E30 Zone

i think i have a serious amount of play in my steering wheel it wobbles a good inch or 2 before turning the wheels, just seems very loose, where i drive a modern car and the steering is so tight and actually stays there rather than wobble from side to side like mine

any ideas? steering rack?

Steering rack must be the first port of call,are it's mounting bolts tight? Be worth looking at the steering shaft just above the rack,too,there is a rubber coupling there that breaks up over time.

have you done an e36 or z3 rack conversion. if not do this willst checking all the steering gear and fixing problems as you go.

although this presents the amedeat problem of pas lines that can be solved with jentall bending.

I would agree with Daimlerman mine had play in the 'guibo' the double universal joint just above the rack. The rubber and nylon bush were knackered but got the replacement parts from the cheltenham bmw guys for about £20 iirc
With engine off (cold as youll be near the exhaust!) get a mate/pal/bird/long arm to rock the steering, get you hand round anything you think is loose you should be able to find/feel which component has failed.
If you cant get someone to woble the steering give the steering components a wiggle and you should be able to feel the culpret.
Any questions just ask
Goodluck

never worked with steering so no idea what to look out for, may just take it to a garage to get it checked out..

see if i can have a look myself

right technical terms are not my forte so bear with me. had a quick look and found a good bit of wobble on a joint..

where the two arms join close to the bulkhead, where they connect there seems to be wobble?

is this a problem?

That'll be the rubber guibo - just under the exhaust manifold?

yea it would be pretty close to the exhaust manifold alright..

so the part is around 20 quid, easy to do? how long?

any ideas?

any ideas fellas?

Its not bad to do, you will have to remove the 'guibo' which means moving the rack slightly forward on one side (undo the 2 rack mounting bolts and remove the bolt on the side where the steering column goes, the bolts have nuts at the other end wich need holding with a spanner).
The guibo has 2x 13mm bolts and nuts each end which need to be removed to allow it to be slid off the shaft at each end.
Once off you then will drill the rivets which hold the metal to the rubber part (these are replaced by bolts from BM).The 2 metal parts will be pulled apart releasing the rubber bit, there is a shaft which fits into a plastic sleeve which is probably worn ie the shaft isn't a tight fit to the sleeve. This and the wanky rubber bit cause the steering slop.
Order the rubber bit, plastic sleeve, nuts bolts and washers from BMW and bash it all back together