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I searched all over the forum trying to find out if this has been discussed and could not find it, so I'm starting a new discussion. Went boating yesterday and as we pulled up to the boat ramp to leave, the outdrive trim switch on the shift/throttle did not work. I didn't have time to do much diagnosing and just used the transom switch to raise the unit up.

Now that boat is in storage 2 hours away and I was hoping I could get some tips on things to check out when I go back. My first thought is electrical, so I was going to check fuses and breakers. My only other thought was mechanical and the switch on the handle just broke or stopped working for some reason.

Please share any thoughts you may have on how to correct this issue.

Considering you still can make it work from your transom bypass switch it should be easy.
A test light comes in handy as your shifter switch usually only dies in one direction. Is yours a 2 stage up or do you have a separate trailer trim on the shifter or below?
Also the shifter goes through the trim limiter switch before it sees the pump solenoid.
So I’m guessing loose wire or trim limit switch on the outdrive.

Thanks cmatt. If by two stage, you mean that it combines the trailer up with up and down, then yes. See pic. You can make out the trailer emblem above the up down arrows.

I'm guessing the trim limiter switch is in the engine compartment with the other components for the trim?

Some handle switches are two stage up. Normal pressure for the limited trim, then hard depress will put it to trailer and bypass the limiting switch.
Now the limiting switches are located on the outdrive inset to the gimbal housing or hat where the outdrive bolts up. As it is carefully adjusted by a tech to limit up a safe trim level. It can also fail and not allow the 12v to pass through to your bilge mounted trim pump and solenoid.
If your able to test for power from your handle switch back then have a look. If your unsure it’s a great task for a Merc tech as they do this stuff all day long.!

Thanks cmatt. I'll start some research and look for a good mechanic near PK Lake.

Motex2011 wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 6:41 pm Thanks cmatt. I'll start some research and look for a good mechanic near PK Lake.

Just have the wife ride on the back all weekend and run the trim. Lol. Just use the new body lanyard.

Big Block Power wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:10 pm

Motex2011 wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 6:41 pm Thanks cmatt. I'll start some research and look for a good mechanic near PK Lake.

Just have the wife ride on the back all weekend and run the trim. Lol. Just use the new body lanyard.

See, if she falls off it will kill the engine, you don't even need to pay attention to her!

My trim limit switch failed so I just bypassed it. You need to pull the drive to replace it, so I'll fix mine when I do the next drive service.

My old Chaparral had a bad trim limit switch but I could use the separate trailer switch to raise the out drive and never replaced the limit switch. After having that boat for so many years I just adjusted the trim by the reaction of the boat and was never worried about trimming too high. Mine would trim down off the throttle switch, but not up. You say you're going to wait until next service, but can you raise the outdrive while in motion now or are you just setting it to a down position and living with it? I have installed trim tabs so now i set the out drive to a certain place and leave it and use the trim tabs to make adjustments.

Big Block Power wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:10 pm

Motex2011 wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 6:41 pm Thanks cmatt. I'll start some research and look for a good mechanic near PK Lake.

Just have the wife ride on the back all weekend and run the trim. Lol. Just use the new body lanyard.

Not helping!

akorcovelos wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:59 pm

Big Block Power wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:10 pm

Motex2011 wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 6:41 pm Thanks cmatt. I'll start some research and look for a good mechanic near PK Lake.

Just have the wife ride on the back all weekend and run the trim. Lol. Just use the new body lanyard.

See, if she falls off it will kill the engine, you don't even need to pay attention to her!

My trim limit switch failed so I just bypassed it. You need to pull the drive to replace it, so I'll fix mine when I do the next drive service.

I will wait. My boat doesn't need to be trimmed. I've noticed when I did lift it a little while running, it would porpoise, so just left it down. I've just decided that it is going to work.

Motex2011 wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 12:53 pm

akorcovelos wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:59 pm

Big Block Power wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:10 pm

Just have the wife ride on the back all weekend and run the trim. Lol. Just use the new body lanyard.

See, if she falls off it will kill the engine, you don't even need to pay attention to her!

My trim limit switch failed so I just bypassed it. You need to pull the drive to replace it, so I'll fix mine when I do the next drive service.

I will wait. My boat doesn't need to be trimmed. I've noticed when I did lift it a little while running, it would porpoise, so just left it down. I've just decided that it is going to work.

I wonder then if all along that the slow first step of the trim has ever worked then. You should be able to trim it some. It's not right to not use trim. Your losing so much performance.

??? Don’t fix ???
Why does your Boat pick up speed at the same rpms drastically when trimmed up?

The ripple effects of static trim taking off is a huge strain on the engine and outdrive. As is be in all the time once on plane. These aren’t flat bottom hydros with fixed max trim and a trim tab to push the nose down.
I wasn’t making seem complex but a idea of what’s wrong or how to diag it.
It will be Poor handling and she’s gonna suffer.
Park it until your ready to find out what’s wrong..
Maybe a loose wire away from stardom

We may be going to the lake for a day this Saturday, so I may get a chance to take a look at it. Ever since I bought this boat, the trim hasn't seemed to make a difference. On other boats I've owned, you could see the performance change as soon as you started to trim it, but it hasn't seemed to matter. I fooled with it the first two or three days out and I would trim it up and then it would start to porpoise, but there wouldn't be that nice gain in speed along the way. So, I just quit messing with it. However, I admit that I never gave much thought to stress on the outdrive or boat.

True as Duo Props have such a low prop slip they don’t require much. Porpoise is the top sweet spot. You’ll notice it goes away when you bring the speed up as higher speeds like better outdrive alignment to the hull.
Fingers crossed it’s a easy find , and remember you may have a 2 stage up switch on your handle.

cmattj wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:03 pm ??? Don’t fix ???
Why does your Boat pick up speed at the same rpms drastically when trimmed up?

The ripple effects of static trim taking off is a huge strain on the engine and outdrive. As is be in all the time once on plane. These aren’t flat bottom hydros with fixed max trim and a trim tab to push the nose down.
I wasn’t making seem complex but a idea of what’s wrong or how to diag it.
It will be Poor handling and she’s gonna suffer.
Park it until your ready to find out what’s wrong..
Maybe a loose wire away from stardom

Hey hey, no trim shaming! ( geesh that just doesn't sound right..)