tilt trim indicator

[dogdoc]

starboard tilt trim indicator never worked, gauge bars rise to top when ignition turned on but drops to one bar immediately. port does same but functioned normal when motors lifted. since we trim both same when running let it go. last run port was slow to respond to changes making trimming hard. got under the motors and found port sender sticky, some spray lube freed it up and responds normal now. starboard was broken and moving manually did nothing at the gauge. ordered new sender. seems like a straight forward job, one bolt looks like may be a little difficult to get. wondering if anything i should know before hand
thanks

 

[DennisG01]

No, you got it. It's pretty straight forward.

Wanna hear something strange? My gauge has never worked. But that's not the weird part. If I let engine move the sender arm... nothing. BUT... if I manually move the sender arm, the gauge responds properly! Weird! Oh well, don't really care about the level on the gauge, anyways. There's too many variables in trimming an engine to rely on a specific setting. Plus... I can always just turn my head and look! I can also hear the difference between trim and tilt.

 

[wspitler]

Not sure what engines you have? My F250s require a long phillips head screw driver to remove the sender easily. Mine stick occasionally if I don't keep them lubed regularly. I use silicon spray. I've had to change one in 1000 hours.

 

[seasick]

On my 150, SX the sender can stick but also the cam on the shaft can break and not rotate the sender lever. The old cam arrangement was a plastic band but the replacements are all metal.
If you have the clamp cam bracket, it is easy to check. See if it rotates when you push or pull on the tab. It shouldn't.

 

[dogdoc]

installed new sender (200$) manually moving it generated no change on gauge, worse first time I lowered engine it sheared off outer plastic housing of sender rendering it more useless than it already was. i was suspicious there was not adequate clearance when installed. looks like i will be looked aft to trim engines. while moving engines at the dock noticed the starboard engine (one without sender now) lift motor makes different sound and moves engine slower than port motors motor, hope that is not harbinger of things to come

 

[DennisG01]

Check the trim motor fluid in the stbd engine.

 

[dogdoc]

did immediately, it was a little low. adding fluid did not help . not sure i can bleed it on the lift from my skiff

 

[DennisG01]

Just running the engine full up and full down a bunch of times will bleed it. Then check the level again.

 

[dogdoc]

will do

 

[seasick]

Wait a minute between going from all up to all down and vis versa when bleeding that way. It gives any air bubbles a chance to float up and get bled'

As to the original description, the trim gauge will always read all bars when powered up, that is the gauge self testing. After that self test, the gauge will (should) display the actual trim state.

 

[bellgrady]

I installed a new trim sender on my 2000 OX66 but the gauge still the same level, when I up the engine the guage didn't nothing, it's something extra I need to do for reset or supposed to read the position without any set up,please someone can help with this problem,I have two engine port has aftermarket trim motor and work a little slow,I need the trim sender to check the position when I trimming but the trim sender I change(port engine) guage didn't mark properly

 

[DennisG01]

First, check to see if the arm is actually being moved by the motor. No, there's no reset needed. Next, try manually moving the arm by hand - note that there is a short delay in the readout so take that into consideration. If manually moving it works... see my post above. I still can't explain it.

But, one of the best things you can do is to forget about the trim gauge. Mine hasn't worked in 5 years. A gauge is just a very general guide - the best way to trim is by the seat of your pants and/or watching where the spray exits the side of the boat. No two sea conditions and load conditions are the same so the gauge, again, isn't always that useful. Heck, in 35 years of driving boats, I can't really remember ANY time that I gave a trim gauge anything more than a cursory glance. And this includes boats from 17' to about 35', both OB and stern drive.

 

[bellgrady]

First, check to see if the arm is actually being moved by the motor. No, there's no reset needed. Next, try manually moving the arm by hand - note that there is a short delay in the readout so take that into consideration. If manually moving it works... see my post above. I still can't explain it.

But, one of the best things you can do is to forget about the trim gauge. Mine hasn't worked in 5 years. A gauge is just a very general guide - the best way to trim is by the seat of your pants and/or watching where the spray exits the side of the boat. No two sea conditions and load conditions are the same so the gauge, again, isn't always that useful.

thank you for your advise, the sender is moving down and up but is not showing on the guage, I'm waiting to see on the water maybe it's work,I have a grady 265 express like is almost running level most of the time for the seat distribution it has, but anyway if don't work, I'm going to do like yo do

 

[DennisG01]

Being out on the water won't make a difference - it ain't that smart! But here's another idea to verify/check... disconnect the two plug connectors and short them to each other on the boat side. I "think" that doing that should show full bars while unconnected should show 1 bar. It might be the other way around but either way, one of those ways will show full bars IF the boat-side wiring and gauge are both good. You could read the resistance (Ohms) at the sender's plugs - look to see that it changes as you manually move the finger. I don't know the "spec" for what it should read offhand (might be in the service manual), but the main thing is to see that the reading is consistently changing as you move the finger through it's range of motion - this will show that the sender is good and that you didn't get a bum sender.

 

[SirGrady226]

I gave up on my sending units that are original to my ancient twin1987 Johnson 140's and not available any longer. They rely on a perfect ground, which everyone knows get's more of an impossibility as time and corrosion goes by. My V4's are very short compared to V6's, so looking back and trying to judge that they are trimmed the same is very difficult. I just try my best to get a feel for where they are at, pushing both trim buttons at the same time once they go from quick to slow movement.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I installed a new trim sender on my 2000 OX66 but the gauge still the same level, when I up the engine the guage didn't nothing, it's something extra I need to do for reset or supposed to read the position without any set up,please someone can help with this problem,I have two engine port has aftermarket trim motor and work a little slow,I need the trim sender to check the position when I trimming but the trim sender I change(port engine) guage didn't mark properly

The beauty of having two motors is that you can troubleshoot by swap.
Since one works, you could swap the connections at the gauge. or you can install the new part on the other motor...or, does the new part plug in? or hard wired? you could plug it in to the good motor and move it by hand to test...plug the old one to test... You get my drift????

As said before, the digital gauges have a delay so give it time. This is especially true of the fuel gauges....

The trim can move a lot before you get another bar. Eyeballing it by looking backwards isn't very accurate either.
I wish those trim gauges were more accurate(more resolution) and there was electronics to "match trim" on multiple motors. Even my new Zukes don't do that.
Imagine having 4 motors to trim???

 

[bellgrady]

The beauty of having two motors is that you can troubleshoot by swap.
Since one works, you could swap the connections at the gauge. or you can install the new part on the other motor...or, does the new part plug in? or hard wired? you could plug it in to the good motor and move it by hand to test...plug the old one to test... You get my drift????

As said before, the digital gauges have a delay so give it time. This is especially true of the fuel gauges....

The trim can move a lot before you get another bar. Eyeballing it by looking backwards isn't very accurate either.
I wish those trim gauges were more accurate(more resolution) and there was electronics to "match trim" on multiple motors. Even my new Zukes don't do that.
Imagine having 4 motors to trim???

Thank you for your advise, I will check that on my next trip,I have some problems with my gas tank level float so that will be my next project