89 Johnson 70HP Tilt/Trim Short

My Tilt/Trim stops working perodically, if I tap on the relays it will start to go up/down again. Today I read a number of posts regarding tilt/trim and traced all of the wires looking for shorts. I did notice a spark emiting from the backside of the bracket that the relays plug into. For the life of me I can not get that bracket out of the holder so I can inspect the wires to try and fix. It appears that grounds are all good and what I see and hear is a spark when I press the tilt/trim up down switch at the motor and tap on the relays. Any ideas on how that bracket will come away from the motor so you can see the wires on the back side. Incidentally there is a large amount of grease on the back side of the bracket.

Any help with trying to fix this would be appreciated.

Re: 89 Johnson 70HP Tilt/Trim Short

Remove the relays (Both) and clean the spade terminals on them up real good with sandpaper. Put them back in and try it again. You may be seeing errant sparks from corroded terminals. They grease those up pretty good at the factory...

Re: 89 Johnson 70HP Tilt/Trim Short

I have already pulled the relays and cleaned with emory cloth and replaced, but still see sparks. The spark that I saw today was defiantely from a green wire that goes into the bracket that holds the bottom relay.

Re: 89 Johnson 70HP Tilt/Trim Short

I owned a 89 70 and have a manual.the relay bracket should come off by removing the 2 screws ,one top ond bottom,that is if the relay unit wasnt moved elsewhere by someone. What is probably happining is the female end on the green end is pushed back and the relay isn;t making good contact,or the grn.wire is grounding out due to a cut or ?.When youtap it perhaps you are giving it the little more it needs.

Re: 89 Johnson 70HP Tilt/Trim Short

Look at a parts diagram for your motor.Look under Ignition System.Part # 68 is called Nut,Ground.It holds the rectifier in.The bolt hole is tapped,so the nut is there only to hold a ground wire.The ground wire and nut only apply to TNT motors.

If some one changed the rectifier,the nut is missing (unless they knew about it) or if the nut loosened up,you still have a ground problem.And yes,it would appear as a spark behind the bracket everything mounts to.

Hope this helps,at any rate,took me several hours to find the first time (probably back around 1990 or so),but I'll never forget.

DHP

Re: 89 Johnson 70HP Tilt/Trim Short

Thanks, I did find the ground nut that you refer to and it was loose, also I had a couple of wires in one of the plugs that the insulation started to melt because of the sparks from the loose ground (I presume). In any case tightened the ground connectors, applied some more di-electric grease to the back of the bracket that the relays plug into and taped the wires that were melted to the ground stud and all seems well at this time. No more sparks and up/down seem to be working fine.

Thanks for everyone's help.