Power Tilt/Trim Sluggish

[boristhebold]

Hi, hadn't used my boat for a few months, upon going out have noticed trimming the engine Yam 200 HPDI seems to be rather sluggish/reluctant to move, used to move easily, now upon hitting up or down switch seems rather reluctant, can hear motor working OK.

So any hints or tips, could it be an air lock or hydralic fluid loss ? Is it something I can fix without expert assistance.

Any suggestions greatly received.

[matt h]

Motor u/s , tilt tube nuts too tight poss and lastly air / water in the hyd fluid?

[Seaflyer02]

Tilt tube starting to seize up (no grease)?

[charliee]

Seals going or and low on hydraulic oil? Just give a power unit a service.

[Davie]

Before you do anything take out the top pivot pin that connects the ram to the saddle bracket. Put in the trailer lock stops first. If this is seized in this is the problem, as your trying to bend the ram as the angle changes. The power trim unit should also now pivot on the bottom pin. At same time you should be able to lift the engine easily by hand. If still tight it’s the tilt bushes or the long bar that the hydraulic steering is pivoting on. It’s not air in the pump,manual release nor the pressure relief valve if the motor is not spinning at excessive speed.

[mhb100]

Any signs of fluid loss on any of the seals? . If it's only sat for a few months I'd be surprised if anything has seized in that time. Is it dry stored on trailer? I'd first check fluid level, but if it's low there's a reason. You can also loosen the screw (to manually lower the unit) and you can probably feel that there is no piston/hinge sticking issues but be aware of weight to support. Unless seals are looking perfect and dry id probably recommend it's a time to replace and you can also replace internal o rings and replace the fluid. Ive just done this on my hpdi.

[boristhebold]

Fixed, had to man handle the engine while pushing the up trim, eventually got enouth room to undo the filler cap which released pressure and could man handle up and lock on engine locks. Refilled hydralic fluid, it took about 20 seringe fulls of fluid, cleaned old grease off and replied new grease, lowered and raised several times and topped up fluid, all OK now.

You may wonder why I didnt undo the manual release valve first, problem was it would not turn. Had an issue about 8 months ago when hitting a floating crab pot line which yanked engine, tilted up to remove line and could not get it back down properly, had to limp into a bay and called sea start and they had a real headache trying to release it down, long story short the head of the manual release screw got damaged slightly (not there fault just one of those things) as I believe its got salt locked, must have lost soem fluid at that time and I forgot to sort out that manual release screw.

So its fixed now but I still have to sort out a new manual release screw and get the old one out.

Lesson learnt - check tilt/trim hydralic levels each year.

[charliee]

good job & well done, also a good reminder to check the tilt & trim function.