E30 Zone

I find my power steering little hard to turn.
What can I do to make it as smooth and effortless even baby can turn it

My car is just new rebuilt, installed a new steering coupling to get rid of the slack as I was feeling like floating when at speed above Kms 60

some one said, I need a new steering pump?

Well, I would like to hear from the forumers?

cheers/haffeel

if anything i find it too light!

I find mine quite heavy too

Gonna change the fluid first as it looks a bit grim! If that don't cure it then I will live with it as it had a reconditioned rack 3 years ago.

There is a guide in the articles section that tells you how to change the fluid.

Bunch of wusses!

Some of us have manual steering and are planning to change to 2.5 turn racks in the not too distant future too!

I Like it as it is...... but i would like less turns lock to lock

Get down the gym

The steering on the E30's are a bit hard, but thatÔš's how they are supposed to be. the power assist only helps a little bit(parking, low speed manoeuvring etc.), it becomes quite light as you speed up.

My missus 316i had light power steering. When I changed the knackered leaky rack I stripped the old one and found that someone had done a mod.

There is a rectangular (ish) plate on the front of the rack held on by 2 bolts, it sits in front of the pinion from the steering column. Remove this plate and insert a thin washer behind it.

This applies more force to the pressure regulator spring resulting in a higher hydraulic pressure giving lighter steering.

It works because she complained that the new rack was heavier so I fitted this washer to the new rack and it became lighter again.

I can't find a pic of a rack but if someone has one post it up and I'll circle the relevant plate. Pretty certain it's the only plate on the rack.

Cheers,

Iain T

Hi Templ8e30,

I am sure many will thank you, if we can get this thing right. Please send a photo of the location of the Bush to be inserted.

TQ
cheers

I think mine is too light. Although I just had a friend drive it:

Friend: "The steering is..."
Me: "Yeah it's too light."
Friend: "No, it's too heavy."



Aston

you lazy cunt

I find my PAS quite heavy too, good for parking, but gets quite heavy when going along. Seems to get really stiff at the centre position and needs a bit of effort to move it off centre. Also get a creking when I turn the wheel to the right, most noticable when doing a tight turn at low speed. Any ideas what this might be?
I'm going to change the fluid and see if that helps.

recently i had a loud creaking noise (sounds like crickets) coming from directly behind my steering wheel, the steering felt heavy at times and hard to turn, i apply some grease to the bearing and it worked. its been 2 weeks and there isnt any noise so far and steering is smooth now.

haffeel wrote:I find my power steering little hard to turn.
What can I do to make it as smooth and effortless even baby can turn it

My car is just new rebuilt, installed a new steering coupling to get rid of the slack as I was feeling like floating when at speed above Kms 60

some one said, I need a new steering pump?

Well, I would like to hear from the forumers?

cheers/haffeel

Pump your tyres up to 100 PSI !!!!

stoney_god,

Pray tell me which brand tire I should use as well

Templ8e30
"I can't find a pic of a rack but if someone has one post it up and I'll circle the relevant plate. Pretty certain it's the only plate on the rack."


This is an old steel rack from an M20 so the 316/318 ali one is different.

Ok thanks for the picture.

I've highlighted the cover and reposted below.

Remove the cover and fit a standard thickness 10mm steel washer under the cover on top of the pressure relief plunger/spring. Job done.

The plate is in the same place on the alloy 4 cylinder racks too.



Cheers,

Iain T

Turbo-Brown wrote:Bunch of wusses!
Some of us have manual steering and are planning to change to 2.5 turn racks in the not too distant future too!

How is it? Did you just disconnect the pump, is it easy? I live in the country so don't do that much tight manouvering.
My girlfriend has a mk1 MR2 which just has the greatest (unassisted) steering feel which I'd like to replicate as much as possible.

It's fine as soon as you get moving. Literally half a mile an hour makes the steering bearably light.

My car never had PAS ('85 325i) so there aren't any connections on the rack for the pipes or anything.

The steering does have quite a nice weight to it when you do get moving, but also still has the arm twirling 4.75(ish) turns lock to lock!

hi Templ8e30 thanks, I will give a try with the washer. is it OK 1mm thickness washer?

Great JOB Templ8e30,

thank You,

haffeel

Yes 1 or 2mm thickness washer is perfect.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Iain T

I changed the steering fluid filter inside the big bottle container to check the level together with new steering fluid.

Now my steering is much easier.

I used DX III oil from FUCHS

Pump front tyres up to 32psi.
I disconnected the PAS pump on mine and it's not too heavy really. You want a bit of weight there so you can feel what's happening. Might as well drive a Corsa otherwise.

E30BeemerLad wrote:I find mine quite heavy too

Gonna change the fluid first as it looks a bit grim! If that don't cure it then I will live with it as it had a reconditioned rack 3 years ago.

There is a guide in the articles section that tells you how to change the fluid.

yours is heavy mate cos of the 17 inch wheels

my car has light steering when i have 15's on, then when i put my pina 16's on it adds a nice weight to the steering imo.

E30 racks don't like big wheels and it knackers them alot quicker than using 14's,15's or 16's tbh

Also don't knackered track rod ends or tie rod ends mess up stearing?

If your stearing is to heavy, pump your front tyres up an bit or get tyres with lower width i.e 50 as opposed to 55.

If its to light do the opposite!

A couple of years ago, while driving my wife's touring, I realised that it's steering seemed to be noticably heavier than mine.
Got it on the ramp and disconnected the track rod ends. Found the right hand strut was very stiff to turn.
Immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion that the top mount was seized. When I ureleased the outer ball joint on the control arm to remove the strut, it all suddenly freed up. Joint could hardly be moved by hand, although the rubber cap was intact, and under it was shiney and greased.

could you use another washer the same as the 1 thats allready in the rack so you could have 2

my pumps gone and its very heavy, gives your arms a nice workout though,

When doing this washer mod, does any fluid leak? I doubt it but just making sure!