Power Steering Doesn't Work

[irideflatland]

1999 Sea Ray 180
140HP Mercruiser

I bought this boat a couple weeks ago and have had it out almost every day so far. 2 days ago I started to notice it was getting harder to steer, and then yesterday it pretty much completely went out.

When accelerating, the steering basically locks up completely, and when maintaining speed it's hard to steer, but it does steer.

Any ideas what I should check?

Thanks!!

 

[mkast]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

Power steering level?

 

[Don S]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

99% of the problems with stiff steering (even if power steering) is corrosion in the aluminum tube where the steering cable goes through. Remove the cable, clean the tube, grease it up and reassemble. Easy steering again.

 

[irideflatland]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

Ok the fluid is full, but I think the belt is slipping. There is a lot of play in it, and if I move the wheel that the belt is wrapped around, the belt slips if I move it fast. Is there a diagram to tell me how to tighten it?

 

[lcmains1]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

Refer to Don's post previous.... It most likely has nothing to do with the power steering pump.

 

[Don S]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

You won't have the tension gauge shown, just use your finger with some fair pressure (you aren't trying to push it till it breaks, just to see how much the belt moves with some pressure)

 

[irideflatland]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

Thanks Don! I took a closer look and the bracket thing that holds the PS pump is snapped in half. The pump was kind of wedged against a tube so I tightened it up and took it for a test drive, and the power steering doesn't lock up now, but it still doesn't work as well as it used to.

Today I removed the bracket and I'll be ordering a new one so hopefully that completely fixes the problem.

 

[irideflatland]

Re: Power Steering Doesn't Work

Alright, I put the new bracket in and tightened everything up. It worked decent, but still not like it used to be. Then a couple days later it started locking up again.

I checked the fluid level yesterday, and it was totally empty! I bough some more and filled it, and it worked beatifully for the whole day. This morning I went to take the boat to the landing, and all my steering fluid is coming out of the drain hole So does this sound like something that can be fixed with a Stop Leak product, or do I need to figure out where exactly the leak is coming from?