3.8 Liter OMC I/O Up Down Question

[bigjim]

Hey guys,
Great board. I searched with my crappy Wildblue satelite INet so patience please.

My outdrive I/O quit raising up and down. It was intermittant for a while and has now quit.

I have dual batteries in parrallel at +13 volts. Lots of juice available.
The solenoids click upon an up or down command from the console.
The two solenoids switch 12 volts on the load side, the fuse is obviously good then.
I jumpered each solenoid (current side) one at a time, no change.
(Need help from wife here, do both need to be energised, or is one up and other down?)
I cleaned and inspected the high current wire stake on connectors, OK.
I do not even know where the I/O motor lives, I suspect in the I/O due to finding the large wires there.
How in the heck do I get to it if its in the I/O?
Thanks guys, happy and safe boating.
BigJim

[CDK]

Both solenoids connect the I/O motor to negative when at rest. Activating one changes polarity on one lead, so the motor turns CW or CCW.

There have been several OMC models. I had one with the I/O motor mounted outside on the port side.

There may be limit switches as well; mine never failed so I didn't pay attention to these details.

[bigjim]

Mine is an 81.
We're talking about the motor that raises and lowers the propeller housing , appears to be gear driven, not the hydralic engine raising electric motor. The engine raising motor is indeed on the rear of the gas engine. It works fine.

I think the prop raising motor lives inside the propeller housing as I have traced a thick e cable back there. Can someone confirm this? Any drawing available?

It does not make sense that both solenoids would energise at the same time. How would they be able to do 2 different things;ie raise the prop housing up and down.

Cliff notes
Where is the I/O/Prop housing motor located?
How do I get to it?
Thanks,
BigJim

[CDK]

No bigjim, there is no motor inside the lower housing.

If your stern drive was made in '78 or earlier, it has a gear shift solenoid inside, later models used a mechanical shift construction. They didn't use hydraulics in these days, just a small watertight electric motor and a large gear quadrant bolted to the top of the drive.

Here you can find useful info: http://www.sterndrive.info/

Your drive is a Stringer 400 or 800, later models were called Cobra.

[bigjim]

I know where and have replaced the motor that raises and lowers the engine. It is on the back side of the engine.

Where is the motor that raises and lowers the I/O?

I figured out the cable into the I/O must be for the shift assist. (Via the link you provided)
Still unable to trace the cable from the I/O solenoid to whatever raises and lowers the I/O
Looking at exploaded diagrams it seems the I/O motor is located on the inside wall of the transom, correct CDK? (Please, need to repair by the weekend)

[bigjim]

Found the I/O motor on the inside of the hull on the transom. Jumpered the solenoids no go.
Removed the motor and it works when running free.
The spring loaded coupler came out funked up, not sure if I caused it or not.
Pulled the pinion bearing cover off all looks good. A little chocklate milk but bearing seems ok when moving the I/O up by hand.
Pulled the drive shaft off and inspected there.
The larger drive gear that is driven by the pinion gear shows some ware.

The plan is to reassemble everything tomorrow, anyone know the reassembly order?

My plan is to remove the drive shaft and pinion gear and reassemble from the motor side, raising and lowering the I/O to thread the pinion to the drive gear, sound good?? Or should I attempt to leave the drive shaft in and attempt to attach the spring coupler to the drive shaft and motor shaft??
Thanks,
BigJim

[CDK]

"ASSEMBLY ORDER IS THE REVERSE OF......" is something I've read a thousand times. I'm afraid I can't help you there, as I wrote in post #2 there never was a problem with my OMC drive.

I have not read in your posts that you found the cause of malfunction, so do you really think it is wise to reassemble everything? What if it refuses to do its job again?

As you have seen on the stern drive site, these little motors draw up to 35 amps when loaded. Can it be that yours has worn out carbon brushes, a damaged brush holder, carbon deposit, water or rust inside?
Each of these might cause failure under load.

[bigjim]

You are correct. I have not really found anything "broken." Perhaps I should purchase a new motor. When I jumpered the motor at the connector at the motor directly to the battery it drove the I/O down but not back up...humm?

I guess you and now myself have been convinced to buy another motor...

Thanks again.

BigJim

[bigjim]

So how do I put the thing back together? It seems near impossible to put the E-motor coupler on the motor and onto the shaft up under the engine and transom.

I was thinking I would assemble the E-motor,washer, priceless brass coupler, and shaft as one piece and attempt to thread it all into the hole in the transom from the inside of the boat.

I would then lift or lower the entire I/O to help thread the other priceless component, the worm gear into the proper sequence on the main gear.

Comments??

[bigjim]

So I purchased a brand new I/O motor and paid a mobile boat guy to install it.
He also replace the motor, an I/O bushing and few other bits, put 30w oil in the housing and no change.
The drive will power down easily everytime but will not go up all the time.

Sometimes I can have my wife "help" the sterndrive up and it will go up driven by the motor. Sometimes it won't.

The mobile boat repair guy has bailed on me, (4 phone calls and many promises to return) and must not want payment for the time and parts he already has invested... oh well another thread.

Might there be more bits that need replacing?

I put 13 volts direct to the up wire and the drive would not move. I think the e motor internal heat sensor is tripping. I am drawing alot of current so the windings are good.

Besides hauling the boat to a repair store 30 miles away might there be something I/we missed?

[CDK]

I am sorry to read that you are still having problems.
There must be an unusual mechanical problem keeping the drive from going up; the fact that the repair guy bailed out on you supports that suspicion. They normally do that after they got paid.

Do not play too long with the 13 volts: if the motor is blocked it may quickly burn out again.

[bigjim]

I was on Google all day yesterday and some have suggested the pivot bushings may be bad or frozen up. I took a look and it looks like water got into them.

I will take the boat into the shop and have it repaired.

It was Roberts Mobile out of Pilot Hill CA who is the professional flake.