Invisible Touch Help??

[liquiddeath2.5]

I bought an invisible touch steering system from a friend. it was working fine when he took it off. he took it off so that he could put another trolling battery where the pump was. after mounting it up i couldn't figure out how to bleed it. i have had many people look at it and research it and to no avail. does anyone know the procedure to bleed this system. i can get it to turn the motor nearly all the way each way and it is spongy in the middle. any help would be soo very greatly appreciated.

[liquiddeath2.5]

????

[Reese]

But your invisible touch should be very similar (less the electric pump) to the sea star. Here is their link that details the bleeding proceedure...hope it helps.

Seastar Pro (http://www.seastarsteering.com/OUTBOARD/oboard.htm?../OUTBOARD/FRONT_MOUNT/F_Mnt.htm&1)

When you get to the web page, on the upper right side there is a reference drop down box. Click on that and go to "fill and purge" that will take you the the bleeding proceedure.

[liquiddeath2.5]

The sea star system is not that similar. my system has no fill/bleeder holes in the top of the helm cyl. if there is some kind of a fill hole in the helm then i have overlooked it.

[TTriton]

I'm not familar with any steering system called invisable touch but if there is no fill on the helm then it must have a pressure can like a Hynotic system..

[liquiddeath2.5]

the system has an electric pump with resivior on top of pump. next to that there is a canister. it has a brass pipe plug in the top of it with a sticker that says extremely high pressure.i think to fill it you have to pressurize it some way but that is only a guess.

[22VelocityProMax300]

Liquiddeath, Give Tim Merten a call at Merten Marine in Oshkosh, Wi. he is familiar with the system, In fact I think he may have been one of the originators of this system. His number is 920-231-6795. Frank

[LEADDOG]

This thread is for anyone who still might using the Invisible Touch Power Steering system on their boat. I love mine, having been flawless for over 10 years. Being the company is out of business, its pretty tough to get support for it. There isn't ANYTHING on the internet that I could find. With that in mind, I'd like to thank the folks at Bullet, Paul Nichols, Tony Colleta, Tim Merten, and everyone that helped me.

In my case, the hydraulic lines were disconnected from the slave cylinder and a lot of fluid lost. Hooking it up and bleeding it is a nightmare if you dont understand how the system works. Although lenghty, I hope this post will help someone else some day.

First, the steering should be thought of as TWO closed systems.
There first is the high pressure line from the pump to the helm, and its soft return line.
The second is the pair of high pressure lines from the helm to the slave cylinder on the motor.
It is important to understand that the fluid in the first system never touches fluid in the second.

Bleeding the first system is easy because it involves keeping the resivoir full.
Bleeding the second system is the tricky part. You are either pushing or pulling fluid, simlar to cable, and any air in it will cause the steering to not work properly. Distributors had a special pump they used to prime it. I had to fabricate my own. This is what the rest of the procedure is for.

Hope this helps.
Brian Welch

[LEADDOG]

The whole idea is to re-circulate fluid through the helm, lines and slave cylinder for several minutes to get all the air bubbles out.

- There are two barbed fittings on the helm to slide on a hose. They both go to the same chamber, so cap one of them off. The un-capped fitting is going to have a hose connected to it to where fluid is to go IN. The manufacturers pump system had two inlet and two return hoses and bled both lines at once. I just did one side at a time.

- On the top of the helm is two 3/8 Hex Headed Needle Valves. Each corrosponds to a hose going back and half of the slave cylinder. These needle valves only need be turneed a quarter or half turn to allow fluid in.

- On the top of the slave cylinder at each end are cap screws. You'll ned to get an elbow barb fitting to screw into these outlets and hook a return hose. All of my hoses were clear so you can see the air bubbles.

-Because I used short hoses, I used two large glass containers for resivoirs, one for itake by the helm and another for outlet at the motor. With long enough hoses, you can just use one resivoir, dumping in the same place your pump is pulling from. In total, I recirculated about a gallon of power steering fluid over and over, of which a quart and a half was taken filling air pockets.

-For a pump, I used a small hand pump with guage, similar to a vacum pump. A low pressure 12 volt fluid pump would work too. LOW PRESSURE and slow circulation is necessary.

-As you are pumping fluid in the helm, turn the steering wheel very slowly. Fluid and air bubbles will come out of the slave cylinder. Keep pumping untill no air comes out, then turn the steering wheel and cycle it at least a couple more times to make sure. When there is no more air, cap off the slave cylinder, tighten the needle valve, and then do the other side.