www.iFourWinns.com

Hi all:

I've had my Four Winns Freedom 170 with the 4.3 I/O for 14 years, and it's been a great, trouble-free boat. I am the third owner; the first two hardly used the boat at all. We've always kept it garaged on the trailer and it's in excellent condition. Pictures:




Recently, the trim has been acting up a bit. When the ignition key is off, everything works normally. When the key is on, it trims up normally but when I hit the down button, it continuously runs, as if the switch is stuck (it is a momentary on/off/on switch, on the throttle handle). If I turn the key off, it turns off and is normal. I took the throttle handle apart and checked for any damaged wires to the switch and found none; the switch is potted so I couldn't take it apart. I don't think the switch is stuck, because if it was it shouldn't work properly with the key off, should it? By the way, I've checked all wire connections between the switch and the trim motor. Here's a picture of the switch, in the throttle handle:



I'm thinking that my problem lies with the relays/circuit breaker at the trim motor. I'm thinking one of the relays is sticking, but I don't know why it sticks with the ignition on only. The problem is that the relay/circuit breaker is an expensive assembly, and I don't know if I can disassemble it:



I hate to spend $250-$300 on a new relay/circuit breaker assembly if I'm not certain it's the problem. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced the same issues, and if so, how they solved it.

Thanks,

Allan

Does it stick when the motor is running only if the key is in the on position. Does not sound like the relay if it works with the key off then the relay is working. Check the battery voltage or start the engine if it does not happen when the engine is running you might be running into a low current issue.

If it still happens then you are getting a back voltage from the ignition circuit so you would need to trace that.

Thanks for the info, tklass - your advice kept me from messing with the relays.

I ended up running a new green wire from the trim switch (in the throttle) to the relay, completely bypassing the factory wiring. This fixed my problem - maybe some day I'll disassemble the factory harness to figure out where the green trim wire is shorting out, but it works for now.