Heavy / Sticky steering

[RayM]

Hi Guys, some help & advice please

My old Dolly's steering is on occasion and most recently yesterday in the warm weather, starting to feel a bit odd. Heavy or sticky, and on searching the forum last night it appears to be a common fault on the old models like mine.

Its not as bad as some people have described but for sure it will only get worse if unattended, although I have read that some days it will not be evident at all ?

I have trawled through the posts are there appears to be a number of easier fixes that may or may not do the trick.

Where is the best / easiest place to start that I can do myself before having to get someone to look at it for me?

I'm not a great mechanic but will have a go if it looks doable

Cheers.

[touring_style]

Hi Guys, some help & advice please

My old Dolly's steering is on occasion and most recently yesterday in the warm weather, starting to feel a bit odd. Heavy or sticky, and on searching the forum last night it appears to be a common fault on the old models like mine.

Its not as bad as some people have described but for sure it will only get worse if unattended, although I have read that some days it will not be evident at all ?

I have trawled through the posts are there appears to be a number of easier fixes that may or may not do the trick.

Where is the best / easiest place to start that I can do myself before having to get someone to look at it for me?

I'm not a great mechanic but will have a go if it looks doable

Cheers.

I had this issue with mine. I did the same as you and found numerous threads about the issue online.

It was a quick and straight forward fix though.

I followed the suggestion of drilling into the area where two sections of the steering column assembly meet to create an access hole. I sprayed in a liberal amount of the Wurth HHS 2000 spray that another forum member's mechanic recommended to him.

I did this about 6 weeks a go and have gone from it occurring regularly to not at all - I've done everything to try to make it come back but it hasn't!



Job took 45 mins tops. If the symptoms do come back I'll apply more of the lubricant. I can report the Wurth product has had no affect on the "feel" of the steering under normal conditions at all.

Obviously this is just my own experience but if the alternative is replacing the entire steering column I'd say it's worth you giving it a go.

[Worcester_spoon]

[RayM]

Hi Guys, some help & advice please

My old Dolly's steering is on occasion and most recently yesterday in the warm weather, starting to feel a bit odd. Heavy or sticky, and on searching the forum last night it appears to be a common fault on the old models like mine.

Its not as bad as some people have described but for sure it will only get worse if unattended, although I have read that some days it will not be evident at all ?

I have trawled through the posts are there appears to be a number of easier fixes that may or may not do the trick.

Where is the best / easiest place to start that I can do myself before having to get someone to look at it for me?

I'm not a great mechanic but will have a go if it looks doable

Cheers.

I had this issue with mine. I did the same as you and found numerous threads about the issue online.

It was a quick and straight forward fix though.

I followed the suggestion of drilling into the area where two sections of the steering column assembly meet to create an access hole. I sprayed in a liberal amount of the Wurth HHS 2000 spray that another forum member's mechanic recommended to him.

I did this about 6 weeks a go and have gone from it occurring regularly to not at all - I've done everything to try to make it come back but it hasn't!



Job took 45 mins tops. If the symptoms do come back I'll apply more of the lubricant. I can report the Wurth product has had no affect on the "feel" of the steering under normal conditions at all.

Obviously this is just my own experience but if the alternative is replacing the entire steering column I'd say it's worth you giving it a go.

Thanks Buddy

Do you have any pictures or description as to the point you are referring to please? Is it easily accessible from under the bonnet or from under the car?

Cheers

[touring_style]

Here are some links to forum pages that I gleaned information from;

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt ... ering-Fix/
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50994&start=90
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 411724&i=0

I was quite thorough reading up on it to find out which lubricant would be best for the job.

In the end I went for the Wurth HHS 2000. It was only £10.00 of eBay for a decent sized can.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252042958515

TBH I can't remember the reason that product was my final choice (I made a short list of 5 or 6) but at the time I thought it was the best overall option.

Ultimately there's a large plastic cog and worm wheel that you need to get lubricant to. When they get warm they expand and cause the notchy feeling through the steering wheel. The lubricant relieves this.

