stearing "sticks" then hard to turn

[Eric]

I'm helping a friend do some basic maitnence on her daughters car. She has a 88 325ic and absolutely loves it, however the girl probably doesn't weigh 100lbs and can hardly turn the car. So I agreed to take a look at it, but I'm a bit stuck since I've never encountered this type of problem before.

when turning the wheel, usually to the left, at about 10 degrees the stearing sort of "hangs up" slightly. It's easy to turn through it, but you can definetly feel somthing catching, or rubbing at a certian point.

after this the steering wheel is very hard to turn at low speeds. It's almost harder to turn than my buddy's 325e that has no power stearing.

the car is hard to turn both to the left or the right at low speeds, but seams to be more difficult to turn to the left.


this girl doesn't have much money so I can't just tell her to buy a new stearing rack. Have any of you guys experienced this type of problem, or give me any ideas on where to start looking for probliems (i.e. rack, pump, lilnes)


I know on E36's that the power steering return lines are the week point on the car, what is the week point in the stearing system on the E30? (my E30 M3 never had any problems, so I never really poked around with it...)

thanks guys

[trent]

Re: stearing "sticks" then hard to turn

when turning the wheel, usually to the left, at about 10 degrees the stearing sort of "hangs up" slightly. It's easy to turn through it, but you can definetly feel somthing catching, or rubbing at a certian point.

Eric,

Hate to say it, sounds like the rack is binding. How does the fluid look? Dirty? Nasty? Metallic?

[Jordan]

It also sounds like the centrifical blades of the power steering pump might have worn out the outer wall and created a ridge which they catch on. The result is it catches, and the pump stops pumping.

Both would be worth looking into.

[grapedrink]

Put the front of the car up on stand and try moveing the rack in and out by the wheels. If it still hangs up then tell her to get a new rack.

Lucas

[Eric]

Put the front of the car up on stand and try moveing the rack in and out by the wheels. If it still hangs up then tell her to get a new rack.

Lucas

cool, thanks for the tip.

oh and the PS fluid was a milky red/pink colour :shock:

[Digitalwave]

Put the front of the car up on stand and try moveing the rack in and out by the wheels. If it still hangs up then tell her to get a new rack.

Lucas

cool, thanks for the tip.

oh and the PS fluid was a milky red/pink colour :shock:

Seems normal. PS fluid is red (some at least).

If she needs to buy a rack, I have a used one available for $100.

[grapedrink]

Pink/ Red is OK. That is what its suposed to look like.

[Eric]

power stearing fluid in my M3 was always red/clear, not milky looking

[UNHCLL]

milky = not enough in system so its getting "frothed" like a latte

[Eric]

milky = not enough in system so its getting "frothed" like a latte

so if there is not enought in the system, yet the resivour tank is full, I would assume something is wrong correct?

Is there a method to flush a power stearing system? damn I really need to get me a bently manual!

oh and how do you check the pump to see if its working properly?

[T.Dot E30]

Mine was making noises in the cold.

I did a flush yesterday,
I removed the return line and started the car to get all the old fluid out of the system, then i filled it up with ATF turned it back and forth and let it run for a while to bleed the system.

Now its smooth and doesn't make any noises, I was hoping it wasn't the pump.

[Jordan]

I did a flush yesterday,
I removed the return line and started the car to get all the old fluid out of the system, then i filled it up with ATF turned it back and forth and let it run for a while to bleed the system.

You realize there is a small female allen head plug in the bottom of the pump for this purpose right? ;)

[Dominick]

So it is possible for the rack to bind up?

I think thats what mine is doing. My boots are torn on the driver side and all my fluid leaked out long ago with the PO, so i just took the belt off the pump and been driving like that for months, now when making right hand turns, it makes a sort of ratcheting noise.

[Jason89i]

i had the exact same problem.....but with a rebuilt rack with less than 30k. it ended up being the steering linkage. there is a u-joint in the linkage that can bind up. disconnect the linkage from the rack before checking the rack for stickey spots. if the rack does not stick, check the ujoints.

[Dominick]

lol i just realized that its the tire rubbing on my fender well lining. its broken and hanging out of place until i fixed it today!