SeaStar Steering - Filling the System

New topic....

I filled the steering system with seastar hydraulic fluid last evening with a buddy. We followed the directions to the letter. However, we were never able to purge all of the air from the lines. I'm hoping someone can offer some advice. The fully bled system is supposed to result in 4.5 turns from stop to stop. My steering is just a hair under 5 turns from stop to stop. Also, there is some free play when you first move the wheel and a slight "clicking" sound before the steering starts to move the engine.

Do any of you experienced boat rigging experts have any advice? We followed the directions to the letter- we repeatedly rebled the system. No matter what we did we would end up seeing air bubbles coming back up the fill tube on the tob of the helm. The motor turns fine but I can't get 4.5 turns stop to stop and I don't like the free play in the steering.

Any help would be appreciated.

Wishing I would have left the cable steering on the boat...

Thanks!

MarkBano

 

"close the bleeder while continuing to turn the wheel" There should be fluid coming out when you close the bleeder. If not, air can back up into the system just like bleeding brakes.

jim

 

One guy on S&F did this:

jim

 

Jim

Thanks. I'm not sure I understand the deal with the PVC in your post. I'm not sure what he's saying to do there.

We bled this thing for more than two hours and we did try to always close the bleeder while the wheel was still turning. We just could not get it done. Now I don't have any more fluid so that's a problem too. I think if I continue to bleed I'm just doing the same thing over again that isn't working. Not sure whether to just pull this system out and go with something else. That's where I'm leaning. I'm not too impressed with this SeaStar system - and in paricular the system for filling and bleeding is horrible. The cheap little tube they give you won't stay on the bottle so you end up with fluid everywhere.

 

Maybe if you let it sit for a while the some of the air will migrate back to the helm and out. I have heard this story a lot. Get some more fluid, you can do it.

I am a little conflicted because I don't care much for the system after owning one. They seem to work well in the water ski application though.

The pvc pipe was to hold the ram so he could do it alone.

jim

 

Is yours a seastar?

jim

 

Mark,

It would make sense to me if the bleeder was the high point in the system. Maybe you can lower the tongue and block the wheels up to get the ram up higher. The air should migrate to the bleeders and out.

jim

 

Couldn't you just use a Mighty Vac on the system. It can't be too different than on a brake system whether it be on a car, motorcycle, etc. I would try that.

Greg

 

I bought more fluid today. When I can get some help I'll try again.

I don't think we were doing in right last night. The buddy who was helping me was letting the cylinder move while bleeding. I think we should have opened the bleeder wider and held the cylinder to keep it from moving while bleeding. That is what I'm getting from my 100th reading of the instructions....

I appreciate everyone's help. I've moved on to application of registration decals and shift/throttle cables today. I'll try the steering again when I can get some help.