Power Trim Bleed Procedure, 1999 Johnson 175 H.O.

[otis44]

I've got a friend who has a 99 model Johnson 175. To cut to the chase to power trim unit is full of air. (Middle Ram on old unit was bent, replaced with unit from local dealer, that needed motor). Swapped the motor, and the reservior and put the new unit on. The local mechanic said to jack the motor all the way up, fill with fluid, and unscrew the manual release valve to let the motor down. He said this should push the air out of the system. He is using ATF for fluid and no matter how much fluid we put in the system the motor at no time would hold itsself up on its own. Upon letting the motor down there seems to be plenty of air coming out where the manual release screw is. If the fill cap is loosened there seems to be air coming out there too.

Is there a trick or something we are missing. I know these things can be a pain, but after a couple of hours of bleeding we basically made no gains. A few times it would try to move on its' own, but not enough to move the engine. We know the motor is good as the old one worked, it just leaked fluid around the bent ram. Thanks in advance for any help.

[ChampioNman]

Try this raise the motor and support with the motor bracket. Remove the unit from the bracket and lay it flat. Open up the reservoir fill and cap it. re-install and bleed it by doing this. Trim down and put a piece of 2 x 4 under the skeg, loosen the manual release screw and trim the motor up and down 5 full cycles (count to 30 each way) then tighten the manual release screw. You should be good to go.