Anyone bleeding steering system in bass boat

I seem to have air in my steering system as it takes about 7-8 turns of the steering wheel to actually move the motor. Not ideal for running timber as I found out over the weekend. Anybody do this, is it hard or should I just take it in and get it done by a boat shop?

You Tube has several instruction videos

Is the fluid full?

You must have a leak in the system. Check the hyd. cylinder on the motor. This is where 9 out 10 times the trouble will be located. If you are having to add fluid then you do have a leak somewhere.

After you get the leak isolated and repaired, you can bleed it, but the recirculating pump/bleeder tool that good shops have will be SO much easier and faster. It might be worth asking a shop what they would charge to hook up their pump and bleed it. BTW, Teleflex does sell seal rebuild kits for the ram cylinder, which is where most failures occur as noted previously.

I do see some fluid on the steering cylinder at the motor after using the boat, so a leak is probably a correct call. How would I go about determining where the leak might be?

Stupid question, is there a reservoir for the fluid and where is it.

My Skeeter has the fill on top of the console behind the windshield. The fluid needs to be full. If its gone down it probably time to buy the seal kit and replace them. Its not that hard.

The helm right behind the steering wheel has a reservoir built in. Somewhere on top of it or via a hose is a combination vent/fill plug. Download the owners manual for your steering if you don't have it - as every owner should....

Sea Star? Seal popped and you can do it yourself with parts from amazon and the bleed down kit

After doing a lot of reading, it does appear that the seal is bad. I will look at owners manual when I get home as I am not 100% sure which steering kit was used in my skeeter and order parts. I was wondering about the reservoir to see if fluid was low, I know where to fill, but not where to see if it needs to be filled.

Probably 99% of bass boats that can run over 50 mph with Teleflex hydraulic steering have the following Sea Star Pro steering:

http://www.seastarsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/296784AT.pdf

The seal kit for that is Seastar HS-5157. Don't forget you will need more hydraulic fluid.

Remove the fill cap and fill it all the way up. That's the only way to check it.

In his case, since he says he finds leaked fluid back at the cylinder, he may as well replace seals before wasting fluid by topping off the helm reservoir....

I ordered the seal replacement kit. I have the Sea Star HC5358 model, so after researching and seeing the posts here, ordered the HS-5157 replacement kit. I will replace seals and bleed system, should be good to go. Thanks for input, hope this is as easy as some are claiming who have done it.

Anybody have an idea of how much fluid is needed to refill during bleeding process?

Buy a quart. Mine didn't take that much but I had a little left over for filling up later.

I used a hose on the bleeder valve and a catch bottle and didn't lose any..

Well, I was able to replace the seals and bleed the system, now I have steering back. However, I did make a mess when I disconnected the hose from the hydraulic fluid bottle at the helm and have fluid on my boat cover as well as my shoe, shorts and the carpet in the floor of the boat. Anybody know what cleans this up?

*****I used this method to add some fluid and bleed out air.*****
PENNZOIL makes a Marine Power & Trim Fluid. All Purpose Hydraulic Fluid for tilt & trim Systems & Power Steering Systems. [Wal-Mart about $4.79]
If you remove the plug on the steering reservoir , the threads on the plastic fluid tube will screw right in the reservoir threads. using this as a constant flow system. Then cut a small slit in the other end of the tube for a vent and also to add more fluid from a second tube if needed.
I used this method to add fluid and bleed out air. To eliminate the air I did back and forth abruptly hub to hub several times [maybe 10] Gave it a rest and later repeated .
I used this method to add some fluid and bleed out air.

HAVE FUN FISHING