This doesn’t look good

Suzuki 4 stroke. I looked closely at the fuel lines and primer ball and found a broken clamp at the primer ball. Didn't see it leaking but assumed it was the issue, so I went to West Marine and bought new line and primer ball and put them in. Called the wife and said okay, let's go for a ride and test it out. Headed out and began to feel the hydraulic steering have a little more play than usual, and within 10 minutes it began to go south and I went aft and saw hydraulic fluid leaking, a pretty steady drip drip drip. Managed to get back to our slip but steering was sketchy. Luckily no wind and many boats in the marina absent so docking wasn't an issue. So I don't know if the Sea Star unit was the issue all along, or if I really had a fuel line issue and the steering just happened. The boat yard I take her to for repairs is about a 45 minute boat ride and I don't know about the steering being effective for that long. I've never touched the Sea Star and don't know anything about them except that there is a port on the top of the helm. Can I just add some fluid to get me to the boat yard? It's a pretty bad leak.
 
I have only helped others with theirs, but a lot like brakes on cars. Can u see what exactly is leaking? Split hose ,loose fitting ?

After filling, we had to do a lot of back and forth steering to get the air out, mechanics usually have a pump kit to do this a lot easier.

Hopefully spare will chime in with some pointers

Good news, better thsn tearing an engine down!
 
That’s good news. You found the problem. I’m sure if you go on YouTube they will lead you in the right direction to fixing your problem. That is only if spare doesn’t get back to you.
 
I can see exactly where the leak is, but it's dripping from near the middle of the cylinder, not the end and not a hose. It could be the cylinder itself on the backside where I can't see it. It's a pretty severe drip when you turn the wheel. The Sea Star system was installed when we rebuilt everything in 2004. Engine is due for maintenance and the bottom needs cleaning and a coat of paint, so the boat yard is going to be happy to see me. :rolleyes:
 
Are you sure the leak is at the middle? I would suspect a leak from the end caps or from the bleed fittings that may be traveling and dripping from the middle area. Try tightening the bleed fittings slightly or end caps and see if that helps, and yes fluid can be added at the helm as needed.
 
Pipe, I replaced mine with seastar several years ago. Installed it myself, wasn't bad at all. Since then I had a cylinder leak - not a terrible leak, but bad enough I ended up replacing the cylinder. I looked into replacing seals/rebuilding the cylinder but found it was a bit to risky for my back yard wrenching abilities. I hope you are able to get it fixed without too much hassle.
 
I had an issue with the hydraulic steering in my flats boat. There is a guy in Ft.Myers that fixes them for so-so money. Amazon has the entire system under Vevor branding. Went with the Vevor. It looks identical to me. Not sure about pricing now, it was less than half of what sea star pricing was.
 
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