Mercruiser Alpha Drive Stuck in UP Position

[mark guthrie]

This is not a selonoid issue, I am by-passing that by jumping the pump.

While jumping, I used the wrong wire. There is green and blue. I jumped the green wire my mistake, which drove the drive to its end of travel going up. Dumb mistake.

The pump still runs, but the drive won't go down, when jumping the blue wire.

So, I read there might be an airlock in the rams. So I have now removed both hydraulic lines from each ram. No movement. And worse than that, no oil came out...that doesn't seem right. And yes there is oil in the pump resorvior.

Any ideas?

 

[Espos4]

I thought green was down and blue was up??

 

[Brite Idea]

green(ground) is down and blue(sky) is up. I had this problem on my last boat and the problem is in one of the rams. If you disconnect them then run it down the stuck one will stay up.

 

[Bt Doctur]

was the drive stored in the full up ?
remove the hyd lines at the connector block and operate the pump. does oil squirt out?

 

[Nater Potater]

There's a pressure relief valve in the pump so you won't blow up anything when driving up too high. It might have stuck open (a long shot, I know).

 

[Thornton69]

Is it possible the bar between the drives are binding them? The earlier alphas had shock vales built into the trim cylinder pistons to protect them from impacts. We had problems with them after an light impact and they would occasionally bypass and stop the drive from lowering under power. Not sure if the newer ones still have something similar outside of the trim pump assembly.

 

[Pirate Lady]

Update? If it’s up longer than 4 hours, seek medical attention.

 

[Nater Potater]

Mark hasn't been seen since Thursday morning.

 

[mark guthrie]

I have an update. I disconnected the hydraulic lines to the tilt/trim ram...no oil came out, I was surprised.

Next. Used a scissor jack to push down, using the swim step. It moved a few inches. So...
I decided to re-hook up the hydraulic lines. And try moving down again. IT WORKED.

But...the bad news...I cross-threaded one of the hydraulic lines...ugh.

So decided to replace the ram. But I can't get it off. The working end, has a nut, that came off fine and it moves on the pin. The other end however, which only has a single c-clip will not come off.

I have tried: CorrisionX, Freeze-Off...and hitting from the other side, using a breaker bar and hammer...not budging. My next thought is to put some heat on it. Could there be something else holding it? Attaching the parts diagram.

Found this great site for find Mercruiser parts. https://public-mercurymarine.sysonl...est&NA_KEY=NA_KEY_VALUE&langIF=eng&langDB=eng

Any ideas?