leaking volvo dph steering rams

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julians

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Hi all,

Just noticed a minor oil slick forming behind the boat when I turn the wheel, I'm guessing the steering rams have failed (again!).

Question for the panel, is this a get the boat lifted and fixed right now problem(hence spoiling my summer hols), or am I likely to be safe to use it for the next couple of weeks of my summer hols.

if I carry a can of hydraulic steering fluid ,can I just top it up if it gets too low? Just to get me through the next 20 hours of running?
 
As I understand it, the risk of water contamination of the atf is that this might kill your power steering pump, which is an expensive repair. So in your position, I guess I'd be keeping a v close eye on the atf, and at the first sign of milkiness I'd be changing the rams. (Personally I'd just go ahead and get it done straight away, but maybe that's because I've had to replace the power steering pump already; I do get why you're trying to avoid the cost of a lift). Fwiw I had to replace the rams on mine about six weeks ago, and it cost £476 inc parts, labour and vat.
 
Thanks, it's not the cost of a lift out I'm trying to avoid, it's being boatless for the rest of or at least a good chunk of my holiday. If they could sort it in a day then I'll get it done immediately but I suspect they won't be able to. I will enquire though.

The fluid in the reservoir still looks clear and red.

I was more concerned about being stranded miles from shore with no steering,but more expensive repairs are also to be avoided.
 
If your local dealer has the rams in stock I'd just get it done then; it took two techs just under an hour to do both of mine. Inc lift out and in you should be all done in a half a day.
 
Cheers,will speak to my local engineer and see if they have the parts in stock and whether they can do it tomorrow. Got a mooring booked in Cabrera tomorrow night.
 
So, they have the parts in stock, the rams will be replaced tomorrow am, and I will be several hundred euros lighter.
 
The really annoying bit of this is how Volvo seem to consider the steering rams to be a consumable item to be replaced every couple of years.

These were last replaced in 2012/13.

Oh well never mind, keeps the marine industry ticking over Isuppose.
 
julians said:
The really annoying bit of this is how Volvo seem to consider the steering rams to be a consumable item to be replaced every couple of years.

These were last replaced in 2012/13.

Oh well never mind, keeps the marine industry ticking over Isuppose.
Click to expand...

Yep, agreed; I think I've done mine every couple of years as well.
 
When ever I read posts like this I always come back with the shafts V stern drive question.
We all know shafts use more fuel but use less in terms of servicing and on going repairs . It's time someone designed a different material for these Rams they simply are just junk.
 
I had my 3 year old ones replaced foc by Volvo dealer near Sant Carles by bitching directly at Beneteau and Volvo Penta.

Emailing the V-P Chief Executive got some reaction!
 
You did the right thing having them replaced as the other component that will most likely fail before the servo pump is the shuttle valve mounted on the inside of the transom shield right at the back of the engine and is a PITA to get at, if that fails you can have steering that doesn't respond as you would expect.
 
A
P4Paul said:
Sticking the Rams inboard seemed to work successfully, still not sure what problem outboard Rams were trying to fix...

I can only imagine the problems yet to come as outboard Rams with joysticks start to fail in close quarters!
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Fully agree Paul. Even the tilt Rams on my old Merc drives were reliable too.
 
External tilt rams are fine, as you leave the drive in the down position with both rams fully closed hence not exposed to the water.

anyway , at least the saving grace is that these fail so often that everywhere has the parts in stock ,so I can get them replaced quickly.

Of all the boats I've owned/had extensive use of it always the Volvo engined ones that have been the least reliable, I never seem to learn though.

Yamaha outboard = bullet proof reliable/never went wrong

Mariner outboards= so so reliability

mercruiser petrol inboards/drives= so so reliability ,but cheap to fix

Volvo diesel inboards/drives= poor reliability and expensive to fix
 
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So the new rams were fitted yesterday, and off we went to cabrera for the night ,it was an uneventful journey there and back in terms of things breaking, which is always welcome. We did see a swordfish jumping out of the sea on the way back though.

Anyway, I noticed that the new rams are all black in colour and the previous rams that were fitted back in 2012/13 had a light coloured body. Is this a new revision of ram?and if so, does anyone know what has changed with them And anyone care to guess if this is likely to be the last set of replacements i'll need fitting?
 
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aquapower said:
Was that in salt water or fresh water ?
Click to expand...

Before i got this boat with the volvo dph drives i had a sea ray with an alpha 1 drive, it was kept on the same mooring as the current boat under the same conditions, which means 365 days of the year in salt water. I had the sea ray for 7 years from brand new with no corrosion related issues on the drive (or any other element of the boat)

This volvo dph drive is significantly more negatively affected by being in the water 365 days of the year than the merc alpha one was.
 
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