boat issue: what's causing it?

[bigbrad123]

I recently had my boat out and somehow the tilt got stuck in the down position (could hear the tilt still running in the motor when I shut off the motor). When I hit the down position on the throttle, it continued to run. When I hit the "up" position, the noise went away, but the motor didn't lift. I unhooked the motor from the main battery. I didn't work the first time, but the 2nd time I did it, it worked and somehow quit or re-set so luckily I was able to lift the motor to put it on the trailer. It's a 1999 Johnson 130hp motor.

What happened?

 

[guywhofishes]

next time - if you can't trim up automatically there's a hydraulic lift pressure relief screw somewhere on your motor that you can open with a screwdriver, lift the motor manually, then screw it shut and it'll hold the motor up - find that screw and use a paint pen to mark it so you know where it is next time

your trim switch and/or wiring is probably flaky - maybe high salinity water got in and shorted it out?

by hitting the "trim up" you must have "canceled" the errant trim down signal somehow

I'd swap out the switch and check the wiring harness for damage/short

 

[bigbrad123]

While I was out there, I googled it quick and read about the hydraulic lift pressure relief screw, but couldn't exactly find it. Yes, I will mark it now and mess with it out of the water so I know how to do it. Good plan. When you say switch, do you mean a new relay switch? I'm a fairly new boat owner and never had this happen.

 

[RPNLPS]

I had a 2004 Evinrude 150 basically made same as Johnson. Relay switch or something like that was the cause. Put new one in never happened again.

 

[Traxion]

Did the trim work properly with the engine switch or was it just the throttle switch that caused the issue? I had a similar era BRP trim switch go bad that acted funny in many ways, but the engine switch always worked. If both are doing the same thing, the next step would be to check the relays in the trim box. I believe there are two one that motor. Simple to replace to see if that fixes it.

 

[dschaible]

Had water get in my switch one that cause the motor to rise on its own.

 

[guywhofishes]

I bet you're in luck and this is basically the same engine

https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/328506-1999-johnson-115-trim-tilt-problem.html

 

[johnr]

Had water get in my switch one that cause the motor to rise on its own.

sounds sexual

 

[bigbrad123]

Did the trim work properly with the engine switch or was it just the throttle switch that caused the issue? I had a similar era BRP trim switch go bad that acted funny in many ways, but the engine switch always worked. If both are doing the same thing, the next step would be to check the relays in the trim box. I believe there are two one that motor. Simple to replace to see if that fixes it.

Didn't work with either throttle or engine switch. I unhooked the battery cable for about a minute, hooked it back up, still didn't work. Unhooked it again for about 5 min while I started working the google machine and then hooked back up and everything was fine.

- - - Updated - - -

I bet you're in luck and this is basically the same engine

https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/328506-1999-johnson-115-trim-tilt-problem.html

Thanks!

 

[1850reata]

Happened to me once. We were beached and one of my kids was up in the bow of the boat and they hit the switch up there and the button got stuck in raising the motor all the way up. Took a while to figure out what the hell happened.

 

[eyexer]

Replace both the up and down relay. Sounds like you have corrosion in at least one of them. I always carried a couple spares with me

 

[SDMF]

The couple of times I've had that issue it's been with the bow switch being corroded not the throttle or engine mounted switch.

 

[Vollmers]

If it's the relay harness & can recommend a great guy to help you replace it.

The couple of times I've had that issue it's been with the bow switch being corroded not the throttle or engine mounted switch.