1988 85HP Force Tilt/Trim Stuck in Down Position

[neil1700]

I have a 1988 85HP Force engine with hydraulic tilt/trim. I went to put my boat in the water last night before I came home from the cottage but my tilt/trim did not work and the engine is stuck in the down position. I can't trailer it anywhere or there will be sparks flying and I probably won't have much of a working engine when I get where I'm going. The motor would click once when the switch was engaged but then nothing would happen. I am going back up north this weekend to look at it better. Is there anything that I should specifically be looking for? I also heard there is a release for most tilt/trim systems so that I can lift the motor manually if need be. If there is one for this engine where would this be located?

Thank you for your help,

Neil

 

[RRitt]

Re: 1988 85HP Force Tilt/Trim Stuck in Down Position

If it were me, I would take a $10 pair of relays with me in hopes of boating instead of fixing. Plug in a new pair of relays and see what happens. If it isn't fixed then hot wire the motor to a battery. Blue on positive is up. Flip polarity for down. If it doesn't run when hotwired then swap out pump assy for new one. I assume that your valve body is still original. In which case it is a lot cheaper and easier in long run to just get the whole pump replaced or rebuilt (motor + valve body = pump assembly). They usually fail within a year or two of each other. Every time you service it you lose a weekend on the water and risk stripping out the soft aluminum threads. in the long run doing both at once saves more than the extra $100 it costs. So put in relays and hope in works. If not, then hotwire it and hope it works. If not then swap out whole pump ay.