Engine runs fine after winter start up. Seems that the seal around the port rod has blown/rotted out and the pump is making a nasty sound when I try to trim which I think is from lack of fluid. I'm not to familiar when it comes to hydraulics. I ordered new seals but cant find a way to get the caps off to replace them hoping that does the trick.

Thank you in advance for any help,

Murph

The caps usually have some "divots" in the top allowing a spanner wrench to be used to remove them. The spanner wrench will have two pins on it whick engage the divots. Some heat from a torch may be needed to loosen the caps. Make sure you raise and LOCK the outboard in the up position before messing with the trim unit. Use care when re-installing the caps over the rods as not to knick the seal's lips.

I will report back when I find the tool. Is it common for the entire unit to shit the bed?

Not usually unless the electric motor goes bad. Mostly the seals will rot out or become leaky. Sometimes the valving internally will get stuck and they won't work, but bad seals is the most common.

If the motor has gone bad it would not make this awful noise right?

No it wouldn't. Do you see it leaking hyd oil around the seals?

Only around the one that I think is bad.

What you can try to test the system to see if it works at all is to raise the motor manually. USE EXTREME CAUTION !! Two people are usually necessary and a good way to lock the motor in the up position. Most outboards have a locking device on the stern bracket. You will have to open the "manual release valve" on the trim unit before attempting to raise the outboard. They are usually accessed through the side of one of the stern brackets.
Once the outboard is raised and secured, fill trim unit with proper "trim fluid", replace cap, close the manual release valve and run the trim up and down a little (with outboard still locked in the up position). Refill the unit and repeat as necessary. You may have to wait between refills for any air bubbles to dissipate as hyd fluid tends to foam up when re-filling a "dry system". Once there is enough fluid in the unit to start activating the rams, safely unlock and lower the outboard. Run trim down fully and let it sit for 10 minutes or so for the bubbles to dissipate. Then run it up as far as it will go. It probably won't go all the way up since it will still be low on fluid so you repeat the above procedure.
This should make the trim work if everything else is OK. It will also expose the leak(s).

Thank you for the info and advice and after filling it was pissing out so I replaced seals and all seems to be all good, not as bad as I thought it would be. I also did a compression check and the top four cylinders have 120 the bottom left is 95 and bottom right 110, the engine seems to be running good and a friend has a snapon wire camera and you can see some marks in both cylinders. Starts up in the driveway in 2-3 cranks after choke but in the water it seems to struggle a bit. Are the two problems related?

Thanks again KB7DX.

Marine engines will start differently in the water as opposed to on land. The reason is backpressure on the exhaust system when in the water. The 95 psi cylinder isn't helping matters any either and will only get worse (lower pressure).