Tilt and trim issues

mkeleher

Seaman
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
58
Model- 1989 Johnson 100gt j100stlcem

Needing some help with my tilt and trim motor on my Johnson outboard. So here is the deal. One day I was tilting the motor up to put the lock down. i got the motor all the way up, put the lock down and hit the tilt and trim switch to go down and nothing. Hit the switch to go up and nothing. The up and down relays are clicking and sending volts down to the lift motor but the motor isn't moving the hydraulics up or down. So i thought I would cover all the bases and buy 2 new relays and a new 2 wire tilt and trim motor. Installed the new lift motor and relays. Now that I have a new lift motor at least it responds in the down position, but will only click when you hit the up position button. Here is the interesting part to me, when I switch the blue wire and green wire around to the connector coming from the outboard, as long as I hit the down trim button, i will tell it to go up, if I switch the wire back, and I hit the down tilt button it will tell it to go down. I'm lost on the next stage to get my tilt and trim working correctly again. If I need to give any more information please let me know From one boater to another, can someone please help me solve this problem?
 

boat1010

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
781
Re: Tilt and trim issues

I'm not that familiar with outboards but should work pretty much the same as an inboard. I am not sure what you are taking about when you say it is clicking. Is there power going to the motor? Then after getting a new motor you say that you can reverse the wires and make it go up and down. That just sounds like the trim button is not working in the up mode Is there a "trailer" button? On my outboard the lower unit will only go up so far then you have to hit the trailer button for it to go the rest of the way up.
 

mkeleher

Seaman
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
58
Re: Tilt and trim issues

What I mean by "CLICKING" is the relays are clicking. There is power going from the outboard to the lift motor because the lift motor responds when you hit the down button. When you hit the up switch, the relay just "CLICKS". I thought if the up button switch wasnt working the relay would not respond? Is that correct? Also, I can switch the wires around coming from the lift motor to the connector terminal and take the motor up or down. If I put the green and blue wires in their correct positions in the blue and green connector terminal, it only physically responds to the down button. By the way, thank you for attempting to help me with this problem. Good to see there is still good helping people in the world
 

boat1010

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
781
Re: Tilt and trim issues

It's the "clicking" that I am concerned about.. If there is power going to the motor it will run. Just because the "relay" clicks does not mean that there is voltage going to the motor.
 

mkeleher

Seaman
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
58
Re: Tilt and trim issues

Tested and there is volts going to the motor both when you hit the up and down button.
 

RRitt

Captain
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
3,319
Re: Tilt and trim issues

hot wire the motor directly to a battery.
if your system works properly when hot wired then the wiring is messed up.
if the system doesn't work when hotwired then the motor and/or hydraulics are messed up.
 

bobbarone56

Cadet
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
12
Re: Tilt and trim issues

It sounds to me like you may have a bad connection from the up relay to the tilt motor even though you tested voltage you could still have 12 volts but not the amperage to actually spin the motor i would find the blue wire or green wire which ever is supposed to work the up function and trace it to the relay looking for loose connections corrosion ect if you cant find a obvious wire prob take a wire of proper gauge and make the connection from the relay to the tilt motor with out routing the wire through the harness and see if it works then do the same with the power wire feeding that relay. from relay back to the battery i suspect you have a bad connection or possibly a bad relay see when you hit the trim button you have a low amp circuit turning that relay on the relay actually makes the heavy amp load connection to the motor through its heavier contacts. good luck let us know what you find
 

RRitt

Captain
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
3,319
Re: Tilt and trim issues

2w power trim does not have common ground. both positive and negative are switched through relays in order ot change direction. hot wire the motor and see if it works before you start chasing ghosts.
 

boat1010

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
781
Re: Tilt and trim issues

Obviously the motor works. when he switches the wires around it works the motor. That was why I was asking about the "relay" something from the relay is not letting the voltage get to the motor from the up button. So I was thinking that it was the push button for the up trim. because if the wires are reversed and just using the down button it will go up and down.
 

RRitt

Captain
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
3,319
Re: Tilt and trim issues

The fastest and most reliable way to troubleshoot a trim system is hot wire the motor and confirm that the system works before starting in any potential tail chasing exercises. Once that is confirmed then you hook up a Volt meter across the two motor leads. It should show +12v for up and -12v for down. If it does not show proper voltage then you go to relay outputs and measure again. If it shows correct in one direction but not the other then it is probably as switch or wiring problem. If it does not show in both directions then it is probably a fuse, battery connection, or engine ground problem.
 

coxwk

Recruit
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
4
Re: Tilt and trim issues

I recently had this exact problem (except it was trimmed all the way down) and it was the motor. When I hot wired it I got sparks, etc. I have since replaced the motor and all is working fine except as noted in a post I made earlier today about the binnacle switch.

Now the cause: I have worked on starter type motors for many years and I've never had one do what this one did. When I took the old motor apart I found that one of the armature windings had broken loose and jammed between the armature and the field magnet:confused:. I have no idea why it happened or how I was able to trim it down when I put the boat in the shed. I discovered it about two weeks after I had trimmed it down when I was going to trim up to replace the lower unit oil.
 

mkeleher

Seaman
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
58
Re: Tilt and trim issues

Thank you everyone for your input. Me and the father in law will give it a closer look this weekend. Once we find the answer to the problem I'll let y'all know
 

Danieljwalker

Recruit
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
1
Re: Tilt and trim issues

Hi guys, I am having a similar problem with my Johnson 150 (BJ150GLEOD) outboard. I have a new battery coincidentally installed yesterday. The engine turns over fine but I cannot get the outboard to lift down. The relays "click" when I press down or up and very intermittently I can hear the engine wirr (either direction) but 99% of the time nothing. I haven't tested the voltage on the motor yet but I would say there is power there since the motor came on once or twice.

Is this most likely a faulty "switch" and if so how is the best way to determine whether it is this or the wiring/battery?

I'm very new with engines so please be kind....
thanks so much
Daniel
 
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