Yamaha 115 trim/tilt & Crowley Marine

General Boats and Motors
1

I’m losing my mind over here. It’s August and I’m STILL fighting with my Yamaha 115 trim/tilt unit. Every time I think it’s fixed, I run into the SAME problem. I’ve rebuilt the cylinders, replaced the motor and caps, and it’s still leaking hydraulic fluid. I should have just replaced the unit. I have $1000 into rebuilding and replacing parts already. A new unit will cost me $2200. That is ridiculous. The trim/tilt cost alone is 20% of the entire motor value. This should not be a problem for a motor with under 200 hours.

I’d like to thank (sarcasm) Crowley Marine for advertising “in stock” items that aren’t actually in stock. I’ll wait another 2 weeks while you wait for the parts to come in from Yamaha. Go ahead and keep the money for the expedited shipping I paid extra for. No big deal. The CCA tournament and Military Appreciation Day can wait until next year.

FML! Venting complete.

2

Dealing with any form of mechanic can be a real mofo. I sold a boat because I got FD by seels so bad. I payed 175 for a water test and my boat came back with the same piece of paper on the bunks that I put on there. No water test at all. Then the manager told me I was a liar etc etc. They changed the primer bulb which was fine. My boat would crank and run like a champ in the yard but a mile down river and it would mess up. Hence the water test. They didn’t do it. Said he ran it 45 minutes straight and my gas was where I marked it. It was around 700 bucks for them to clean my boat, put a primer bulb on and hold it for 3 weeks. I didn’t want or need any of that. They charged my buddy 3k to rewire some stuff and we had to rewire the lights and billage within a month, I think first trip. They scuffed his cowling and I think cracked it too but don’t remember 100 percent and denied the heck out of it. He wasn’t that mad about the wiring but was pd about the cowling.
I was pumping his head up saying they probably traded his cowling and sold his to someone as repaired. He showed me a scratch and said he inspected it before it went in and that was the only damage on it before hand. Everybody speaks highly of seels and they’ve been here forever but we both got a bad experience. I only buy trailer parts there now. The instock lie that places do know is infuriating. Id never do business with them again. I consider stuff like that a red flag.

3

flywatt, where is it leaking?

17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25

4

I wish I had the answer to that question. I changed the seals and rebuilt the cylinders. Got it to marry up and it was working fine until I put it in the water. Dropped the motor and noticed a sheen while I was fishing, so I got it back on the trailer and had a hell of a time getting it to trim up for the trip.

Ordered another set of seals and new caps for the cylinders. Installed, same issue.

Only thing I haven’t changed is the reservoir. Another $200.

quote:
Originally posted by PalmerScott

flywatt, where is it leaking?

17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25

5

please describe the symptoms in careful detail.

When it won’t trim up.
Is the reservoir full?
Can you hear the motor spinning?

Seeing a sheen can simply be the residue left on the outside of the equipment. Are you sure it is still leaking?

Give it a really thorough bath with something like Dawn detergent.
Let it dry completely.

Run it up and down until you see where it is weeping.
There are only a few places where it can leak.
Seals around the pistons.
Connections of any lines.
Reservoir/refill plug.
Manual release screw.

When you had it open, were you meticulous?
Hydraulics need to be perfectly clean inside. A little tiny bit of dirt can prevent a ball-check from seating and it’ll render the entire system useless.

Was there any abrasion apparent on the piston shafts or the inside of the cylinder walls?

17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25

6

I have seen a few times where there can be a crack in housing, or some of the motors have a small metal hydraulic line connecting the 2 halves of the unit, and you get leaks there. also where the pump body bolts to the housing, there a few small o-rings.
Also, it only takes 3 days to get parts standard delivery from Yamaha
if you order parts on monday before 1pm, they are delivered on wednesday

www.teamcharlestonmarine.com
www.bombislandboats.com
IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING

7

The pistons look perfect. The seals and caps looked great too. As far as I can tell, it should be good to go.

I did drain all the old hydraulic fluid out of the system, but I did not clean the inside of the cylinders. I was afraid to stick anything down there and risk contaminating it with a piece of lint.

I trimmed the motor down at the boat ramp, no problem. Ran the boat for an hour, anchored up, saw the sheen, ran it back to the boat ramp, and attempted to trim the motor back up. The trim/tilt motor was running normal, but it stopped trimming up about 1/4 of the cycle through. Motor was still running fine, just wasn’t lifting.

