trim fault

[torcano]

I have a SeaRay Sundancer with a Mercruiser Bravo III. The engine is the 5.0 liter, 260 HP, MPI. Everytime I get on plane I get an audibile alarm and message that reads "trim fault" I can't find anything in the SeaRay owner's manual that explains what this means. Does anyone know what this means? The boat seems to handle well and stays on plane.
Thanks.

 

[Don S]

Re: trim fault

What is the year and SN of your engine?

 

[torcano]

Re: trim fault

2004. Serial Number is: (P) 0W014028

 

[torcano]

Re: trim fault

year 2004, SSN is (P) 0W014028
Any information?
Thanks

 

[dcg9381]

Re: trim fault

SeaRay specific deal... Contact your dealer.

 

[SteveRay]

Re: trim fault

I have the same issue with my '05 4.3 MPI Merc.
Something to do with smartcraft or the trim sensor???​

 

[Don S]

Re: trim fault

It is NOT a SeaRay spcific problem. SeaRay has nothing to do with the trim of the drive, that is all Mercruiser.
I found a couple of Trim problems, but the were Trim Ckt Hi or Lo. and is a sensor problem.
But nothing that says "Trim Fault" What gauge are you reading this on, and be specific as Smartcraft has several different sytems available.

 

[SteveRay]

Re: trim fault

Don,
I think the 04's and 05's shared the same guages....I know mine displays the Smartcraft in a small LCD rectangular lower portion of the tach/speedo. I have the manual but it doesn't say what the model or fault is either.​

 

[torcano]

Re: trim fault

Mine appears exactly as SteveRay describes. The word "trim fault" appeard as a LED wording in that little rectangular window. I raised both of my trims to the up position and did not receive that warning yesterday. I have asked around and nobdy seems to know what this means. Somebody obvioulsy programed these words into the smartcraft guage. I can't understand why my smartcraft manual would not list this warning.
RK

 

[Don S]

Re: trim fault

As I ask in post #7

What gauge are you reading this on, and be specific as Smartcraft has several different sytems available.

 

[jryan15]

Re: trim fault

I am also getting "trim fault" errors on my 2004 sea ray 220. It happens sporadically as I'm going WOT getting ready to plane. Each time it happened with the lower unit trimmed fully down.

The speedometer has a small LED display which reads "Trim Fault". There is also an audible beep indicating the fault condition. The trim would not respond in the up position while in this fault condition. As the boat planed out, the fault would clear itself....

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[torcano]

Re: trim fault

I called Mercruiser and they told me there most likely a problem with the sender unit. To repair/replace it you have to take off the sterndrive and remove the bellows which is a big job. I'm going to wait for the end of the season when the sterndrive comes off for storage. Does your trim indicator guage work? Mine does not.

 

[jryan15]

Re: trim fault

yes, my trim indicator does work. i'm new to this boat and i can say that the travel of the needle on the indicator seems somewhat softer (for lack of a better word) than i am used to... it is also the 1st boat with a trailering mode as well...

 

[torcano]

Re: trim fault

If you go to the Mercruiser web page, there is some contact information. They have a technical support section. If you learn that this warming may be due to something other than a faulty sender unit, please post it. The warning sound is annoying even though I see no effect on my boat's performance.
RK

 

[jryan15]

Re: trim fault

I am thrilled to say that this problem is now fixed!

I called Mercruiser technical support again to go through the problem. After describing it again, the rep said that I should try readjusting the sending unit mechanism. He said that the ohm reading with the lower unit lowered should be around 17 ohms. When I checked mine, it was something in the neighborhood of 200 ohms... After I reset the switch and recalibrated the smart craft unit, all is well!

It should be known that I bought a repair manual for my engine/out drive model, and it really didn't help much at all! It didn't give ohm readings for lower/raised... Nonetheless, I am glad to have it as a reference...

This link is a good reference for the procedure from mercstuff.com, but more detail is required for those of us with smart craft gauges with digital trim readouts.

After reading the instructions, I did the following.

CALIBRATE TRIM SENDING UNIT
1. Located the wires coming out of the out drive label trim sender (or something of that sort).
2. Disconnected them and connect an ohmmeter to the wires that go back to the switch (into the out drive).
3. Set the meter to ohms and read the ohms reading as I raised the out drive.
4. After confirming that the reading was working, I lowered the out drive and noted that the resistance (ohms) was at ~200ohms. The merc rep recommended that it be set to 17 ohms.
5. I loosened the switch and rotated it to get the reading to 17 ohms and retightened.
6. Connected the wires back together and turned the key on to let smart craft fire up.
7. I raised and lowered the trim and found that now instead of reading from 0.0-10.0 degrees (0.0 = lowered, 10.0 = raised but not trailering position), my gauge was reading 0.1 lowered to 11.0 raised. Doh! I needed to recalibrate the smart craft gauge...


CALIBRATE SMART CRAFT GAUGE
1. Refer to the Smartcraft SC1000 Manual
2. Follow the calibration instructions on page 27 and 28.
3. That's it. Test the setup by raising and lowering the out drive. You should read 0.0 when lowered and 10.0 when raised.


Since I've done this, I not had a trim fault. I've been out on the lake ~5 time since making the change.

I hope that this write up helps and good luck!

 

[SteveRay]

Re: trim fault

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kudos to you my friend. I am winterizing today and just might try the fix or at least have something to prepare for in the Spring!