Power steering can move drive freely Alpha1

[Dentar]

Hi!

Was out with my boat today pretty far from home..

Setup is mercruiser 5.7 + Alpha one gen 2 + power assist steering.

Noticed boat wouldnt move while steering to the right, got worse and ended up having no steering at all, had to be towed to a marina wich had closed for the day.

I found a leak in one of the low pressure lines between the oil cooler & the arm that pulls the drive (close to where steering cable enters i believe) Cut off abit of the house and reattached with clamps, topped up power steering fluid (all had been drained out) and started moving steering wheel back & forth atleast 150 times, first 100 with engine off, last 50 with engine running.

The drive will move perfectly fine from neutral (as in between left & right) and move perfect to full left, however when steering to the right the drive will stop at the neutral position, and i can use my foot to push the drive all the way to the fully right position - without the steeringwheel spining with it (steering wheel is already locked in the fully right position before pushing the drive) this have me believe there is still air in the system but as i said ive been spinning the wheel for 1½ hour back & forth & the steering was compleatly fine b4 the hose split and drained the oil.. had to catch a busride for 2 hours to get home and leave the boat for the night..

What shall i do? start removing hose connections and keep bleeding the system to help air get pushed out? searched for several hours and cant find any1 who experienced this. could there be something else i shall look for? since i can move the drive with my foot i get the feeling it doesnt have the oil pressure built up = air inside.. steering wheel gets easier to turn when engine is running btw, so guess pump is working

 

[GA_Boater]

I think you might have a steering cable or helm problem.

 

[harringtondav]

My thoughts. You should be able to steer w/o power assist.,.. with effort.

 

[achris]

I second the comments above. A completely drained system will still allow normal steering, just a bit hard because of the being no power assistance. Your problem is the cable or helm, not the power steering system itself...

BTW, turning the steering wheel without the engine running does absolutely nothing to remove air from the system....

Chris...

 

[harringtondav]

My thoughts. You should be able to steer w/o power assist.,.. with effort.

Half a response above. Sorry, I fat fingered my Droid and submitted. Try this: On your trailer or lift steer hard left/port with engine off to force the assist cylinder to draw full in to get it out of the way. Remove the cylinder's clevis pin at the steering arm and the steering cable pin. See if the O/D swings freely. If not, look for something blocking the steering arm.

If OK, reconnect only the steering cable pin, and with engine off try steering both ways, limit to limit. If the O/D moves freely, I suspect your steering cable is OK. If not, suspect a cable/steering rack problem.

If you can steer with the assist cylinder disconnected, I suspect you've got some junk in the assist valve/cylinder. That will be a challenge since the valve/cylinder assembly is "non serviceable", and pricey. But before ordering a new one, dive in and disassemble the thing and look for debris. You've got nothing to loose, and maybe get lucky.

 

[Dentar]

Problem solved and boat back at home!

The big nut holding the whole power steering assembly back at the transom had come loose, resulting in the whole system just moved back & forth instead of pushing the drive, hence the left steering works (drags the piston) while right turning pushed the whole system out since it wasnt attached. the movement probably caused the hose to develop a leak ending in i lost all oil.