I have a 1986 Fountain with the old Mercury hydraulic steering (heard it described as cable over hydraulic). The boat sat for many years unused. Last weekend we fired up the new engines to test all systems. Filled the power steering pump with fluid, turned side to side to push out air and there was a serious shaking occuring. It looked as if the hydraulic pump (valve unit) was going to shake off its mount when turning the wheel. It there any rountine maintenance that can be done to the unit? Is it possible that the steering rams are binding? The rams seemed to move smoothly when removed to paint, but there was no fluid in them.

Any other items to check before we take it off and repair or replace? Of course it is on the back transom buried under headers now so I want to avoid removing if possible.

Thanks,
Doug

Sometimes they do that when they are empty or when you start after a long period of sitting. Usually its air and the fluid will look aerated in the pump res. It shakes bad usually. May do it a couple of more times before its done.

The fluid did look very aerated (foamy) when the cap was off. The fluid eventually looked like fine. Ran the motor for about 10 minutes while turning the wheel and adding fluid. The shaking did not seem to get any better. I noticed a zirc fitting on the valve unit. Is there some internal components that need to be greased?

Just let it settle overnight and try it tommorrow.

What drives do you have? Number 3's? Ed

Yes, the spool valve assembly needs to be greased periodically.
If yours is like mine, I can't access it. The fitting is angled back towards the transom and there's no room for a grease gun or hose. It looks like it needs a 45* fitting. I'm going to pull mine off and see if I can get the angled fitting.
Also look to see if the steering cable has any zirks at each end. If so, grease them too.

That was Merc's hot set-up back then, #3s and their transom mounted steering. Its kind of wierd looking, looks like trim cylinders mounted on the transom. There is a Sutphen around here w/ same set-up.

Went back at it this weekend. Greased the zirc thoroughly. Took more than I thought it would. That seemed to help some, but still had shaking. I finally drew a picture of the whole system and started looking at where the hoses went. It looked like I had 2 hoses crossed (or not crossed) that was causing fluid to push on the same end of each ram. Finally said "self, that don't look right, you should swap those ends". 5 minutes later ends were swapped, motors started and the steering worked like butter.

Lesson 1 - when taking hoses off and marking the ends on a piece of tape, do not use a pencil. The writing will disappear when it comes time to put it back together.

Lesson 2 - don't ever buy another project boat.

Lesson 3 - always consult OSO before you "fix it".

Back to my real job.

Congrats!!!

Glad to hear that everything worked itself out.