Motor won’t lower into water

I’m selling my old boat and the deal was done except for the test drive. The buyer has been bugging me about getting it out, so we went to an open river to go for a ride. We got to the landing, I took the transom saver off and the motor would not move. I DO NOT have power tilt and trim. The motor is a 1995 Evinrude 40 electric start tiller. Usually I take the transom saver off, lift the motor up out of the way and back the boat in. I flipped the lever that locks the motor in place to make sure it was in the released position, but she was locked up.

I had a similar problem a few years ago and it was the cable that attaches to the lever. As I understand it when you flip the lever, the cable (much like the brake cable on a bicycle) has a rather stiff wire inside that manipulates a valve on the hydraulic piston that assists with the raising and lowering of the motor. Flip it one way and the valve opens so the oil can go out and you can raise and lower the motor. Flip it the other way and the valve closes and the motor stays put. Well last time this happened the sheath around the cable had torn, so when the lever was flipped, the wire squirted out the tear in the sheath rather than being confined to the sheath and being forced to open/close the valve. I had a new cable put on and life was good, until now.

My first thought was check the cable and it is good. I can see it flex as I flip the lever. It looks like there is a nut that might offer some adjustment (again, much like bicycle brake cables that can be adjusted as the cable streches)but didn’t seem to help.

Any ideas? Can the hydraulic piston freeze up? The exposed part still looks all shiny and new. The boat sits outside all winter under a full custom fit cover. It had been warm, but it turned a little colder the last few days, does the oil get stiff? I’m out of ideas and want to get rid of the boat, but can’t until this is fixed.

Thanks in advance for any and all ideas,

Dave

Perhaps the water is too cold. Sorry, I couldn’t resist

Or maybe it doesn’t want a new owner.

On alot of motors, there is a grease gun insert that is for the main arm lifting the motor. Make sure you grease it. Not sure if this helps but alot of people forget about it.

FF

Mt last boat did that, all I ever had to do was add oil. I’m guessing the motor runs on yours.

Yep, the motor runs. Everything was fine when I parked it last fall. We left it on the trailer and backed far enough in so we could at least start the motor to prove to him it worked. She fired right over and ran fine.

The last time this happened, it got stuck in a position where the prop was in the water, so we fished and just the thrust from running the motor in the slightly raised position was enough to eventually push the motor down. Then of course we couldn’t get it back up, but that’s when I replaced the cable.

I know there are a couple of grease zirts on the back and they get taken care of each year. Don’t know about the oil though. Is there a place to add oil to the hydraulic piston? Haven’t seen anything that looks like a leak. No drips under the motor.

Thanks again. I’ll keep trying.

Dave

my 25 yammi 2 stroke needs to be in gear to drop it in the drink. try that.

I bit the bullet and took it in. They couoldn’t find the problem day 1 and asked to keep it over night indoors to see if temperature was the issue. Ultimately deemed unrepaiable and the unit was replaced. I need to get more info to find out just what the issue was that determined it to be unrepairable, but it works now and hopefully the sale can move forward.

Dave