Steering very Hard to turn
 

Hello everyone, I have a 98' Mariah 202 Shabah and the steering wheel is very hard to turn while in the water, out of the water turns just fine anybody have any suggestions on where to start??

Re: Steering very Hard to turn
 

A site search reveals there are a number of threads here discussing this issue. Have a read thru this one for likely answers to your problem.

Four things are normally associated with this condition:

1) Binding in the steering wheel assembly. (Parts are worn and/or need lubing)
2) The steering cable. (inner cable is worn/cable lube is dried up/contaminated or both)
3) The power steering system. (valve or internal pump parts mat be leaking causing drop in pressure)
4) Gimbal pivots. (worn/corroded/out of lube)

For starters, I would begin troubleshooting by isolating the cable/steering box/powersteering from the gimbal as I beleive this is the easiest to do:
1) Start by removing the big pivot bolt holding the cable/powersteering valve to the gimbal steering arm.
2) Now try turning the steering wheel, if it's still tight, your problem is either in the steering box or the cable (I would suspect the cable first), but if it's smooth then it's in the outdrive or powersteering system.

Re: Steering very Hard to turn
 

Thank you very much Mikey, I did read though them and I got some pointers ,but I also wanted to get a starting point. I will try this today and report back my findings.

Re: Steering very Hard to turn
 

Hello again. My boat keeps loosing power steering fluid. It all comes out from the steering pump. I have already replaced the cap and I bled the lines thinking they had air in them.
he day will start out fine power steering will work fine for about an hour or so and the it would just get very hard to turn so I open up the engine compartment and the power steering fluid is all out! it looks like it all leaks from on top of by the cap. Would I need a new pump put in? or would it be something else? any ideas anyone???

Re: Steering very Hard to turn
 

First, I'd make sure its leaking from the cap. It could be a pinhole in a hose, or the front pump seal leaking. If its the cap, it sounds like its either getting air in the system causing it to foam, or some junk in the line or a bad pump causing it to boil out. A side note, power steering lines don't need bled to get air out, cycling the steering from lock to lock a couple times should do it.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2

Re: Steering very Hard to turn
 

I checked again and it does look like it's comming from the cap. It seems like it boils out. I will replace the pump and see if this works.thanks

Re: Steering very Hard to turn
 

Sounds like the pressure valve is sticking in the pump asand. I think you are on the right track replacing the pump. :)
JMO