So, I'm going to try one last time on this topic hoping someone out there has seen this problem before or at least has some other guidance for me. So lets start at the beginning. I have a Bayliner 2858 with dual command stations. I just replaced the old 454 with a Mercury certified 496 Mag HO. At the same time, the old style Saginaw power steering actuator (ram on the back that assists on the Bravo III outdrive) gave out. I was ready to replace the entire system with a pure hydraulic system, but happen to see a variety of old the old style actuators on e-bay. The only difference was that all of the actuators were for a single steering cable connection. I decided I would take a chance that the actual actuator was the same and that the only difference was the cable connect tube. So I ordered one. It arrived and I compared everything with my old actuator - measured everything - stroke length, pivot bolt to actuator end distance, etc. Everything implied they were identical. So, I swapped out the single cable tube with the dual cable tubes from by old actuator. This is the block that connects to the pivot on the actuator. Mounted everything back up to the boat and reconnected the cables. Bled the air out of the system by moving the outdrive back and forth 5-7 times, pausing each time to let the air bubbles in the power steering reservoir to dissapate. Started the engine up with the outdrive centered. Started to turn the steering wheel and everything went crazy. The steering wheel spun super fast one direction (all 5 turns in about 1 second) also swinging the outdrive to one direction. As soon as the the wheel turned all the way one direction, it reversed direction and swung all the way back the other way, then back again. I repeated the the air bleeding process a number of additional times with the same result. Well, after posting some questions here and elsewhere without any response, I figured I had gotten a bad actuator from the e-bay seller. It seemed strange since the actuator was actually a "new" actuator out of the box that had sat on a shelf for 10+ years. I decided to try one more time and ordered another actuator (this time "used but working") off e-bay. It arrived and I went through the same process, verifying dimensions, and swapping out the cable tubes. Bled the air and started the engine. Low and behold, the same thing happened. The steering wheel spun super fast one direction, then back the other. What are the odds that both actuators had the same problem? Pretty low in my mind. Especially since nobody seems to have seen this problem before. One other item I noted is that the old engine had the old style power steering pump with the reservoir directly on the pump. The new power steering pump is the type with a separate reservoir connected with hydraulic hose. I know there are no plugs in the hydraulic lines as the actuator definitely gets fluid to it and the return line is not plugged since fluid will flow from the reservoir out the hose and air bubbles do get pushed into the reservoir when the actuator was bled. Could there be something about the different power steering pumps? Could the problem be with the pressure relief valve (bypass or recycle valve) in the power steering pump? I am at a total loss here as to what the problem could be. Anyone out there have a clue?
