How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115

simplesolid

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I brought a 88 Johnson, the guy said it was a 115 but Johnson didn't make a 115 that year so I dunno. I have the engine wired however I don't know what to do with the tilt.

This guy has a separate switch for the tilt I think it's a 3way switch. I figure out the power (up/down) and ground cables. However I have another 2 cables that are separate from the 3 cable wire that I don't know where it goes. There is also an external solenoid that was used in the setup before which I have no idea how to hook it up. The switch itself has 3 long wires.

I know the thick cable is the power but what about the 2 thin cables?
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
 

bob johnson

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115

pictures would help

they had 2 wires setups and three wires setups....

you are not sure of the year..( whats the model number on the tag?)

so it is going to be hard to answer....plus there are wires to trim imdicators that dont power the unit up or down...

I have a 1988 70 hp and think they used the same trim unit for my 70 as they did for many V4s.

two wires green and blue run to the unit...

bob
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115

pictures would help

they had 2 wires setups and three wires setups....

you are not sure of the year..( whats the model number on the tag?)

so it is going to be hard to answer....plus there are wires to trim imdicators that dont power the unit up or down...

I have a 1988 70 hp and think they used the same trim unit for my 70 as they did for many V4s.

two wires green and blue run to the unit...

bob

I took some pictures. Also the serial number is: J1148804
photo (1).jpg
photo (2).jpg
photo (3).jpg
Thanks for any help.
 

bob johnson

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115

I took some pictures. Also the serial number is: J1148804
View attachment 143883
View attachment 143884
View attachment 143885
Thanks for any help.


the serial number doesnt do us any good...we need the model number.. and the pictures are upside down....??????????????

cant help you like that....once you right the pictures you could tell us what you are taking a picture of.....or add some text to the picture...

bob
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115

the serial number doesnt do us any good...we need the model number.. and the pictures are upside down....??????????????

cant help you like that....once you right the pictures you could tell us what you are taking a picture of.....or add some text to the picture...

bob


Funny I have no idea why the pictures uploaded upside down, they are right side up on my computer. I'll try to send them again.

I found out that they 2 thin wires are for the trim indicator. So now I just need to figure out how to connect the 3 way switch and the 3 wires (up/down/ground) into the solenoid.

I'll add text to the pics and reupload them soon.
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Here is the picture hopefully right side up. I added some text to it as well.

trim.jpg

The model number is: 16AHCXKWB - I searched google for this, but the only result was a seadrive 1.6L but mine is not a seadrive, well unless it was converted.
Thanks for your time.
 

Will Bark

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Joe Reeves answered a question like this last week, hopefully he will chime in and give you the diagram for what you are trying to do. Good luck
 

emdsapmgr

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

OMC used a single solenoid in their 3-wire trim system. The solenoid was used to control the trim motor "up" movement only. That 3 wire motor/system was used until midway through the 1981 model year. At that point, the motor changed to a 2 wire system and the solenoid was replaced by solid state relays. You may find some appropriate wiring diagrams in the first thread or two at the top of the first page of this form.
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

OMC used a single solenoid in their 3-wire trim system. The solenoid was used to control the trim motor "up" movement only. That 3 wire motor/system was used until midway through the 1981 model year. At that point, the motor changed to a 2 wire system and the solenoid was replaced by solid state relays. You may find some appropriate wiring diagrams in the first thread or two at the top of the first page of this form.

Thanks, The original wiring diagram doesn't help much. The original switch was built into the control box. On this outboard the trim control was broken and was replaced by an external 3 way switch.

I'll look again at the diagrams to see if I missed something.
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Something strange happened while I was trying to figure out how to wire the tilt and trim with the 3 way switch.
Whenever I plug the 'up' positive cable into the solenoid it goes down.

If I plug it straight into the battery it goes up. What can cause this?
 

bob johnson

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

well like someone has mentioned there was no 115 hp made in 1988...and since your TRIM solenoid doesnt look anything like the units made in 1988...and since you havent posted a model number that corresponds to an OMC outboard motor...we are left wondering what we are workign with...

since there are several ways to activate a tilt and trim unit....it could have very well been gerry rigged by a previous owner.

got a picture of the motor? and look up that MODEL number. in the early 890s and later they had a pattern to the model numbers to make it easily discernable from other years....like J115SLCCM as an example



bob
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

well like someone has mentioned there was no 115 hp made in 1988...and since your TRIM solenoid doesnt look anything like the units made in 1988...and since you havent posted a model number that corresponds to an OMC outboard motor...we are left wondering what we are workign with...

since there are several ways to activate a tilt and trim unit....it could have very well been gerry rigged by a previous owner.

got a picture of the motor? and look up that MODEL number. in the early 890s and later they had a pattern to the model numbers to make it easily discernable from other years....like J115SLCCM as an example



bob

Bob,

The model number is: 16AHCXKWB - I searched google for this, but the only results I got was for a seadrive 1.6L but mine is not a seadrive, well unless it was converted.
I cant upload pictures because it uploads them upside down even though they are upside up.
 

bob johnson

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

yeah nothing makes sense....at least to me....so......lets see a picture of the motor...or two!!

bob
 

simplesolid

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Skillz248

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Is the red wire from the switch hooked to a hot side on your solenoid? on your wires from the motor, the black cable with the big flat lug will be a ground. if the red wire is hot(small wire) then you can hit your switch and one of the purple or green wire should be hot with the switch pushed up.then you could hook it up to each end of the wires from the motor but this is not good practice as the switch is probably not made to withstand this. in reality you should use a two solenoid setup. you got everything there just need another solenoid and a couple short battery cables.
 

emdsapmgr

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

It looks a lot like an 88 engine. The carb throttle lever slot is typical of that vintage. It's probably a 110 hp engine. You should examine the factory online parts lists for that engine: epc.brp.com. You can see what the factory originally used for the trim box-mounted atop the exhaust bubble at the stern of the engine. You should have a 2-wire trim motor on that year engine. Is that in fact what you have or did someone put a much older 3 wire motor on it? (the original 1988 trim control box won't drive the older motor correctly...)
 

bob johnson

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

ok from the pictures you obviously dont have a seadrive midsection...but your tag with the model number on it, looks like it is for a seadrive motor.

so that would suggest you have a frankenstien motor....in that case you should go on the thinking your TNT unit is from a regualr outboard...and you would need to get a hold of the black box holds the relays and harness for the TNT...

if you want to go with what you have in hand... i cant help you personally...as i have never worked on a seadrive or a relay like the one you have.

if you pick up a 1988 outboard relay, I could walk you through it..i have a few and i have the diagrams...bob
 

simplesolid

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

After hours of trying different wires and different solenoid, I was unable to get it work. So I just hooked everything directly. That is the trim motor to the 3way switch without the solenoid and it works great.

Now my question is, do I even need the solenoid. The wires and 3way switch are holding up pretty well and not getting hot or anything.

emdsapmgr - I think someone replaced the trim motor on this outboard. That would explain the 3way switch and the missing trim controls from the throttle.

Thanks for all the help btw.
 

emdsapmgr

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

It will work the way you have it wired, but: You will need the solenoid. It's the "up" movement that takes all the current. If you continue to use the 3 position switch direct for the up movement, you will burn the up that half of the switch sooner. That solenoid is to take the brunt of the heavy current so that you don't have to replace the trim switch every few months.
 

buildmark

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Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

Re: How to wire the tilt on a 88 Johnson 115 - Fixed pic

fyi, I had problems with the down function on mine and ended up adding a second solenoid for down and it works perfect. mine is a 1979 johnson 100 hp and looks just like yours.
 
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