Adjusting tilt/trim gage on my 1996 Johnson 70. How do I???

[boatster]

So the tilt gage seems way off with the position of the motor. If I put the motor in a level position the gage reads all the way down. I tried adjusting the tilt indicator on the outboard but its still way off. Is there something else I can do? The gage doesn't have any adjustment either to compensate. Do I have to tweak the little lever arm on the tilt or is there another trick to getting the right angle showing on the gage?

[KYHunter2]

I dont know for sure but sounds like bad sending unit. ( I guess its called) Can you raise motor and move little arm , to see what guage does? An expert will probably give a better answer. But if the guage is moving it seems it would be in the sender or the wiring. Good-Luck, KYHunter

[KYHunter2]

Im also not sure . But the way they work ,it seems, that the sender, must be a type of variable resistor. If so ,you should be able to do a resistance check of sender . The resistance (ohms) should change gradually with movement of arm. If its not this type of sending unit. Then I dont have a clue. Sorry, KYHunter

[boatster]

Its probably like a variable resistor. I can move the little arm and the gage goes through the whole movement. But you might be right that the resistance might have changed or something. If the option is to replace the unit then I'm going to modify the arm to correct for the changed resistance value. Maybe put a lock nut on the swing arm instead of having in the fixed grove of the sender. Then I can adjust the position of the arm relative to the gage and....Tada Of course other ideas welcome

[Silvertip]

If the engine is in the level position as you put it, do you mean vertical (as in straight up and down with the boat level)? If that's the case, the gauge should read down as you are nearly full down. If the gauge registered in the middle at this position, you would never reach down on the gauge. Also by moving the sender you will only move the range, not make any correction. In other words, if the gauge reads high in the trim down position and you move the sensor to make it read down, it will read low an equal amount in the trim up position and vice-versa. If you decide to do this anyway, set the motor for dead vertical with the boat level. Adjust the sender position so the gauge reads down. Then make a mental note where the gauge reads as you trim up. You could also pick any spot the gauge for calibration but the fact remains you cannot compensate for error by simply moving the sender. All you are doing is moving the "range". Resistance for the sender is 1 ohm in full up and 88 ohms full down. If you have a non-omc gauge it may be the problem.

[boatster]

I will check the ohms. I hope my electrical tester is accurate enough. When I took the boat out it really does me no good as it seem the gage is at the bottom when I think the boat is trimmed out neutral. My Tohatsu gage on the other boat works just fine. It seems this one is way off. If I trim down the gage is already maxed out at the bottom. so it does no good.

[rickdb1boat]