Mercruiser 165 250 GMC steering siezed up?

[acefredbaron]

The lower unit of my 165 Mercruiser steering is Siezed up. when it was put away it was ok and now you can only move it about 1 or 2 inches.(the amount of play in the unit) Is there a bearing that could have siezed up? The wheel moves as far as it can about 4 or 5 inches and stops. It has manual steering. When the unit is moved outside of the boat, there is no movement inside the boat on the cable at the transome. The boat is 25 years old. Any thoughts?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Mercruiser 165 250 GMC steering siezed up?

I would dis-connect the cable inside the transom and see if the O.D. will swing freely. I'll bet the problem is the steering cable, but with the two separated you'll be able to isolate where its stuck.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Mercruiser 165 250 GMC steering siezed up?

The boat I bought had the same situation, it turned out to be seized up in the aluminum tube that the steering cable goes through back at the transom. I needed to heat it up with a torch, (Carefully! With fire extinguishers handy! ), and I was then able to remove the cable from the aluminum tube. After cleaning things up and lubing I was able to reuse everything with no problems. That was a couple of years ago.

 

[mercrewser]

Re: Mercruiser 165 250 GMC steering siezed up?

Always happens over the winter. You have to turn the wheel a couple of times over the winter to keep it from locking up.