Hydraulics not working..

[jmorgan87]

The ram's have been extended for 4+years, with plastic covers on them, and also taking the weight of the out drive off the ram's themselves.

The throttle has two buttons on it, I assumed top was for 'up' and bottom for 'down'. However, the top button does nothing. No noise, no click, no anything to the hydraulic motor in the back of the boat. Completely dead. The bottom button makes the motor kick in which sounds normal. At first I though this might be the problem, that only 'down' is working and I need to figure out why the raise button isn't functioning.....but when looking at the dash there is a 'Outboard Tilt' switch. Up/Off/Down?

Am I missing something? Do you use the two buttons on the throttle to go up/down, or do you just use the bottom button and choose whether to go up/down with the switch on the console?

http://jmorgan.me/boat/tilt.jpg
http://jmorgan.me/boat/throttle.jpg

You can lift the out drive up/down by yourself, without lifting it falls completely down. The pump is kicking on though when pressing the down button. I took the screw off the top of the reservoir and see oil inside. I think the first step is to bleed the system, to see if it's just air causing the problem.

So if the top/bottom button the throttle is for trim what is the switch on the dash for? And if the switch on the dash is used in conjunction with the bottom button on the throttle what is the top for?

Also.. if the out drive is completely lowered with a working out drive hydraulic system, can you pick the drive up and lift/extend the rams by hand? or when lowered is there pressure to keep the rams from extending? Basically trying to figure out if there is any significance to the fact I can lift the out drive up/down by hand right now, or if it would behave that way on a 'working' systems that was completely lowered.

 

[jmorgan87]

Re: Hydraulics not working..

I have a dual solenoid solution I believe per the service manual I found.

It appears both buttons on the throttle are intended, and the switch may be what allows it to be put in true 'trailer' mode? Where as other boats I had, the button was a double click to go to trailer.

Is that correct?

 

[Don S]

Re: Hydraulics not working..

Boats don't normally have 2 switches like that. Do both work?

 

[Doernuth]

Re: Hydraulics not working..

This may be a stupid suggestion but is the reservoir full of fluid?

No fluid means no pressure and no resistance to manually moving drive up or down, also wont stay up with no pressure.

 

[jmorgan87]

Re: Hydraulics not working..

Yes, it appears full of fluid.

Don - I found the merc 260 manual for 1979 and there is a diagram of a dual solenoid setup. If I am reading correct, the dash is the 'trim limit switch'. To raise it beyond 17 degrees from down, for trailering, you have to hold it up while raising pressing up on the throttle switch.



http://jmorgan.me/boat/hyd.jpg

I'm used to a toggle switch on other boats for trim. Down for down, up for up, and a second click 'up' to trailer... apparently this one is a bit different.

I think the first place to start, since the 'down' button engages the motor is to check/replace the up solenoid since they are different.

Still curious, if the down solenoid had completely lowered the unit. Would one be able to lift the unit/up down? When resting down, is there any pressure keeping the rams closed. Or can one extend/close the rams by lifting the out drive? If so, that would add more encouragement this might be as simple as the up solenoid being bad.

Also going to try and bypass the trim limit switch, incase it's bad and preventing the 'up' button from even making it to the solenoid. As well, try from the solenoid itself, etc..