1987 Carver 3607, 3 line hynautic h-50 helms upper and lower. Lower works perfectly, upper does literally nothing.
So I pull out the upper and rebuild it. The old seals are all toast, so this is a worthwhile endeavor. I reinstalled it, go through bleeding instructions precisely.
After all that, the steering problem is literally the same. Lower works exactly perfectly, upper does exactly nothing. Fluid and pressure after bleeding hold steady, so I don't think the system leaks.
My questions are as follows:
If there were air in the system, still, wouldn't that affect the operation of the lower helm? Is it possible there's air trapped in the upper end of the system preventing the upper helm from working at all and not affecting the lower helm even a little?
When I bleed it, I back out the two relief valve screws, turn upper helm right like a thousand times, turn lower helm right like a thousand times, and then back out the small hex-key set screw on the BOTTOM of the steering cylinder - there's one on each end of the cylinder opposite the fluid fitting. This is the correct place to bleed the cylinder, right? What a bitch, huh? Trying to back that thing out on the under side where I can't see it, and when oil runs out, it runs all over my hand and tool.
When doing the bleed procedure, while spinning the upper helm to one direction, nothing happens at all at the reservalve. When spinning the lower helm, the reservalve churns and pressure briefly builds. What does this indicate?
Again, to clarify, I disassembled the upper helm and put in a new HS-05 seal kit. It appears to be assembled correctly, turns smoothly, and is not leaking.
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I just spent a week tearing apart this stupid helm, waiting for seals and fittings, getting fluid all over everything, getting it all back together, going through a ridiculously complicated bleed process, just to have gained exactly 0 change in the operation of anything. Hopefully there's an answer or two in this somewhere.
Thanx!
ae
So I pull out the upper and rebuild it. The old seals are all toast, so this is a worthwhile endeavor. I reinstalled it, go through bleeding instructions precisely.
After all that, the steering problem is literally the same. Lower works exactly perfectly, upper does exactly nothing. Fluid and pressure after bleeding hold steady, so I don't think the system leaks.
My questions are as follows:
If there were air in the system, still, wouldn't that affect the operation of the lower helm? Is it possible there's air trapped in the upper end of the system preventing the upper helm from working at all and not affecting the lower helm even a little?
When I bleed it, I back out the two relief valve screws, turn upper helm right like a thousand times, turn lower helm right like a thousand times, and then back out the small hex-key set screw on the BOTTOM of the steering cylinder - there's one on each end of the cylinder opposite the fluid fitting. This is the correct place to bleed the cylinder, right? What a bitch, huh? Trying to back that thing out on the under side where I can't see it, and when oil runs out, it runs all over my hand and tool.
When doing the bleed procedure, while spinning the upper helm to one direction, nothing happens at all at the reservalve. When spinning the lower helm, the reservalve churns and pressure briefly builds. What does this indicate?
Again, to clarify, I disassembled the upper helm and put in a new HS-05 seal kit. It appears to be assembled correctly, turns smoothly, and is not leaking.
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I just spent a week tearing apart this stupid helm, waiting for seals and fittings, getting fluid all over everything, getting it all back together, going through a ridiculously complicated bleed process, just to have gained exactly 0 change in the operation of anything. Hopefully there's an answer or two in this somewhere.
Thanx!
ae
Last edited: