Lots of play @ dead center with Z3 rack

[akwon]

Anyone else experience this? I can be on the hwy and steer left to right slightly without the car moving. It's on a few degrees but I would think the car would be more responsive.

[LJ851]

Something is wrong.

[Madhatter]

do you know if it is in the rack or the rack ends/tie rods?

[rturbo 930]

Did you ever get this sorted? It sounds like the problem I have. It's not the rubber piece in the steering linkage either, the play seems to go all the way to the rack. I don't know how much play is normal, but I'm pretty sure it's less than this - maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem right to me. Tie rods are all new. I can make a video if need be.

This rack was out of a low miles (~65k) Z3, and I paid a pretty penny for it, so I'm going to be pretty pissed if there's something wrong with the rack.

[jeffnhiscars]

Check both joints in the control arms

[rturbo 930]

Will do. They're the same age as the tie rods, and the rest of the front suspension. Probably shouldn't have said new since they have ~15k on them by now, but they shouldn't be worn by now. Maybe I got a bad set? I'm gonna look under the car while someone moves the wheel and see if I can find where the play is. Worth mentioning - I do have a vibration at highway speeds. Not sure what it is, I've suspected anything from the driveshaft to wheels and tires (wheels and tires were balanced a few years ago, still vibrates). Tires are old, could be that.

[jeffnhiscars]

Tires do need to be rebalanced and you may even have thrown a weight. As for the life expectancy of steering parts it's hard to know where most of them are made these days. The Lemforder control arms I have sitting here in the bag are made in Slovenia but then I've enever heard of them failing prematurely.

[rturbo 930]

The Lemforder control arms I have sitting here in the bag are made in Slovenia but then I've never heard of them failing prematurely.

That's what I have.

I moved the car onto blocks so I can see under it, and it doesn't seem to have the amount of play that it did before (very very little). Previously, I compared it to two other cars, '86 Jetta and '00 A4, and my E30 seemed to have the tiniest bit of extra play compared to both. I'm probably expecting too much, and there's actually nothing wrong with it. I'll keep an eye on it, I guess.

Appreciate the input, regardless.

[JGood]

I had an e36 rack in my e30 at one point that exhibited the same symptoms. Took it apart after replacing it and found considerable wear on the pinion gear, the teeth were gouged.

It's hard to beat the price and warranty of a rackdoctor.com rebuilt steering rack.

[Todd Black 88]

I had that issue in my e30 m tech II cab when I bought it years ago. I swapped in a z3 rack and all was fine.

I think your issue is with the rack.

[rturbo 930]

At this point, I'm not convinced there's anything wrong with the rack. I think I may have been fooled by the fact that the steering is pretty light on center, and then gets fairly stiff when turning. I don't know if that's normal or not for a Z3 rack. I've never driven a sorted E30, and mine is a far cry from being sorted, so I don't really have a reference point for what is normal and how it should drive. I can only compare it to my bone stock '86 Jetta and '00 A4, where as my E30 is lowered with more caster, etc. I also noticed that the steering was really light with stock rack + ride height, and stiffened up when lowered.

[Northern]

check the u-joints and guibo in the steering linkage?

[rturbo 930]

check the u-joints and guibo in the steering linkage?

I did. Doesn't seem to be the issue.

As said earlier, I'm not convinced there's anything wrong with my rack at all. I think I have a power steering issue, or it's actually all working fine and it just isn't what I expected. Honestly, I think it's actually heavier off center than the manual rack in my 240Z, which doesn't steer hard. I had heard that the Z3 rack was heavier, but this isn't what I was expecting. I wonder how much the 9 degrees of caster my E30 has is affecting this since that's about 3 times what the Z has. Also maybe worth mentioning, when I lowered my E30 the steering went from being incredibly light, to fairly heavy. Same rack. Same CABs (M3).

[2mAn]

Updates?

[rturbo 930]

Updates?

On my situation? My last post is pretty much my conclusion, ie, the rack is likely fine but not at all what I expected. Only thing I can think of now is changing the PS fluid. It's Dexron 6, and I heard someone say not to use that one, but they could be just BSing. Anways, it's winter. Car doesn't move 'til spring.