Weak power tilt unit

[jeffh8]

The tilt unit on my '93 evinrude 40 will not tilt the engine without a lot of manual help. I bought and installed a seal & oring kit and nothing changed. In fact the old seals looked fine. The motor seems OK, so I'm thinking the hydraulic pump may be the problem, but would like another opinion before spending $100 for a new pump. Any ideas? Do these pumps ever fail? Jeff

 

[Fed]

Re: Weak power tilt unit

Can you hear the pump motor running?
Is the reservoir full of oil?
Have you tried cycling it up & down a few times?

 

[jeffh8]

Re: Weak power tilt unit

I can hear the pump motor running.
The resevoir is full
I have cycled it several times, which requires some heavy manual lifting on the up cycle. Any further ideas? Incidently the oil pump costs $300,not $100 as I first thought.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Weak power tilt unit

loosen the fill cap and cycle it with some manual assist to clear any bubbles then be sure it's full of fluid.

 

[Fed]

Re: Weak power tilt unit

Make sure the tilt tube is free & well greased.

 

[jeffh8]

Re: Weak power tilt unit

I find the tilt tube is not free at all. With the power tilt unit removed, the motor would not tilt downward without manually pushing it. I finally freed it up with penetrating oil and grease and a lot of exercise. I need to get a new tilt pin in order to reinstall the power tilt unit to see if my problem is solved (I had to destroy the pin to remove it) In the mean time I will cycle the unit on the bench. Your comments are much appreciated!

 

[jeffh8]

Re: Weak power tilt unit

The problem is fixed. The cause turned out to be:
1 Much friction at the tilt tube. (easily fixed)
2 Low oil level. I thought I had properly filled it, but it took a lot more cycling and topping off before it was full. Thanks for your suggestions.