Issue w/ steering, frozen hard to starboard

Ok, so i read the other post just below this and i was definitely having the same problem as the poster. I felt like i was having to oversteer alot to keep my '07 21SE going straight while at low speeds. But i didn't think too much of it. I definitely need to add hydraulic fluid and bleed the system.

BUT, this morning i went to go fishing and, as always, i checked the steering before i shoved off. Well, i turned the motor all the way to starboard and then the steering wheel continued to spin which is not supposed to happen and never did happen before. And I can't turn the wheel back to port. It's basically stuck.

Has anyone seen this before? Know how to fix?

My first thought was that something broke w/in the steering box but this is the first time i have ever attempted to diagnose or remedy an issue w/ hydraulic steering or steering of any kind really.

Thanks in advance for any advice! I hope to get this taken care of quickly since im on vacation this coming week!!

Mike

Ok, so i did a little research and the sea star hydraulic steering seems pretty simple. Just a helm pump, two hoses, and the cylinder assembly w/ seals.

I wend back down to the boat to check a couple of things like a leak in the helm pump seal, collapsed hoses, leak in the cylinder seals, pitted shaft, etc. and everything looks like it's supposed to (i guess!!).

So for the heck of it i try to turn the wheel again and now everything works like it's supposed to. So weird. Anyway, clearly there is some kind of issue. This is the first year in a slip so if there was a slow leak of fluid into the splashwell i would never know it b/c it would just drain out of the scuppers into the water.

There is a little bit of play when i attempt to rock the motor back and forth. Not sure how much if any there is supposed to be but there is a little. I wouldn't call it alot. I'm going to tie a white rag around each seal cap and see if they get stained overnight which i guess would indicate a bad seal.

If anyone has any suggestions on what could be the problem please let me know.

Thanks,
Mike

Mine did a similar thing to me after sitting several months when I first test my steering prior to returning the boat to the coast this spring. After considering it broken, I tried it again the next morning and it worked. Was taking it straight to my mechanic for spring PM stuff so I had him check it out. He added a little fluid and bled the lines. All good still so far. He said that there was a valve in the unit at the helm and sometimes it will stick? You might be ok now? Good luck.

Shawnee, thanks for the feedback! I found a youtube video that says basically the same thing about the valve in the helm pump. I am going to add fluid and bleed the system just to be proactive about the maintenance since i use the boat 3 or 4 times a week and this is the first time ive experienced the issue. thankfully i was at the dock and not on the water when it happened.

Mike

My Parker did the same thing. I had it flush. It worked ok until it got cold out. It's the valve in the helm. Your going to have to replace the helm. $600. Plus labor. They don't have a rebuilding kit for the helm. It's iligal to rebuild them. So they say.

It's the valve in the helm.

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Yep..... And Stop buying Seastar. Replace with Uflex. UP-25F

The only thing on my boat still Seastar is the 2 hoses from Lower helm to the Ram. 2 stations......All this system is the Uflex high Performance stuff Ram is designed for over 300HP. UC128-OBF/2

I had and seem more leaks and problems with Seastar.

Thanks for the feedback guys. It sure would be a tough pill to swallow to shell out $600 to replace that pump on a boat less than 10 years old and w/ only 430 hrs on it. I found the youtube video below that shows you can service the helm pump and replace the O rings on the pressure relief valves so if this happens again I will probably try that before replacing the whole pump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNzVAd63cME

Mike

I added Sea Star ($30 a quart!!) fluid and bled the lines and I would say a fair amount of air came out from the bleeder valves on the cylinder and then some more from the filler port on the helm pump. I found a small amount of sediment in the fluid that I drained out in the bleeding process so maybe that could have caused the valve to stick. Anyway, after a successful shake down cruise I'm hopeful that I won't need to change the helm pump any time soon.

I was very surprised that the fluid that I drained out appeared to be ATF!! The Sea Star manual states that ATF is a suitable substitute for the hydraulic steering fluid only in emergencies. I would bet that Marty D had the same fluid in his system after service and that is why the steering got very stiff in colder temperatures as I think the ATF does not maintain a consistent viscosity like the hydraulic steering fluid.

Marty D":1uz3trri said:

My Parker did the same thing. I had it flush. It worked ok until it got cold out. It's the valve in the helm. Your going to have to replace the helm. $600. Plus labor. They don't have a rebuilding kit for the helm. It's iligal to rebuild them. So they say.

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Does anyone on here know if the hydraulic steering is installed at Parker or at the dealership? I really doubt that Parker would use ATF in the steering just to save a few dollars.

Mike