New Merc Trim Question

[Kerry Cordy]

I finally got the pump primed but now it does the strangest thing. Both the up and down button causes the Merc to only go in one direction. I can switch the blue/white stripe with the green/white stripe and it switches direction. Up/down on switch, merc only goes down. Switch wires Up/down and the merc only goes up. THIS is CRAZY!!! What can this possibly be????
Thanks for your help, Allen

 

[Kerry Cordy]

I want to clerify my message. The green and blue wire off the 3 way plug does not matter. I can switch these and the motor only goes up. I switched the blue and green on the sylinoids and now the merc only goes down.

 

[patches]

Ground good??

 

[Bobalouie]

The wiring for the trim switches is pretty confusing, especially when you consider you have a switch (or 3 if your like me) on the wheel, one at the bow, one on the motor, and one on the shifter. The gear shifter, wheel switches and engine switch are all tied together, and I would assume that the one on the bow is as well. Have you checked your other switches to see if they are functioning normaly? If you want to eliminate the trim pump soleniods as a problem, just run a jumper from the pos post of one of your batteries and touch it to the solenoid on the output side and see if the engine goes up or down, and then touch it to the other solenoid output and see if the engine goes in the opposite direction.

If thats good, put a mulimeter on each of the switches, usually, the center post on the switches is the +12V, so check it between each of the outer posts when pressing the rocker one way, and then the other. Only one of the outer posts should show voltage when pressing the switch in one direction or the other. I would guess that your motor switch is messed up.

 

[David Lanham]

Sounds like a bad relay to me. You have a two or a three wire trim pump?

 

[Kerry Cordy]

The pump it the standard mercury pump. It has the plug on the side with a light green wire which is a red or hot wire, and the other two are the green/white and blue /white. The up down switch on the shifter only has the up working. There are four wires stubs that come out of the boat harness. Tan, Dark Brown, and the trim blue and green. One has no signal, I believe the blue/white. So,What I did was eliminate all of the individual swithes. As an example, I isolated the turn signal trim switch, it does the same thing, trim up/ motor up, trim down/ motor up. So I wired directly to the trim switch on the motor. Trim up/ motor up, trim down motor up. So I decided to switch the two wires coming out of the trim motor on the solenoid. Green is on bottom solenoid. Blue is on top. I switched the wires and now everything is in reverse. Trim up/ motor goes down, trim down/ motor goes down. This is how I moved the boat on Sunday to fire the motor off for the first time. Runs and idles great. Now I just have to figure out this crazy trim pump. Bob, you are right, I had the bow, turn signal, shifter, and the cowling on my 225. I would eventually like to maintain this. If I lose the trim switch on the shifter it would not be a big deal. The others are nice for convience. Thanks for your responses. Is there a hotline to Mercury??? I just hate the idea of taking the boat to a local dealer and having them tear the boat apart. I'm not worried about a bill or the time. I just don't want someone that does not know what there doing making a bigger mess.

 

[Bobalouie]

I did away with the little plug on the side of my pump and wired directly to the solenoids. My new cowl did not have a provision for the trim switch, so I put a switch in one of the rear compartments so I can move the motor while I am back there, and it was easier to wire directly to the solenoids when I added the switch. You might try that with some jumper wires just to see if it works.

 

[Kerry Cordy]

Bob, I actually bypassed the light green wire in the plug directly because I was not getting power through the plug. Direct is the right way and I will start there. David asks about 2 0r 3 way, it's the 3 way. Relays??? I will have to study the pump and see whats on it. I'm slowly learning about this stuff. It's frustrating but this is a good learning experience for me for future maintenance and care. It's been 80 degrees for the last six weeks and no wind. I'm just begging for a boat ride and go catch some bass at lake Shasta. I've had the Allison since 2007. I broke it in June and it has not been wet since. The new 280 will be worth the wait. My old 225 is up in Washingon with Brian. He took it apart and nothing catostrophic, just a piston started coming apart. No other damage.

 

[Bobalouie]

I dont think you have relays. The 3 ram trim pump uses relays, but if you bought a stock 280, you should have the single ram trim system with the pump mounted in the boat and it uses solenoids instead of relays. I would seriously try the jumper wire on the pump solenoids to rule it out as a problem. Thats how I tested my new pump prior to wiring it all up. The up/down function is on two different circuits, so if the switches are acting that way, there is something allowing those circuits to cross. Either thru wiring at the pump, or with a faulty switch causing a bridge across the two circuits.

Your lucky, My 280 ate a reed cage which took out 2 pistons, 2 pots on a head and scuffed a bore. Its at JSRE now getting repaired / massaged.

 

[Bobalouie]

I am working of memory here and drawing this freehand, so go easy on me, but this is how the trim system is wired on my boat.

 

[Kerry Cordy]

Bob, so sorry to hear about your motor. Is there anyway that a person can monitor the reed plate so that it does not get inhaled. My motor is brand new with maybe 35 hours on it. I will drop a computer on it soon and take compression readings and monitor closely. I had Linda at Brucatto re-calibrate the injectors. I will give you my DDT numbers soon. Your absolutely right now that you given me the tips. Yes they are seperate circuits and they are incontact some how on the pump. I tried in isolation the boat trim switches and they all did the same thing. It's not the switches, its at the pump and I will test tonight. I will post the results. Thanks, Allen

 

[Bobalouie]

My engine had 5 petal reed cages in it, and there are two different types. One of them is prone to cracking, which just happens to be the kind that were in my engine. I am going back with 7 petal cages which was stock (and what should be in yours if yours is still stock). The 7 petal cages are pretty good, almost bulletproof. The newer 5 petal cages have a gusset in them because the older variety cracked too often during assembly and then came apart later. Mine had the old style in it.

I didnt know there were 2 types of 5 petal cage until I talked to Jay at JSRE about it. He gave me the skinny.

 

[Kerry Cordy]

IT's FIXED. I blew it from the very begining. A couple of months ago Bob was giving me some great advice about setting up the fuel pump and he mentioned that he did away with the plug on the trim motor and wired it directly. Well, I did not follow his advice and tried to use the Male/Female Merc rubber plug. It had a SHORT in it. I bypassed the plub last night and wired direct to the soleniods and everything works. Time for my first 280 ride this Saturday. Thanks for everyones help. I will speak up agian when I need help.

 

[Bobalouie]

Congrats, glad you got it figured out.

 

[Tom M]

Re: Single Ram Solenoid Wiring

Know I'm dragging up an old thread here but I just wanted to verify solenoid wiring for a single ram system.
After 2 x 3 ram units failing on me last year I'm doing a fresh install of a single ram system on a 2.5 Merc.
Bobs diagram seems accurate. Anyone have anything else to add?
Haven't purchased solenoids yet. I believe they are typical Ford units. Is this correct?
Thanks, Tom

 

[patches]

That's the solenoids I use. An old Ford starter solenoid from Auto Zone

 

[Tom M]

Thanks