Noise From Power Steering
Somewhat loud buzzing noise on turning the wheels to the right. The noise can only be duplicated while driving the car. It will not be heard while the car is standing still. Must be driving – moving. The noise will sound like a die grinder buzz. Check the power steering lines to see if they are too close to the body / frame rail. When driving, the motor will flex enough that the lines may contact the body, transferring the power steering pump noise into the body of the vehicle. Miguel’s car. He had recently replaced the power steering lines.
E65, Power Steering Intermittently Stiff
An intermittent loss of power steering can be caused by a Servotronic issue, but also by a sticking pressure relief valve in the power steering pump. To test: You can run the engine up to redline and let off, see if the steering gets stiff. Fix: Replace the pump.
Popping Noise When Turning Steering Wheel
E60, when turning the steering wheel, there is a popping sound coming from the steering somewhere. Joe worked on it and found that the noise was coming from inside the car from the lower column slip joint. A little HHS2000 and it was fixed.
E46, Steering Wheel Binds, Sharp Turns
The problem happens when your driving in a parking lot condition. Drive 5mph about 10 feet and come to a complete stop. Turn steering wheel to the right until it locks (can't go any farther). Now drive slowly another 5 feet and the steering wheel will turn another 4 inches and lock. Now, turning the steering wheel to the left, it will bind and then suddenly release.
The fix, according to PUMA: Jason, please order this part no. 32 10 6 777 239 - stroke limitation retrofit set. Repair kit: Instructions for fitting 2 end collars / shims to the steering gear. Important: BMW's safety notes/warnings must be observed. Operations (valid for left and right-hand side of the steering gear, see illustration in Enclosure):
- Remove hose clip on the side of the housing and pull gaiter far enough back so that track rod can be unscrewed.
- Unscrew track rod.
- Fit end collar centrically on track rod as described in the enclosure. Ensure correct orientation of end collar.
- Fit track rod, gaiter and hose clip in accordance with BMW specifications. Repeat the same procedure for the other side.
- Realign the tracking.
See the below picture for the correct orientation of the collars.
E65, Steering Wheel Binds, Sharp Turns
The problem is exactly like the above E46 issue and the fix is the same. Only the part #'s are different.
Part no. 32 10 6 773 761 - stroke limitation retrofit set.
E65 Steering Wheel Shakes, Intermittently
Driving around town at about 35-40mph, the steering wheel, when lightly turned back and forth a few inches, you can feel what feels like a binding in the wheel. Kinda like – thunk, smooth, thunk, smooth, thunk, smooth. At highway speeds, it will do the same thing at approximately 55-60mph, and will intermittently shake the wheel. First impression is wheel balance. The vehicle in question was looked at several times both here and at another dealer across the span of two years. 3 sets of tires were installed and numerous times the tires were balanced. Tire and wheel combinations were swapped from another vehicle for testing, and the customer was still unhappy. He was very sure that the problem was not tire / wheel related. I originally took the vehicle home for testing and found the thunk, smooth, thunk, smooth issue. However, I could not get the steering wheel to shake at any speed. Since this was the customers complaint, and a couple of other road tests were performed while the vehicle was here, I let it go. The customer then came down to the dealer a couple of days later and I went for a road test with him. We headed for the freeway and at 55-60mph the steering wheel began to shake. So… I swapped wheels and tires from another 7 series with the exact same tires. Issue still there. I puma cased it and they said to check pump pressure. It was at 68bar and needed to be at 127-135bar. I replaced the pump. Issue still there. The steering rack was very noisy on the left side when moving the left front wheel back and forth, but silent on the right side. Furthermore, it you just shaked the steering wheel back and forth with the engine off, wheels on the ground, the rack was very noisy, clunky, compared to two other vehicles. Puma finally agreed to replace the rack. I did so, and the issue was still there. I went back to the tires and wheels. I road force variationed them – RF = 43lbs, LF = 18lbs. I then decided to check the 7 series we did the swap with. Believe it or not, they had the same readings!!. Ok, so I took the two 18’s and performed wheel and tire matching. This brought one of them down to 9lbs while the other stayed at 18lbs. Tire tread depth was not an issue as both tires were very close. Road testing after this produced a vehicle that was very smooth. Fixed.
E39 Steering Column Goes Up Too High
E39 vehicles and I think others as well. When the steering column is up all the way and then is moved out toward the driver, it actually hits the dash under the cluster and causes all sorts of noises. There used to be an SRT describing the issue, and the fix – which was too install a thick hard rubber pad onto the column to prevent it from going too high. The information is no longer available. If you look closely in at the column, you will see the black upper framing. There is an elongated hole in this frame piece, creating a sort of handle. Cut a short piece of thick heater hose and then slice it down the middle. Slide it onto the framing piece around the ‘handle’ and verify the problem is gone.
E90 Steering Notchy
Turning the steering wheel and you feel a notchy feel every half a turn or so. Grabbing the lower shaft in the engine compartment and moving it, you feel a lot of play at the upper end by the firewall. If the upper u-joint bolt is tight, replace the column.
E60 Popping Noise From Underneath
When turning the steering wheel from side to side, there was a very loud popping noise coming from underneath. Turns out the left side lower control arm had been replaced and the bolt tightened without the vehicle on the ground / alignment rack. This had put too much torque on the rubber mount and was causing the noise. Loosening and then tightening the bolt while the vehicle was on the alignment rack fixed it.
Steering Noise
There was a noise coming from the steering rack that sounded just like the noise a squeaky firewall seal for the steering column would make, and/or the airbag slip ring would make. Replace the rack. Aaron worked on it. Also, the latest before replacing the steering rack is to follow SIB 32-07-08, adding Lubrizol (Part# 83 29 0 447 661) to the power steering fluid.
E90 Steering Lock Icon in Cluster
As a point of reference, if the icon is yellow, the CAS needs to be squirted. If the icon is red, the steering column needs to be replaced. There is an SIB that talks about a software update, but it only applies to real early vehicles. If your vehicle was produced in '06 -'07, and you've got the yellow icon, squirting the CAS may very well fix it.