This past weekend I pulled into the dock at the launch ramp and could
not get my Volvo 270 outdrive raised. I hopped into the water thinking
that I could lift it manually and then tie it up, but it was locked
down. Not knowing what else to do, I went back out into the lake to
see if I could get it to raise after putting the boat into forward
and/or reverse a few times, thinking that the locking mechanism had
gotten "confused" by the many forward - neutral - forward repetitions
I had to do while waiting my turn to get my boat into the launch ramp
dock. Sure enough, I motor out a little ways, put the boat in nuetral,
shut the engine off, and the motor raises. I repeated this several
times and sometimes it would raise other times it would not. Once I
got about 3 successful attempts in a row, I went back into the dock and
it raised fine. When I got the boat home, I tried looking at the
outdrive while someone else was raising and lowering it, to see if I
could determine what might be causing a problem, but did not see
anything that appeared to lock or unlock the drive.

Anyone have any clues as to what I should look for? I do have an OEM
manual for the outdrive so I will look there and see if I can figure it
out.

Thanks,
Bob

Bad relay or a bad switch. money would bet on the relay.
Bill

"Bob" wrote in message
...

This past weekend I pulled into the dock at the launch ramp and could
not get my Volvo 270 outdrive raised. I hopped into the water thinking
that I could lift it manually and then tie it up, but it was locked
down. Not knowing what else to do, I went back out into the lake to
see if I could get it to raise after putting the boat into forward
and/or reverse a few times, thinking that the locking mechanism had
gotten "confused" by the many forward - neutral - forward repetitions
I had to do while waiting my turn to get my boat into the launch ramp
dock. Sure enough, I motor out a little ways, put the boat in nuetral,
shut the engine off, and the motor raises. I repeated this several
times and sometimes it would raise other times it would not. Once I
got about 3 successful attempts in a row, I went back into the dock and
it raised fine. When I got the boat home, I tried looking at the
outdrive while someone else was raising and lowering it, to see if I
could determine what might be causing a problem, but did not see
anything that appeared to lock or unlock the drive.

Anyone have any clues as to what I should look for? I do have an OEM
manual for the outdrive so I will look there and see if I can figure it
out.

Thanks,
Bob

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 20:54:30 +0000 (UTC), (Bob)
wrote:


This past weekend I pulled into the dock at the launch ramp and could
not get my Volvo 270 outdrive raised. I hopped into the water thinking
that I could lift it manually and then tie it up, but it was locked
down. Not knowing what else to do, I went back out into the lake to
see if I could get it to raise after putting the boat into forward
and/or reverse a few times, thinking that the locking mechanism had
gotten "confused" by the many forward - neutral - forward repetitions
I had to do while waiting my turn to get my boat into the launch ramp
dock. Sure enough, I motor out a little ways, put the boat in nuetral,
shut the engine off, and the motor raises. I repeated this several
times and sometimes it would raise other times it would not. Once I
got about 3 successful attempts in a row, I went back into the dock and
it raised fine. When I got the boat home, I tried looking at the
outdrive while someone else was raising and lowering it, to see if I
could determine what might be causing a problem, but did not see
anything that appeared to lock or unlock the drive.

Anyone have any clues as to what I should look for? I do have an OEM
manual for the outdrive so I will look there and see if I can figure it
out.

Thanks,
Bob

Bob- no way to be sure from this much info, but it sounds like you may
have a bad electrical connection, or an intermittent switch problem.
If it was me, I would start by disconnecting, cleaning, and
reconnecting all the electrical connections related to the trim/tilt.
You may want to use a little dialectric grease on them when you
reconnect (No-Ox, or similar). It will help prevent future corrosion.
noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

noah wrote:

:Bob- no way to be sure from this much info, but it sounds like you may
:have a bad electrical connection, or an intermittent switch problem.
:If it was me, I would start by disconnecting, cleaning, and
:reconnecting all the electrical connections related to the trim/tilt.
:You may want to use a little dialectric grease on them when you
:reconnect (No-Ox, or similar). It will help prevent future corrosion.
:noah

Thanks for the responses, Noah and Calif Bill.

I never considered that it could be an electrical issue since I can
clearly hear the tilt motor working when the tilt switch is activated,
but I'll check that side of things.

Bob

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:42:36 +0000 (UTC), (Bob)
wrote:

noah wrote:

:Bob- no way to be sure from this much info, but it sounds like you may
:have a bad electrical connection, or an intermittent switch problem.
:If it was me, I would start by disconnecting, cleaning, and
:reconnecting all the electrical connections related to the trim/tilt.
:You may want to use a little dialectric grease on them when you
:reconnect (No-Ox, or similar). It will help prevent future corrosion.
:noah

Thanks for the responses, Noah and Calif Bill.

I never considered that it could be an electrical issue since I can
clearly hear the tilt motor working when the tilt switch is activated,
but I'll check that side of things.

Bob
Ah....new info! ) If you can hear the tilt pump motor running,
then check the fluid level in the trim/tilt unit. Also check for any
corrosion on the rams.
The plot thickens....)
noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

Bob,

First I need to qualify my remarks:

Since getting information on Volvos is about as easy as teaching a dog to
do your taxes, so I can not say with 100% certainty I am correct.

I do believe my 275 outdrive does not use any hydraulics. I think the 275
uses a an electric motor directly to turn a gear which raises and lowers
the outdrive. The 270 may use the same type of system.

In any case, I was having the exact same problem as you on my boat. I
could not raise the outdrive, but heard the trim motor whirling away. The
problem turned out to be the trim motor was loose at the transom plate.
The motor is held in to mesh with a gear by two screws. After I detected
the problem I tightened the screws up and the problem subsided. It was
impossible getting a screwdriver in to torque the screws down so they
would loosen every so often. Finally I put a little RTV on the threads
and the problem has not reared it's uglg head since.

Send me an email to let me know if this works for you!

Bob Dimond

I'm hoping I found and fixed the problem, thanks to Bob Dimond's
advice...the lift motor was a little loose in it's attachement to the
bearing housing, so I simply tightened it. I'm hoping that there was
just enough play before I tightened that the motor was not always
making the worm screw turn as it should.

Bob

In article . com,
Mark Brotcke wrote:
:I had a Volvo 275 outdrive For 5 years. There are not Hydraulics. It is a
:Electric lift. When mine would not lift I had to remove engine cover and
:bang on the electric motor (should be located in back right top side of
:engine) the price of a new or rebuilt motor was to high so I lived the
:inconvencae of my outdrive not raising now and then!
:
:
:"Bob D." wrote in message
...
: Bob,
:
: First I need to qualify my remarks:
:
: Since getting information on Volvos is about as easy as teaching a dog to
: do your taxes, so I can not say with 100% certainty I am correct.
:
: I do believe my 275 outdrive does not use any hydraulics. I think the 275
: uses a an electric motor directly to turn a gear which raises and lowers
: the outdrive. The 270 may use the same type of system.
:
: In any case, I was having the exact same problem as you on my boat. I
: could not raise the outdrive, but heard the trim motor whirling away. The
: problem turned out to be the trim motor was loose at the transom plate.
: The motor is held in to mesh with a gear by two screws. After I detected
: the problem I tightened the screws up and the problem subsided. It was
: impossible getting a screwdriver in to torque the screws down so they
: would loosen every so often. Finally I put a little RTV on the threads
: and the problem has not reared it's uglg head since.
:
: Send me an email to let me know if this works for you!
:
: Bob Dimond
:
:
: