Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

[tlam1954]

Has anyone had the problem of the digital trim gauge showing "full up" and the top segment flashing whether the sending unit is connected or disconnected?

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

either the trim sender is stuck or the wire harness has an open circuit.
its trying to tell you its either full up or a wire is broken.

 

[tlam1954]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

I installed a new 4 wire harness and nothing changed. I did find the cam broken so I checked the sender itself and it is free. I disconnected the sender from the harness and ran an ohms test and the meter responded to changes in the position. I have not been able to find correct ohms values yet. Sender may be bad, hard to justify $125 part if that is not the problem.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

if the arm is broken the sender is spring loaded for full up, thats how it follows the bracket as it tilts up.
broken arm,free center equals full up and full bars with the top one flashing to alert the operator its past trim range.

 

[tlam1954]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

The trim cam is actually a separate piece that breaks quite frequently. The new one I ordered appears to be stainless. The trim sender is still spring loaded and works through the full "arc" of motion and returns to the full up. Running an ohms test on it shows the meter responds to changes in the sender position. I cannot find any ohms values for full up, down or any other points. I guess the next step is to find another boat to plug into to try and determine if it is the sender or the gauge.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

ok.
with the key on engine off.
have an observer watch the tach.
move the arm to the full down.
tach bars should fall.
slowly release the sender arm tach bars should rise.
if it does order the new cam install it and go play.
takes 10 min to install the new cam.
as long as both the sender arm and that screw that holds the arm to the sender move smoothly.
broken cam will do your symptoms as well. sorry I missed it on the first post.
however you never said a model number and not all yamahas used the trim sender cam.
but it still works the same.

 

[tlam1954]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

I have already:
1. Key on
2. Gauge powers up, goes through self check, bars start at bottom go to top, fall to bottom, rise to top, last segment flashes.
3. Engine down, top segment flashing.
4. Engine moved to full up, still flashing.
5. Checked sender and cam. Cam broken, removed.
6. Manually moved sender, no change.
7. Unplugged 4 wire harness (pink, black, orange, gray) from engine and gauge and plugged in new harness (had a new one on the shelf from another project). No change.
8. Removed sender from engine and manually moved sender. No change.
9. Plugged sender directly into gauge no harness, no change.
10. Ran ohms test on sender and tester responds to changes in sender position. (Waiting on Yamaha Shop Manual to see if there are test values for sender).
10. Instrument techs at the refinery I work at are baffled as to whether the gauge or the sender has died. (Been using them as backups to make sure I am running tests correctly)
11. I have been doing this type of troubleshooting for 40 years, never taken this long to solve a problem.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

post the engine model number

 

[tlam1954]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

Accidently dropped that from one of my posts. 2006 Yamaha F115TLR 68VL1049 Series

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

its a very simple two wire variable resistance sender.
easy to test.
try having someone actuate the sender arm with your meter leads at the tach connector, go between black and pink.
if your using the 2006 tach make sure the dip switches are set correctly, you need 4 stroke,two wire trim and 12 pole altenator.
if the trim switch is incorrectly set it wont work.
sometimes I have to reset the dip switches.

 

[tlam1954]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

This really should have been easy. The F115 and gauges were removed from my 2006 19' CC and installed on a 2010 18' DC (maker will remain anon at this time it appears they have serious QC problems). Boat was ordered with supposedly correct wiring (taking into account the jack plate). The interface cable that was with the 06 boat was not moved to the 10 boat. The trim cable was spliced so it would have the correct male plug on each end. The pink wire is then not in the correct pin at the motor. The interface cable corrects this problem. If anyone else has this problem and does not have the interface cable check the pins at the motor where the gauge wires plug in. The pink wire is routed to the pink/black which is incorrect. Pull the pins and route them to the correct pin.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

yes, cause yamaha says dont do it.
someone scrambled the wires.
a simple look at the early style and late style 6y5 harness will correct it.
on some applications I have to add an external ground.
trust me, I get this one several times a year when a motor gets ordered off the net and a backyardigan installs it then the customer brings it to me with issues.
not supposed to be able to sell new Yamahas over the net but it happens all the time.

 

[tlam1954]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

I can tell you who "scrambled" the wires--Yamaha. This is the standard wiring package on the motor itself (check out the Yamaha wiring diagram). The problem occurs when Yamaha gauges from a different year are mixed with motors from a different year. The 19' G3 CC was a factory setup.

 

[99yam40]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

Sounds like the wrong cable was used and then people started splicing wires instead of using the right one.

Also sounds like this could have been found quicker if all the needed info (swapping to new boat)would have been given in the beginning.
That is why it is best give all info you can with model # to start out with.

Definitely a learning experience.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Yamaha Trim Gauge Flashing

while they will physically fit not all digital guages can be used with all motors even with the adapter.
consider that yamaha DID not nor DOES NOT make the hulls nor did they rig them in japan its always possible that minimum wage rigger made a mistake.
consult the yamaha rigging guide for the correct tach part numbers and engine year models they fit and that are not reccomemned to mix and match.
not the first tach on a brand new rig I ever had to go set correctly for 2 stroke or 6 pole alternator.
and some of these were rigged by trained monkeys with twin 250 HP yamahas.
not the first time I ave seen the tach not correctly matched to the engine year simply because the builder or rigger still had 50 instock and never reads the tech bullitens not the marin technica guides.
and you answered your own scramble problem, the wires were spliced? not from yamaha they wernt, however the trim harness part numbers can change and the older trim oil two connector on each end requires an adapter and is wired differently than the later single connector trim harness.