'91 318is - steering rack pinion movement. Yoke adjustment?

[mike.bmw]

Hi all,

I've been trying to track down an issue with the steering in my '91 318is. I can hear and feel a clunk when turing the wheel between the 11:00 and 1:00 position. I can feel the steering bind (and clunk) a bit around the 9:00 and 3:00 position when the car is at speed. The clunk can be heard and felt with the car on or off. The binding and clunk at 9:00 and 3:00 is inconsistent, but only occurs at speed (making a sharp left or right turn, or an on/off ramp).

I was under the car again today and noticed that when someone turns the steering wheel between 11:00 and 1:00, I can see the pinion input shaft in the steering rack move in and out by a few mm (see diagram below). The movement occurs at the same time as the clunk that can be felt and heard.



After an hour of research, it appears that most steering racks have a "yoke adjustment". This will resolve any pinion input shaft movement. However, I don't see an adjuster on my steering rack. I only see what appears to be a block-off plate. See image below (2 small bolts hold a plate over the pinion area on the right side):



So... what gives? Do the e30 airbag cars have no yoke adjustment? Any advice? Should I replace the rack?

Thanks for any input!

[AndrewBird]

Not sure about the yoke adjustment, but I would check your u-joint and steering flex disk. The flex disk degrades over time and can cause issues. Could be the cause of your clunking.

[mike.bmw]

Not sure about the yoke adjustment, but I would check your u-joint and steering flex disk. The flex disk degrades over time and can cause issues. Could be the cause of your clunking.

Yeah, I had started a thread a few days ago about that as well:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=383430

Though I think the u-joint and steering guibo are fine at this point. The clunk seems to be coming from the pinion on the rack itself and transmitting through the rest of the steering.

[mike.bmw]

Perhaps a binding u-joint it pulling on the pinion input shaft?

[mike.bmw]

To complicate things even further, it was warmer today (80 dregrees) and the binding and clunk at 9:00 and 3:00 was almost completely gone. It only happened a few times after startup.

[mike.bmw]

To follow this up...

I replaced the u-joint assembly, the rack, and the tie rod ends. Problem solved!

The u-joint assembly looked fine until it was removed. Then it was very apparent it was garbage. The rack had a number of issues as well. The existing tie rods were in decent shape, but when you're already replacing everything else, why not?

The steering is awesome again! I think this concludes the front-end suspension refresh as the control arms and bushings have already been replaced. The springs and struts have been replaced. The rack, u-joint, and tie rod ends have been replaced. The alignment is spot on.