electrical problems

[Brendon]

About a month ago my trim motor was running down on it own. I fixed the problem by replacing the wire that runs from the remote tilt/trim switch to soleniods. Problem solved! Well recently I was operating the boat when I noticed a huge decrease of speed I turn around and my motor is coming out of the water! So, I kill the motor and go to battery compatment to swtich the battery off to stop the tilt/trim motor. When I am there I notice that the battery terminals are extremely hot. Well I replace the wire just like with the down wire and it works fine. I do not have a clue why the down wire shorted and then a month later the up wire shorted. I havent hooked my multimeter up to the battery when the motor is running to see if its getting too much charge. But imagine it is because the terminals are getting red hot. Wondering if there is some corrleation between the hot terminals and shorted wires and do I have a huge problem? The motor is a 2002 115 4stroke Suzuki.
thanks,
brendon

[kchace]

I think you have a much more serious issue than trim solenoids operating by themselves. I'm wondering if you actually found the problem? When you replaced the wires, did you find damage to the insulation or a place where one bare wire was touching another or a bare piece of metal? If I recall, it was intermittent.

A wire can't 'short' unless the insulation is missing in a spot and the exposed wire is touching another bare wire or piece of metal. The wires from the switches to the solenoids carry +12V but ONLY when the trim switch is pressed. If there was some bare wire exposed and it was touching a random piece of metal, it would most likely be a grounded piece and would cause a direct short ONLY when the switch was pressed, blowing the fuse that protects that circuit. It would *not* cause the trim to go up or down. If there was bare wire exposed and it was somehow touching a point which had 12v on it, then it would cause your trim to operate 'by itself'. You would basically have to have a double fault for that to occur - the trim wire was exposed, and it was touching another point which was energized with 12V. This should not be ABLE to happen. If things are REALLY messed up with your trim, its possible that BOTH up and down solenoids are activating at the same time, this would cause a direct short across the battery and should blow the trim fuse. If intermittent enough, I suppose its possible the fuse might not blow, but that's a lot of speculation.

Its a MAJOR issue is that your battery terminal(s) are getting hot. Your battery terminals should NEVER get hot. I would like to suggest you have somebody with more electrical experience check this out for you before you find your boat on fire.

Ken

[Brendon]

Ken, there are a series of bullet connectors in the three wires running from the trim switch to the soleniods. The first set is about a foot from the trim switch the second is about a 2 feet from the first set and the last set is right at the motor. After that it run directly to the soleniods. When I first had the probelm I disconnected the first set of connectors(at the switch) and the trim motor was still running. I plugged them back in and dissconnected the bullet connectors at the motor (right before the soleniods) and the motor quit running. So I replaced the section of wire between the second set of connectors and last set of connectors (right before the soleniods). And that solved the promblem. This was a quick fix because I never got a chance to look at the old wires, because whoever rigged the boat ran about 10 wires together in a sealed tube running from the console to the motor. I didnt want to pull all the wires apart because to be honset it was in the middle of my fishing season and I didnt want to lose any time on the water tearing apart all the wires in my boat. Everything else on my boat works great. I have also checked the soleniods with a multimeter and according to the manual for the motors all the test I ran on them came out ok.

[kchace]

I hear you. Of course you obviously still have a problem and it sounds like it is someplace inside that tube. You need to at least isolate and rerun any wires going to those solenoids. You probably have, but you need to make sure to disconnect BOTH ends of the trim wires you're replacing.

I'm *hoping* that both solenoids being on at the same time is why your battery terminals were hot. That is something you need to watch carefully because it should never happen and could cause a fire or the battery could explode.

Ken

[h2o lover]

I had a problem where the trim motor would start to run by it's self and trim up the motor. It turned out to be the tilt switch on the front of the engine went bad. I first disconnected the switch in the relay box so it would stop running then I replaced the tilt switch.

H2O

[martek25]

you have a defective trim switch,either the cowl switch or the control handle switch has water intrusion...its that simple...duplicate the fault,then disconnect one switch at a time to determine which one it is...then replace it!!!

[Brendon]

Ok, so I pulled the wires out of the harness, and I did not find a short anywhere. All the wires looked fine and a I tested all the wires and the contuninity is fine between them. I can duplicated the fault but the problem still points to the wire in the harness not the switchs. I can have both the switches unplugged and the trim motor still wants to run. Unless I disconnect the wire in the harness. A couple of months ago I replaced a water logged ingintion that was causing the pinion gear on the starter to engage when the motor was running. That solved the problem but I am wondering if the water logged ingition could have caused a few other problems.