Another tilt/trim question

85 'Rude 90hp. I know this is probably the umpteenth thread but I'm trying to trouble shoot and I think I narrowed it down to the relays but I'm hoping someone can confirm my suspicions.

Went to working on the tilt/trim unit tonight since I'm waiting on my other cylinder head to come back from the machine shop. I connected all the plugs and got nothing but a click from both relays in the junction box. Didn't matter if I hit "up" or "down" on the switch. I pulled the relays and ran the tests on the relays per the service manual. Both checked good as far as I could tell. Except when I reinstalled them, there was no current running to the relays (I didn't plug them in completely so I could hit the relay plugs with the voltmeter which is how I understood the manual) I was getting 12volts to the junction box on both sides but the relays were showing no current.

But to confirm it was the relays, I removed the trim unit from the transom bracket then subsequently removed the motor from the t/t. I connected it straight to a battery per the service manual and it worked just fine. The motor shaft rotated clockwise and counterwise. I re-installed the motor on the trim unit and again, connected the motor straight to the battery. The cylinder raised and lowered just fine (was a little slow but there was no load on it). From there I re-installed the trim unit onto the transom bracket and again, connected the motor to the battery. The motor raised and lowered just fine. I think it's a little low on fluid since I had a little fluid loss loosening the manual release screw and removing the motor. Up to this point, everything is working fine. However, when I reconnect everything again, I still get a "click" from the relays. If I hit the switch enough times I can hear the motor trying to kick in but that's it.

I first thought I had something connected wrong since this is my first Evinrude but the guy I got the motor from told me how his is connected (identical motors) and I did have everything hooked up right. My only question on that is, there are two wires, a white/tan and black/tan, that are not connected to anything and looked as if they'd been cut from somewhere. The wiring diagram shows the wires going to what appears to be the key switch but that doesn't make sense to me since it's getting power via the harness.

So my 2 main questions are:

Are my relays in fact no good?

and

What/where do the white/tan and black/tan wires connect to? My guess is a trim gauge

Re: Another tilt/trim question

bump

Re: Another tilt/trim question

Has the trim worked before? How long ago?

Is your battery FULLY charged?

You are getting power to the solenoids but not getting power to the trim motor but the trim motor works.

Check your wiring again and look for corrosion between the solenoids and the trim motor.

Re: Another tilt/trim question

The motor itself hasn't been used for probably 4 years. The battery is fully charged and all the connections look clean. But to alleviate those two possibilities, I'm going to put the battery back on the charger over night then tomorrow (weather permitting) I'm going to remove and clean all the electrical connections (regardless of what they're for) then re-check everything again.

By the way just so we're on the same sheet of music, when you say "solenoids" are you referring to the relays in the junction box?

Re: Another tilt/trim question

You will need a helper and a 12 volt test light, the kind with a long cord and a probe with a light inside. A few dollars at any auto supply.

Each solenoid has 4 terminals, two large and two small. The small terminal with the black wire is the ground, the other small terminal is for the trim switch, blue wire for the up and green wire for the down. One large terminal is for the 12 volts from the battery and the other large one goes to the trim motor, green for down and blue for up.

Clamp your test light to a good ground. Put the probe on the small blue terminal to the switch, have a helper push the up button the light should light. Now do the same to the other solenoid green terminal and have the helper push the down button, it should light when the switch is pushed. Now put your probe on the large battery terminal, you should have power. Put your probe on the other large terminal with the blue wire. Push the up button the tester should light. If not the solenoid is bad. Do the same with the other solenoid.

If the small terminal doesn't light when the switch is pushed the switch or wiring is bad.

If the large terminal to the trim motor doesn't light the solenoid is bad.
If you get power to the trim motor on the large terminal but the trim motor doesn't move, the trim motor is bad.

Make sure you have good grounds on all the ground wires. You can test them by putting the ground wire from the tester on the positive large terminal on the solenoid and putting the probe on the ground, the tester should light.

let us know how you do

Re: Another tilt/trim question

I know the trim motor itself works great. It's cycling the cylinder up and down just fine even when the trim unit is mounted to the motor itself (thought the trim motor might be weak but it's not).

I don't have the solenoids that you're referring to. At least not that I can tell. The only solenoid I know I have is the starter solenoid. Instead, I have a black junction box on the exhaust cover, about 3" by 6" with what appears to be two relays inside. Each relay has 5 pins on them. I removed and checked both relays and they tested good as far as I can tell. But one test required I reinstall the relays then check voltage and that's where they test bad. I'm getting 12v to the junction box itself at the positive lead, on both sides of the j-box (I probably need to re-check the blue and green wires in the j-box just to make sure those wires are good). But like I said, when I check for voltage going into the relays, I get nothing yet if I hit the trim switch, I can hear clicking. It's quite possible I'm doing the tests wrong but the manual was pretty straightforward: attach pos lead from voltmeter to the pos side of the relay and the neg lead to the neg side and check for 12v current (not verbatim but that's the gist of what the manual said). I checked for tightness at the connections and they were tight but my guess is I have weak/bad connection(s) somewhere or bad relays. Or both

Re: Another tilt/trim question

One other question...is there a way to ohm test the tilt/trim switch itself? The "up" switch seems to be a bit flaky to me. By that I mean, I have to press the switch pretty hard before I can hear the clicking. Is this normal for OMC motors?

Re: Another tilt/trim question

I have the same motor and I am trying to troubleshoot the same problem. The trim works on and off, I replace both relays and the trim motor. Still having trouble with it cutting in and out. It has to be a bad connection, because if I move the wires the trim will work. My questions is how do the wires connect to the female end of the relays as I will probably end up replacing all of the wires.