How much labor to bleed an Imco full hydraulic steering?
 

One of these days I'm going to get to try my Pachanga! Hopefully soon. Had to have my coolers replaced because of(no comment). THE SHOP WHERE MY BOAT IS SAYS IT WILL TAKE 5 HOURS LABOR TO BEELD THE STEERING! They are telling me every fitting has to be cracked and bleed. Is this true or is there an easy way to do it???

I can tell you I installed a new system from scratch (single drive) and it took no where close to 5 hours to bleed it. I did not put a stop watch on it but I think it was less than an hour.

True you need to crack the outside and only the outside fittings, but an hour tops. If it takes them 5, you need a new shop.

not sure how it works for boats for with cars there is a labor guide to go by for certain jobs. I'm not sure if they have some kind of guide line that boat shops go by but if there is you could find someone with access to one and check the labor times to make sure they are not ripping you off.

Tell them to go scratch and find another marina. 1 hr. for 2 people without a clue, 1/2 hr. for 2 people with 1/2 a clue!!!

I agree 1/2 hour or less. And thats going three times around just to make sure!

i have done several and never cracked inside fittings, never took more then an hour. worst i ever had to do was take the outside rams loose so they could be orientated to allow trapped air to get out (outboard system). sounds like someone trying to get you to pay for them to learn how to do their job

somebody correct me if i'm wrong but if all you did was get the coolers replaced that would easily self bleed. These are not sealed systems and recirculate through a reservoir (or something to that effect).

lemmie guess . . . they froze and cracked :eek:

It should, if it was a working system before the coolers where replaced then there should be no need to bleed the rams and it should self bleed thru the pump and reservoir. Just runn the wheel thru it's full port to stbd a few times and you should be good to go. The fluid in the rams doesn't cycle thru the system since it is not passing the piston. No need to bleed it unless a line is changed or cylnder rebuilt.

Yeap...when am I going to find a descent shop! Looks like it's time for me to start turning wrenches again. :( There was a time when I wouldn't let anyone touch anything I owned.

I am trying to keep a good relationship with this shop because at least they get on a job...last shop seemed like a year for anything. They also listen to input on the cost of doing a job! I had them do my Raylar install on my Sunny...did a great job...only problem was they were more than double the going rate...they did knock quite a bit off the job but I still paid a bit more than normal.

Thanks for the input everyone! I will give em a buzz in the morning and see what they say. The big P*ss off is all this with the coolers is due to the last shop.

They are probably charging too much, but it also may be allowing time to sort of learn something as others said, also, there is a lot of liability there on their part if something happens to your steering system. With that said, maybe do it yourself, or have a more reputable shop for performance stuff do it since it is such a critical part of the boat for performance and safety.