Trim gauge off?

lrdchaos

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Messages
265
Trim gauge worked at the end of last year. However after having the drive pulled to check the alignment and having it pulled again due to a gear lube leak the gauge reads half way down when the drive is in the up position. When I lower the drive the gauge bottoms out and shows that the drive is completely down. Is there an easy way to check/fix the gauge?
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,963
Also, look for corrosion on the rheostat that s the trim sender. The copper can make bad contact giving an incorrect reading.

BTW- it is best to trim the drive by sound and feel. It is easier and more accurate than a gauge.
 

poconojoe

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
1,966
So looking for instruction do I just loosen the two screws on the sender and twist? Is there a video somewhere?
You should post exactly what you have for more exact instructions. Is it a Mercruiser? Alpha1? Gen1,2? Is it a bravo? And there are others.

I've done it on my alpha1 gen 2 Mercruiser, but it's been a while. I went by the Mercruiser repair manual. It was a specific procedure.
And yes, if it's similar to mine, it is done by loosening the two screws on the puck and rotating the puck.
There are two pucks, one on either side. One is for the trim gauge and the other is the trim limit. You should adjust both to make sure they are within specs, especially the trim limit. I think the trim limit is much more important. If you run your engine with the drive trimmed up too far, you could damage your u-joints due to the severe angle. That's why you should never run your engine while the drive is in the trailer (up all the way) position.

Someone will surely chime in and give you the exact procedure for both.
 

alldodge

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
42,346
The gauge sender is on the starboard side of the drive.
With drive full down. loosen the 2 screws and turn key ON
Turn sender watching the gauge.
Turn it till it comes off the full down and starts coming up, then turn back down until it just reaches bottom. Snug screws and trim the drive to see how it looks.
 
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