Yamaha 20HP 4-Stroke No Start/Tilt

[A-37]

My 2010 outboard has less than 50 hrs. It's used gently as a trolling motor. Today, I used the power tilt to lower it into the water. I hit the starter button and.......nothing. The tilt also failed to operate.

Back in the driveway, I checked the voltage to the motor at the starter solenoid......12.4V. The 20A fuse was good but I tried the spare anyway. Still no start and no tilt. The twist grip was in the START position and the motor was in neutral.

What's going on?

 

[ohabu]

Re: Yamaha 20HP 4-Stroke No Start/Tilt

Generally if the engine is completely dead it is the start in gear protection. However as you have no power tilt it sound more like a bad ground/positive.

 

[A-37]

Re: Yamaha 20HP 4-Stroke No Start/Tilt

Good call. I removed the Perko shut-off switch that I had installed and found that the connection between the motor's negative cable and the negative cable coming from my battery was loose. The no-load voltage of 12.4V didn't mean a thing when a load was put on the starter/tilt. It was a red herring.

Thanks for your diagnosis.