Power Steering???

[TooMuchFun]

Someone please help??? See thread in Hot Boats Cool People ... Going To Lake Mead post.

Power steering failed and scared me a bit up in the north end wheeling along at 60+.

Can't seem to diagnose???

Cut a sucky quick end to the start of a beautiful day ...

TooMuchFun

[PUMP 'HER']

Come on Tom lets make it easy for them.

Well, f*&k, f*&k, and double f*&k!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ramps about empty at 8:30ish at Lake Mead Marina, great day, wheeling past the narrows and almost to the point, seeing a host of boats heading for Big Sandy, and my g*d d*&n power steering fails. Jerked the steering out of my hands to the left a couple times and I stopped.

Some of you may have seen me out in the middle by the point about 10:00 with my engine cover off. Plenty of fluid, no apparent leaks at the drive or in the engine hatch lines, no leaks around the steering wheel.

When I turn the wheel it sounds like you're dragging a bicycle chain on cement. Chug back to the marina at about 15 mph hoping the steering lasts ... could not turn right by the time I got close to the marina.

Hope all else had a blast out there ... I'm not sure what the hell went on me.

Any ideas??? Hoping I just have to bleed the system, may be in the electronics somewhere???

[panic button]

Sounds like the valve went out or has a ton of air in it. Crack the line on the Hi side and see if it leaks out any fluid. If it does then it's not the pump.

Sounds like an excuse for buying a full hydraulic system...

[Red Horse]

That sounds about right. All power steering is a hi pressure pump with a 2 way gate valve that gets input from the wheel. That valve and hoses are the weak part of the system. I bet a new pump would cure your ills. Or like Chris said, a hydraulic system. The pumps have also been known to lock up. The bearing gets hot and then tears itself up.

Hydraulic or new pump is the way to go.


BTW, you can ADD trans fluid to power steering pumps as a get by thing. Have to start off a new system with PS fluid however. Brake fluid will also swell seals and stop small leaks with just a little added.

[kimswang]

Although it might be your power steering, it sounds to me like a valve in the steering "clock" (pump behind the steering wheel). The steel balls that control the valves has a holder/keeper made of plastic. Some parts of that plastic might be in the valves....

[kevnmcd]

It could be your steering cable? The cable could have come apart inside the housing. Disconnect the cable at the transom and see if you can turn the wheel both way freely. If you can then it is in the hydraulics. If not, then it is your cable. Good luck.

[never enough]

I have absolutly no idea what it might be,:headshake: I just wanted to chime in!

[TooMuchFun]

Thanks for input ... I'm thinking too it is the pump or the release valve in the pump or something internal to the steering as kimswang points out ...

My hydraulics are internal to the drive itself ... the Volvo DPX drive that serves the Volvo 600 has the hydraulics built into the drive. No horizontal bars and etc. mounted to the transom like all the other hydraulic drives ... they're on the drive.

No steering cable?

Taking to a mechanic familiar with all this this afternoon.

TooMuchFun

[kevnmcd]

If you don't have a steering cable from the helm to the transom, then you must have full hydraulic steering. If that is the case, then the power steering pump would more than likely be the culprit.

[TooMuchFun]

For Kevnmcd and others interested ... we were hoping for the pump or the release valve or even the mechanism at the wheel, but ...

My mechanic, Frank at Boulder City Marine is on top of it. My starboard steering mechanism on the drive came apart internally ... spitting all the steering fluid out into the water like an oil slick and all the noise is air flowing freely through the lines. when we fired it up in the shop it was spitting steering fluid out the stern hydraulic as fast as we could pour it in the reservoir.

$500 apiece for the parts, one each side, then labor. Then we check on the pump and etc. which at this point appears ok. Relatively inexpensive, for the new Mercs similar technology where their drives are fully hydraulic and built into the drive is about $800 apiece for similar part on their drives.

Then we pull the drive and make sure all is aligned and in ok shape. Then we check all over a few times and water test.

Shoot, shoot, and shoot but I think we have diagnosed ... and I may be out of warranty as well which double sucks. Will know in the next couple days.

TooMuchFun

[kevnmcd]

Glad you figured it out. Good luck!

[kimswang]

$500 apiece for the parts, one each side, then labor. Then we check on the pump and etc. which at this point appears ok.
Then we pull the drive and make sure all is aligned and in ok shape. Then we check all over a few times and water test.

TooMuchFun

Hve you considered other options? External steering will at this point be similar priced. Too bad, I feel your pain!!!

[TooMuchFun]

The next option, rather then continually adding on a a grand or so a pop is upgrading into a new boat, or replacing the entire drive at 7k +/-.

For now, I love what I have and hate to part with it as long as I am a primarily lake boater.

I also hate the look of external steering with the stainless rods bolted into the transom, and don't want any more holes in the hull then absolutely necessary.

TooMuchFun

[Akamatsu]

I would have thought with that monster engine of yours that you already had external steering... Oh well. Good luck with the B O A T!!!! LOL!

[hkunz]

So you have an internal steering setup? Was the leak inside the boat, or outside it? I'm curious in case I run across a similar problem down the road. My stuff tends to break on Saturday night of a three day weekend with all the kids and grandkids and thier friends over. Translation: I gotta fix it quick.:drinkers:

[TooMuchFun]

You're not alone on the last minute fixes LOL ...

My hydraulics are very similar to the new high end merc drives and the new IMCO drives that Teague is matching with the ILmor engines. Volvo came out with the technology first, and for one reason or another has backed out of the high performance engine and drive development.

Looks like a steel rod on each side of the drive that goes into a large triangular hunk of metal. Two tubes for the hydraulic fluid come out through where the drive is attached to the stern and are attached to these hunks of metal.

Both the trim hydraulics and the steering hydraulics are embedded in the same system, though they have separate feed lines and separate fill tanks in the engine compartment.

What tends to happen over time on this setup is that the internals of the triangular hunk of metal break ... sprays hydraulic fluid everywhere. When running it looks kind of like you have a gas leak out the exhausts as there is a pool of fluid all over the water surface. When running, the hydraulic system on the drive is below water so it is difficult to diagnose when looking at the drive from in the water. Once in the shop it is easy for as soon as you fire up, hydraulic fluid sprays out of the drive part as fast as you can pour it in the fill in the engine hold.

They will not break inside the engine compartment unless you have a bad hydraulic line or a fitting end to the lines comes loose.

This is the second time this part has gone bad in the past 7 years. Seems that when you match an engine to the upper end of its tolerance for torque and HP, some of the mechanicals will break down about every 3 seasons. The drive I have is rated for over 650 hp, but I am about there on the engine. If I were to purchase again, I would make sure the drives are about a 1/3 higher in rating then the engine HP output. This is what I originally did but was not satisfied with Volvo's version of the Merc 496 so I upgraded the engine to the limit of the drive.

My drive is overbuilt with the exception of the hydraulic steering. The more you put the hammer down when accelerating and the more you are over 70mph and go airborne without pulling back on the throttle or the trim, the harder on the hydraulics.

Think of it this way ... as Akamatsu says, it is a BOAT (break out another thousand). After about the first year or so of break in and warranty, plan on beginning to replace hoses throughout, drive components, check all fittings and screws on all places of the boat and begin replacing every season, and every now and then a major mechanical part. It's just the nature of boating :) ... and don't rely on your mechanic to catch everything that is about to go.

TooMuchFun

[TooMuchFun]

:eek3:

TooMuchFun