Trim gauge

[jayrodau]

I just bought a 180 searay sport and put it in the water yesterday afternoon. Seems the trim gauge isnt reading properly.

The needle on the gauge will move toward the down position and then once its reached the down position I looked at the prop on its only half way in the water. So, then I kept holding the down and it went completely under like normal. Then all of a sudden the gauge popped all the way over to the UP position.

Any suggestion on what it might be?

 

[skibum]

Look in your Smartcraft manual. There is a calibration routine for the trim gauge. I think it is under the "Cal 2" calibrations.

 

[tdappleman]

You may be experiencing the trim sensors which are mounted on the side of the outdrive going out. Not sure if Smartcraft enabled outdrives use the same sensors or not.

 

[Lazy Daze]

No Smartcraft on that engine.

Start with the easy stuff... check your trim sender switch to see if it's loose.

Here's some reading material for you about the trim limit and trim sender switches... SKIP to post #79:

http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2804&highlight=trim+limit+switch

 

[jayrodau]

Is there a smartcraft manual online for my boat? Its the 3.0L mercruiser.

 

[skibum]

I'm sorry, Jay. I saw you had an 05 so I assumed that you had SC. Peter says you don't. Follow his advice, not mine.

 

[Firerooster]

Trim senders sound to b the blame

 

[jason78]

I had a similiar problem with my trim gauge on a non-Smartcraft boat. I was convinced it was the trim sender. I got my mechanic to take a look and it was the main harness that connects on the back of the engine was giving a bad connection. He cleaned the connections and it was fixed. He said many people replace that sender and find it was not where the problem was. This was affecting my trim gauge and at times my oil press gauge. From what I understand, changing that sensor is a real pain so you may want to check out everything else possible before you open that can of worms (or can of cash). It took him 15 minutes to fix the problem and re-calibrate the sender. Cost me $20 instead of several hundred.

There is also a white disc inside the sender that from what I understand can go bad too. That disc can be replaced without replacing the sender. I do not know the exact function of the disc.

I had the non-Smartcraft 5.0MPI but I assuming you have similiar connections on the 3.0.

Jason