Bleeding Air from my hydraulic steering
 

At the end of last season my steering was giving me trouble, it was low on fluid. I added fluid but the air was in the system. At speed the boat was all over the place. How do I bleed air from the system. Is it as simple as just working the wheel back and forth or do I have mechanic do it.....

I know, I am a bad boat owner.... : -(

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take the belt of the ps pump and spin it with a cordless drill while someone is turning the wheel lock to lock, add fluid as needed

If this works then why not just do it with the engine running? I don't see how this can purge the trapped air.

why run the engine when you don't need to, you can spin it faster with a drill than it will turn at idle...........and yes it works well

Hmm. Interesting that you can bleed it without loosening any fittings!

any air burps back into the pump reservoir, Brad Smith showed me this years ago, and why would I doubt him ??

I once had my power stearing fail such that I could spin the steering wheel freely, round and round. I thought there may be air in the line, but to my surprise my hydrolics were pressurized...Never heard of such a thing before, but a few pounds of air and all worked perfect. Any chance you have that going on? or anyone knowing about these things know why the same systems view air in a completely opposite capacity?

I'm not doubting it. Just wondering why if it's that easy my Zeiger system came with the rather tedious instructions for bleeding!

I've done it this way and yes it works very well.

Would running the engine at a fast idle on the hose or at the dock turn the pump fast enough? That would be easier for me and turn it into a one person job. (if I ever have to do it again).

My experience is if you have air between the helm and the rams the only way to get rid of it is to crack a fitting at the ram and turn the steering wheel to push out the air.

If you have air in between the pump and the helm it will bleed itself just by running the engine and turning the wheel back and forth.

That was plenty fast enough when I did mine.

This makes sense to me and you know for sure when the air is purged from the system.

That is what I did.

this has been my experiance also.

I should say that I have a Hynautic system on my Chris Cat. I filled the resevoir at the end of last summer and did try to bleed it by working the wheel back and forth. The boats on a trailer in the storage bldg and I want to get this fixed BEFORE i dunk it.


Thanks guys......

gonna restart this thread, how many quarts do you think would be in a full hydo system in a TG, Bill3 and I are going to bleed the system and I want to have all the stuff I need

I think I would get 4 quarts just to be on the safe side.

The bleeding instructions for Mayfair are here. http://www.hardin-marine.com/Instruc...ed_7-13-12.pdf

I have that pdf in my hand B3......thanks