Jackplate Issue

Have a CMC hydraulic plate. Last week the night before a tournament I was just going through checking everything out. When I hit the switch it went up to a point (about an inch from all the way up) and the motor started freewheeling. Plate stopped going up. Below that point it would go up and down fine. Day after the tournament I grabbed some oil and added a little. Didn't take much and then it would go all the way. Couldn't get the particular Allen wrench I had to the check plug so I waited till the next day to do that. When I went to move the plate it moved but it was real slow and jerky both up and down. Filled it on up to the proper level and its still doing it. It seems like as you mess with it it gets better but as soon as you let it sit its right back where it started. I went through the CMC troubleshooting stuff but this isn't quite any of the problems they describe. Anybody else run into this?