E30 Zone

So for a few months now I've been having a mare with my PAS pipework - well one particular pipe which I thought I needed. The PAS pump on my M52 has 2 ports, one which accepts a 16mm banjo and the other which accepts a push on pipe. On the rack I have 2 ports also, one 14mm banjo and one 16mm banjo. I've purchased several different pipes and reservoirs over the past 3 months!!! The pipe from the 16mm banjo fitting on the rack to the reservoir was fairly straight forward, but then I assumed because the pipe from the 14mm banjo fitting on the rack was high pressure it should go to the 16mm banjo fitting on the pump - surely not the push on pipe on the pump!!!! So I promptly got Pirtek to make me up a pipe with a 14mm banjo on one end and 16mm banjo on the other, and got a piece of pipe to go from the reservoir to the pump.

Hope that's clear!!!!

Started the car yesterday and the pump makes a right racket!!

My mate reckons the pump is being starved of fluid. I'm beginning to think I have the 2 pipes the wrong way round on the pump, but surely the high-pressure hose from the rack doesn't just go onto a push fit connection with a jubilee clip???

You have a kinked hose in the picture

Yeah I know, and I'll sort that if they are the right way round. Fluid is still getting through.

But is enough getting through to stop the pump cavitating?

Yes, the pump is cavitating, as can be seen in the reservoir.

OK, I'll take a look to see how I can remove that kink in the morning and see if it makes a difference.

Do you think the pipes are the right way round then?

That banjo'd pipe on the pump goes to the top banjo on the rack, bottom banjo on the rack goes to the reservoir then from the reservoir goes down to the jubilee clip on the pump.

Not sure but the pipes may be the wrong way round on the reservoir?

leeparkes wrote:That banjo'd pipe on the pump goes to the top banjo on the rack, bottom banjo on the rack goes to the reservoir then from the reservoir goes down to the jubilee clip on the pump.

Not sure but the pipes may be the wrong way round on the reservoir?

Ok, so my thinking about the high pressure pipe was right - phew.

I see where you're coming from with the pipes being the wrong way round on the reservoir, although I would have thought that wouldn't matter - but it's something to consider which I hadn't thought about.

I've also just been reading that perhaps I should have used ATF rather than power steering fluid? I have some Mercedes AFT that I might use, after flushing out the fresh power steering fluid I put in yesterday.

'Power steering fluid' is ATF, use Dexron 3 and you wont go wrong.

As your HP line is all hose you will have to be extra careful it is not touching any edges as it will rub through after a while due to the extra movement you get with a hose

I make these up for E36/E46 rack conversions








Your pump might be saveable if it is just being starved of fluid, but its quite popular that they dont have the fluid changed ever and are sha66ed anyway, I would get that broken pulley changed before it throws the belt off too

Well you learn something new everyday. Put a set of molegrips on the kinked line as a temporary measure to straighten it out and now working like a charm. Will work on a more permanent solution later.

Thanks as always to everyone for helping. Sometimes you dismiss the obvious solutions

Why is the feed hose kinked so much? Its usually a nice bend to the PAS reservoir if mounted in the correct place on the engine arm

Not sure. It is mounted on the engine arm correctly, but I suspect that the pipe is too long.

p.s. yes, I do now wish I'd have just bought your pipes in the first place!!!!!