Power Steering - Rusty Oil?

[dorelse]

Switching out the power steering cooler tonight and all that came out of the power steering lines is very rusty oil.  Moving the steering wheel without the PS lines hooked up is night & day better.  All the binding is gone. 

Any reason I can't just run without PS hooked up?  And...where to begin?  I have a spare PS Pump (gotta love the bonus bucket-o-parts)

BTW, the replacement PS cooler looks to be a different design, has 7 small tubes on the inside, and a drain plug for winterization.

Assuming this isn't the way its supposed to look...

[CVX Fever]

Nice thing about power steering is you don't need to the torque tab on the cavitation plate to counter the twist of the prop. I suppose you could run without it but you'll always notice how hard it it is to turn the wheel one way versus the other. My first I/O boat didn't have power steering and I'd never go back to that if I didn't have to.

[Rich_V174SS]

You're going to want the power steering. I hated not having it when I got the V174, having to drive it with two hands on the wheel white knuckled in the turns. I'm so glad I added it with the re-power. The power steering makes it effortless.

[dorelse]

Alright, I'll keep it.  I figured it be just setting the trim tab and it'd be 'outboard style'.  

I haven't really paid much attention the the PS b/c I have to replace the steering cable before doing any other work to it.

I'm all hooked back up, and I might replace the PS pump and see if that makes any difference.  I'm just questioning if the existing one is pumping anything at all.