Trim/Tilt just goes "click"

[Adivad]

Hi,
hopefully someone can help with my problem. My motor is a 1997 60hp Yamaha.
A week or so ago I went to raise the motor to prior to hitching on the trailer.
The response was just a clicking sound each time I pressed the button, both from the forward control and engine buttons. After fiddling with a few things it seemed to come good when I tightened the bolts on the battery terminals.
However, it's happened again, but it's intermittent. For a while, just clicking, then later on it would work. Anyone got any ideas??

Thanks
Dave

[FNQCairns]

Give your battery terminals/connections a good going over, clean them up real well, i get this all the time when I reconnect my battery for doing stuff in the backyard, in my instance it's always because i just screw them down by hand for the short time involved. Dirty terminals/connections can mimic what I create, even when done up super tight.

cheers fnq

[Far side]

Check the relays you may need to replace them

[outsiderskip]

battery might be too old too

pete

[OISTA]

The clicking usually comes from not enough current reaching the trim/tilt motors. Check all terminal both at the battery and at the motor. Check the terminals where the cable runs into the terminal as often these can hold moisture and corrode. Also get you battery checked, though if the engine is starting welli'd suspect connections at the trim tilt motors

[trueblue]

remove all associated connections, then clean and retighten all of them.

If that doesn't work, take the main battery leads off at each end and hold clear, and then check the resistance in ohms. If the cable is corroded, it will have a high reading, if in good nick, it will be a very low reading of a bit over zero to 1 or so.

My trim tilt went to buggery with a corroded cable, but the damage couldn't be seen easily. A quick test (after a lot of other hunting for the problem) and it was obvious that the cable was stuffed, and once replaced all was fine.

cheers

Mick

[dnej]

Mick, when you do that, if the cable goes through an isolation switch, can you leave the cable on the switch, if it is turned to off position.
David

[trueblue]

no, remove it from the isolation switch. You want to check each cable length to find the one with the problem.

mine was hard to find the problem without measuring the resistance, because the cable had been cut back and repaired one time before. Both ends looked good - but under the glued heat shrink at the repair, corrosion was rampant but invisible unless the cable was cut apart.

cheers

Mick

[groverwa]

If you have a multimeter that will read down to millivolts, and even the cheap ones do, then it is possible to check high resistance joints and\or cables as per the attachment which shows the volt drop across the connection from the battery of my Rodeo with the highbeam lights on

There should be a very small volt drop across any terminal or cable and the drop shown in the pic is 3mV or 3 one thousandth of a volt which is good

Corrosion can occur inside the connector that may not be visible or the crimpimg of the connector lug may not be good enough

High resistance connections will tend to feel hotter than normal

Hope this will help

Mike

[dnej]

Mike, in the photo, the neg probe is on the neg battery terminal. Is the pos just on the insulation?
David

[groverwa]

dneg

No - the probe is under the insulation and contacting the copper wires in the cable as I needed both hands to hold the camera

Doing a test like this is easier with 2 people as in the situation where the trim\ tilt is playing up in the original question

As a side issue - most people do not know how much of a hazard exists if the battery top is dirty and\or has acid spilt on it and not cleaned up properly. If you have a battery like the one described then do the volt drop test across sections of the plastic top and you will find that because of the current flowing from the neg to the pos terminal there will be a frightening amount of voltage present

Mike

[groverwa]

Found this site that will explain volt drop across terminals and cables and battery voltage - may be of interest - refers to cars but is relevant to boating also

http://ceu.educommons.net/automotive-technology/introduction-to-transportation-technology-i/AutomotiveElectrical.pdf

Mike

[Adivad]

Really appreciate all the responses, there's a few things I haven't tested yet, mainly the leads themselves. It's a dual battery system, and what I've done so far is to clean the terminals and posts thoroughly and swap the negative terminal from Bat 1 to Bat 2 to eliminate the battery terminals and the lead terminal.
Still having the problem. I dont know how to check the relays, or even where they are. Should this be a job for a pro? I don't have the equipment to do the other tests either.
Thanks to all who have offered assistance.

Dave

[pursuit001]

hi could be a faulty trim tilt sensor solonoid be sure to check this as others said check terminals etc also