trim quit working on two skis

[stevenf]

Several questions!!! I would appreciate one of you knowledgable guys putting in a good guess for each of these that I can start with. Thanks in advanced!

97 xp- trim moves up on its own after pressing the up button only onces. took out the motor, lowered it and it moved back up on its own in the water and will only move down about two notches before going back up on its own. Is there some type of a sensor on these things? What would you check?
Also, on the xp, the speedo doesnt work . Today it randomly kept kicking up to about 30 then droping back down to 0 and staying there. It was jumping to 30 at idle speeds. Any ideas?

98 GSX- Trim just quit working on the water and is also stuck in the up position. Can hear a click inside of hull when pressing the vts buttons but no movement.
Also have a battery issue. Half the time the thing starts perfect and the other half the battery light comes on and wont turn the starter over. When it does this I can press the start button again and it has plenty of power. I relocated the ground with a new connector on a different bolt but it still does the same thing. battery connections are clean and tight.

 

[Dr Honda]

97: The control module has given up.

98: The motor has frozen. It's kind of normal. The boot rips, and fills the VTS motor with water.

Have you checked the output on the charging system? it should be 13.5 to 14.5 volts at 5000 PRM's.

 

[jdsupera]

I removed the vts completely from my ski and put a lock out rod in its place to hold the jet in position. I angled it where it would sit in the middle and when something else isnt tore up on the thing it seems to work just fine without.

 

[stevenf]

Just an idea I had. The button on the 97 is also torn up and missing the rubber cap. I was thinking of just wiring in a new waterproof 3 way switch. Couldn't I just wire the switch to the battery and directly to the vts motor with a solonoid? Depleting the circuit board.... the motor works fine..

 

[oldbuck]

just repaired trims on both my '96 GSX's - interesting issue and may be similar to yours. There's a worm drive that the motor spins to pull the nozzle up and down. Mounted up on the top of the sliding shaft is a magnet that is siliconed in place. The VTS module reads the position of the trim by the location of the magnet as the shaft moves in and out. What happens is the silicon gives up over time, and the magnet rusts and falls out. The VTS can then no longer read the position of the shaft/trim and allows the motor to spin until it binds the worm in tight to the housing, and then it's jammed. I purchased 2 new sliding shafts (the part with the magnet) and replaced them both (I think the part is about $12) and both work perfectly now. Note - When replacing the shaft go ahead and replace the boot & O ring on the nut external to the hull.

-dave