TILT/TRIM ISSUE

[Bill12]

I fished yesterday and everything seemed and worked fine even when loading the boat on the trailer but when I went to put my motor mate on the engine it didn't want to trim up . I tried the switch on the engine side and at the transom . You can trim down just fine but it would trim up an 1/8 of and inch and stop hit the switch again same thing and I couldn't her the motor running going up like you do going down . What is weird it even trimmed up fine loading it on the trailer ? Seems to just went out at that exact moment of putting on the transom saver. Anyone have any ideas ??

[Jumping Jimmy]

I would suspect trim relays. You can try swapping the relays and see if the issue swaps. If it is the relay I would replace bothered of them.

[Bill12]

Well when I went to check the relays this morning it worked fine . They up and down worked with no issues ?? Not sure what is going on ?

[Bill Reynolds]

Well when I went to check the relays this morning it worked fine . They up and down worked with no issues ?? Not sure what is going on ?

What year model and brand motor? When the problem occurs, can you hear the relay click? Will it work from the bow switch?

[jc2bg]

Well when I went to check the relays this morning it worked fine . They up and down worked with no issues ?? Not sure what is going on ?

That’s often the nature of relays, or any electrical switch for that matter. Warmer versus colder causes contacts to expand/contract, so if it works when cool but not when heated up [air temperature plus electrical current flowing through it], I wouldn’t trust it. Probably *is* a relay, fixing to go out on you again in the near future.

[Bill12]

Yes sir I think you are correct . Going to get new relay and bet that will fix it . I couldn't hear it clicking and it wouldn't work from any switch but has worked fine since then but it hasn't been ran just in the yard . So I imagine when engine gets some heat built up its causing my issue on the relay.

[Bassin4Vets]

I am experiencing the exact same issue with my 2018 Ranger. The trim up and down works just fine all the time, its the tilt Up that is intermittently functional while loading onto the trailer. All 4 switches (motor, gear shift, column and bow) are the same, the motor will go down fine from any position but when I need it to go up high enough to place on the motor tote it will just stop working. The first time this happened I had to manually place the motor up on the tote. Took it to a local Mercury dealer the next day and the damn thing worked fine as soon as the mechanic touched it. They looked at me like I was confused or something and told me to take a video next time it happened otherwise mercury would not warranty. This boat and motor only have approximately 18 total hours thus far. Again, it’s intermittent as sometimes it works fine and other times it don’t. Recently I’ve been working around the issue by placing the motor tote 1 or 2 holes lower as it is still plenty high enough for travel due to the dealer being out 3 weeks or more for warranty work.

[JR19]

FYI on some motors they have whats called a trim relay module...in other words the up and down relay are together inside one module so there is no way to switch the up/down. If you have separate up/down relays you can switch them around if one fails but with a relay module there is nothing to switch around because the up/down are made together inside one unit.

[Bill Reynolds]

I am experiencing the exact same issue with my 2018 Ranger. The trim up and down works just fine all the time, its the tilt Up that is intermittently functional while loading onto the trailer. All 4 switches (motor, gear shift, column and bow) are the same, the motor will go down fine from any position but when I need it to go up high enough to place on the motor tote it will just stop working. The first time this happened I had to manually place the motor up on the tote. Took it to a local Mercury dealer the next day and the damn thing worked fine as soon as the mechanic touched it. They looked at me like I was confused or something and told me to take a video next time it happened otherwise mercury would not warranty. This boat and motor only have approximately 18 total hours thus far. Again, it’s intermittent as sometimes it works fine and other times it don’t. Recently I’ve been working around the issue by placing the motor tote 1 or 2 holes lower as it is still plenty high enough for travel due to the dealer being out 3 weeks or more for warranty work.

This is along shot, but should be quick to try.
There is a bleed valve on the port side of the trim unit that is accessed through a hole in the transom bracket. Check to be sure the screw that positions this valve is tight. You may want to back it off slightly then bottom it out.

[Lil Mo]

I’ve had that happen on my OMC and my Merc. Sometimes, just tapping on the relay with your hand or the handle of a screwdriver will get it to work. This will get you out of a bind but you probably have one that’s fixing to go out. Suggest replacing both as others have said.