2006 Bass Tracker Pro Team 175 - Engine Tilt Issue (Only ONE side)

[Im2bz2p345]

Hi all,


Fairly new boat owner that has a 2006 Bass Tracker Pro Team 175. It has a 50hp Mercury 2 strike engine. For some reason, when I turn the wheel to one side, I can't tilt the engine up & down (no whirring noise of the hydraulic pump even attempting to function). Whereas if I rotate the steering wheel to the other side, I can tilt the engine up & down all day long.


Any idea what might be causing there and where to look for the issue? If it's something as a simple as a fuse, I can take care of that myself, but if it's something a lot more complicated.. I'll need to take it to a shop. Funds are tight for me so really trying to DIY this if at all possible.


Thank you in advance for any help!

[Lowerider58]

Have you tried it from each trim switch?

It could also be a problem with one of the wires in the trim circuit. Turn the motor to where it won’t work and then see if you have power at the red wire on the trim switch. If you don’t have power on the red wire you must have an intermittent connection on it.

Also try trimming the motor from the bow trim switch with the key on and see if it will work from the bow switch when it won’t work from the other switches. The bow trim switch is often powered from a different source at the bow.

Let us know what you find and we’ll go from there.

I know this can sound confusing but I’m trying to diagnose where the fault is. I’m thinking the red trim wire is where the problem is.

[blkfalc4]

Doubt it's a fuse.
Put motor up a little, turn where it doesn't work...try every tilt sw. Motor, console, bow.

If it doesn't work anywhere look under the motor cowl.

[Highcentered]

Guarantee you have a short that's killing the power as the motor turns. If this is the case unless you can find where the short is your best bet will be to pull new wiring for the trim circuit. Should be pretty straight forward as long as you have one of those wire snakes Hobo Freight sells.

[Im2bz2p345]

Thank you for the responses! I'm going to try to tackle this over the weekend when I get a chance to see/work on the boat.

Lowerider58 & blkfalc4 - as you stated, I definitely need to experiment with the switches. Need to figure out if the issue is isolated to just the console while the bow & motors switches tilt functions.. or if it's a deeper/more complex issue that's present if all switches are not functioning when the engine is turned to one side (I believe it's the left side causing the issue in my case).


I'm completely new to troubleshooting these things, so I really want to avoid pulling out a bunch of the wiring or circuitry if I don't have to.. especially without seeing pictures/videos of what I need to do, but I did find an excellent YouTube video called "Mercury trim Troubleshooting":


According to that video, there are 4 main components (besides the battery) to the trim system:
1) The hydraulic actuator
2) Two relays - one for up & one for down - green wire for down; blue wire for up.
3) Circuit breaker
4) Switch


Also on how to access/remove Mercury engine trim pieces on an actual boat (really helps to figure out what I'm looking and where stuff is routing), I found this nice video:


Thanks all - wish me luck!