Steering question

[Yellow Boy]

I have a 97' Islander with hydraulic steering. I think thats the proper term. It takes a lot of wheel rotation to make the engines move for turning. The resevoir at the helm is full but it acts like there is air in the line. Any suggestions or is this just the way it is?
yb

 

[bayrat]

Sounds like air in he system. Go to the website of the manufacturer ( Seastar, Hynautic, Teleflex?) and they will have detailed bleeding and troubleshooting instructions. Good luck.

 

[seabob4]

Sounds like air in he system. Go to the website of the manufacturer ( Seastar, Hynautic, Teleflex?) and they will have detailed bleeding and troubleshooting instructions. Good luck.

It's all Teleflex now, except UFlex. Go here, follow the bleeding instructions...

 

[Yellow Boy]

Thanks for the feedback. We tried hooking the bottle of steering fluid up to the reservoir with the factory fill hose and rotating the wheel many times. There may be some improvement but it is slight. The wheel rotation is "lumpy" and stiff. I am in San Carlos Mexico and will have to wait till I get the boat back home to dig into this more thouroughly.

yb

 

[bayrat]

The link that seabob provided also contains troubleshooting. I see something on page 54 that resembles your symptoms (bumpy etc) which it says can be related to the check valve in the helm unit. Im not familiar with that as Ive only bled my system as you described.

 

[gradytom]

I have the Teleflex Seastar steering on my Islander.
Had the same issue and topped the resevoir at the helm off while turning the wheel slowly to its limits several times.
I didn't bother with the threaded connector from the fill bottle to the resevoir, I just used a small funnel.
The resevoir at the helm is higher than the rest of the system and it seemed to bleed itself (small air bubbles rose to the top of the resevoir) as I topped off the fluid and turned the wheel.
Steering response returned immediately.

 

[BobP]

Reads like you didn't follow the procedure, you need to do more than what you wrote.
Follow the procedure - it's step by step, do it or hire it out.

Adding fluid to reservoir does nothing to get air out.

If air is found in system, you have a leak, have to find it.

The reason for using the bottle tied up high is to keep the reservoir from going too low and admitting air (once again) while doing procedure. The bottle bottom can be cut off to allow one to fill it in progress, not just poking it to make a hole. Secure it properly otherwise a mess is to be made, hydraulic fluid is very thin and flows readily.

If you have an autopilot, procedure to bleed system may be different.