Re: Blackmax 150 steering problem
Thanks. I'm not close to Savannah but I wish I was. The cables are 12 feet long. I watched a video and I believe I can change it out myself. It looks as though it was originally a single cable. It's had another added. Should I go with the teleflex dual cable. A buddy changed his to a Seastar hydraulic system. I'm not sold on it. The teleflex system looks like two cables on one rack. My old system has two racks under the helm. The new teleflex looks like a good system. Whats your opinion. What all should I order to fix my impeller. For example do I need gaskets or any other replacement parts inside the lower unit. Just want to make one order and get everything I need. Would you replace the temperture sensor or the module that controls the oil injector and temperture warning horn. maybe all of the above. I'm stil a little new at this. I appreciate the assistance. I'll be back on the water soon!
The oil alert system has an output that grounds the alarm circuit, sounding the alarm, in a pulsing beep if it's working right. Also the overtemp switch will ground that same wire, sounding a solid alarm. Other than the common alarm circuit, the two systems are completely independent of each other. Sounds like you are actually overheating and need to address that issue before you run it any more. I'm guessing you have an XR2 V6 on it. If so, the common point is the terminal strip above the switchboxes.
On steering, the dual rack teleflex is the
minimum cable steering on that engine/boat combination. The reason is that two cables properly adjusted are needed to keep the motor stable enough at high speed to prevent chine walk. Hydraulic is also suitable for that application. The new teleflex dual cable is a NFB system and is very nice. The old independent rack dual system was actually slightly more adjustable, but the new one is tight enough in the rack to get the job done. Somebody will try to sell you a dual drum system (cheaper). Don't go for it. It's bad enough hitting the lake at 60 mph, but going through the port gunwale first really hurts. Steering is real important on a high performance boat.
The most likely problem in the old system is one cable is frayed. Usually it will be the rear cable as that one has the most bend in it at the stern. They are not made any more, but can sometimes be found used. They can also be relubricated, but that's a whole 'nother story. Do a search. If you've forced a lot of grease into the zerks on the motor, you might have hydraulically locked one of the cables. The cables do not require grease and in fact will fail if greased. (From teleflex support, after I hosed a new system in a year. BTW, that's when this bullheaded redneck figured out how to clean and relube them.)
