Trim sensor just quit!

C

Chris Lovlecae

Member
Sep 24, 2022
85
Boat Info
2011 Sea Ray Sundeck 260
Engines
350 MAG/Bravo III
I have a 2011 Sundeck with 350 MAG MPI EC and Bravo 3 drive. The trim sensor worked great this morning while the boat was in my driveway. As soon as it hit the water, BLAM, trim sensor not working. Are there any troubleshooting tricks before I go down the path of replacing the sensors and dealing with all that? Weird that it worked earlier then just died.

Thanks for any help!

-Chris
 
you can take the cover off (4 screws) and see if it is OK inside, and see if the wire connections are crap. Clean up and fix anything you find wrong. It may be the gauge or wiring going to the gauge. Maybe the wiring behind engine got un-plugged somehow from the banana connectors

Hope these help.
 

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Being a 2011, the port side is a dummy. Probably doesn’t have any wires going to it.

Like mentioned above, remove the 4 screws on the starboard side puck. Make note of the position of the notch on the sensor wheel before removing it.

Once you have the sensor wheel off, you can clean the contacts, add sone dielectric grease and reinstall it. I just did yesterday on my boat.
 
Bill Curtis said:
you can take the cover off (4 screws) and see if it is OK inside, and see if the wire connections are crap. Clean up and fix anything you find wrong. It may be the gauge or wiring going to the gauge. Maybe the wiring behind engine got un-plugged somehow from the banana connectors

Hope these help.
Click to expand...

Not trying to hijack this thread but would you happen to have something (link/download) similar for trim tabs. Have a 99 270 DA and a nice little manual for them would be nice for if/when problems arise! Thanks in advance!
 
Sent you a PM
 
Espos4 said:
Being a 2011, the port side is a dummy. Probably doesn’t have any wires going to it.

Like mentioned above, remove the 4 screws on the starboard side puck. Make note of the position of the notch on the sensor wheel before removing it.

Once you have the sensor wheel off, you can clean the contacts, add sone dielectric grease and reinstall it. I just did yesterday on my boat.
Click to expand...

Espos4,

Were you having trouble or is that just normal maintenance you are doing?

Boat is on the lift now. I'll see if the marina wouldn't mind me using thier raft thingy to look at it. From what I can see, the wires look intact and so does the connectors I could find in the engine bay. I'm guessing some water got in it or something since it happened when I put her in the water Sunday.
 
My trim gauge started to go a little crazy at the end of last year.
I’m still on the trailer and it was even more out of wack when I tested it the other day.

Once I cleaned the contacts, it worked perfectly.
 
I'm going to give it a try! Thanks, Espos4 and Bill! I'll let you all know how it goes once complete. And I take a picture if I fall into the water trying to fix it!
 
Update! I removed and cleaned the trim sender on the right side of the lower unit as you look from the stern. It really wasn't that bad but the insulation was breaking down. I cleaned the contacts and reinstalled. Then I used liquid electrical tape to insulate the wires. The bandaid is kind of messy but the liquid electrical tape is flexible and water proof (at least according to the bottle). But that didn't fix the issue.

On the port side, I believe is the trim limit switch. That one has a red, blue, and white wire. The red wire was broken. And the insulation was coming off the white and blue wires. I soldered the red wire back together. Pealed all the insulation off that was cracked and applied a liberal amount of the the liquid electrical tape. THIS DID FIX THE PROBLEM. Now the trim guage works like it did before I put the boat in the water. I will get some of that flextape to wrap around and bundle the wires back together and reconnect the plastic bracket that held the wires in place and call it good. I will replace the both the limit switch and sender the next time I pull the drive. I looks as if whomever owned the boat before me peeled the black protective plastic coating from the three wire bundle for the limit switch. That allowed sunlight/elements to breakdown the insulation on the wires which ultimately lead to the failure.

This kind of thing really bothers me. Just a little bit of preventative maintenance (wrapping some waterproof electrical tape) would saved the insulation.

For anyone else with trim switch problems, look for the wires broken and insulation missing. I was short on time or would have done a better job. Perhaps I'll go back and splice some good, silicone insulated wires in to make a better repair but what I did should last the season at least.

At least that's one more problem solved for the moment. On to fixing the misfire next...if it is indeed misfiring.
 
...and it broke again while out. I will pull the sensors and soldier in some good wires with proper protection. I hope that'll get me through the season till I pull the drive for maintenance. Surprisingly, the trim sensor error cause 5 beeps from SmartCraft before I start the engine. Not that trim isn't important but it's not critical. I can trim by feel and the change in frequency for the trim pump lets me know the limits. I wonder who at Mercury set this one as so important?
 
