Tim/tilt stopped, on vaca, HELP

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Was working flawlessly and never had an issue. Just plain stopped this afternoon. I don't have a volt meter with me. The up and down trim relays both click just once when the button is pushed and click into the off position when the button is released. I swapped the relays around as well and that did nothing.

I was playing with the blue and green connect at the relay block that runs down to the trim/tilt unit and twice it began to work. There are no broken/frayed wires. I tapped on the trim/tilt motor unit lightly and nothing. My guess is it's either the relay block or what is called the power distribution unit that the relays plug into or the motor itself.

Any common failures on these? Anything else that I need to check on? This seems like a very basic wiring diagram.

Thanks for any help.

[SkidooSteve12]

Assuming this is on a 1999 Evinrude 115 from your signature?

I would try and disconnect each up/down switch separately and see if one of them is bad and creating the problem.

I just had a tilt/trim issue while on vacation, had to use the manual release screw to get the outboard up and back to the rental house. Messed with the tilt/trim relays and got it working for the rest of the trip and replaced them when I got home. The up one was going bad.

[Podcast]

Update. Got home and did some testing. The tilt/trim unit is good. I send direct power to it via the green/blue wires that connect to the terminal circled blue on the pic. One way the motor trimmed up, the other way it went down. So, I hear what I believe is the "up" relay, circled in red, click once when I press up and any of the 3 trim switches on the boat and the same goes for the "down" relay circled in yellow. I have 12v at the trim switch connector when I press up and -12v when I press down which is how it should be however I do not believe I have any amperage there since I cannot power a 12v light bulb on that connector. I have switched all 4 of the relays shown in the pic since they are all the same. Nothing changes, the two on the right click, the upper one when I press up and the lower one when I press down. All of them click in those two positions on the right. They are not clicking "off" after applying the power from the switch which is why 12v shows at the terminal circled in blue.

Two questions from here. 1) If just one relay goes bad does it cause all the rest not to work? So if the "up" relay is bad theoretically I should be able to swap it with the down and it would work or the "down" relay should still lower the motor, correct???
2) If there's no amperage coming from the terminal shown in the pic yet there is voltage where does the supply voltage come from? In the wiring diagram it appears the voltage comes from the main wiring harness and the relay for that harness however that does not make sense either since I can pull that relay off completely and the trim relays still click.

Everything else works as it should, gauges, motor starts runs etc.




Thanks!

[bassgator2]

swap relays out with other 2 trey are the same.but more than likely its your pdp

[Podcast]

swap relays out with other 2 trey are the same.but more than likely its your pdp

Already did that, my guess was the power distribution block as well. Everything else works on that block though, odd.

[Bassmeister]

The pdp can be refurbished and usually work well afterwards...Try CDI.

[Podcast]

The pdp can be refurbished and usually work well afterwards...Try CDI.

Thank you.

[Podcast]

Update, I got the PDP and installed it. Fixed the problem. Trim works again. Really odd situation since there was 12v output at the trim wiring connector on the PDP that did not work but apparently there was no amps. Just wanted to update so anyone in the future having the same issue has info.

[Bassmeister]