minnkota trouble

[metmen]

Hey guys I was doing a little night fishing and the wind got me into some rocks with my trolling motor I have a 80lb thrust with co-pilot and auto pilot it is a litter older unit but has served me really well. The motor is acting up now after I got in the rocks first when I would try to turn the motor it would not turn but when I unplug it and plug it back in it would turn and would run for a short time then it would do the same thing. We went again last night and this time it would turn fine but the prop was doing the same thing it would work then quit and I could unplug it and back in and it would work again. It was making a strange noise so I pulled the prop off and found that I had some fishing line wrapped inside the unit I cleaned all the line out and figured that was my problem but it still acted the same.

Thanks for any tips or advice JB

[REW]

Send it in for a new one.
REW

[cyber16]

First of all start off with a known good foot control, they tend to need cleaning and replacement when things start going intermittent.

Pull the bottom lower unit end housing cover off to check if the fishing line ruined the seal and let water intrusion within the motor.
http://tnhatlfs01.thenethouse.com/st...r%20Manual.pdf

here are some detailed parts break downs, see the bottom of the page
http://www.northlandmarine.com/MinnkotaBowMount.html

Is your motor a black top head cover or white?

I repair these motors as a hobby on the side, they are easy to work on/repair

You having intermittent issue is good, it tells me its not totally broken and could be nothing more than a loose connection.

For the record, besides foot controls going bad on these power drive motors.
The other main reason i have seen for TOTAL LOSS OF steering is a blown bi-polar diode that minnkota bridged across the + & - of the steering motor within the steering housing.
They used a bi-polar diode as a back-feed gate, when it goes bad it shorts out and ALL steering is lost, you will even smell the burnt part from the outer housing.

Loss of steering and only full throttle is usually the main control board bad