285 Freedom Power Steering Pump

[JLR]

I have a 2013 285 Freedom with twin 300 Yammies. I think I just lost my power steering pump. First question is where is the pump? Second question is determining whether it is the Garmin AP pump that failed or the power steering pump? Third question is the location of any fuse or breaker for the power steering pump? Finally, if it is the power steering pump, what pump do I get to replace it? Thanks for the help.

 

[JLR]

Any idea where Grady might have put the 50 amp fuse (or splice) for the power assist pump on this boat. Grady was not very helpful and actually told me the wrong location for the pump.

 

[wahoo33417]

JLR: Sounding like you're the only person on the forum with a 283 with power steering! Just writing to say that you can replace the two ten-year-old pumps, when you find them, with one unit made by Dometic that serves both purposes.

SeaStar PA6010 Hydraulic Steering Power Assist and Autopilot Pump 12v 60cu.in.​

From what I have read - no first hand knowledge - the SeaStar pump is compatible with Garmin autopilots.

I love having power steering. When I get around to adding an autopilot, I will give this pump consideration, unless Garmin's Smart Pump really is that much smarter to make it worth having two pumps.

 

[Coastboater]

Is this a SeaStar steering boost pump? If so, the hydraulic lines from the helm run to it, then lines from the pump to your engine steering cylinders. The pump I’m vaguely familiar with has a battery direct connection with a 30A fuse and a switched 12V from the helm. Also from the helm is a compenstation line. Usually the pump in the bilge towards the stern.

 

[JLR]

This pump is under my helm. The gray sheathed wires with the red and black wires run aft from the helm through a hole but at the batteries there is no gray sheathed wired So, somewhere it is spliced It also must have a 50 amp fuse in that line I do see a post mounted fuse at the battery but no idea what wire it is on. Any chance Grady ran it to the back of the battery switch?

 

[JLR]

I just ran a dedicated line directly to the purple wire bypassing the ignition. Same flashing green light. My guess is that this means the pump (or the electronics inside it) are shot? It is possible that the purple wire is bad but unlikely. I will have to yank the pump to replace that wire and its connection to test. But, I think the pump is shot.

 

[JLR]

Just to come full circle on this. I had a bad battery switch. However, that was not the cause of the power steering pump problem since those power leads were home run to the battery. In almost 50 years of boating, I never had a problem like this. It was actually a bad wire (unknown whether ground or hot) somewhere within my Grady White but NOT at either end of the lead. In other words, the ends that attached to the battery were fine and the ends that attached to the pump were fine. But, somewhere buried in the boat, sight unseen, must have been a wire failure of some sort. The pump now runs fine with new the wire run from the pump directly to the battery. What was really tricky was that the wire leads on both ends were the same gray jacketed wire that originally came from the pump so I do not think there is a splice somewhere within the boat. Odd, but fixed.

 

[wahoo33417]

JLR: Thanks for adding the closure. Checking for chafing(?) in the middle of a wire run is not something I want to add to my regular checklist!