Power trim isn’t working right. What do you think?

Hi, my old gem of a Merc is giving me fits. The power trim is getting progressively slower each time I use it. It is to the point now where it takes forever to raise or lower the motor, actually barely working at all. 1985 115 HP straight 6, yep one of those ugly tall ones.

Battery is good, even tried another just to be sure, voltage was 12.5.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ron

I would start by checking to make sure there is oil in the hydrolic cylinders, or maybe the oil is bad and you need to bleed it out and put new oil in.

I would start by checking the oil level in your reservoir. Also check for leaks. I have a 1995 Merc and one of my seals got flat sided during storage and getting old age. Replaced the seal and changed the oil and everything is working great.

Gundy

Ok, not to sound totally stupid here… but how do you check the hydraulic fluid level? I got it to go all the way up yesterday and took the plug out of the side and could not find any fluid. It says on the label to check fluid with the motor tilted all the way up. It doesn’t though say anything about where the level should be. I put a skinny screwdiver down inside, about 6 inches, and couldn’t get it to read any either.

put oil in until it starts to come out of that hole, just like you would do with your lower unit, except when filling the hydro oil you check and fill from the same hole

Might not hurt to check the electric motor itself.
I had an older Merc that got progressively slower over the years, until it eventually stopped.
I narrowed it down to the motor, took the motor housing apart, only to find out it must have leaked a tiny bit over the years alowing water inside.
Rust, that was my issue. It was so rusted the armeture couldnt spin anymore.
Cleaned it up real good,with sandpaper, A little lube, and immediately the tilt worked faster than it ever had.