ab1974 1 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Help crew.org My workmate has our Catamaran and is at the Barrier at the moment (near Smokehouse). The Cat has hydraulic steering and it is playing up, the the steering intermittently cutting in and out. The reservoir was low on fluid so it has been topped up and I have talked the guys through bleeding the system - it worked again however failed shortly thereafter. Would seem there is either still an airlock (though we have spend hours trying to bleed - them on the boat me on the phone) OR there is a leak in the system such as a failed seal. Anyone at the Barrier that might be able to help. Much rum from us if you can sort! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Call Jamie logan 021413229. He should be still out there on a cat call Catalyst Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 If they have fittings, then screw in a hose tail to the filling port (1/4"bsp usually) and invert a bottle of steering oil over it connected with a hose with a breathing point (pin hole) at the highest point. Wind hell out of the wheel in both directions. Observe any fluid drop in bottle. If running short of fluid and there is a leak, top off with cooking oil, engine oil (with 20% diesel dilution). Sort out & flush when they get back OK. If necessary use olive oil that has been used to preserve homemade feta cheese but it may make the steering a bit lumpy (long story). As it is a cat, make sure the equalising valve between the rams has not been accidentally knocked open.. Failing all that, charter a fast, luxurious jet to Vanuatu to pick me up & I will sort for you. Link to post Share on other sites
ab1974 1 Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Thanks Motorboy - unfortunately Jamie had left the Barrier, but had a good chat to him to get some ideas. Pete - thanks for the offer. I am flying over tomorrow with mechanic. Some of your thoughts together with Jamie gel as some things we have missed - so fingers crossed will get it sorted tomorrow. Thanks all Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 If you are still to go over there, then make sure you take the correct oil for the unit. Most take a 10W hydraulic oil. It does not need to be dedicated hydraulic oil. Any 10W oil will be OK. But a few use ATF. NEVER EVER put ATF into one that uses hydraulic oil and visa/versa, or you will wreck all the seals. As PW said with the bottle connected to the filling hole. You should have bleed valves at each end of the ram/rams. Place a catch bottle and unscrew the bleed screw and wind the wheel till all air bubbles are gone. Do one side and then the other side of each ram. As the oil fills up the catch bottle, take it back to the Helm and fill the other bottle again, as long as the oil is clean of course. I forget the name right now, but there is one Steering system that requires a positive pressure applied to the system. And it's quite a high pressure. It has a special pressure vessel that looks like a small accumulator tank and has a pressure gauge fitted to it. They were a common make to come across when twin helms were used. Which I assume your Cat would have. If yours has that, the pressure unit will be fitted to one helm only and the two helms simply connected via a balance line between the two fill points. Most Helm pumps have a fill hole at the front of the Helm pump for top ups and the balance line is connected to a port at the rear, but both front and rear ports fill the same internals. Link to post Share on other sites
ab1974 1 Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Thanks Wheels. The system uses ATF (Dexron 111). It is a canadian system with an accumulator tank that requires about 2 PSI (done by bike pump). We have missed bleeding the rams (thought the air would end up at the highest point - the steering wheels / pump) which I am hoping is the problem. That is tomorrows job. Fingers crossed! Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Having air in the line and the Ram won't stop the system from working, but it will make the system feel spongy. Low oil in the helm pump will make the steering intermittent as you originally described. The Helm Pump body is the reservoir for the oil, so there is not a lot of reserve for leaks. With a Balanced Ram system, one half of the Ram is pushing it's oil back to the Helm while the other half is being filled by the Ram. If the hose run is long enough, sometimes air does not make it all the way back to the Helm to be replaced by oil from the reserve. The oil tends to be too viscous and the lines too small for air to work along the line on it's own accord back to the Helm. Link to post Share on other sites
ab1974 1 Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Pete - you win. The equalising valve between the rams (on the balancing line that runs between the two helms / rams) wasn't closed properly. Must have been bumped when the port motor was being lowered...... Problem fixed in 10 seconds! Great day out at the Barrier though! Link to post Share on other sites
darkside 61 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Yep it does happen. We took the handle off our valve to avoid that. Meantime we had sailed the Tasman with the rudders not necessarily pointing the same way. We also were told to change the valve to a heavier duty model as the pressure in some steering systems is quite high. Another fault we had was the seals failing inside the rams. Hard to track that one down as you don't see a puddle of oil under the ram. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Pete - you win. The equalising valve between the rams (on the balancing line that runs between the two helms / rams) wasn't closed properly. Must have been bumped when the port motor was being lowered...... Problem fixed in 10 seconds! Great day out at the Barrier though! Damn, I've never had a ride in a luxury jet, was looking forward to it. Link to post Share on other sites
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