Tilt/Trim Ghost

[Ralph Wiggum]

I ran into an interesting issue last night. 1993 Merc 60 HP (SN OD205176). I fished, loaded up the boat as normal, parked the boat in the garage, and plugged in my onboard charger. Later that evening, I went into the garage and the motor had tilted itself all the way up and the tilt motor was still running as if the tilt switch was being pressed. I have several tilt switches. I tried to lower the motor with the boat-mounted switch to no avail. I then used the switch on the side of the motor and was able to lower the motor. After I lowered it, it stayed down as normal. So, we went to a movie, and when we came back, the same situation had unfolded. Stuck up with tilt motor running, solved by using the motor-mounted tilt switch.

My initial thought is that the motor-mounted switch is going bad. Any way to confirm this before I simply replace the switch? Any other ideas?

[herefish101]

if the motor mounted switch is working, then I would think it's one of your other switches, or a broken wire making ground. I would disconnect the battery to be sure that it quits happening until you get it figured out, you really dont want that motor to sit and run and end up burning out, very very expensive.

[motley man]

Would not leave battery hooked up as have seen houses burn down from short in boat wiring. Sounds like front switch is bad or short in wiring. GET R DONE

[Dellfin]

I had a similar situation occur with my '05 Glastron I/O. Left the boat ramp and soon after I heard this grinding sound. Pulled over to find the lower unit was down. Thought to myself, "oops...how could I forget that?" Got back on the road and it happened again. Pulled over and inspected the one inch of skeg missing. Used the push-button switch to raise it again and waited a few minutes. Sure enough, that sucker started lowering again all by itself. Raised it again and disco'd the power. There must have been water in the switch or a bad contact. Dealer "cleaned" the switch and it was good for about a season and then it started happening again. Ended up replacing the switch (and repairing the $keg).

[Ralph Wiggum]

Yeah, I have the battery disconnected till I can figure it out.

[Ralph Wiggum]

if the motor mounted switch is working, then I would think it's one of your other switches, or a broken wire making ground.

All the switches are working to raise and lower the motor, but when it's "stuck" in the raising position, the motor switch is the only one that will lower it, which makes me think that's the one that is on the fritz. Once I hit that switch so that it is no longer "stuck" running the motor, and switch will work to raise/lower it.

[herefish101]

All the switches are working to raise and lower the motor, but when it's "stuck" in the raising position, the motor switch is the only one that will lower it, which makes me think that's the one that is on the fritz. Once I hit that switch so that it is no longer "stuck" running the motor, and switch will work to raise/lower it.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Well, I just pulled the motor mounted switch and pulled it apart. There was actually water in it, and one of the contacts was corroded. So, I dried it out, cleaned it all up with a dremel wire brush, and coated all the contacts with dilectric grease. So far, so good. I'll have to keep an eye on it today to make sure that took care of the issue.

As far as the root cause, I found that the connection between the water hose and the pee spout was leaking--the hose had worn through and was leaking quite a bit of water inside the cowl, which appeared to be where the water was coming from. I ran it for a while after fixing the hose and things stayed dry.

Now, for the waiting

[herefish101]

sounds to me like you got er done.

[Ralph Wiggum]

sounds to me like you got er done.

So far, so good. I think I am in the clear for now