Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

[anon1]

Hello,

My Mercruiser 350mag/Alpha1 steering has locked-up. It will not move. The belt is turning the pump and the pump has fluid. There are no leaks in the hoses or fluid shooting out anywhere.

Are there any basic troubleshooting things that can be done to the system to try and narrow it down to the control valve or cylinder, or maybe the cable?

Thank you very much.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

Ayuh,... Disconnect the Cable from the steering actuator/ tiller arm,+ see Where it's siezed...

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

Must be a salt water boat.
It's probably froze up where the steering cable goes through the power steering cylinders aluminum tube.
Disconnect the nut on the cable, if the wheel turns and the cable moves but the drive stays stationary, you know it's in the tube.

 

[anon1]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

I first removed that little bolt and the "retainer" thingy that captures that big nut.

I loosened that big nut, the "Steering Cable Attaching Nut", all the way out and off of the threads. It appears that the cable end is kind of pressed into that attachment place there. Does the cable end need to be loose there where I removed the big nut for this test to work?

The steering wheel does not move.

 

[anon1]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

Which clevis pin to remove the cable from the actuator, A or B in that picture?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

Ayuh,.... You need to remove the "Clevis pin B" from the end of the Cable....
Then with the Big Nut removed, the whole cable should Slide out of the aluminum tube...

 

[anon1]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

OK, I removed Clevis Pin B (also found the service manual 6 where that picture is at) and the cable is free of the actuator and the aluminum tube.

The steering wheel still does not move.

I guess it must be a problem with the steering rack/cable under the dash. I see iboats has several of those.

Thanks gentlemen, you are a valuable asset to this forum.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

I guess it must be a problem with the steering rack/cable under the dash. I see iboats has several of those.

Ayuh,.... Replace the Whole Package,.....Cable,+ Helm....

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

Do yourself a favor, get the NFB (No Feed Back) cable system. No more fighting the helm and throttle at the same time.

 

[anon1]

Re: Mercruiser Steering Locked-Up, Any DIY Troubleshooting?

I took Don's advice and bought a NFB helm and cable. Wouldn't you know that the length that I needed was the only one Out Of Stock at iboats store.

I got it installed in the boat with one glitch that I need help with.

The Big Nut that holds the end of the cable at the transom end is really the Not Quite As Big Nut as the original.

The original Big Nut is one inch in length and the hex 'sides', the part that the wrench touches, extend from one end to the other end of the Big Nut.

The new Not Quite As Big Nut is one inch in length but the 'sides' only extend from one end to about 3/4 of the length. The remaining length of the nut is tapered down quite a bit and has a warning message stamped into it about fully tightening the nut.

Here is the problem: the safety keeper thingy that bolts on and is supposed to keep the Big Nut from backing off will not work with the new nut. The tapered down warning message part of the nut is right where the safety thingy is supposed to grab the nut.

What should I do?

 

[Joe-t]

I have a searay 185 with mercruiser 3.0 inboard
had the same problem steering was locked, found that the tube coming out of the power steering resovior was leaking fluid everywhere, so i replaced the tube and topped up with new fluid, now im
guessing there wasnt enough steering fluid running to the actuator which caused it to lock up, any way i replaced the tube/hose and topped up with new fluid but steering was still locked, so all i did was give the leg a few good kicks and it freed up!