Having problem with Merc motor lift

[Wags]

It is acting as if the home battery is dead, but that is not the case, boat starts fine running off same battery. It will grunt and groan for a second, then nothing. I am using the switch on the motor, forgot to check to front panal switch and drivers seat switch. Planning on going out later tonight (at storage) and check other switches. Anything else I could check??? Is there a lift motor of some kind that can go bad??

[nova385]

What kind of boat? -sounds like you have a breaker that going open after you try to move the motor.
Make sure all of your swithes work (front / rear and console). Somtimes the switches stick.
Check wiring at motor where it moves for frayed, cuts shorting to ground-
If you find nothing- check yor pumps for leaks- agian not sure what you have.

Bet you gettting ready to put your rig away- I see your in S.C. I live in Davison, just gave it up for the year this weekend.

[Wags]

Hey neighbor, it's an older 1990 Ranger....I don't put it away until the water gets hard..lol. I'm going to charge battery over-night, pretty sure that's not the problem. I will try again tomorrow after work, check all 3 switches, but I have a feeling it is in the wiring. I seem to remember hearing a weird clicking noise in the back of the merc once earlier in the season where it didn't work for a second,....then did.

[Bender]

It could also be the relays. I don't know where they are on your motor though. Did you try going up only or down too? There should be 2 relays in there for the trim/tilt.

[Wags]

Tried both ways....the motor seemed to "settle down" due to gravity?? It was much lower than how I normally leave it. Charged battery, no change, just getting a clicking sound in back of Merc. Problem is, now I cant lift motor to trailer it to Marina , prop is about an inch off the ground. There is supposed to be some sort of release screw so that I can manually lift the motor but I cant seem to find it??

[nova385]

The pump has a set of wires that go through the motor bracket -start there, look for frayed, cracked wires give them a wiggle and try it again. - if no good check for power at the wires when you hit the trim botton(s), check all bottons.
You say it sank down- leads to a leak or low fluid.

[Wags]

If it were a leak or low fluid, wouldn't it do more than just click when I hit switches?? I looked at the wires, everything looked ok. The wires were "jumping" as if they were getting juice, I could feel the movement in them.

[Tavery5]

You can try this to troubleshoot what is wrong. Find the Pump motor, there should be two heavy guage wire coming off of it, ground either one of those wires and touch the other to 12 volts pos. if the motor is good it should run one way or the other, to reverse the direction ( wich is what the relays do) just swap the wires around, this will tell you if the motor is good, if it is good then you most likely have bad relays. I have always been told to change both at the same time. Hope this helps.

Found this online it says the same thing but words it better:

To test the motor itself, bypassing the relays and relay wiring, find the two heavy gauge wires that lead to the trim/tilt pump motor. One should be green and the other blue. You will probably be able to find a quick disconnect plug near where the wires exit the outboard engine cover that you can disconnect. Ground one wire to any metal surface and provide +12 volts from the battery to the other. The motor should run in one direction or the other. Now reverse the wires and the motor should run in the other direction. This will at least tell you if the motor is operating, so that you will have a better idea of what the actual problem might be. You can also pull out a relay (one at a time) and place a temporary wire jumper inside the relay socket across terminal 87 (the +12DC input voltage source) and terminal 30 (the outgoing wire to the trim/tilt pump motor) to make the motor run. It is worth repeating here: The voltage and current flows through BOTH relays, therefore when testing be sure you have a complete circuit.