Power Steering

[cacrawley]

Hi Folks,

I recently purchased a 2002 530i in need of repair. Love the car but the power steering issue is making me rethink my decision! The power steering was gone when I bought it. Figured and hoped a new pump, reservoir and return line would fix it (which I did - Cardone remanufactured pump), but it didn't make any difference. Put it at the local garage for diagnosis and they put a vacuum on it to clear any air in the system but to no avail. The pump (or rack) is still very noisy and no power steering assist. I wouldn't think the rack would make that much noise if it was bad. Wondering about my options...could it be the rack? The pressure line? Or should I just order another pump under warranty and go from there? I am not at a location where parts are easy to get and try unfortunately. Help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Corey

[StephenVA]

Canada has its challenges.

Most pump noises are from circulation problems: Hoses, low fluid levels, reservoir contamination/leakage/etc, pump bearing failure (low fluid causes), rack seals, etc. Air cavitation will give you the same noise as a bad pump.

When these parts tear up, the trash flows everywhere through out the systems as it is a closed loop system. Reservoir to pump, pump to rack, rack to cooler, cooler to reservoir. Solution by most shops is to replace everything including a cooler clean out with air pressure.

Steering rack
P/S Pump (new as remans have a shoddy history of being done right)
Hoses and tubes, seals, clamps etc
etc, etc, etc
Info Sources: http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E3...rowse/steering or realoem.com

Get all the part numbers, order parts on line, install, simple. If you go down the path of having someone else do the work, the costs will soon exceed the acquisition cost of the vehicle.

To purge all the air from a rack, you need to first flush out all the existing fluid, then put in fresh fluid, turn the wheel full left until lock, then right multiple times, top off the fluid, start car and turn wheel left and right until all the air is purged. The pump will push all the fluid through the lines to the new reservoir venting out all the air. A bad reman rack or pump will never be quiet.

[cacrawley]

Great, thanks for the info. I am going to change the pump and remaining lines. If that doesn't work I will do the rack. Fingers crossed.

[cacrawley]

Still waiting on parts to arrive in the mail (second pump and high pressure lines) but in the mean time wondering if anyone can diagnose the problem from the following "new" information. With no power steering (and 165k miles) I thought it was a safe bet to change the power steering pump, reservoir and suction line. I did the recommended "turn to turn" system bleed with the wheels off the round around 20 times and system seemed fine, no excessive noise. A week later, took the car out of the garage to go get an inspection and still no power steering and excessive noise when turning. In total drove car 4 miles - when home, noticed the reservoir level had dropped a couple of inches but had also blown a bit out the hole in the cap. It was not overfilled before leaving. Does this provide a smoking gun for anyone?

[jclausen]

Just a note we had an e46 and some shop swapped the position of the banjo bolts on the oil filter housing so the black banjo bolt that has a relief valve on it was used to hold on the vanos oil hose and vis Versa, the relief valve banjo bolt was for the power steering, I can remember the symptoms of the problem, but thought I would mention it

[StephenVA]

Got to have flow to have a steering system work!