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Honda BF15A Manual Tilt Issue

N

Number 6

New member
My Honda BF15A will not tilt down on its own. After moving the tilt lever to the run position, the engine will not go down after slightly tilting up as normal.

If I reach behind the engine to an arm in the tilt assembly and manually move it, the engine tilt will release and it will move down to the 30 degree position and stop and go no further. If I jiggle or bounce the engine up and down slightly, it will eventually tilt all the way down.

Tilting up does not seem to be an issue, although it does not seem to stop at the 30 or 45 degree settings.

Any ideas at what to look at? I'm thinking a spring that moves one of the tilt support arms.
 
Hi,

I really don't know but check out the parts blow up below and see if it compares to what you have....


If it does, I think your question about a missing spring might be very intuitive. There are four to account for item 14, item 15 and item 13 times 2.

Other than a missing or worn/damaged spring, the only other thing that I know might cause it to "hang up" like that might be a bad bushing and/or the pin or bolt where it goes through the bushing.

I have seen those pins be badly rusted and worn on outboards before but not be visible until disassembly reveals the damage to the bushing and the pin end inside the bushing. If it's not addressed in time, the frame can also be damaged.

Wish I had a more precise answer for you but you're probably going to have keep "playing" with it to get it figured out.

Those tilt and swivel mechanisms can be a real pain to work on.

Good luck.
 
jgmo said:
Hi,

I really don't know but check out the parts blow up below and see if it compares to what you have....


If it does, I think your question about a missing spring might be very intuitive. There are four to account for item 14, item 15 and item 13 times 2.

Other than a missing or worn/damaged spring, the only other thing that I know might cause it to "hang up" like that might be a bad bushing and/or the pin or bolt where it goes through the bushing.

I have seen those pins be badly rusted and worn on outboards before but not be visible until disassembly reveals the damage to the bushing and the pin end inside the bushing. If it's not addressed in time, the frame can also be damaged.

Wish I had a more precise answer for you but you're probably going to have keep "playing" with it to get it figured out.

Those tilt and swivel mechanisms can be a real pain to work on.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. I paddled a kayak behind the boat so I could inspect the underside of the engine tilt bracket as it is impossible to see from the boat's transom. I found that spring item # 15 - the tilt link spring - was broken.

I learned a lot about how the mechanism works. The two springs #13 are used to pull the reverse lock mechanism out of the way to tilt the engine up. Spring #15 moves the Tilt Arm #19 so that the engine can be lowered.

As replacing any of the spring is a difficult job even on a bench, I performed a simple and effective work around. I tied a small 1/.4 line around the Tile Arm to lift it out of the way as the spring would do. From there, it is easy to move the tilt lever, then lift the engine and pull the line and the engine moves down to the run position as it should.
 
Well, if it works for you, that works for me!

Sounds like a serviceable work around.

Yeah, I don't like working on the tilt and swivel mechanisms.

Glad you figured it out and thank you for updating.
 
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