Tilt / Trim stopped working

[CJL488]

I have a 1990 Johnson GT 200

model # J200STLESE

Today on the lake I trimmed all the way down to get on plane and when I tried to trim up the motor, it would not move. I idled back to ramp and got the boat on the trailer. I released the valve and manually tilted the outboard up to secure transom saver.

I got home and tested the wiring like I have read on here. I tested the relays, I swapped them. I can hear them click. I tetsed the output from the relay box and get +12 volts when the trim button is pushed and -12 when pushed the opposite way. I jumped from the battery and bypassed the relay box and disconnected the trim harness. Confirmed I had power going to the pump motor, but got nothing.

I dont hear anything thing except for the relays. I would think a little noise would come from a bad trim motor but I get nothing. I also checked the stop switch attached to the motor bracket that limits the trim motor. I also gave the trim motor itself a couple taps to see if it was stuck.

Could the trim motor go out suddenly? I have only once encountered a problem with the trim motor not going up and one other time the switch on the steering wheel got stuck. Both things happened a while ago, and fixed themselves immediately. So no current indication the trim motor was going bad.

So i am thinking I have bad motor.

I have two questions.
1) Where can I get a replacement?
2) I want to try and repair this myself but when I look at the trim assembly, it doesn't look like I can pivot the outboard motor high enough to remove the top pin to rotate the assembly. Can someone please explain how I can get the trim assembly off or at least rotate away from the transom so I can access the motor.

Thanks and sorry for the long long lost but I wanted to make sure you alll know I have tried my best to troubleshoot the issue,

[CJL488]

And to be clear, when I lift the outboard up manually I can only go so far and feels like a hard stop. Problem is the top pin holding the center trim piston to the engine bracket is not accessible. Seems like it can't go higher but I know that pin will not clear the bracket.

[ChampioNman]

The hard stop is the transition from trim to tilt and that is a hard stop as the valves in the hydraulic assembly change. The bad thing is with that system you can do one of two things, pull the motor to get to the trim motor or remove the port side motor clamp and get to the motor that way. We recommend OEM parts but there are online parts houses that sell aftermarket parts that hold up fine or you cn bring it to your local auto electric shop for a rebuild.

[CJL488]

That sounds confusing to me, I can pull the motor up to about an inch of where it needs to tap that center pin out. I'm going to have to take a picture to make sure I can show what I'm looking at.

[CJL488]

So i went so I went outside again and manually lifted the motor and snapped a picture. This time it looks like I have just enough room to tap that pin out. Is that correct? Is this the pin that needs to be removed to rotate the tilt/ trim assembly out enough to get that rear boot holding the motor?

[CJL488]

I guess I should ask before I dive deeper into this. Does it sound like the trim motor?

[ChampioNman]

If you can get the motor high enough to deploy the trailer bracket to support it you will be fine. Remove the hitch pin and then drive the pin out. Have a 2X4 handy to tilt the motor up some more. You will have to remove the bolts on the bottom of the assembly on each side. It is a pain to remove the assembly with the motor still on the transom as you can't really get to the 4th bolt for the motor.

[CJL488]

Ok thanks I'm going to try to fix it this week, I'll wait until the pump comes in. How many bolts are in the bottom? I see two on each side but I can't tell if they are all for holding the entire assembly to the motor bracket

[CJL488]

I found some instructions but one of the steps says to match mark the angle of the adjusting rod before removing. What is the adjusting rod?

disregard I found it

[strmwalker]

I found some instructions but one of the steps says to match mark the angle of the adjusting rod before removing. What is the adjusting rod?

disregard I found it

does your Tilt & Trim unit look like this one ???

[Nobass01]

I got a rebuild from www tiltandtrim .com comes with 2year warranty . Fast turn around time. Easy to deal with

[Kwasham]

I got a rebuild from www tiltandtrim .com comes with 2year warranty . Fast turn around time. Easy to deal with

It sounds like you determined that you are getting power to the motor and that it is your motor. I had a similar experience that ended up being a loose ground connection under the cowling. One day my tilt/trim stopped working from all three controls and the relays would sort of "whine" when I pressed up or down on the controls, as you described. I traced the ground wire to where it is grounded under the cowling and moved it slightly and it has worked perfectly ever since. This may not pertain to your situation but I thought I would share in case you wanted to try that before tearing your trim motor off.

[CJL488]

Hey everybody thanks for the help, I just got done fixing the trim / tilt. I ordered a new motor and as soon as I tested it before installing, it worked. So my diagnostics were good.

Replacing the trim motor in SC heat is another thing altogether. It was very difficult. I had to remove every bolt on each side of the trim unit. It still would hardly budge until I massaged it with a crow bar. I got the entire assembly off and it took 5 minutes to attach the new motor. Everything seems to be working like it's supposed to.

If anybody needs a replacement trim motor, I suggest black bear sporting goods in Florida. I purchased a new ARCO motor for under $100. Same motor sold by the manufacturer for $150 +.

Thabks for all the help

back to fishing in the morning