Trim won't go up only down

[brian1629]

I have a 1995 wellcraft excel with a merc 4.3 V6 the trim won't go up but it will go down! Any suggestions? I don't know anything about this or even how to check the hydraulic fluids. Please help

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Trim won't go up only down

Not familiar with I/O's but on outboards you have 2 relays: an up and a down. First troubleshooting task is to swap the relays. If the problem follows the relay get a new one and for the $10 they cost for OBs get both.

Next would be power to the up relay. Do both relays click (alternately when selected) when you put the trim button in a trim position. If not, after swapping relays, assuming that didn't fix it, did the up relay click when you selected it? If not it has no power which could be a bad trim switch, or a bad connection between the two.

That's about it. Should fix your problem.

Mark

 

[brian1629]

Re: Trim won't go up only down

Thanks Mark! I probably should have added in the factor that my wife didn't put the trim up when she put it on the trailer the last time and it scraped the ground when she pulled it up to strap it to the trailer! It does make the whining noise when you depress on the trim up switch just won't move up unless you move it up by pulling on it by hand, it will however go up with the trim switch depressed. There are no leaks from what I can see and it didn't damage the outboard drive but a scrape on the bottom of it (the fin) there are also no leaks to my knowledge or from what I can see.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Trim won't go up only down

Sounds like it needs trim fluid. The fill will be on the pump/reservoir unit. Use some Dextron III Auto Trans Fluid to fill it up. Now run it thru several up/down "bleeding" cycles (helping it by hand, if necessary), letting it sit in the up position (for 5 min) until the air bubbles out of the PTT fluid. Block it up if necessary, during the bleeding.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Trim won't go up only down

Sounds like it needs trim fluid. The fill will be on the pump/reservoir unit. Use some Dextron III Auto Trans Fluid to fill it up. Now run it thru several up/down "bleeding" cycles (helping it by hand, if necessary), letting it sit in the up position (for 5 min) until the air bubbles out of the PTT fluid. Block it up if necessary, during the bleeding.

Butting in, if overstepping I apologize. My Merc manual, for my outboard says replace with what you see in the reservoir. One would assume that the systems operate similarly so to me, no reason Merc. OB reasoning wouldn't apply to Merc. I/O systems. If red fluid in yours, do as Chris says. If clear, use Quicksilver PTT fluid....WW has it.

Mark

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Trim won't go up only down

Mark is right. Refill with whatever is already in it. However, Dextron II is widely used in I/Os and OB PTT units. It is likely that is what you will find is in it.