The casing that holds the large cog is soft metal and easy to drill into to enable a lubricant to be inserted and drench the cog - thus eliminating the friction with the worm wheel.

Some guys mounted a threaded grease nipple onto the steering column to pump in grease, but I opted to do what others had done and drill a hole (which is just left open) and spray a decent amount of lubricant in. The hole sits above when the lubricating oil drips down to so nothing leaks out of the hole.

I did cut the plastic pipe that the lubricant exits the can from at 45 degrees at the end that buts up against the hole you've drilled to enable the lubricant to be fired into the hole a bit better - it was a bit messy spraying the stuff into the casing with drips going everywhere so cover your floor mat!

The photos in those threads will give you a better idea of where to drill than I can explain here.

Spend an hour or so reading up on it and looking under your dash and it'll soon become clear - I'm a bit fik and I managed it!

With a sharp drill bit its a straight forward job. The issue went away for me immediately so I can only assume it was successful and I've had no issues at all as a result of using the Wurth product.

Sorry the above is all a bit long winded!

Good luck.

[RayM]

Here are some links to forum pages that I gleaned information from;

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt ... ering-Fix/
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50994&start=90
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 411724&i=0

I was quite thorough reading up on it to find out which lubricant would be best for the job.

In the end I went for the Wurth HHS 2000. It was only £10.00 of eBay for a decent sized can.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252042958515

TBH I can't remember the reason that product was my final choice (I made a short list of 5 or 6) but at the time I thought it was the best overall option.

Ultimately there's a large plastic cog and worm wheel that you need to get lubricant to. When they get warm they expand and cause the notchy feeling through the steering wheel. The lubricant relieves this.

The casing that holds the large cog is soft metal and easy to drill into to enable a lubricant to be inserted and drench the cog - thus eliminating the friction with the worm wheel.

Some guys mounted a threaded grease nipple onto the steering column to pump in grease, but I opted to do what others had done and drill a hole (which is just left open) and spray a decent amount of lubricant in. The hole sits above when the lubricating oil drips down to so nothing leaks out of the hole.

I did cut the plastic pipe that the lubricant exits the can from at 45 degrees at the end that buts up against the hole you've drilled to enable the lubricant to be fired into the hole a bit better - it was a bit messy spraying the stuff into the casing with drips going everywhere so cover your floor mat!

The photos in those threads will give you a better idea of where to drill than I can explain here.

Spend an hour or so reading up on it and looking under your dash and it'll soon become clear - I'm a bit fik and I managed it!

With a sharp drill bit its a straight forward job. The issue went away for me immediately so I can only assume it was successful and I've had no issues at all as a result of using the Wurth product.

Sorry the above is all a bit long winded!

Good luck.

Thanks very much for that great write up. I will have a good read through as you have suggested and give it a go.

Thanks again

[Mike6]

I had similar issues yesterday driving along the M25 in hot weather. Steering felt fine first off but then became very stiff to turn steering wheel in either direction, almost like power steering was not operating but pulled back to straight position with no effort at all. When I exited the motorway and drove much slower everything felt fine. Is this the same issue t

[touring_style]

I had similar issues yesterday driving along the M25 in hot weather. Steering felt fine first off but then became very stiff to turn steering wheel in either direction, almost like power steering was not operating but pulled back to straight position with no effort at all. When I exited the motorway and drove much slower everything felt fine. Is this the same issue t

It does sound similar.

Was it difficult to make fine adjustments to the steering?

I found I was zig zagging down the road trying to follow the road cos I had to put in bigger changes to the steering than I wanted!

It was only when the car had been running for a while and the heater was blasting hot air under the dash.

[Mike6]

The steering felt very heavy requiring a lot of effort to turn the steering wheel and of course I kept turning it too much so I felt like I was wandering around. As its an easy job I will give it a go. But it must be the same issue as it only happened on a hot day driving at higher speed.

[touring_style]

The steering felt very heavy requiring a lot of effort to turn the steering wheel and of course I kept turning it too much so I felt like I was wandering around. As its an easy job I will give it a go. But it must be the same issue as it only happened on a hot day driving at higher speed.