If that 3 wire sensor does trim and trim limit in one, then actually, very important if you try to start engine while drive is up, in trailer mode.
 
That's a good point. My family had a Sea Ray when I was younger that didn't have any of this stuff and we managed for 20 years to not need it. "Just don't screw it up!" my dad would say. But that is important.
 
Espos4 said:
Being a 2011, the port side is a dummy. Probably doesn’t have any wires going to it.

Like mentioned above, remove the 4 screws on the starboard side puck. Make note of the position of the notch on the sensor wheel before removing it.

Once you have the sensor wheel off, you can clean the contacts, add sone dielectric grease and reinstall it. I just did yesterday on my boat.
Click to expand...
Update:
Today was splash day.
The trim gauge doesn’t work.
I have continuity on the 2 wires from the starboard side into the bullet connectors inside the bilge, which are labeled “analog trim”

There is a 3 wire connector (labeled “digital trim”) to the port side puck. I couldn’t open it up to check continuity. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t know exactly how this system works, I’ll do some more research to figure it out. The boat is In the water and I’m content to “trim by feel” this year.
 
The "trim sender" is on the starboard side. Has two wires to it. Both were in OK shape though one had insulation flaking off. The port side had an unlabeled puck with three wires coming out that were in terrible shape. One wire was cut, the others had an inch or two of insulation peeled off. When I reconnected the one that was cut, the alert went away and the trim gauge was working. Underway and full speed, I got the trim sensor not working again. I think my shotty repair probably broke. I didn't make it over to the boat today to investigate but will tomorrow or Tuesday. I'll report my findings. I'm going to take off the port puck and solder some wire leads with good insulation then solder the good wires in to the system. Hopefully, that'll do it for the season.
 
Chris Lovlecae said:
The "trim sender" is on the starboard side. Has two wires to it. Both were in OK shape though one had insulation flaking off. The port side had an unlabeled puck with three wires coming out that were in terrible shape. One wire was cut, the others had an inch or two of insulation peeled off. When I reconnected the one that was cut, the alert went away and the trim gauge was working. Underway and full speed, I got the trim sensor not working again. I think my shotty repair probably broke. I didn't make it over to the boat today to investigate but will tomorrow or Tuesday. I'll report my findings. I'm going to take off the port puck and solder some wire leads with good insulation then solder the good wires in to the system. Hopefully, that'll do it for the season.
Click to expand...
Here's a link to a thread that helped me better understand how it works. Basically, starboard side (2 wires) is the dummy on smartcraft with the 555 ecm. Easy to disassemble and clean, but it does nothing.

Port side has 3 wires, I couldn't figure out how to open it for cleaning (without destroying it) but that's the digital trim sender and the only part that our boats use for trim information.

https://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/trim-senders-digital-and-analog.92141/
 
Well....I quit with this trim sensor. I felt good about it last week but it failed again after running for about an hour. I figured another wire broke. Interestingly enough, after about another hour or so, I got an alert for low voltage B. It basically said that the sensor signal is valid but the voltage is below the acceptable range.

I was a little confused as the alternator was outputting 14.5 volts. When I got home and looked up the fault, the two biggest causes are a shorted wire or a shorted sensor. Of note, the speedometer dropped to zero right when the alarm was going off. I ran a small drill bit in the pitot port and there was nothing there.

When I pulled the trim sensor (digital, port side of the leg, with a red, white, and blue wire) there was quite a bit of water that leaked out. I soldered some new wires on. Water proofed my repairs and installed the trim switch this evening. But the same error still appeared. My going theory is that the trim sensor filled with salt water, shorted and that gave me the voltage B error. I didn't get the same error when I ran the engine this evening BUT the boat was on the lift and the sensor remained dry. Going for an evening cruise tomorrow to see if I get the same error.

Bottom line...I'll need a new trim sensor. I will quit worring about it till I pull the leg for normal maintenance and then replace that as well. The wires are really deteriorated.
 
From what I read in the linked thread above, it’s possible the replace the trim sensor without removing the drive. Difficult but possible. They mentioned having the drive all the way down and turning to a certain spot for best access.
 
Whoa! Maybe fixing it is back on the table based on that post! I'll have to do it on the lift so there's a good chance that bolt that holds the wire will be at the bottom of the Chesapeake! But challenge accepted! And it may just need to calibrated. There were no discernable marks on mine but I didn't look that close. So perhaps I need to look a little closer. I'll look at it tomorrow!
 
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