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Sea Star Hydraulic Help

BADBK

BADBK

Well-known member
My ole 'Mate left me in the middle of the gulf o mexico with no steering yesterday... found the apparent problem to be the port side cap on the steering cylinder was almost all the way unscrewed somehow.

Anyway, no big deal, tightened it up and filled er back up and bled it, but it still has too much "play" in it... the reservoir is full, bled all the air out of the lines, what am I missing?

I couldn't find bleeding instructions anywhere so I filled up the reservoir, put the cap on and bled the cylinder one at a time until they pissed straight fluid, and repeated 3 more times...

Anyone?
 
what was the problem ? crank it both ways and bleed both sides ? fill as you bleed ? If you run across any more questions or need information I believe I have a seastar manual.:bigthumb:
 
My guess would be that he wasn't keeping the helm fed.

I believe that the manual says that you need to keep the fluid within a 1/4" of the top of the helm opening during the bleeding process so as to prevent air from circulating the system.

Everyone makes fun of me for keeping a little bottle of synthetic hydraulic steering oil on my boat.

After hearing this story, IT STAYS!

Glad your OK BK.

HD
 
hotbeek said:
hotdaddy,

everyone knows you use the oil on yourself or "harry"/"hairy" It's not for the boat !
Click to expand...
:lol::shakehead:

I still have the level of fluid drop in the helm when its cranked hard against the stop- not much and it rises back to the original level eventually, steering is solid. I bled the steering at the start of this year, again- using the correct seastar method. I ran another quart thru it and I got absolutely no air out of it. I figured this is normal, but might as well ask.:confused:
 
Yep, I didn't keep the helm fed when I bled it the first time... gonna go try it again here in a few and see if I can't get it cleaned up.

A little bottle of oil would have done me ZERO good, it was empty, already put a qt in. Pretty crazy how the cylinder endcap unscrewed itself though!!!
 
BADBK said:
Yep, I didn't keep the helm fed when I bled it the first time... gonna go try it again here in a few and see if I can't get it cleaned up.

A little bottle of oil would have done me ZERO good, it was empty, already put a qt in. Pretty crazy how the cylinder endcap unscrewed itself though!!!
Click to expand...

Don't be afraid to put some pressure on the wheel as you turn lock to lock. You need to squeeze the air out of the system. You'll see the air bubbles come through the clear tube.
 
BADBK said:
My ole 'Mate left me in the middle of the gulf o mexico with no steering yesterday... found the apparent problem to be the port side cap on the steering cylinder was almost all the way unscrewed somehow.

Anyway, no big deal, tightened it up and filled er back up and bled it, but it still has too much "play" in it... the reservoir is full, bled all the air out of the lines, what am I missing?

I couldn't find bleeding instructions anywhere so I filled up the reservoir, put the cap on and bled the cylinder one at a time until they pissed straight fluid, and repeated 3 more times...

Anyone?
Click to expand...

Welcome to BOATING :thumb::rof:
 
All is well in the world now and I am set for an exhausting day of boating and beer-drinking tomorrow. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
 
Hey, I finally got my bob's gauge installed too, but for the life of me can't find an ignition on powersource only... everything seems to be a constant?
 
I'll try and find it tomorrow before I go out.... I'll prob just plug the wire into a gauge lead and call it good.
 
Steering loose

Now that I am back in the water, I noticed some play in the steering on my Enforcer I/O...the gimbal and tiller are tight, but there is some play where the cable connects to the power assist cylinder at the transom...is this normal?

I don't think there is an adjustment here, but there is some movement at the cable/cylinder interface when I move the outdrive side to side...

Do I need to overhaul the cylinder?:shakehead:

Dan
 
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