Moaning while turning

[E30godz]

Whenever I'm turning I hear this terrible groaning/moaning sound...its much worse at low speeds. Plenty of fluid in the p/s system.. Thoughts?

btw this is for the e36 (93 325i) but as the power steering systems, as far as i know, haven't changed that much - I think it shouldn't be out of everyone's league ; ).

Thanks -

[euroshark]

Power steering filter in the reservoir. They clog and get super hard over time, and let almost no fluid through. Fish it out carefully and replace it... or not. The old cars didn't come with them (Old 5s, 6s, etc) and you never hear of pump failures, so they seem fairly redundant.

[smonkbmw]

Power steering filter in the reservoir.

odd on realoem there is no listing for a filter in the ps pump. im having the same issue with my 89 325.

[Low Level E30]

im having the same issue with my 89 325.

Ditto!

[Apex381]

There might be plenty of power steering fluid, but if its 20 years old its going to be black sludge and it wont flow at all. My car started to make this sound so I bled all of the power steering fluid and put in new stuff. Now no more groaning.

[RobertK]

On E30 and E36 cars you have to replace the entire PS reservoir because the filter is built into them.

[rcko]

ditto on RobertK. The filter is in the reservoir. Get a new reservoir or at a minimum flush the pwr steering fluid with some fresh stuff.