mercury tilt wont go down help!

[bass5473]

Just bought a 1977 ranger with 115 merc. Been checking everything over and changing gas and such over last couple weeks. All tilt worked great till I took it to lake today it is stuck up and wont come down. I tried turning release knob all the way to right as it says but it didn't work. The tilt motor does come on in both directions but will not move down I even tried pushing down but didn't work. Any ideas would be great! Sooo frustrating!

 

[Fed up]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

Ok if your pump is working there is a catch on the transom bracket that will keep the motor up for trailering. There is supposed to be a spring on it to keep it out of the way, but that could be gone.

Just something to look at.

 

[bass5473]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

Yea I did see that it is out of the way. It worked one minute and then nxt it didnt

 

[bass5473]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

Does anyone know of a manual release on this motor itself?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

I am presuming you have a Merc PTT unit with the pump and resevoir in the baot.

If the motor was placed in the up position by the PTT unit, it will not lower via the manual release. Check the transom bracket to triple clamp clearance. There is a manual tilt lock (looks like a dog-eared piece of steel) that can jam the triple clamp to the transom bracket.

If that is not it, you will need to loosen one of the larger PTT hoses at the pump and the motor will go down as it sprays oil all over the boat.

 

[monk-monk]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

bass, that manual release knob is for emergency use...if the pump would fail when the boat motor was in the DOWN position, you turn that knob CW to release the DOWN pressure so that the engine can be manually raised for trailering...otherwise, the knob should always be in the full CCW position. NOW, here is some things that might be going on...it is possible that the manual release mechanism assembly has failed, the result of that would be no down pressure to push the engine down...the fluid will just circulate through the pump section and control valve and never reach the rams...then, and more than likely, the spool has hung up in the pump cavitation section....troubleshooting this is not easy unless you have a set of gauges...the first step is to isolate the pump, then do a complete PSI test to determine what section has failed...like i said, " 8 out of 10 of these pumps have defects in the DOWN cycle"...

 

[Gomer50]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

This might sound stupid but hey you never know.Do you have enough fluid in the resevoir?On mine I have on each piston a tiny screw at the top.I have loosened them and down she goes.Oil does go everywhere.

 

[monk-monk]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

The reservoir shall be filled with 5W30 oil with the engine in the UP position....this eliminates the possibility of low fluid level in the reservoir..

 

[monk-monk]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

.....this eliminates the theory of low fluid level in the reservoir when the engine is in the DOWN position....also, these pumps have a "soft seat", spring pressurized relief valve, in the pump cavitation section...it controls DOWN pressure...if it hangs, and will not release, then the UP pressure bleed-off suffers...if you "free" that relief valve, UP pressure will hold strong...but then, DOWN pressure will not hold...fluid will pass by that relief valve because the stem of it gets corroded, and when you clean it to stop it from hanging...the fluid gets by that over-clearance where the corrosion was removed...

 

[bass5473]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

Thanks for all the info. I will be working on it on Friday and I will have update. Thanks again for all the help

 

[bass5473]

Re: mercury tilt wont go down help!

Well here is the update. Just got home this morning took transom saver of and pushed trim button and went down and back up just fine? Could it have been raised to high? I know my transom saver is a little too long because I have to put motor all the way up and then pull up manually to get it on? Any ideas?