1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

[jabroni1m]

So I have searched the forums and found several posts about the trim not trimming up or down and people talk about manually moving it up and then filling it up with oil, then moving it up and down to get the air out. I have tried to lift the motor up, with the release valve closed as well as open, but cannot get it to lift even with 2 men lifting and using the up trim button. Am I doing something wrong or is there something more serious wrong? It seems to be able to lower no problem and when pressing the up button, it sorta moves about a mm or so but doesn't lift and the motor sounds weak. If I loosen the relief valve, it sounds loud and normal again trying to lift, but won't. Also I cannot see any way to add fluid without it being raised up all the way as the motor is blocking the fill cap. Thanks for any help, Michael

 

[jabroni1m]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

So after more hours of googling, it seems like everyone can just lift their motor no problem after the release screw has been unscrewed 2 or so turns so does that mean my haudraulic ram is seized somehow?

 

[Maxz695]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

Opening the screw is allowing the hydrolic lock to release, allowing it to flow. Much like bleeding the calipers on a car break system. After you open the valve the cylinder you can turn the pump on until fluid starts to flow out the piston , close the valve. see if the engine raises somewhat. If you have had it up and then it goes down but not up as I think you said then you have to bleed out the air in the cylinder. It is airborne. why it,s airborne may be due to a leaky line leaking piston bad pump. if there is a leak you will Not be able to bleed the system you must find the leak and repair it. Is the pump oil tank seperate with a line or lines from the pump to the cylinder? if so undo the line and then to lift the engine. If this is the one pison connected to the pump remove the bleed fitting completely out It may be clogged. If the unit still won,t lift i suspect a frozen cylinder

 

[jabroni1m]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

So I decided to pull the fill plug and the release valve all the way out and just drain the hydraulic oil out. I was then able to lift the motor manually all the way up and lock it in. The problem I am having is that I cannot refill through the fill plug, which in my attachment has the big yellow arrow pointing at it without it just dumping out due to it being so low and angled somewhat toward the ground even though I have the boat angled as far up as will go on the trailer. I also pointed a red arrow toward the air release valve which I opened as well. Anyone have any ideas or can explain what I am doing wrong.

 

[jabroni1m]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

Well a quart of oil later and hours of frustration still no luck. I have tried every possible way I can think of to fill it up but it just empties back out the fill hole as it is at the bottom of the darn pump. I tried pushing the up trim button while filling, tried pushing the down trim button while filling. Tried to just fill it. Any other ideas or is there something very basic that I am missing?

 

[jabroni1m]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[huntsman.45]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

I think you said that the motor sounded fine and it would go down a little bit. If that is the case have you replaced or removed the trim motor. There is a small drive shaft between the motor and the actual pump. I bought a replacement motor for mine and used the drive shaft suggested. I had the same symptons. I finally took the longer shaft and shortened it a little bit to make it just a little longer than the intermediate size shaft. It worked like a champ.

I think what was happening was when it would build a little pressure on the up movement, it would push the short shaft up out of the pump, allowing the motor to spin, but the cylinder would not move up. I would open valve and lift the engine, fill the pump. It would go down a bit then stop, bump the down switch and it would go down in short burst.

 

[RRitt]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

Your symptoms sound like the tip of your manual release broke off and is now stuck inside the pump. If so, then it won't work right until it is rebuilt. A new manual release won't fix it because the old tip will still be jammed up in there somewhere. Remove the manual release plug completely and post a picture of it and I can tell you if that is your problem.

regarding oil fill. the reservoir only holds a little at a time. It would be extremely difficult to fill a system after it is attached to a motor. You would have to lift and block into place. then run trim down against block while filling. this would displace a lot of the air. then run up against stops wile filling. this displaces more air. Problem is that without lowering you can't displace all the air. But if the system is too low on fluid then it will never come back up.

More realistically regarding oil. It was full last year. It should be full this year. If the oil drained out on its own then the system has a leak and is broken. If the oil did not drain out then it should have worked. If it had oil but quit working then it is broken. So either way - it sounds broken.

If its broken -
Yours is a 3w setup. You will need the rocker arm style pump. The mercury part number is 809901A2. The other style pump - aka yellow filler plug - will not fit underneath your motor. I don't think you can buy the rocker arm pump from mercury anymore and you may have to get yours rebuilt ($200-$250) or convert to a 2w motor setup ($400-$500ish). If you convert, then I'd stay away from the $160 chinese motors. They don't last very long.

 

[jabroni1m]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

Good call on the manual release valve tip being broke off. I pulled it out and it only has 2 of the 3 o rings. The 3rd one and where it would go is missing and you can feel it and its obvious it is broke. I ordered a new one and will wait for it to arrive to break the motor apart and see if I can fix it myself. If i'm removing the reservoir from the bottom with the bottom 4 bolts, will there be any kind of springs that are going to go flying or is that just up top in the motor section? In my picture you can see 4 bolts at the top which open the top of the motor, then toward the bottom there are 4 more which I'm assuming pulls the shaft part of the motor out of the reservoir an pump? Am I correct and how hard is it to get it apart and back together correctly.

 

[RRitt]

Re: 1997 115hp mariner wont trim up, motor sounds fine.

your problem is going to be getting the broken pieces out without damaging the aluminum. Your trim system will not work right until all of the old bits & pieces are removed. There is also a decent chance that your trim limit spool is rusted and once you split the ram then you may need a new spool.

If you have a yellow filler plug (late model 2w) then it will be easier because it has a debris filter. You won't have to worry about a piece of plastic being jammed into the passegeway behind the spool.

If you have a black filler plug (rocker arm pump) then you may have debris that got pumped down into the manifold. The rocker arm design does not have a debris filter and if plastic gets jammed behind the spool then the rocker won't operate properly. Pipe cleaners, parts washers, and air compressors are a big help.