Hond 40 trim & tilt ... not working?

[fatlazyless]

Am way too down & out broke to be taking this to the Honda dealer for repairs, and need to fix it myself; a 2004, 40-hp Honda outboard with trim & tilt and the trim & tilt stopped working ...... what to do ....what should I be looking at here for likely repair to get it working again? It will make a small clicking noise but the trim & tilt does not power up.

Must get it fixed with repairs items available at the Gilford Walmart and no where else .... for example.....and obviously not from a Honda dealer ......u-know.....some black tape and a quik fix loose wire or something easy ....on no!

[Woodsy]

FLL,

Check your battery connections and all of the power connections to trim tilt motors & trim/tilt solenoids. Make sure the battery is FULLY charged. Its probably something simple.

If that doesn't fix it, go online and find a wiring schematic and start troubleshooting process. (Youtube can be good for this stuff). The common point of failure is usually the solenoids or the trim limit switch, both should be inexpensive at a Honda dealership.

Woodsy

[Happy Gourmand]

A clicking noise will often leads to the possibility of a bad solenoid switch.

[Dave R]

If you hear clicking and the engine does not move up or down, odds are good the power tilt and trim motor has failed. Connect the positive lead of a volt meter to the blue wire on the trim pump and the negative lead to the green wire. Press the tilt up button and see if you get +12 volts on the meter. Press the trim down and see if you get -12 volts. If so, the switches, wiring and relays are all good. Remove the motor from the pump and see if it spins when the trim buttons are pressed. If it does, next see if the pump is frozen (hopefully not...) IF the motor does not turn, it may be frozen due to corrosion inside. If you open it up you may find that it simply needs brushes and/or new bearings. These parts are often easily replaceable, but I have never worked on a Honda trim motor, so I can't say for sure.

[Dave R]

One other thing to add, the Honda design does not seem to have a fuse for the trim motor. It is directly connected to the battery with a white/yellow wire. The motor will therefore need to have some sort of overload protection built in. Typically, that's handled by a simple bi-metallic thermal switch. That might be at fault too.

You can download an owner's manual here: http://marine.honda.com/owners/manuals/models/BF40 The back of it has the wiring diagram. That's where I came up with my troubleshooting tips.

[fatlazyless]

.....Wow!....thanks for all the advice....seems like some serious good advice here.....so's I need to get on it...and find that do-it-myself, el cheapo deluxo, type of a fix ....

[Dave R]

I am the self-proclaimed king of the cheap (but proper) fix. I always try to replace just the part that failed rather than a whole sub-system. I recently repaired a Mercruiser (GM) PG260 reduction gear starter by replacing one simple gear for $14 rather than replacing the whole starter for $220. Please update this thread, I'd love to know what the problem was.

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by Dave R

I am the self-proclaimed king of the cheap (but proper) fix. .

You might have a challenger here. My over the stove microwave/exhaust unit stopped working. Just about to buy a new one and figured I might as well tear it apart to see what I might find. $1.50 later for a micro switch on the door and its now been 10 years later and still running. Thats real satisfying.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

You might have a challenger here. My over the stove microwave/exhaust unit stopped working. Just about to buy a new one and figured I might as well tear it apart to see what I might find. $1.50 later for a micro switch on the door and its now been 10 years later and still running. Thats real satisfying.

Guessing you are an engineer like me. I bet you would love the comprehensive tool kit I keep on my boat. There's a Fluke 87 in it, for instance...

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by Dave R

Guessing you are an engineer like me. I bet you would love the comprehensive tool kit I keep on my boat. There's a Fluke 87 in it, for instance...

Technically no Dave but being self employed with manufacturing and commercial real estate owner, my job entails fixing everything so I enjoy getting in the middle of equipment and finding out how it works to repair it.

[Dave R]

So what was the fix?

[fatlazyless]

....nothing....it is still on the trailer in the driveway and still broken...except now I have a new car which has a trailer hitch, and my old car did not, plus some more money so's if I cannot get it fixed myself then I can trailer it over to www.riveredgemarina.com or to www.shepbrowns.com their shop rate is $100/flat-rate hour or something....the Meredith Neck Rd is in such terrible shape with six miles of crappy broken asphalt that I hate to trailer a boat over this no good state road so's Shep Brown's avoids the crappy road haul for the most part....anyway will give it a go to fix it myself.....maybe this weekend!!! oh heck....just remembered that the tires are 1992 and all cracked and the bearings are ditto same......oh buoy.....plenty to fix and spend!!!

[bigdog]

Fatlazyless....

Sending you a contact who is marine tech. and a member of this Forum.
jst_4_kiks@yahoo.com

He has helped me several times with engine issues, both I/O and my outboard. He comes to your location, actually diagnoses the issue, before just replacing parts.

Will send you a PM with his tel#.

Bigdog

[fatlazyless]

....hi....have not been able to open the pm messages ....so will try a different 'puter later on today.....my 'puter works about as well as my outboard......thanks!

.....later on

.....ok....I sent a text to his phone number and let's see what happens???