OMC out drive stuck down.

[Phantom17]

Hey all, the OMC 400 outdrive on my Cobia is stuck down. I got home from the river yesterday, put it down to flush the river water out, and now it won't go up. Plenty of battery, solenoids "click once" when raising and lowering the switch (in both directions). Any suggestions on raising it (so I can move it), or ways to check things out before I take the outdrive off.........I really don't want to have to go there. <br /><br />(BTW it was working fine except that once in a while when in the down position, you had to "jiggle" the toggle switch to get it to go back up). Thanks

 

[vipzach]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Check all your wires, are they clean and tight? That is the easiest thing to start with. I would not go taking your outdrive off when you could have a just tightened up a wire or replaced a solenoid!

 

[Mahoney]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Same with mine. Just for the crap of it, there is an accesory swithc on my dash I switched to raise and lower my drive. Got the click before switchg, then after switching it went up.

 

[wvit100]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

My trim button isn't working quite right either. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It will go down but not up, I have to use the trailer button to get the drive to go up. I think it probably got some corrosion over the winter and needs cleaned. Only thing is they make it hard to get to the switch, think they want you to just buy a new handle for $150. I need to work on it this week.

 

[vipzach]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Hey wvit100, will your up not work when it is sitting on the trailer? I thought mine was broken and could only use the trailer button. As it turns out I have to lower the front of the trailer to get my drive low enough to use the trim up button. Check that before you go to the trouble of checking the switch.

 

[KaGee]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

No need to remove the drive on a Stringer.<br /><br />Remove the tilt quadrant gear. Lift up the drive and support it on something while you troubleshoot. <br /><br />Do what Vipzach said on the wiring. The tilt motor has a ground wire attached to the bellhousing... check that out too... a good place for corrosion.

 

[Phantom17]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Vipzach, seems all tight. held my hand on the side of the solenoid to see if I could figure which was which (thers 4), and they all felt the same when the switch is activated.<br /><br />Mahoney, what accessory switch? Did I miss something rediculously stoopid?!?!?!<br /><br />wvit100, what trailer button?<br /><br />Elaborate on the "trailer up" thought? Am I to beleive that the angle (or level) of the boat on the trailer could cause this problem?<br /><br />And lastly, I thought of pulling that gear too, to lift it up so I could take it to be fixed, (if I cant do it myself). The Clymers book says I have to remove the outdrive to get to the motor which is mounted to the intermediate housing. On the other hand it also tells me in a different chapter I can disconnect the wiring from it from inside the boat, behind the flywheel and near the gas tank..my arms arn't that skinny!!!!!<br /><br />Thanks to you all, hope to get the problem fixed quickly!-Jeff

 

[Mahoney]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

you will have to remove the outdrive to get the motor off(will never be able to remove that motor with the wieght of the outdrive on the gears), and those 3 bolts that hold the outdrive to that tilt gear were a royal Pain in the arse for me. <br /><br />I don't know if the accesory switch did it for me or not, but you wouldn't be the first one to have problems with this. It is most likely an electrical connection, one thing I have done in the past, is to connect the garden hose and actually start the motor then try and engage the trim.<br /><br />You are only supposed to tilt those old OMC's for emergencys while running and only recomend it as a last resort. if you feel it is engaging, shut the engine down and try to lower it the rest of the way.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Originally posted by KaGee:<br /> Remove the tilt quadrant gear. Lift up the drive and support it on something while you troubleshoot.

Do have a propane torch handy. Heat the casting around the bolt holes in both the IM housing and the tilt quadrant. Heat it just short of discoloring the paint before you undo the bolts. Be sure to clean off bolt threads and casting threads and greeeeze up the bolts before re-installing.<br /><br />NOTE: you do not have to do this just to pull out the tilt motor. Just disconnect the power lead and back off the two thru bolts on the motor. The gear box will hold the drive in position, up or down.

 

[Phantom17]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

By accesory switch are you talking the up down button on the dash? I get a single click each way when activating the switch either up or down. <br /><br />The drive is down, if I pull that gear, how do I get inside to the tilt motor? Is there room enough to squeeze an arm with tools inside and upward to replace the tilt motor? If I pull the gear, lift the drive, and have it held, can I re-install the gear in the up position, or is there a groove that wont allow the gear to be bolted to the shaft? I am mechanically inclined, but have not had one of these apart before, hence the "shortest" (but complete) route possible works for me!

 

[Phantom17]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Oh and one last thing, I did lift the outdrive while it was running with the hose. But again, it worked, then up, then down, then when I finished, up, then down again before kaput.....

 

[Boomyal]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Originally posted by jh19:<br /> Oh and one last thing, I did lift the outdrive while it was running with the hose. But again, it worked, then up, then down, then when I finished, up, then down again before kaput.....

