hydraulic steering fluid

[the butcher]

how often do you guys flush and replace your baystar/seastar hydraulic steering fluid ? every 3-4 years ?

 

[spring time]

Never

 

[Northcst]

Seastar/Dometic have been extremely helpful in my experience so give them a call @ 604-248-3858.

 

[gungadin]

Keep in mind that the biggest killer of hydraulic fluid is heat, followed by fluid contamination. As there is very heat produced in a seastar steering circuit, I would not change it for that reason. Contamination is another story. You can get contamination with poor filling and bleeding techniques, internal wear and perhaps water ingress especially if you get raw water covering the steering cylinder when boating. The easiest way to check your fluid condition is to bleed a little off into a small jar through the bleed fittings on the cylinder. Compare this to some fluid out of a new container. A darker colour would indicate comtamination to some degree. If the fluid is the same colour as in a new container, just top it up.

 

[YachtMech]

how often do you guys flush and replace your baystar/seastar hydraulic steering fluid ? every 3-4 years ?

servicing larger yachts we usually drain and replace the fluid every 3-5 years, in smaller systems like yours where there really isnt the volume where moisture can form or get trapped, so providing that the fluid is not contaminated it will easily handle 5-10 year service cycle. Seastar service schedule is 200hr or 12 months check the fluid for comtamination and flush if needed. But they do not have a set replacement schedule as the fluid is able to outlast most other oils due to the closed nature of the system.