Yamaha tilt and trim brush dust problem

[FishStretcher]

For the 2nd time in 2 years I have had to remove my (original) Yamaha tilt and trim for my model year 2000 F100. I took it all the way apart last year, then reinstalled the brushes. It had packed up with brush dust, and the brushes only made intermittent contact, so the tilt motor slowed, then eventually quit. Banging with a hammer didn't fix it to any real degree.

It had the same symptoms this year, so I pulled it and sprayed it out with brake cleaner. I got what I think was a lot of brush dust out of it. I had greased all the retaining screws up pretty well last year, so R& R was easy, and I just squirted behind the brushes in the springs with brake parts cleaner, and the commutator bars. It runs like a champ again now.

Anyone else have this problem? I spent a lot of time fiddling with trim trying out props, and I play in an estuary a lot, with a lot of tilt up and down, but an annual brush cleaning (or 2nd time for a 12 year old motor) seems out of the ordinary.

[Bushwacker]

It does seem like you're going through brushes pretty quick. Might be worth checking current draw on that motor to see if it's within spec. Automotive starters draw LOTS of current and last for many years but they have larger brushes and don't have the space/volume constraints of those little trim pump motors.

[FishStretcher]

Well, I think I found the culprit. Or at least another failure mode. I have the Yamaha 703 control, with the thumb mount tilt/trim rocker. It came on the boat with ethe 1988 outboard, I didn't swap in anything newer when I put the 2000 model year Yamaha on it and sold the 1988 outboard.

When I got to the boat today, it was trimmed ALL THE WAY UP. It pushed thru the splashwell gate, scratched the cowling and tor out some barrel bolts on thesplashwell gate. My first thought was vandals. Shame on me for leaving the battery on, but I was letting the solar panel top up the batteries, and only the trim is "hot" then, unless you have the ignition key.

We had hellacious rains this week, and the rocker switch for the trim either was, and definitely now IS sticky in the UP position. I don't know, but I think I might have bumped it close to the on position, or the PFD I had hanging on the controls blew against the switch in the wind, and then it stuck. So it ran to the up position and kept running. I am pretty sure I fried the commutator this time (it looked ok last week). No fuse blew, but the battery is ok and the motor doesn't spin when the switches are actuated. Well, it spins a little if you bang it with a hammer. But I can't imagine the brush holders aren't toast, and the motor commutator bars.

Looks like a call to arco for a motor. I have a spare 703 control, so I will swap switches (it looks easy).

That was a pretty random failure!

[McGillicuddy]

Commutators are cheap, brushes cheaper and holders come w/kit. I'd drop it off at the local auto electric shop and they'll probably solve the problem for $50-80...

$0.02