boat issue! any ideas?

[Baydoe]

Good morning. I got my boat out of storage last night and was going threw it. I turned my steering wheel and it spun freely left and right but was not turning my motors? i have heard of cables freezing up but the people that had that happen to them said the steering wheel was locked as well. any ideas? thanks!

Its a 2001 wx2050 skeeter with a 225 vmax.

 

[fnznfwl]

Is it cable steering or hydraulic?

 

[Baydoe]

Feel kinda dumb, but i honestly don't know... Its a 2001 skeeter wx2050 with a 225 vmax... nowthat you brought it up.. i'm thinking it could be hydraulic...

 

[SDMF]

Most likely is hydraulic. Should be a little fill hole on the helm, often directly over the steering wheel capped with a little star-shaped thumb-screw.

 

[ndlongshot]

I'd say if its cables, something broke in the mechanism. Happened to me once when my cables were old and sticky. I cranked too hard and bang, unit under the console busted with the force and the wheel was free spinning. Lucky I was just unloading and used the troller to get back to the trailer.

Just saw now that it was a big skeeter. I'd say hydraulic as well.

 

[fnznfwl]

That will be a hydraulic system. Likely air in the system that will need to be bled out or a leak that drained fluid. Lots of videos on you tube on how to do it.

 

[Duckslayer100]

Something freeze in hydraulics over the winter and a line crack/break? Course, if that happened you'd probably be oozing hydraulic fluid somewhere.

 

[Baydoe]

thanks! i haven't seen any fluid anywhere... i will see if this works! better to find it now i guess then when im at the boat ramp!

 

[Sub_Elect]

Sounds like air in the line or a broken line (which I would doubt). There is a lot of the line that isn't visible but you should be able to take it in and have someone do a bleed. First try to add oil as mentioned above and turn it lock to lock and see if it will build pressure. if you have to take it in it will only take about 30 minutes at a dealership. If you can get it in this time of year!

Good luck

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As a side note, if it is hydraulic (which I would suspect) if will likely say SeaStar where the steering rams are right above the transom on the boat side of the motor.



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[eliminator]

I have sea star on my skeeter and you can look and see if the seals are leaking--I would guess that could be the problem but like they said you should see some fluid dripping on the bottom of one or both ends of the cylinder it that happened--I have had them go bad and you can go online and get a set of seals for about a hundred bucks and it comes with the tool to put them in----there isn't much to putting them in yourself. There is also a u-tube video on how to do it that is real helpful.

 

[USMCDI]

My '02 Skeeter 1775 is hydraulic, yours should be as well, there's a line off/loose somewhere and you have a ton of air in the lines. I had to bleed mine once and it had the same symptoms but I found an oil slick in my boat.

 

[Ugly Dogs]

My brother had the same problem and both time it was the sea star. They have had problems with their seals for awhile now.

 

[eyexer]

Hydraulic is nice when it works but I've seen too many recently that were not working worth a shit. I've even seen a couple new boats that left the dealer that weren't right. They become a hell of a handful on the lake at higher speeds.

 

[Baydoe]

thank you! hopefully its not to bad.. i called river city and they wanted $500 to replace the seals and add oil.. so i think i will give it a go myself even if the seals have to be replaced.