[monster1]

i have a 21' striper with the volvo penta i/o. when i raise the drive up and leave the boat i come back the next day and the drive is sitting on the ground. the pump motor sounds good on the up side but when i lower the drive it squeals. pretty obvious that i need to fix something. one of the hose fitting to the hydrolic ram is leaking. no drips just enough fluid to wet the area and cause dirt to collect up around the flare fitting. i know the leak must be fixed, but what about the rest of the system? the volvo dealer has me scared that a "worst case senario" would be to change out both rams and the pump unit for about $2000 dollars. he said that if you use the boat with a leak in the system, water will contaminate the system and cause rust/corrosion which will cause the seals in the rams and pump to fail. my question is this. does the hydrolic system need to be bled out like the brake system in a car to remove any air in the system? or does the leak and intrusion of air and freshwater cause a failure of the seals? the boat has only been used once since discovery of the problem for about 8 hours in freshwater.

thanks,
monty

 

[Salsa]

The first thing I would do is to check the release valve to see if it is tight. It is designed to let the outdrive down if the system won't put it down.

Don

 

[monster1]

where is it located?

 

[JUST IN TIME]

what year is it?
they have a recall on the check valves

 

[monster1]

it's a 2004 4.3 sx gxi. i bought a clymer shop manual for it and am pretty sure that the leak i found has caused air into the system. i am going to fix the leak and bleed the system. if that doesn't work then i will check the tilt/trim pump. the dealer says that they are notorious for foriegn matter to cause the problem.

thanks,
monty

 

[freddie]

does the drive change trim while you run? I have internal leak at lip seal, meaning fluid goes back to resevoir and trim falls as I run, and when parked. Did it about every 3 minutes. A pain. When up parked, it fell all the way by next day, all the way to negative on trim gauge. Here's how I dealt with it. Drained resevoir of THIN trim fluid. Then filled with 40 weight engine oil. Most use 30 weight, but I had a gallon of 40 weight. Ran it up and down and bunch of times. Then drained the oil. A Big Boy, or another pump does it easy and quick. Then refilled with 40 weight, ran it up and down again, and drained oil. Get all the fluid out of lines. then readd the 30 or 40 weight oil. Now it moves one spot about every 15 to 20 minutes of cruise. I can live with that. When boat is parked, I'm in a slip on Hydro-hoist, it comes down after 3 or 4 days. Now I take a dock line with the built in loop. I tie an overhand loop knot in it about 4 ft above the loop. The I put loop over the cone, put the line down through a transome rod holder, then through the overhand knot and then tie it all off to cleat. Keeps it up and takes pressure off trim pump seals. Not a permanent solution, but I'm not in hurry to pay some to change rams, a big job. Give it try, you have nothing to lose.

This post edited by freddie 05/31/2008