Hey guys
Not as much use of the 42 Fountain in last 2 years as usual. Took it out twice this summer and both times at idle just off trailer get that grinding sound when steering either direction, and quite loud at either lock. Power assist works ok. I can feel the grinding/vibration in the steering wheel. Fluid level and pink color is good. No foaming. No leaking into bilge. Sound diminishes about 25-30% when warm but does not go away.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Most likely a loose connection on the low pressure (suction) side of the system if you aren’t losing fluid.

Noises in print can be obscure
Might be U joints or gimbal bearing

Probably not going to feel a u joint or gimbal bearing in the wheel on a boat with hydraulic steering.

I guess I should clarify, I don’t see any foaming in the transparent reservoir. Also, if it was a gimbal or ujoint bearing, it would be hard for me to explain why simply angling the outdrive one way or the other just off-center would have any effect at all, and would keep the same exact grinding noise until extreme hard over. So basically it makes three noises: nothing in the midline, mild to moderate sound in between, and very loud at hard over.

what fluid are you running in the system, Ive never seen pink ps fluid, Ive seen pinkish fluid whens there's air in the system

Prob trans fluid

Basically you get the noise anytime you place a demand on the pump if I’m understanding you correctly.

You’ve got air in the system and I’d bet it’s coming from a loose connection on the low pressure side.

How does the PS pump bearing feel? It seems like the noise occurs proportionally to the load on the pump.

I have a similar noise with my twins. Thinking it was my priority valve, I swapped each pump to individually run the power-steering, and either pump created the same sound. Turned out to be the actuator. The spool valve was the culprit. Since Im replacing the merc stuff with Arnesons, I deal with the noise for now..

I dont know if this is your issue, but based on what you describe, I had similar sounds and behavior. The only solution I could find was to replace the actuator. Not always very easy.