I manually dropped the motor to push any air out of the system, and it trimmed up about 1/2 way before it stopped again. Again, the trim/tilt motor kept running but it wouldn’t lift.

To tell the truth, I was so angry that I knocked off all the salt when I got home and shoved it into the boat storage without looking at it. I will scrub it down tomorrow, check the reservoir, and report my findings.

quote:
Originally posted by PalmerScott

please describe the symptoms in careful detail.

When it won’t trim up.
Is the reservoir full?
Can you hear the motor spinning?

Seeing a sheen can simply be the residue left on the outside of the equipment. Are you sure it is still leaking?

Give it a really thorough bath with something like Dawn detergent.
Let it dry completely.

Run it up and down until you see where it is weeping.
There are only a few places where it can leak.
Seals around the pistons.
Connections of any lines.
Reservoir/refill plug.
Manual release screw.

When you had it open, were you meticulous?
Hydraulics need to be perfectly clean inside. A little tiny bit of dirt can prevent a ball-check from seating and it’ll render the entire system useless.

Was there any abrasion apparent on the piston shafts or the

8

My brother used my boat and got it stuck on the sand bar and said he used the trim n tilt to get out (thanks). My trim and tilt would act funky after that but always worked. It would only happen on the way up and just for a few moments and then work past it. Have you had any incidents prior to the rebuild.

9

Ran it aground two years ago near Hog Island Channel. But it worked fine and never had issues with it until this year.

quote:
Originally posted by 40inchreds

My brother used my boat and got it stuck on the sand bar and said he used the trim n tilt to get out (thanks). My trim and tilt would act funky after that but always worked. It would only happen on the way up and just for a few moments and then work past it. Have you had any incidents prior to the rebuild.

10

Having the same problem with my 115, messed with it in the heat today and could not figure it out. I found a motor same as mine that had a bad cyl and bought it for $300 last year and used the SS prop and the cowling and now will tear out the trim unit and change them. I feel like I have got my money back now! Good luck hope you can get it to work properly.

11

Seems to be no shortage of people having issues with the trim/tilt unit. I always brag about Yamaha’s reliability, but this is proving me a liar!

12
quote:
Originally posted by flywatt

Seems to be no shortage of people having issues with the trim/tilt unit. I always brag about Yamaha’s reliability, but this is proving me a liar!

This isn’t a Yamaha issue. If it came apart, and went back together correctly with good parts, it should be fixed. All of the caps/seals I’ve done have been completed with great success. You have an issue elsewhere in the system…

I’d bet on O-ring at the motor or like Chris said the small hard line between the two halves.

Do like PalmerScott said, clean it really well, and run the pis$ out of it until you find the leak.

Wadmalaw native
16’ Bentz-Craft Flats Boat

13

I have an update. First off, thank you all for your input and ideas. I ordered 2 new caps and new o-rings. When I took the left cap off, I noticed it was very difficult to turn. I’m thinking I may have fouled the seal when I installed it. Second thing I noticed was the reservoir cap o-ring was missing. I didn’t realize it had an o-ring until I reviewed the diagram.

Put everything back together, ran it about 20 times over the course of 2 hours, and it seems to be working properly. I can’t get it into the water until Wednesday. Still planning on catching that $40k redfish.

14

Bad news, two leaks. One on the left cylinder cap and another under the trim/tilt motor. Feeling defeated.

15

Five Star Marine in Florida is probably the guru for tilt trim units. Just rebuilt my 115 Mercury with 3 to 5 day turnaround with 2 year warranty. About $450 plus 150 if electric motor needed.

16

Pulled the motor off and checked the o-ring. There was no o-ring. I must have overlooked it. Picked up an o-ring at Hanckel and put it all back together. Ran it, let it sit, ran it again, and 8 hours later no leaks. Planning on going out tomorrow. I’m pretty sure the fluid on the cylinder was just run-off from the tilt/trim motor. Next time, no beer while I’m doing this project. Lessons learned!

17

Wooohhhoooooo!!!
VICTORY!!!
At least until.it starts leaking again. ;-p

17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25

18

Great success today on the water. No leaks on the hydraulics. Everything performed perfectly. Caught lots of fish. Excellent day!