Loss of steering at the lower helm

[Sadey]

Went to use Benedetto the other day and had no steering at the pilot house helm. Fly bridge worked as advertised as well as the A/P. It’s hard to tell the fluid level in the reservoir but it might be low. There is less then 10psi on the gauge so there’s that as well. What’s weird is, no extra fluid visible were it shouldn’t be and why is the upper helm working instead of visa versa?

Side note: while I was cleaning the upper helm I must have bumped the A/P on. Took me a while to realize the noise I thought was somebody else’s boat was actually my A/P pump working away. Obviously I turned it off until we needed it enroute. All this shortly before I discovered the complete lack of steering south.

Thoughts besides add fluid and pressure?

[Pascal]

You can try but typically if the system is low on fluid or air, the upper helm is the first one to go.

Top it off and then bleed both helms by turning until you get a stop then the other way till opposite lock.

[SEVEN]

PSI should be 25 lbs.

[eze2bme]

Did you check for fluid leak at the AP ram?

[Sadey]

I didn't think to check the ram because the auto pilot was working properly.

[Freeebird]

Wouldn’t think a ram leak would affect only the lower station. As we discussed, I’ve lost steering from top to bottom via a near ram leak, and the AP was the only thing that halfway worked toward the end. I’m no expert, but losing that lower station and still having the upper baffles me. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what turns out to be the culprit.

[oscarvan]

Wouldn’t think a ram leak would affect only the lower station. As we discussed, I’ve lost steering from top to bottom via a near ram leak, and the AP was the only thing that halfway worked toward the end. I’m no expert, but losing that lower station and still having the upper baffles me. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what turns out to be the culprit.

Not familiar with the innards, but Hynautic lists a bunch of seal kits for the help pumps..... wouldn't it just be a spinner if they fail?

Does the autopilot generally have it's own ram on the rudder mechanism? It did on my last boat which provided much needed redundancy. Or is it just another pump in line on the main system? Less redundancy......

[Pascal]

As I mentioned earlier, low fluid always affect things from the highest point. I once had a fluid cooler failure on a power steering hynautic while returning from BIM on AP. Fluid was being dumped over board . When I disengaged the AP to make the turn into Cale Florida... at 24kts... the wheel just spun and spun and spun. Quickly re engaged the AP which worked fine for a few more minutes letting me make the turn then center the rudder and finished the trip across the bay steering with engines.

Sounds to me like a bad helm pump

[Freeebird]

As I mentioned earlier, low fluid always affect things from the highest point.

I think Sadey mentioned it first.

[jmooney]

I am in the process of rebuilding my helm pumps and steering cylinder. Also replacing the flexible hydraulic hoses. The Hynautic manual does not specifically mention this situation in the trouble shooting section, but it refers to a helm that keeps turning without stopping as have too much air in the helm pump. You probably need to make sure that sufficient hydraulic fluid is in the reservoir and proper charge is obtained (20-30 psi) and then bleed the system , starting with the highest helm.
Hope that a simple fix is in the works. Jim