Alright guys..
I have an '87 Pro Craft 16.5 ft with an '87 135 Mariner. Everything on the boat has been flawless since we restored it until this week.
Earlier this week we encountered a tilt/trim problem. First of all, the tilt/trim unit is basically new. Installed by my very trusted mechanic.. The motor is brand new and the unit was taken from an '05 Merc. It is an awesome unit. But anyway, back to the story. Last week we were on the lake and the the motor wouldn't tilt down. It would trim up but if you clicked it down, you would just hear a clicking noise from the solenoid. I thought this was just a minor wiring problem because 10 minutes of unplugging relays and jiggling wires, it started working again. It was fine the rest of the week until this weekend. We were fishing a tournament and all the sudden when I went to take the motor down, it just clicked. It also just clicked when I tried to trim up. This time, jiggling and unplugging didn't solve the problem.
I took it home with the motor trimmed 30% up so it cleared everything and I did not release the valve. Today I had some time to troubleshoot and mainly just checked connections.. still just a clicking noise. On the boat, there are two places that work to trim the motor... the console on the bow and the shifter. When the tilt/trim started having trouble the bow console would not even click the motor and the shifter would. Then today, all of the suddon the shifter wouldn't even click the tilt. It did nothing. I randomly tried the bow and it would click it? Almost like one would get power when the other wouldn't?
Now for the big problem.. I wen't to start the motor today and turned the key.... NOTHING! I have NEVER had problems with the connections to the starter. It leads me to believe the wiring from the shifter has a problem maybe?
Sorry for the long post, but the tilt/trim problem was minor, and was planning on taking it to my mechanic after our tournament on Saturday, because the boat was still fishable and I could still get on plane. (Even though I know the tilt/trim fluid was under pressure with the motor trimmed the way it was). But now the motor won't turn on. I'm a fair mechanic when it comes to anything auto related but not when it comes to wiring. Anything I could try without having to take it to the shop? Taking it to the shop would forfeit the tourney on Saturday as it would be a week or two before I saw the boat again...
This is REALLY making me mad..