Steering gone haywire????

[Gutshot]

Hi, 02 2200 with a 250XS.

You guys may remember me posting about difficulties driving my boat up to the higher speeds. Well, I dont think its me, I think theres a problem with the sea star setup.

At speeds near 60 mph, I can be cruising along just fine, then all of a sudden its like I lose the steering all together. The boat makes a hard move that makes you correct it with the wheel, while you are forced to close the throttle as rapidly as you safely can.

In less than one second the boat is back under control and your heart is beating pretty good.

It never does this at lower speeds, but I cant get the boat up to speed because it completely gives up its steering on me.

Is the cylinder bad? Is the helm bad? It had a small leak when I first got it, but one of the lines was pretty loose. I snugged it up, added fluid, and its been fine... except for the fact that I cant safely operate it at speed.

Has anyone had similar troubles? How should I approach this?

I'm a very competent and well equipped auto motive mechanic, but Im not sure exactly what Im faced with here. any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

thanks,

[Al from Canada]

I'm going to guess that the hydraulic system needs to be bled.

[Gutshot]

You may be right. Ive seen on here the typical suggestion is to bleed the system when there are problems.

I did not try to bleed, I assumed that since the system did not get very low, and it would probably not have inhaled any air through that slight leak before I tightened up the fitting (@ the cylinder by the way) ....however..

assumption is the mother of all screwups.

It works fine under every other circumstance though. Its only under the more extreme power levels it acts out.

its beginning to frustrate me having an 83 mph boat, but not being able to take it there.

thanks very much for your suggestion.

[ldbass55]

could be a bad seal in the cylinder, or the helm....or it could just have air in the system....i would have a dealer look at the entire system..thats pretty dangerous...
LD

[Gutshot]

It sure feels dangerous to say the least.

I just thought of something... Most of the time my steering is effortless, and very easy to turn.. but when I increase speed, it becomes very stiff.

Now I understand the increase in water pressure on the motor at higher speeds would make it difficult to turn, thus increasing the effort on the wheel... but what I want to know is ... is this normal? are any of your boats the same way?

This is my first boat with a sea star setup.

thanks,

[CRIMSONGAMBLER]

Bleed the system, any air in a hydraulic system is trouble.Air will compress and expand, fluid will not. If your hoses come out of the boat higher than the cyl take the cyl loose and bleed it while holding it higher than the transome. You never know what the guy before you has done. Could be bypassing but i doubt it. Try to look at all the hose and make sure there are no loops in it where someone may have looped it to make it look neater, that will trap air.

[cowtrimmer]

If your steering is bled properly it is going to be good at 10 MPH or 100 MPH. If the cylinder seals are weak enough to not hold the motor in place it would be leaking oil. It sounds to me like a prop issue, it is losing bite I would think. I ran a prop that WD sent me once that if I didnt keep it buried it would walk at about 45-50 MPH and then grab again. Sounds about like what you are describing.

[Senkochad]

I had a similar problem, if I was running flat out with the motor trimmed up all the way, it was very hard to turn left. Trim down or come out of the throttle just a tad and everything was good. We bled the steering out and haven't had that problem since.

[KINDAFASTBASS]

Motor is too deep.

[Rookiex129]

Ive had this happen to me in my adventures of learning how to drive the gboat I've learned it has to do with the motor being too deep in the water I corrected this greatly and have not had a issue since then.My steering is a little stiff still and im 3" below the pad at 72mph at 5500 rpms so im still trying to work that out a little bit.

[dartman]

Thought it got hard if motor was to high also

[Gutshot]

Ok guys, great info so far.

I have a buddy who is a marine mechanic, but 99% of his business is I/O's and hates outboards altogether. But he came by today and we bled the system.

I would turn the wheel/helm all the way to one side, and he would loosen off the bleed screw. Basically pumping up the system, and releasing it as well. On the starboard side we did get some air, but very little. On the port side, fluid was solid each time we tried.

Now, what I did notice , prior to bleeding was some small amounts of fluid under the cylinder on the port side..like its leaking, however I cant detect the source of it. I wiped it off and it did not return.

But here's the real killer here. With my motor at rest, straight up and down..I can grab the seastar cylinder and mover it back and forth (port/starboard actually) and the cylinder compresses approx 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch before it stops. Almost like its compressing air??? Can anyone do the same with theirs?

also, there was some play between the "yoke" bracket (I guess thats what I'll call it) and where it bolts inbetween the seastar cylinder. I made up an .018" shim and was able to install it there which tightened it up some.

also, another thing.. when the helm is cranked to either side..at full lock. If you keep applying pressure to the wheel, it will slowly bleed off and continue to turn ever so slightly. Anyone else care to try theirs and see if thats normal or not?

Or, is it really a case of having the motor too deep, or too shallow?

If I keep the trim all the way down, it doesnt really have a problem, but trimmed all the way down its labouring the boat significantly. Like this , it will only max out around 58mph. If you trim up, the speed increases, the boat frees up, and hang on, cause its accelerating.

I run it at about 3 on the jack plate gauge... any higher and the exhaust note changes and it seems to be lifting the motor too high and wanting to slip.

help!!!

[Gamblurr man]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Gutshot &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
also, another thing.. when the helm is cranked to either side..at full lock. If you keep applying pressure to the wheel, it will slowly bleed off and continue to turn ever so slightly.</td></tr></table> That doesn't sound right,,, pretty sure it should stop,, well at least mine does, can pull harder to make it turn but its takes alot of effort and not much movement.