Mercruiser Power Steering Issue

Today I finally put my 1985 Cobalt project boat in the water after a 4 year refurbishment. Most everything went well except there is an issue with the steering. The boat has Merc power steering. When on plane the boat wants to turn to port....hard and while under way she lists to port a bit. At low speed or idle, when the wheel is turned to port it has a really jerky feel that you feel in the wheel as well as the whole boat. FYI there is a small fluid leak at the cylinder attached to the transom plate. The pump had the appropriate amount of fluid in it.

This is the first I/O I've had in 20+ years and I'm assuming the problem is somewhere in the power steering system. I did own this boat from 1989 until about 1998 and it never did this in the past.

Can anybody point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Shawn

I just fought a bunch of PS issues and mine ultimately turned out to be the cable, but my behavior was very stiff steering.

On the steering ram at the transom the ram itself has two flats (I think they were 7/8”) that need to be straight up and down otherwise you will have some unbalancing within the system. From what I read it balances the valves when they’re vertical. They should be on “e” in the below diagram

What you are describing sounds a bit more to do with tabs than just steering. Have you confirmed both tabs are operating as they should?
Starb switch operates port tab and port switch starb tab.

Thanks Strecker, I'm looking into this....

Thornton, the boat does not have trim tabs. It never really needed them. It always ran straight and true. I believe this is a problem with the power steering system. Thanks for the thoughts tho….
Shawn

Wow.... I would have thought I'd get more response that this

Anybody?

On the power steering, I think I would suspect the cable as long as that boat has been sitting. PS pumps hardly ever fail, but it's possible. But before I changed that out I would.
1. Replace the PS fluid
2. Grease the steering cable (should be a fitting where the cable connects to the ram).
3. Grease the steering ram - not a lot I just put a think coat of 2-4-c on mine.
4. Work the steering hard over both directions several times - it's been sitting a long time.
5. Don't discount the rack on the steering wheel side - if you replace the cable I would replace the rack also.

At idle can you tell if the PS pump is working, is there assist with the steering or is it HARD and JERKY?
So I guess that is a LH rotation drive - hence the pull to port? Most singles are RH.