[HammytheFisherman]

I am fairly new to boating and will be as brief, yet descriptive as possible. The other day I noticed that my trim/tilt wasn't working, so I purchased a new battery thinking that it might be dead. After installed new battery, the trim worked just fine.

So today I decided to attempt to do some fishing and once she was in the water... I fired her up... she ran for roughly ten seconds and then cut off. I then went to restart her and heard nothing but a faint hum from the engine cowl. I tried to trim her up (from shifter and side of engine) and again heard a slight hum. Trailered the boat out of the water where all of a sudden the trim worked again. I figured I had a short and would try to launch again. Again, turn of the key and now clicks, however, the trim continued to work. I took her home where I took off the cowl and with a buddy attempted to start the engine. With the cowl off we heard loud clicks, but the engine wasn't turning over. The clicks sounded like they were coming from the starter. Didn't run any voltage tests or test light tests as ran out of daylight. I will add that later in the evening, after attempting to start her again, the trim stopped working for about 1 minute and then started working again.

I don't have a manual and have been searching all night for possible answers. Anything from solenoids to starters. Again, my outboard knowledge is limited, so I'm taking it slow. Anyone have any suggestions or possible help? I'm going to continue to look for wire diagrams for a bit longer before heading to sleep for the night. Thanks again for any help or suggestions.

[Silvertip]

The trim system and the starter system both have solenoids and relays that will click when the key is turned to start or the trim system is activated. The fact that both systems act intermittently and the fact that these are separate systems tells me you do not have good battery terminal connections. Clean the terminals and cable ends on both ends of the cable. That means remove the cables, clean and inspect for corrosion. Then tighten them firmly.