Cant get out drive to trailer mode...

[BKK]

My new 2017 Slx 230 was delivered and I noticed pretty quickly the outdrive was not raised as high as it should be.. the guage is showing its all the way up but it is definitely not in the trailering mode. It has the mercury smart craft throttle but no one at merc or the dealer I bought it from has been able to help me. What do i need to do to get this outdrive up!? Thank you in advance

the pic is as high as it will go, I had to disconnect the hydraulics and tie it up to back it in my driveway....

 

[Express 390]

Yes it seems to be trimmed all the way up but to go into trailering mode is there a second button that may need to be pushed?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Click to enlarge is this a button?

 

[Bt Doctur]

If you boat has a DTC side mount you`ll need this

https://www.drev.se/Upload/DocumentManager/mercruiser/smartwire.pdf

 

[Bt Doctur]

this covers the DTS control boxes https://www.scribd.com/doc/76275169/Merc-Controls-Newest-Manual

 

[Bt Doctur]

And if all else fails go to the rear of the motor box, locate the trim pump , the blue motor wire at the relay is the "up" and the green wire is "down" wire in a new DPDT switch at a convenient spot to the small lugs of the relays
grey with a switch, or yellow with + jumper
click to enlarge

 

[Lazy Daze]

With DTS, the the functions of trim vs tilt are controlled via the puck on the sterndrive and the Smartcraft computer. There is no separate 'tilt' button as in years past. The SC computer knows how far to let it tilt based on RPM's.

When you called your dealer, what did they say? You just got the boat - either take it back for them to fix it or talk to them directly about it and have them help you over phone.

Short of all that, jumping the wires as the Doc mentioned will work. Make sure you jump to the larger wires.

 

[BKK]

Thank you all very much for your replies! I was finally contacted back by Merc. They told me I need to have it hooked up to a G3 diagnostics computer at a dealer and the height limit can be adjusted that way. I have an appointment at a local marina tomorrow. Hoping this works, If not I will jump the wires.

 

[Espos4]

Once they straighten that out,
If you don’t have the transom mounted controls, you could have that installed. I did last year and it’s very convenient to have, and very easy to install and No wires to splice.

 

[Espos4]

 

[Bt Doctur]

Thats nonsense, all of that should have been checked and adjusted BEFORE you took delivery

 

[El Capitan]

Agree w Bt Doctur. How could they deliver your new boat that way? Lucky they didn’t damage the skeg on the trip.

 

[BKK]

Bad news... after leaving the boat with a authorized premium merc dealer, they contacted me saying the outdrive was at its max height.. they are sure there are blockers/spacers on the pistons that only allow them to come out so far... even if I jumped the wires it would not go any higher. Basically told me it must have been done to avoid hitting the fold down swim platform. Waiting to hear back from Sea Ray. All pics are as high as drive will go, 5" clearence on level ground... even if I drop the front down below parallel I only have 7", this cant be normal

 

[ColoSR]

Take it back to the dealer, something is not right here. Presuming that the merc mechanic would be smart enough to adjust the height switch, messing with the cylinders can get expensive real fast. They are $400-$500 each for new ones.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Your mechanic is correct - it's height is limited because of the drop down platform. See if there are any ideas/options your dealer can help with. I don't know if they are "allowed" to delete the height restriction, though.

 

[ColoSR]

If you can't mess with the cylinders, can you adjust your trailer bunks? Either move them up, or pitch the boat forward. The leg on my 2003 isn't lifted significantly higher than yours, but I have about 10" of clearance when it is on the truck.

 

[Bt Doctur]

why not remove the abomination off the swim platform?

 

[BKK]

Sea Ray's answer to me was that the 5.5" clearence is normal height.. It absolutely is not!

I took the boat to lake george this past weekend, they do inspections before you can launch mostly for environmental reasons. First words out the inspection guys mouth "hey buddy your outdrive isn't even close to up, your gonna loose that thing" I explained the situation and he said he had never seen one that low in his life. 5 min later I had to disconnect the hydraulics and tie the outdrive up with rope to get past a hump near the launch. Very annoying. Taking her out of the water I went to a different launch 10 miles away that was recommended to me because it was even ground. She came out with no problem but again a different inspection person came over to me concerned about my drive.

 

[Lazy Daze]

I don't recall the extension spec for a B3 outdrive offhand... but you could measure the rams on another boat with a B3 and compare. Otherwise, pursue what I mentioned above.