Okay - that is different to the experience I had.

I had to turn the wheel with only a little more force until it would move across to what felt like the next "notch".

It was very noticeable that it was notchy though and not quite right.

Maybe yours is the same issue but your symptoms are more obvious - perhaps yours is expanding even more making it tighter to turn.

For the sake of the cost of a can of lubricant and an hour's effort it's got to be worth trying the fix so many others have done like me.

Equally some do opt to replace the whole steering column for a later improved one - but that's a lot of money even when buying a second hand column.

[spic]

Had a very similar issue when my car was hot either from the weather or the heaters, the steering would feel very stiff and notchy, and wouldn't even centralise on its own without me moving it there, So I drilled the column at the top and bottom, heavily filled it with a spray lubricant which starts as runny as oil but then thickens slightly but not as much as some greases, I then worked it in by continuing to turn the wheel lock to lock then releasing that lubricant from the bottom hole I then refilled the column but with a much smaller amount of spray lubricant , plugged the holes and touch wood it's been 90% better ever since, if I'm honest I say 90% because it still gets very very slightly stiff but not really noticeable but the notchyness has totally gone and it now centralise's fine on its own now, it's worth ago after all what have you really got to lose? Couple of pics
Top


Bottom

[touring_style]

spic - thanks for the photos.

What was the lubricant that you used and what did you use to plug the holes?

I did mine a few weeks a go now and it's cured the problem for me too but I only drilled from below. I expect I may have to re-lubricate it at some point in the future. I don't fully recall what it was like under the dash but I do remember it was all quite crammed in there - how did you manage to drill from the top as well? Was access okay or did you have to drop the column down to enable getting the drill in?

[RayM]

Here are some links to forum pages that I gleaned information from;

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt ... ering-Fix/
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50994&start=90
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 411724&i=0

I was quite thorough reading up on it to find out which lubricant would be best for the job.

In the end I went for the Wurth HHS 2000. It was only £10.00 of eBay for a decent sized can.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252042958515

TBH I can't remember the reason that product was my final choice (I made a short list of 5 or 6) but at the time I thought it was the best overall option.

Ultimately there's a large plastic cog and worm wheel that you need to get lubricant to. When they get warm they expand and cause the notchy feeling through the steering wheel. The lubricant relieves this.

The casing that holds the large cog is soft metal and easy to drill into to enable a lubricant to be inserted and drench the cog - thus eliminating the friction with the worm wheel.

Some guys mounted a threaded grease nipple onto the steering column to pump in grease, but I opted to do what others had done and drill a hole (which is just left open) and spray a decent amount of lubricant in. The hole sits above when the lubricating oil drips down to so nothing leaks out of the hole.

I did cut the plastic pipe that the lubricant exits the can from at 45 degrees at the end that buts up against the hole you've drilled to enable the lubricant to be fired into the hole a bit better - it was a bit messy spraying the stuff into the casing with drips going everywhere so cover your floor mat!

The photos in those threads will give you a better idea of where to drill than I can explain here.

Spend an hour or so reading up on it and looking under your dash and it'll soon become clear - I'm a bit fik and I managed it!

With a sharp drill bit its a straight forward job. The issue went away for me immediately so I can only assume it was successful and I've had no issues at all as a result of using the Wurth product.

Sorry the above is all a bit long winded!

Good luck.

Thanks very much for that great write up. I will have a good read through as you have suggested and give it a go.

Thanks again

I'm just about to have a go at this and had a good look under the dash. Is the panel that needs removing to gain access the one where the pedal arms pass through and the same one that the footwell light is mounted on? It appears to be held in place by 3 screws.

Cheers

[touring_style]

I've just had a quick look - you're right, it is the black flexible plastic cover that the foot well light is mounted onto that you have to remove.

Good luck!

[RayM]

I've just had a quick look - you're right, it is the black flexible plastic cover that the foot well light is mounted onto that you have to remove.

Good luck!

Thank you. I was going to do it today but it's so hot ( not complaining ) I will leave till it's a bit cooler