Sea Star Hydraulic Steering

[striped bass]

Hi guys. Installed a new pump under the helm to correct the problem of continuous turning of the wheel. Also, the steering system was properly bled as per the Sea Star procedure. Wheel and steering work fine now. BUT . . . when the Grady is at the dock and the Yamaha 225 engine is in the up position the engine drifts to the left and/or right and will not stay in the up-right position. This is a first time issue for this rig.

Any and all suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks.

 

[g0tagrip]

Same thing happened to me after I had a rather poor auto pilot installation and there was air in the system. I would bleed it again. It took three separate complete bleeds to get the trapped air out. Good luck.

 

[striped bass]

GO:

Thanks for the tip. I'll bleed it til it clears up.

 

[Parthery]

X2 on the air...bleed it again and you will be fine.

 

[striped bass]

Thanks Panthery. I'm on it.

 

[grady33]

Make sure you filtered the oil and (if possible) add new oil. There can be contaminants in the oil that can cause a sticky opening. Also, dealers have a special pump that the hook up and run and it takes all the air out. Good luck and also check the ram seals.

 

[striped bass]

Thanks Grady28. The RAM seals were replaced this spring. I'll use new oil.

 

[ocnslr]

When we took delivery, we were told to turn the engines all the way to one side before tilting them up. Puts less pressure on the system as the boat sits, or moves on a trailer or in a slip (as in our case). So, the engines are 'hard a starboard" before tilting.

Brian

 

[ahill]

I agree on rebleed.
I just installed a Seastar system on my 17 Mako.
I bought paint filters at Home Depot to filter the bled fluid. Worked fine and the filter mesh is probably tighter than recommended.

 

[striped bass]

The yard staff and I are going to re-bleed the system. We are using a power purge this time to help insure the bleeding($75). BTW, after replacing the pump under the helm wheel last month, the Sea Star steering went immediately back to the original problem of a loose helm when going from right to left with the wheel continuing to turn. Sea Star said the pump needed definitely to be replaced so the bleeding is the only step left except for replacing the check valves which I doubt is the problem. Stay tuned!
Thanks everyone for the sage advice.