Power trim/tilt leak

[rwc]

Hello all,

I have a 2004 2500 SE. A few days ago, I was trimming the drive up slightly while underway and noticed it dropped back down again. Of course, I foolishly said “That’s weird!” And did it several more times. Came back to dock with a bilge full of trim oil.

No leaks at the pump, no leaks to the water. Based on reading a past thread, it looks likely that the culprit is the hydraulic line connection to the transom through-hull. My question is, how do I get to it to fix it? It looks like it passes into the transom plate behind/below the engine. Does the engine have to come out to access it?

Also, is there any harm in running the boat with the trim non-functional and all the way down until I can get it fixed (I just fixed a frustrating cooling issue).

[mmwjr]

You can use it but may need to top off the fluid to hold static pressure to prevent the drive from moving. On the outside bottom of the transom bracket you can see the manifold for the lines. It’s held on by two nuts, removing them allows you to drop the manifold to get at the hydraulic lines but it’s tight and difficult to remove and install them. Mechanics would pull the engine and transom assembly to do it.