mercury power tilt issues

Hey guys my power tilt isn't working for some reason when I try to tilt up or down nothing happens except the solenoids make a click sound but thats it, does anyone know what the cause may be? Could the motor be busted or something inside "shorted out" I don't wanna go pulling it apart because im aware of the brushes inside and if they are anything like a starter motor they can be quite hard to get back in

 

Don't tell me, the dog ate your workshop manual, again ?

 

Test solenoid with a multimeter and check that wire connections are all good.

 

It could of course be a the electric motor, a stuck brush or water intrusion, but in my experience 9 times out of 10 the round relays on the hydraulic unit are the culprits.
They do make a clicking sound but the contacts do not close anymore because the plastic interior is deformed.

This is caused by an oxide layer on the copper strip and the contact areas, increasing the resistance. The contacts get hot and melt the plastic chamber they are in; that was the last time the relay worked properly.

 

Give the motor a moderate "shot" with a screw driver and try it. Relays are the usual suspect, but you might get it to work a few more times by just a tap or two. The relays are easy to test, if the good spank doesn't work

 

get a new tilt motor off ebay. they are pretty cheap. the reason i say this is because you get nothing in either direction. it is unlikely that both solenoids would fail together.

 

Check your battery too. If there's not enough juice, then the solenoid would click w/o doing anything useful.

 

Thanks for all your replies I will check out my battery first but it shouldn't be the problem cause its only 6 months old but it's worth a try if that fails then looks like a may be up for some new relays or a whole new unit, and Mr efficiency no haha I sold the old boat a month or 2 ago because it was just problem after problem so I bought a new one but the guy I bought it off never got around to wiring up the tilt system after replacing the hydraulic rams.

 

Must be a fuse for the motor in the system.

a helpful tip......


Many times , to get things working , I " valterize" them

The Valt is a precision 3kg sledgehammer that was passed on to me by its retiring owner, Valter.

Valter was German, old school, highly trained, decades of experience.....

Grab the Valt with two hands, identify a possible fault, then vatlerize it till it works..or replace if necessary

Save much time.

 

These are fairly easy to sort out. Of course the battery and fuse(s) should be first on the list, though if the relays are clicking, you know the switch is working. The battery, even though only 6 month old could be discharged enough to not supply the relays, so insure the battery is fully up. If I suspect a relay, I swap it for another, which is a quick check. A relay is just a switch, so you can check if power is going through once energized, but honesty if your battery is up, they're the usual cause.

Next on the list is the motor, which if it has worn out brushes and/or bad commutator segment, can stop (on the bad segment) and not start again. A shot with a small hammer or screwdriver often will jar the brush to the next commutator and the motor will start (ask anyone with an old first or second gen small block Chevy starter). If this happens it's a bad motor, that may be rebuilt or replaced wholesale.

You already know wiring paths and fuses are good, other wise the relays wouldn't click. So, at least connections are good, though they may still be dirty enough to restrict full amperage getting to the devices, so check connections.

This is all stuff you can figure out in 5 to 10 minutes. One last thing, you can just bring a direct lead from the battery to the motor, bypassing the relays (12 gauge wire from the positive post). If the motor springs to life, well you know it's the relays or connections.