Well, it appears my older '93 Mercury Black Max 200HP outboard has a bad soleniod. I trimmed her all the way down while pulling her out of the lake last weekend and i've been unable to get it back up (yes, i hear the snickering...) since. I've unhooked the battery cables and let it sit for a couple of days before hooking up the cables again and finding that this attempt served no positive benefit.

I'm unable to drive it with it trimmed down, obviously, so does anybody have any suggestions what i need to do to get it trimmed back up so i can get it into the shop?

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

it has a manual reease on it it is on the lower end of the clamp bracket takes a large flat screwdiver.

Unscrew the manual release just enought to lift the motor. Might want to take a along a buddy who has some big guns. You are going to have to turn the release, lift the motor, and then throw on you transom saver and or flip up the safety catch on the motor. You might try bypasing the selenoid before using the manual release.

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for the information. I'll certainly give it the "ol' college try." After attempting, I may have more questions but you guys have done a great job in helping me find the solution. I need now only to execute. Fingers crossed. Thanks again, and have a great day.

Yours have the 2 solenoids starboard side front just behind the air box? Red wire running between the solenoids jumped to blue wire on solenoid will raise motor. Check connections their. Bad solenoid will be the one with blue wires.

Gary, thanks you too for the response yesterday. I used the advice given and, voila, you guys were spot on. I was able to identify the bad solenoid, but now I have two more questions:

Is this easy enough for me (not a gear-head but can follow directions) to replace myself or should I take it to a mechanic?

If this is something I can do, which is my desire, where in Fort Worth (or nearby) can I purchase a solenoid for such an old engine?

Thanks again, guys. I really appreciate the help.

Piece of cake. Draw a diagram before unhooking anything if you are concerned about how to wire it back up.

Just to throw it out there mine did the same thing and thought it was solenoid and come to find out it was just the rely may want to check that mine down would work but up would just click good luck

Might even snap a few pictures before you take it apart so you can see how it is supposed to look as well.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

I've done the replacement a few times. I just took a few picture then got the wrenched out. It is not that hard to do. I made the mistake of replacing it with a solenoid from a tractor. It worked for a few trips but then over heated and I just had to replace it again. It was around $12 at the local NAPA store. So I ordered the Mercury part on ebay for $22 and it has been working good ever since. My advise is to buy the right part the first time!!!!

Could be the switch at the shifting handle. Mine would act up at times then work for a while & quit again. I would tap, wiggle wires at the relays, go back up to the handle and it would work so I thought it was a relay but it was the switch in the handle.