Can I drive without power steering???

[1sik7]

If you havent seen my other post I just purchased a 94 740i that had a whining/ticking noise coming from the lower front of the engine. I've only had the car 2 days (driving it) and just purchased the stethoscope to try and diagnose what was making the noise. Well I just found out what it was.

About a half mile from my house heard a small pop, followed by some smoke coming from the engine bay and I quickly turned down a side street in my neighborhood to cut through and get her home as fast as possible. Next turn the steering was a little stiff. Next turn was zero power steering. Pulled in the driveway real quick and into park and I immediately noticed the tick/whine was gone. Engine was quite as could be. Shut her down and popped the hood and saw fluid all over everything and a puddle quickly forming on the ground below the pump.


Soooo....can it still be driven?

[1sik7]

Ok upon further review where it goes from hard line to soft then back to hard line across the front passenger side of the engine the soft line popped at the fitting. Easy fix but I'm not able to do it now. Gonna have to park it till I can fix it

[1sik7]

Sorry for the multiple replies to my own post but I inadvertently solved my own issue. Loosened the clamp holding the hose to the lower portion of the engine after it cooled down and was able to sorta re-insert the line. Filled the reservoir back up with fluid and fired the car up. Few turns back and forth of the wheel with the cap off to prime the system and power steering was back. And so was the whine/ticking noise. Shut it down because the fluid was leaking again from the hose as I'm guessing it blew the lines integrity when it "popped"

This was more to see if the pump in working order was making the noise it made before the line popped. So I loosened that same line and let the fluid drain into a catch can while the car ran until it was dry-ish.

Fired her back up and as I figured perfectly quiet running engine. So now I guess I get to order a new PS pump and some lines to refresh the system. Kinda glad it happened as I was dreading the search for the noise culprit since it could of been any number of parts along the belts path.

[unity]

No, you can not drive without power steering fluid unless you pull the belt. If you operate the pump dry it will chew itself up, spit out metal fragments into the lines, steering box, etc. Can be a costly repair.

[1sik7]

No, you can not drive without power steering fluid unless you pull the belt. If you operate the pump dry it will chew itself up, spit out metal fragments into the lines, steering box, etc. Can be a costly repair.

Thanks for the response Unity
Upon looking at the belt routing it doesnt seem like you could just pull the belt and route a shorter belt with the proximity of the pumps pulley to the tensioner and flywheel pulley. Seeing how I had a whine and ticking noise coming from the power steering system (now gone with engine running and no fluid in the system) I'm going to just park it until i can do a full repair on the system.

[shogun]

Power steering pump one can usually repair, we have a member here on the forum, master6, he offers this service, much cheaper than a new pump https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2341013-Jay-Stratton-JCS-master6-here-are-10-of-my-current-websites
but maybe the pump is still o.k.
Rockauto probably has reman power steering pumps