31SS Hydraulic Steering Issue
 

Hey Guys:

A little background, last year the crimped fitting on the high pressure hose of the power steering pump (starboard engine) failed and blew all the power steering fluid into the bilge and burned up the power steering pump. I replace the pump and hose and the steering was fine all last season.

Today I was running about 4000 RPM and the boat took a hard turn to the port side and I lost power steering. I opened the engine hatch and power steering fluid was spewing from the relief on the cap of the reservoir. It emptied the reservoir into the bilge. I shut the engines down and refilled the reservoir, when I restarted the engines the fluid was no longer spewing from the relief in the reservoir cap but I still had no power steering. The fluid smells "burnt". Do you think I burned up the pump again ? What could have caused the fluid to spew from the relief in the reservoir cap ?

Any suggestions would be great !

Thanks

Steve

Just another note on the power steering issue I have, when I refilled the reservoir and it no longer was spewing out of the relief hole in the cap I could steer the boat but it was VERY hard to turn as if there was no power steering.

Steve

Sounds like the pump fried again. As they fail the fluid aerates and foams out of the reservoir. It probably failed so soon because there was metal in the system from the last failure. You need to flush the system thoroughly this time to make sure it doesn't happen again. And if it has a filter on it I would try and replace that too. (or add one)

Thanks Ted, is there a "method" to flushing the system ? Sounds like a pain do you know a good Merc mechanic on the South River that you would recommend to do this ?

Steve