If you hold off, I'll take out the fitting tomorrow, and I'll find out exactly how deep.
Whoops--glad you waited and I measured. 5/8" only.
I too am waiting to hear ...if this works on a second car then I'm in for the fix too.
Hi,
The grease fitting fitted 1 hour ago and pumped three times the grease (Redline CV-2) and test drive taken. The first feeling; it seems to be much better, but the test drive was quite short one and the temperature was only +14C. The real test drive will happen tomorrow on the race track; BWM Finland's track day in Ahvenisto. I'll let know the results after that I'm quite optimistic... Br Timo
Two successful fixes is great news. So what size drill bit did you use? If I am looking at the pictures Bmwha posted would it be correct to say I would drill from lying on the floor looking up exactly in the center of the joint where the upper and lower housings are joined?
I used 3mm drill bit until I hit the post and after that I used 6.8mm drill for the 8 mm grease fitting (appr 8-9mm deep). My grease fitting was not the longer one, so I need to take some material off with dremel tool from the lower housing part to level the grease fitting nicely. Yes, just drill from lying on the floor looking up exactly in the center ( I missed the central point, but it worked ) of the joint and drill as it want to go aligning with joint.
Thanks guys...great work and great advice...I'm not sure when I'll get to it but this will be a big help.
Nice thread guys, my car is having the same issues. I plan to do this soon within the next couple of weeks. Anyone know if BMW has a recall on this?
A NHTSA investigation concluded that this was more of a nuisance issue than a safety concern so there was no recall by BMW...we are left on our own other than a couple of PUMA cases where BMW provided some owners with assistance. You can read all the information on the NHTSA web site.
How much grease did you pump in?
2003 3.0i Z4, 2007 Z06, 2013 Yukon Denali & a 1966 LSC 427 S/C Cobra
Many thanks Bmwha ! I'm having the same problem and I will apply your fix soon. I am looking forward to seeing my ultimate driving machine back !
Hi. Can you tell me where I can find a self tapping zerk? I have tried the local auto parts places and home depot. I have drilled in the spot BMWha shown but only had regular zerks, not self tapping. I tried to make some threads but it's not deep enough.
Another question, when you drill into the spot, can you see right through it if you shine a light into it? Will it look hollow? Just wondering if I drilled deep enough. When I look in, I can see an opening to the side but not straight, if that makes sense. Any help would be appreciated.
Last edited by JCHO; 05-29-2013 at 03:37 PM.
How long does the long shanked zerk need to be?
Hi... Any reason why you use a long shanked grease zerk? Is it that the grease needs to go so far in or can you just use a standard short zerk??
Hi, Lars here from Stockholm Sweden. I have exactly the same problem with my Z4 Roadster 2.5i 2004 (black too!), and my Z4 doesnt seem to be alone in this cold country suffer from it. BMW Sweden doesnt recognize the problem, occasional Swedish owners got the repair cost (approx 4 000 USD) covered by their insurance companies. My car is too old so Im gonna try and find a mechanic who's willing to read your excellent instrucdtions and dare to start drilling). Big thanks for sharing! /L
I have tried this fix described by BMWHA, and it works perfectly, just follow the instructions as described if you are handy and you will have a perfectly steering Z4. Thanks BMWHA you helped me out a great deal and im sure saved my life down the road.
Well... unfortunately it didn't work for me. Just finished doing it and I've the same problem, to the same degree. Bummer... Thanks for your efforts Bmwha!!
I'm thinking that there are several different problems in these steering columns, similar but different in origin. That would make sense, at least to me.
My problem is only evident at a stop or near stop. It's heat related like a lot of people too. I get a terrible 'groaning' when steering off dead center, either left or right. You can actually feel the groaning as a vibration in the steering wheel. It doesn't require more force to turn the steering wheel during the groaning though. Once moving it's not evident at all. I've no off-center drag (requiring more force to steer) in the steering like many report at higher speeds. That was the symptom reported to the the NHTSA. My problem is at stop or near stop only.
Back to the drawing board...
2003 3.0i Z4, 2007 Z06, 2013 Yukon Denali & a 1966 LSC 427 S/C Cobra
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