396 power steering

[650Guy]

haha... best 55cents I would have ever spent!!

Oh boy, as I am on the boat now, I went right up and added fluid to the port by the steering wheel. I have not found the reservoir just yet. So I added fluid but found the steering to the left to have not improved. I can turn from center to right very easily, but can only get 1 turn to the left before it feels as it has come to a loss of fluid.

Could this be the "Air"?

I'm so sorry, I'm so new to this system? Or should I say, issues to this system.

[650Guy]

Ok, So as I am on the boat right now, I ran up and started filling:

Good News: No mess! took a bit of fluid, not a ton, but did take some.

Bad News: She still turns very nicely to the right, but only gets about 1/4 of the way to the left before becoming difficult?

Could that be the "Air" in the system? or PSI?

Sorry, I'm new to this system... or should I say issues to this system.

[650Guy]

Ok, Thanks all!

Good News: No mess! She took a bit of fluid, not a tun, but did take some!

Bad News: still tough to turn to the left. Right is nice and smooth, but left gets 1/4 of the way and becomes difficult.

I'm new to issues with this system, I'm digging around for the reservoir but have not yet found it, also not sure how to increase the PSI.

[Viper]

If the cap unscrewed easily and you had no mess, you either don't have a pressurized system or you do but it has no air pressure. Here is a Google image search that shows what the canister looks like: https://www.google.ca/search?q=hynautic ... AnoECAwQBA

Sometimes getting the air out of a manual system takes a while. There are bleeders on the steering ram hooked up to the rudders for this but you can accomplish the same thing by turning the wheel back and forth. Sometimes it can take quite a few turns back and forth to get rid of all the air in the system.

I trust you have only one station correct?

I'm also assuming there is nothing by the transom stored in the bilge that might be interfering with the movement of the rudder in one direction?

[650Guy]

Son of a Beechnut... sorry about all the duplicate replies. My laptop hung up and I just was getting the spinning wheel of doom. apparently they were all going through. HAHAHA!

I only have 1 station. I'm still looking for the canister, but cannot find it either in the engine bay or at the stern, but as I say, still looking.

I'll keep working the wheel back and forth

[tomschauer]

Viper would know more than I but I don't believe you have the pressurized system on your 396.

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/u ... docId=1088

Here's a link on how to bleed from telestar, but i always just kept slowly turning lock to lock and adding fluid as needed. If you have to add a bunch of fluid, you need to look for a leak. I believe its most common at the hose connections behind your helm, but could be at the hose connection on your rudder cylinders, or bad o rings on the cylinder shafts.

Happy Steering!

[650Guy]

Ok, so the small cap at the helm has a small O-ring, it is torn. As I turn the wheel from left to right I can actually hear air leaking. I think that may be the root of my issue. Tomorrow I will go buy a new one and see if I can work out the air after that.

[Viper]

I'm not quite sure on the 396 Tom but thought I'd put it out there just in case. If it is a pressurized system and you proceed as though it's not, you'll be filling it incorrectly and not putting the system into proper functionality.

[Viper]

The o-ring is to prevent fluid from leaking there under normal use. If I recall correctly, the cap on a non pressurized system vents to atmosphere and a pressurized one does not. So if it's a vented one, it's normal for air to be moving through it anyway with or without a bad o-ring. The air you are trying to bleed is any air that is already in the hydraulic circuit. With the proper fluid level in the helm, the system won't ingest air even with the cap off unless you have a leak elsewhere in the system.

[650Guy]

well, shoot, thought I was onto something. I cannot find a pressure tank, to me it appears as if lines go into a small "motor" in the engine room, then back to the piston, but not completely sure.

Tomorrow AM I may just open up the panel under the helm to see if there is anything in there I need to see.

If there is no tank in there, I'm going to stand on a limb and say its NOT pressurized.