cover???
 

captmello

Captain
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
3,826
Re: 82-83 Volvo Penta 270 trim issue

Correct, the two bolts that pass through the relay housing and hold the housing on the tilt assembly cannot be over tightened as they can effect. the limit switch inside the housing. the bolt should only be tight enough to keep the housing from moving up and down. It will still turn spin easily on the tilt assembly.

The click you heard when you removed the cover is the limit switch releasing. The limit switch keeps the tilt assembly from damaging itself when lowering the outdrive.
 

Alan Lloys

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Messages
99
Re: 82-83 Volvo Penta 270 trim issue

The first thing to remember is that you in fact do not have electric trim.
This system is only an electric lift meant to lift the outdrive when you are pulling it out of the water.
You can lift it when you are underway too but the manual instructs you to limit speed to idle.
You will not be able to reverse unless the drive is all the way down and locked.

It is pretty common that the lock mechanism goes out of adjustment and sometimes will not unlock using the tilt motor.
There are several posts on how to adjust it.

The first thing to check is of the electric motor is even energized when you try to lift it.
You can listen for a hum from the motor or measure voltage on the pins. Also with the outdrive manually lifted try and see if the motor will now go up freely. That will tell you if the motor is working.

Apart from the adjustment for the down position switch there is also a clutch build into the lift mechanism. This has to be adjusted so you can push the outdrive down when it is in a lifted position. This is another feature to protect the motor and mechanism against overload so the clutch will slip if the drive is stuck.

Hope this helps
 
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