First of all you should NEVER raise the drive with the motor running. You could actually break the ball gears and put great stress on the bearings on both sides. The outdrive should never be raised more that a few degrees, for emergency shallow water situations, while running.<br /><br />You do NOT have to remove the lift quadrant to pull the drive motor. Just get down on your knees, with your double articulated forarms, remove the two thru bolts, hold the motor pieces together and remove. The thru bolts also hold the motor together so try to hold it together once you undo the bolts.<br /><br />I have to remove a rear seat panel to get to mine. After that I have reasonable access to the tilt motor behind the rear motor mount.

 

[Phantom17]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Thanks for the warning on lifting while running, I did only lift it less than 5, 10 degrees max. I tried reaching in but the tank and flywheel are in the way, or at least the bell housing around/near the flywheel. I pulled the seatbacks out, and the "wood" panel, but couldn't even find the wire connections as I am not gumby. Seems like alot of bs to get to such a small and important motor. <br /><br />Can you suggest other than removing the gear, a way to lift the drive so I can further investigate. have not tried jumping on the solenoids as It's hard to tell which is which. I did use a test lamp and got juice both up and down on the two wires (blue/white stripe, green/white stripe) between the solenoids and motor, after the connector (my first thought was the connector was corroded.

 

[G. Arruda]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Jh,I had a simular problem. Check all the wiring, pay particular attn. to the BIG (50a??) rubber inline fuse holder near the solenoids, it's got a metal clamp on it, check the fuse and holder for corrosion etc. Also, check the wires coming off the switch, pull off the plastic cover on the throttle lever and take a look at the "very" small wires, it is a farvorite place for them to chafe and short.Hope this helps.<br />Gary

 

[Boomyal]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Originally posted by jh19:<br /> Can you suggest other than removing the gear, a way to lift the drive so I can further investigate.

Lifting the OD will not help you diagnose the problem. The tilt motor has a 6" pigtail terminating in a white nylon connector. Find the wires coming down to the motor, disconnect the connector and check for juice at the harness connector. The motor is bi-polar so each lead, in the connector would have voltage depending on the position of the switch. If ya have juice, ya got a tilt motor problem.<br /><br />Basically you have to do what you need to do to get back to the inside of the transom.<br /><br />

 

[Boatist]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

JH19<br />It is not clear to me which drive your have.<br />Is it a OMC Series 400 stringer 1985 and before??<br />Or is it a OMC Cobra 1985 and newer??<br /><br />From most of your post sounds more like the OMC Series 400 Stringer 1985 and older. If so it will have seperate trim and tilt switches.<br /><br />Many thing can cause this drive not to lift so do the simple checks first.<br /><br />1: There will be two 50 amp fuses on the starboard side near the starter. One of these fuses will supply power to the tilt solenoid pick line, so if you here it click that fuse is ok. The other fuse supplies power the the contacts on the Solenoid, so it would still click but no power in or out of the contacts.<br /><br />2: The tilt clutch on the port side outside the transom could be full of water instead of Engine oil. Pull the drain and fill plugs and drain. Refill from the bottom with engine oil.<br /><br />3: The outdrive pivot pins may not have been greased so you have a mechincal bind. On mine I greased twice a year but still grease did not get to the back side of the bearings and drive would not rise but it would lower. You can lift on the bottom of the drive while someone tries the switch. If this is the problem you will have to pull the two pivot caps off then the bushing and clean and grease. Note how the bushing is on as it can be installed wrong and cause big problems. Also make sure the zert fittings on each side are open so new grease can get in. After I greased mine it will rise in less than 3 seconds. If you do remove the 1/4 round lift gear then you can rise the drive by hand and see if it binds up. Also can see if small gear turn with no load.<br /><br />4: Tilt motor inside the transom on the lower port side can have bad brushes bad bearing or be burnt up.<br /><br />5: Tilt switch can be bad but if you here click of the solenoid then it is Good. The solenoid could have bad contacts or the battery voltage could be low.<br /><br />Good Luck

 

[jonmurr]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

If your tilt motor checks out ok, like mine did, there are some nylon thrust washers in the worm section of the tilt assembly that wear or dry up and crack and allow it to bind with no pattern. Mine would fly up and down one time and stick the next. Very frustrating. Your nearist Bombardier dealer can still get these, though getting a parts book and having the numbers when you call I would recommend, as many places are indifferent to owners of old stuff. I am lucky, my dealer is cool with my tinkering. Good luck.<br />Jon

 

[Manipulator]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Had the same problem with mine and still do. It seems the thing gets binded due to the weight of the unit. If someone stands in back and gives it a little push it seems that is enough to get it to engage.

 

[Phantom17]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

Thanks, I did get juice between the plastic connector and the tilt motor (when activating the dash switch), so the solenoids, switch and fuses are out. Electrically I have narrowed it down to the motor. The other two solenoids are for the trim which works fine.<br /><br />The Clutch box did drip about 2 drops of oil, which is kind of milky when I pulled the inlet screw, I'll try that, but would that cause this to completely stop working? Looks like I am going to find a way to get at that motor..........

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: OMC out drive stuck down.

I know on my OMC cobra...I had low tilt trim fluid and it wouldn't go up...topped off and it worked. I don't know your setup to know if this is a possibility.<br /><br />-JustMrWill