Stern drive will not rotate to right

speco1959 · 06-28-2013, 02:17 AM

I have a 1995 Talari 180 with a 4.3 mercruiser I/O. I was troubleshooting a steering problem and determined I needed to replace the cable between the steering wheel and the hydraulic system on the stern. I got everything disconnected and got a new cable ready to hook up but I needed to align the stern drive to the centerline so the steering wheel would be properly centered. The stern drive rotated freely to the port side but will not rotate back. I thought it might have been hydraulically locked so I removed the hydraulic lines. All that got me was a bilge full of hydraulic oil (power steering fluid). What am I doing wrong and why would it rotate so freely to port but not at all to starboard. I hope this is something easy. The guy I bought the boat from said it had tight steering but I figured it was the cable not thhe stern drive. Any suggesitons? Does it need to be bled somehow to release an air lock? Any help would be appreciated.

***ColoradoDiablo*** · 06-28-2013, 04:09 AM

First off.....Welcome to MOC speco!
It could be the valve in the power steering pump , but unlikely. Does the drive rotate to the starboard side by hand with the steering cable disconnected? If not it is probably the steering ram at the transom that is acting up. What does the fluid in the power steering pump look like?
Try cracking the lines on the steering ram and see if you have pressure while turning starboard.(You already got fluid in the bilge anyway).
Dirty fluid can wipe out the power steering system fast.
Check the steering bellcrank at the drive to make sure you don't have any resistance there.
Just some things that come to mind.
You really shouldn't have to bled the system.

speco1959 · 06-28-2013, 12:51 PM

The hydraulic fluid is pristine. The drive previously rotated to the port side by hand but would not rotate to the starboard side. I not only cracked but completely removed the lines from teh steering ram while I was trying to get it to rotate to the starboard side with no luck. I was thinking it could have been hydraulically locked. Now that I have done some more digging about what the internals of the hydraulic controls look like back there I realize the shifting of ports (to go from a port to strboard turn) happens inside the tube that the steering cable passes through. I'm still not confident I understand what is happening in there since the steering cable doesn't seem to have any ports or anything else where the movement of the cable would impact valves. Keeping in mind that the steering cable has been removed and has not been reconnected (I want to get the stern drive to the centerline before I hook it up) how do I know what alignment the hydraulic valve is in and what can I do to shift that alignment to allow the stern to rotate freely to starboard?

Andy b · 06-28-2013, 05:54 PM

Thinking a little out of the box here, But is the leg trimmed right up?
It could be the drive shaft stopping the leg returning....
(although this would not be the fist time I got it wrong

)

***Hudson River Steve*** · 06-30-2013, 03:21 PM

Hi Speco,
Its been my experience that what you are describing, only rotates in one direction, is completely normal. You are correct that the hydraulic controls are located in the tube where the cable is attached. Depending on wheter the cable is pushing or pulling on this area determines which hyd port is activated. Try connecting the new cable, regardless of the drives position, adjust the drive the position you want, then remove the cable, set the wheel where you want it and reconnect. Good luck.

speco1959 · 07-01-2013, 01:50 PM

Thanks guys for all of your help. As Steve describes apparently I was worried over nothing. I connected the steering cable back up and it immediately responded to the wheel. In my case the stern drive was all the way over to the port side so I shifted the wheel over to that direction. It didn't come out exactly where it should have so I may redo the alignment (to get the steering wheel centered and aligned when the stern drive is pointing straight ahead) but the new cable worked fine and the stern drive is now responding to the helm. I'll be moving onto the electrical system now which has a burnt fuse and no indicaiton as to what it is used for. For that matter none of the electrical fuses are labeled. Time to start a new thread......