Trim not working

[Justbass11]

Oh my Bass tracker that has a 75 hp Mercury four stroke 2017 with about 39 hours on it the trim is not working. It is kept outside it is cold outside. I went fishing ago five days ago and it did rain but it was fine no problems. Any ideas? Thanks for your input.

[Susky River Rat]

Check to make sure the other power cables are hooked up to the battery correctly. I started to have. A similar issue ditched the merc and put a Yamaha jet on it. It may be a faulty switch though. Mine worked intermittently. I did not have many hours on the motor either. 

[Deleted account]

Could be any of the components, but a 2017 with 39 hours, It's most likely a broken or loose wire, the one coming from the trim motor into the head to the relays would be my guess, but check the motor, relays, and switch to rule them out, and then trace power, multi meter is your friend.

[TOXIC]

Are there other trim switches?  My motor has a switch on the bow, on the hand throttle, on the steering column and on the motor.  If my trim is not working, I try all the different locations first.  That will tell you if it is in the trim unit or the switch. 

[Deleted account]

And take a peek at the breaker or fuse if there is one, could save a lot of time, been there done that...

[Justbass11]

Or could be my batteries are completely dead. For some reason when I plug in my charger it keeps tripping the GFI outlet. I’m hoping that it’s just my battery‘s dead. I plugged in a non-GFI breaker controlled outlet so I hope this Solves the problem. If in fact this is the problem any thoughts on this?

[Dogface]

I'm no electrician but I have a few GFIs around the house and out buildings.

 

I have read that a GFI trips because the power returning through the outlet is less than the power originally being fed to the outlet indicating a short.  

[WIGuide]

GFI's can go bad so maybe that's the issue. Does the motor turn over?

 

As others have stated, check the other switches to see if those work and see if it's not working completely. If it moves in one direction, but not the other, it's usually caused by one of the relays going out. You can swap them to confirm which is the good one. If it's not moving in either direction from any switch, check the fuses on the motor. If it's not one of those simple things, you'll have to start tracing wires. 

[Justbass11]

Also I did check the other switches for the trim and I checked the fuses and all the fuses seem fine I’m just hoping it’s dead batteries. The one thing though I do not see is the light coming on the battery charger. Then again it might not have one but I do have it in a plug that’s hot and I’m hoping it’s charging. I came to this conclusion because my panel board wasn’t working either. Just hoping it’s not a major fix. And again all and put his welcome.

[Bankc]

Sounds like you've figured it out.  It's probably either the battery charger or the battery.  My money is on the charger.  

 

What kind of battery charger is it?  It could have blown a fuse or breaker, if it has one.  Not all do.  It might need to just be replaced.  Also, are you sure the outlet is working?  Have you plugged something else into it to check?  Do you have another battery charger you can try?  Also, you might check the connections from the charger to the battery to make sure nothing got loose.  

[Justbass11]

I’ve checked the fuses I’ve had it charging for a couple hours now and it’s still not doing anything panels not even doing anything looks like I might have to take her in. It’s just very frustrating

I will say the trolling motors working though but that’s it

[WRB]

Your cranking battery operates the engine functions.

If the OB cranks over the cranking battery isn’t dead!

To start check the battery charge using a load tester, Harbor Freight sells Chicago tester that works good. A simple 110 V meter that plugs into your power receptacle out where you plug in the onboard charger solves that question.

Does your cranking battery have a on/off 50 amp switch?

If the battery is good then your trim problem my not be electrical, could be a hydraulic issue.

Tom

 

[WIGuide]

@Justbass11 your trolling motor should be hooked to a separate battery from your starting battery. Since you've had it plugged in for a while and you know the trolling motor has power, try disconnecting the power wires from your outboard to the battery and put them on the trolling motor battery temporarily. Since you know for sure that battery is charged you'll know if you're looking at a motor issue or a battery/charger issue.   

[Bankc]

1 hour ago, Justbass11 said:

I’ve checked the fuses I’ve had it charging for a couple hours now and it’s still not doing anything panels not even doing anything looks like I might have to take her in. It’s just very frustrating

I will say the trolling motors working though but that’s it

I'd hold off on taking it in.  It still sounds like something simple.  It'll likely cost you more time and money to have someone else fix it than tackle this yourself.  

 

So, does the battery charger connect to your cranking battery?  Because it might just be charging your trolling motor battery.  That wouldn't be unusual if your outboard typically recharges your cranking battery as you run it.  Just like a car or truck does.  And if either your alternator or stator is bad, or if the cranking battery itself is bad (which will usually show up first in cold weather), this could be source of your problem.  

