Please Help. New hyd steering hoses & hyd fluid. Steering Wheel Force jumps up & down

I had to replace my hydraulic steering hoses on a boat 27 years old. I followed the Seastar installation manual and did all the steps in proper order. I think the steering hoses are full of hydraulic fluid, there may be a little air in the hoses.



When I turn the steering wheel it does not turn normally. Turning the steering wheel about 15 Degrees a force builds up to I estimate 6 lb. The engine doesn't turn at all as the force builds. Then the engine turns In a jump, what I think is the right amount Of engine turning. And the force of me turning the steering wheel suddenly drops to zero. If I keep turning the wheel this sort of Sawtooth Force profile continues. The force I have to put on the steering wheel builds with the engine staying still, then the engine takes another jump of turning. It is identical in both directions. I can go all the way to the steering limit back and forth In the same thing happens.


Does anyone know what could be causing this and whether it can be fixed?


I think I could use the boat as is if it keeps doing that. But would I risk being stranded? If I use the boat as is and the problem eventually goes away that would be great.



Another thing that is kind of weird. When I put the cap or plug on the fluid filling hole at the steering wheel I did it finger tight and then gave a little more force with a pair of pliers, not a lot of force. The Upper part of the cap sheared right off. I think it might be because of how old it is and not excessive torque. I searched through the sea star installation manual. I did searches on Google. I can't find anything that says what the proper torque is for that plug. I have a new vented plug and I don't know how much torque I should put it on with. The new cap is finger tight. No hydraulic fluid seeps out of Under the cap.


Thank you

Sounds like you still have air in the system. Takes a long time to bleed it. Sometime air gets trapped in a high spot in the lines. Try to keep the lines as flat as possible, Helm high, slave cylinder low, so the air wants to rise towards the helm. The helm plug is a finger plug. It has an Oring It gets finger tightened. It doesn't need to be super tight. Like a soda bottle. Just snug, maybe a little more.

Just like skialot says and you should be fine. If the boat is on the trailer, raising the jack on the tongue as high as it goes my be all that is needed.

This bleed method works great. It’s best to bleed the system fully then leave the rig set up overnight, bleeders closed. Then the next day crack one bleeder at a time and turn the wheel you should get one more tiny bubble out. When it’s right? You cannot turn the wheel past lock.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pix1t7ROQ6U

This is the cheapest, easiest and best way to bleed ALL the air from a system I've ever used. I made this little rig myself and it works perfectly.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/74754_800x600.jpg

You can't see it clearly but that is just a discarded water bottle with the bottom cut out and a tube attached that goes to the plug hole on top off the helm. After "plumbing" it pour some hydraulic steering fluid into the bottle, then slowly turn the steering wheel lock to lock. Each time you do so you will see air bubbles coming up the clear tube to the bottle, where they go away. Fluid displaces them simply by gravity. Do this until you see absolutely no air bubbles coming to the bottle. It will do this naturally because the plug hole on top of the helm is the highest point in the steering system, and air wants to rise. I rig it up one day and turn the steering wheel lock to lock many times, then leave it as is overnight, then do it a few more times the next day. All the air will be gone and your steering will be the best that it can be with the given equipment.

BTW, I used to use the bleed technique wherein you bleed each port at the motor. It was messy and really required two people to do it easily and efficiently. I promise you, the bottle technique is much easier, cleaner and more effective.

I used a similar set out sharing the important points. Position boat with bow high. That of filling helm completely so that you can see the air exiting. Helm must be free of air before you ever turn the wheel. .....In final steps the following day I would turn wheel as fast as I could lock to loc and back to center. An hour later do it again. Each time fewer and fewer bubbles escaped. I repeated hourly through out the second day until zero bubbles escaped. I was satisfied I got 100 % of the air out of system.

Here is my thread from how I got finally got mine free of air.

Bleeding hydraulic steering

When you think you have all the air out let it sit overnight with the bow elevated as mentioned and bleed it again, you will may be surprised to see how much air you may still have in the system.

I just installed a SeaStar on my boat and I used this system to bleed. Work perfect.
Sea Star Pro Install! The QUICK and EASY Way to BLEED THE AIR out of your Hydraulic Steering System!

That method only works if the helm is the highest point. Most of our boats are so dang flat it’s not that certain to be. The method I posted raises the air bleed point up as high as you want it and offers three air release points instead of just the helm. It doesn’t really matter how you bleed it as long as it’s fully bled. The key test is: Can you turn your wheel past lock? Because if you can, there’s still air in it. You cannot turn my wheel past lock no matter how hard you try. It’s completely solid

Yes, allowing to sit overnight usually produces air. Seems to me pressure is created turning wheel. Pressure compresses air bubbles. Allowing it sit sit allows the pressure to drop , air to expand, turning fats it final stages of bleeding moves the air out of pockets and up to helm.

Yes, not being able to turn past loc is key. If it does turn even a little it is just compressing what air is present.

Patience is key, you can not rush the air out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Speros

Seems to me pressure is created turning wheel.

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Absolutely, the helm is nothing but a hand operated pump.

Before I replaced my SeaStar steering cylinder with the ProMarine unit I was having serious steering issues and did not know enough to be able to diagnose the problem. I rebuilt both the cylinder and the helm. I called SeaStar and got someone on the line who was very helpful. He said the simple but sure diagnostic test to determine if a problem is in the helm or the cylinder is this: stand behind the boat and try to move the motor laterally with hand pressure. If it moves the problem is in the cylinder. If it doesn't the problem is in the helm. Mine was the cylinder and the replacement fixed my issues 100%. BTW, I've got nothing against SeaStar units, I just got a really good price on the 700 HP rated ProMarine one and went that route.