Trim won't go down........help!

I came home and noticed that the transom saver bar was disconnected from the trailer which obviously meant that the motor had been trimmed all the way up.

I have four trim buttons on the boat (1998 Ranger R82) and none of them respond when I try to trim the motor back down. When I hit the "trim up" button it whines like it normally would but it doesn't go anywhere because it is trimmed all the way up.

Any ideas? It is obviously something electrical but I'm unsure of what it would be.

Wmos,

Your safety didn't lock it in the up position did it? There should be a metal safety tab on your transom, it may have locked in.

Next, try trimming down and pressing down on the motor yourself. I have a trim button on my motor so one person can do it, if you don't, you might need someone to help you.

You might be headed to the shop if that don't work.

Good luck. At least it happened at home and not 10 miles from the ramp!

topwater

not the safety tab and you hit the nail on the head when you said good thing it didn't happen ten miles from the ramp...luckily I spent four days at Patoka this past week without any problems...except for my fishing.

My dad and I had the same problem. We had to take it to the dealer. They said it was probably a bad relay or the motor was bad. We had the relay replaced and it worked fine. You might try driving it around the block and seeing if it can wiggle a bit and unjam itself. We were able to do that and get it to work from time to time.

Well what I have found over the years is a trim switch.....usually on the control handle gets wet, or moisture in it and shorts out causing trim to raise up. Now the bad news if it ran long enough it may have burnt out the trim motor. Merc and Johnson/Evinrudes have a manuel release on the trim valve body, loosen it up( large flatblade screw inside a hole of the transom bracket )and let the motor down about half way , then close the release valve and try to trim it up. If nothing happens the motor may be burnt out, if it goes up you need to find which switch is shorted out, and I'm betting on the control handle. Let me know if you neeed any more help.

Hitman

I took it to the dealer to deal with and they said it is common. Possibly a short from the rain or it could be the trim motor itself.

They said when this happens the boat will trim all of the way up on its own and then it won't respond.

My buddy and I was at Lake Cumberland in July 2003 night fishing. I had just purchased a Brand New Tracker Pro Deep V 17 with a 90 Mercury one month earlier. We are down around Pig Pen Wall when a massive storm came up so quick we had no time to get to Jamestown Marina for any cover so I ducked into one of the pockets to get out of the rollers from the main lake. We sat there for about an hour with the rain coming down so hard it was rediculous. Then my motor starts trimming up on its own. I thought I was pushing the button for I was still sitting behind the console but I was not. It kept trimming up so I held the trim button down and the motor stopped going up as long as I held it down. When I let off it trimmed up more. My buddy holds the trim button down while I do some looking but how much can you see with the rain pouring plus the lightning dancing all around. It finally started trimming up no matter if the button was held or not. The motor crashed into my back seat and pedestal causing it to bend plus it trimmed all the way to the deck. It still was trying to trim more even though it was on the deck. I am not a mechanic and just a couple of days earlier a battery blew up in one of my maintenance men's face at work. Here I was trying to disconnect the power with the rain and thoughts of the battery getting wet and blowing up in my face 3-4 miles from the nearest marina and no way to start the big motor. My rainsuit had ripped and I could have jumped overboard and been drier than I was at that time. I disconnect all cables for I can't figure out which one is the motor. A short time later the back of my boat is completely under water and water is starting to come in thru the transom area. I connected the cables back to the battery for they were all cable tied together from the manufacturer so to get the bildge pump going. It took almost 20 minutes to pump out all the water from the boat. When done I disconnected the cables again for the trim motor was running the whole time. 4 hours total sitting in pouring rain, (3 inches total in 4 hours per the weather service) and the sun starts coming up. My buddy is on the trolling motor while I am on the paddle out to the main part of the lake. No boaters but 1 SOB that went flying by us 4 times and did not stop once even though we did all we could to get his attention. We finally got help and to finish this story, my brother in law came over and reverse polarity my battery cables to the motor and it trimmed down for the ride to Cincinnati Bass Pro. They looked it over for 2 days and said nothing was wrong to come and get it. I argued over the phone to no avail and decided to get it the next day. It rained that night and they came in the next morning and my motor was trimmed to the deck. They never did find which of the 3 motor trim switches was shorted so they changed all 3 plus a new trim motor plus a new motor cover that was scratched, new seat and pedastal. I now carry a glad plastic sandwich bag to put over my throttle handle if it starts raining just in case. They said that one was most likely the problem. It must have dried out by the time I got it to Bass Pro and that is why it tested good.

Tight Lines

That sounded like a good fishing trip elnuts...just kidding. You figures this had to happened a lots so they would make those things water proof.

I had that problem once when I took Viagra!!!

I was an ad on tv that if your trim won't go down after 4 hours to seek immediate medical attention.

I signed up for the Outdoor Network and they accidentally gave me the Playboy Channel instead. I watched all weekend making sure the Outdoor Network didn't come on. Then I saw the add stating to seek medical attention for the condition, and I had to be life lined to Methodist in Indy.

Chigger

it sounds like it is a relay. had the same thing happen to me, picked one up at a merc dealer for about $15, installed myself in about 10 minutes. good luck, shaner

Yes it was a relay.....covered under warranty.