 

Do you have a DMM?  If so, read the volts on the cranking battery as it sits.  Also check for any corrosion on the terminals and loose wires.  If the voltage reads low (below 12volts), then take the battery out and take it to an auto parts store.  They should have a device there can measure a battery to see if it is still good or not.  Also check the water levels of the battery if applicable.  If the battery tests bad, replace it.  If the battery is still good, then it's likely an alternator or stator problem (or maybe the rectifier or regulator).  But you might want to recharge the battery on a charger and then reinstall it to see if the problem continues, just to make sure.  

 

If the battery tests good but still dies on you, then would be the time that you might want to take it into a shop.  Changing an alternator or stator and accompanying parts isn't too difficult, so it's up to you if you want to get that involved into this repair.  

[Dogface]

If you have a wiring diagram check it to see if you have a fuse or a breaker protecting your electronics. It could have tripped or blown. 

 

Mine has a breaker for the trolling motor and the instruments. The engine is fused.  

[Justbass11]

I took her to the shop this afternoon. Thanks for all the input.

I’ll let y’all know what it was thanks again

[Hawgfinder]

Probably the relays in the motor for tilt and trim both need to be replaced. Not an expensive fix to the problem but some boat dealers don’t tell you that

[Justbass11]

I wish I was a little bit more mechanically inclined to work on this motor. But it is under warranty so hopefully the damage won’t be too bad. It is what it is. The worst of it is that I was going fishing today.

[Hawgfinder]

Probably the relays in the motor for tilt and trim both need to be replaced. Not an expensive fix to the problem but some boat dealers don’t tell you that. 
 

going fishing today that stinks I won’t be saying that for 3 months unless I want to ice fish I have ice leftover from last year. 
 

under warranty just drop it off and have it fixed

[GaryH]

14 hours ago, Hawgfinder said:

 

under warranty just drop it off and have it fixed

☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

best answer.

[Deleted account]

22 hours ago, Hawgfinder said:

Not an expensive fix to the problem but some boat dealers don’t tell you that

Diagnostic, 2 hours labor, small part mark up... Cha Ching!....

[TnRiver46]

OP- for the future, get a voltimeter/battery tester. They are like $6-$10

[WIGuide]

14 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Diagnostic, 2 hours labor, small part mark up... Cha Ching!....

My thoughts exactly. If it's found to be a battery/power supply issue which it sounds likely, those aren't covered under warranty. Switching wires to a known good battery takes all of 5 minutes, requires no skill, and costs nothing. Doing the same thing at a shop will usually be charged a minimum shop rate of 1/2 hour and cost anywhere between $50 to $100. They'll also want to replace it for you and get you for more money there.

[Deleted account]

26 minutes ago, WIGuide said:

They'll also want to replace it for you and get you for more money there.

Nothing wrong with that, it's add ons, or IPTs, and it's a huge retail/service metric. I work on my HVAC, boats and cut down my trees because I enjoy it, and it does save me money most times, but I'm not working on cars, or insulating the crawl space, or putting in floors, though I certainly can, whatever that costs. We have two sayings, "The [insert any profession here]'s kids have to go to college too", and "I need more money, more fish are going to die". Everybody has to eat...

[Way2slow]

The kind of customer Car, boat, (ALL) dealerships and service centers love to have.  What's the old expression, "bend over, grease up", because it's coming.  I'm 75 years old and have never paid anyone do to anything for me, (other than medical, dental etc), but I'm getting to where I have physical limitations and that's scareing the crap out of me.  I went to start my 2500HD pickup the other day and the batteries were dead as a hammer, even though it was on a 2-amp maintainer.  The relay that controls the 7-amp heater blower went bad and it was constantly running, maintainer couldn't keep up with that.  The relay is part of the resistor pack under the dash and because of the arthritis in my neck, I could not get under there to unplug the connector for the blower.  I had to cut the wires and splice/solder the new wires to them.  It cost me $30, and I was thinking then, if I had to pay for this repair, it would easily have been over $300, when you figure they would charge $100 or more for the part and at least 2 hours minimum for troubleshooting and repair, even though it only took less than a 1/2 hour, and that would have been from a somewhat honest shop (and those are rare).  Plus, one of the batteries (I run two big AGM's) was bad and should be replaced as a pair which would have been another $500-$600, where I can get them for $165 each.