Noticing that I have some small accumulation of oily liquid in the bilge of my new-to-me boat as I continue to poke around and learn about it, I have the source now isolated to my power steering actuator cylinder. The cylinder is the style shown in the listing below, and leakage appears to be coming from the sides of what I would call the "valve" portion of the actuator - the parts in the picture in this repair kit listing that say "Will not repair if leaking from larger part of actuator":
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VOLVO-PENTA...952504?hash=item36079cd478:g:qsYAAOxyBPZTg-tn
I took my serpentine belt off and ran the power steering pump with a drill motor to try and see what is going on while one of my boys turned the steering back and forth. Interestingly enough, it did not seem to visibly leak while under "power".
However, upon stopping the drill and moving the steering slightly so that the switching part of the valve moves back and forth on the inner actuator, excess fluid then showed up in these spots again - both sides of the valve assembly. My conclusion here is that while under power, the seals are somehow engaging better? But when moved with power off, they let leakage through. Is this expected behavior? Trying to decide if I pursue changing the actuator out, since searches have not turned up any sort of rebuild possibility for the seals on this valve portion of the actuator.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VOLVO-PENTA...952504?hash=item36079cd478:g:qsYAAOxyBPZTg-tn
I took my serpentine belt off and ran the power steering pump with a drill motor to try and see what is going on while one of my boys turned the steering back and forth. Interestingly enough, it did not seem to visibly leak while under "power".
However, upon stopping the drill and moving the steering slightly so that the switching part of the valve moves back and forth on the inner actuator, excess fluid then showed up in these spots again - both sides of the valve assembly. My conclusion here is that while under power, the seals are somehow engaging better? But when moved with power off, they let leakage through. Is this expected behavior? Trying to decide if I pursue changing the actuator out, since searches have not turned up any sort of rebuild possibility for the seals on this valve portion of the actuator.
