2004 Z4 sticky steering

[Phil.Taylor]

hi
new here and i'm guessing this subject has been covered, but i am at the and of my tether.
Vehicle is 2004 Z4 3.0i, owned from new, 16000 miles, due to illness this car has been garaged for 13 years,
in April this year i decided to put it back on the road, had every fluid changed, thoroughly checked and MOT'd,
but the car has the sticky steering, more of an issue on motorways as the car seems to get stuck in a straight line, was told a ring on the motor needed to be adjusted, this was done 3x at a cost of £65 (no change), the car was then booked in to have a reconditioned steering column fitted (no change), cost £700, now told needs 4 wheel alignment. The steering is fine when stood on tick over, but as soon as its driven off you can feel it stiffen up (no self centering). No warning lights or fault codes have ever shown up. I'm not to convinced the issue is directly with the column as the steering wheel feels fine when parked, it seems to me to be an electrical issue. If it gets the car sorted i don't mind travelling to where ever i have to go. It really is horrible to drive like this, i might add that when it was garaged it had no issues what so ever and the car was run for 30 mins on private land every couple of months.
Not worked since 2012 due to illness so BMW repair costs are out of the question.
I hope i can get this eventually sorted.
Thanks.

 

[NS66]

Sticky steering generally comes on when the cars been baked in hot sunlight - mine did but all ok now after the ring mod.
Perhaps its UJ's or the rack needs greasing - particularly if its been stood such a long time?

 

[bigwinn]

Where are you based Phil

 

[Zedebee]

Welcome to the forum Phil, and sorry to hear your woes. Use the Search function to look for sticky steering. The subject has been covered in detail. Also post up where you are, as there may be a local member who is able help you.

 

[Phil.Taylor]

hi
i am in Greater Manchester, Royton, OL2, the sticky steering is there from cold, but like i have mentioned, on tick over with the car in neutral not moving, the steering is free and self centers as it should, it stiffens up as soon as i start to drive.

 

[Phil.Taylor]

hi
i am in Greater Manchester, Royton, OL2, the sticky steering is there from cold, but like i have mentioned, on tick over with the car in neutral not moving, the steering is free and self centers as it should, it stiffens up as soon as i start to drive.

 

[bigwinn]

Phil you’ve spent a fortune on the car replacing all the usual suspects so I wouldn’t advise you to do anything else

If you are venturing down Lincoln way I’d happily give the car the once over to see if there is anything that’s been missed?

 

[Phil.Taylor]

hi bigwinn
thank you
if it helps to find the solution i am more than happy to bring the car down to you

 

[raymond.harper]

It could be a problem with the pre-load on the rack itself.

 

[bigwinn]

hi bigwinn
thank you
if it helps to find the solution i am more than happy to bring the car down to you

I’ll pm you

 

[IRD]

hi bigwinn
thank you
if it helps to find the solution i am more than happy to bring the car down to you

I can vouch for the quality of Stuart’s work. He has helped me on numerous occasions with the Zs I have owned. He is extremely knowledgeable and a nice guy too. I’m not on commission, honestly.

 

[Phil.Taylor]

cheers
i will be glad of any help even if its just info shared

 

[bigwinn]

hi bigwinn
thank you
if it helps to find the solution i am more than happy to bring the car down to you

I can vouch for the quality of Stuart’s work. He has helped me on numerous occasions with the Zs I have owned. He is extremely knowledgeable and a nice guy too. I’m not on commission, honestly.

Ian

No commission but cheque is in the post

 

[Phil.Taylor]

UPDATE
so i had 4 wheel computer alignment done £120 ... wow! and 3 further adjustments to the tension ring on the steering motor, in total that makes 30mm of adjustment (if the adjustments were 5mm each time) from factory settings on the recon column. Thankfully there is now improvement, i wud say 90-95% there, maybe i will go back and test 1 ot 2 more adjustments. Almost £900 so far spent on the steering, but at least the column has a 2 year warranty. You live and learn, problem is, im 62yo and it seems i have been learning all my adult life where motor mechanic specialist are concerned, trying to lol.

 

[bigwinn]

Glad to hear it’s improved Phil

That’s a hell of a lot of adjustment BTW- the most I’ve ever done would be around 10mm total and it was at the end of its travel. So maybe it was very off from reinstallation

Fingers crossed it’s sorted it

 

[enuff_zed]

Glad to hear it’s improved Phil

That’s a hell of a lot of adjustment BTW- the most I’ve ever done would be around 10mm total and it was at the end of its travel. So maybe it was very off from reinstallation

Fingers crossed it’s sorted it

I wonder if the ring was fitted 180 degrees out? One side of it is much thicker than the other, measuring from the centre outwards.
I can think of no other way that it would need that much adjustment, or indeed be able to move that far.

 

[Phil.Taylor]

He did say there was plenty of travel left, so maybe done wrong when recond, weird thing is, when he fitted and adjusted it 2 weeks ago, and i told him it's still not right, he said you can't adjust it too much and was not for doing it anymore, so i was surprised yesterday when he said it just needs adjusting more!? I just need to sort out my 2nd key now, when i had MOT/service 1st April' at a local independent BMW specialist, they had the car 2 days, on the 2nd day they rang me to ask if i had another key, the one they had wouldn't start the car, but i drove it to the garage and it was ok day 1 with that key, they couldn't fix the issue. I have looked into it and bought myself a AK90+ and indeed it doesn't recognize the key. I've not got round to getting the module out of the car yet so i don't know if it can be reprogrammed to work again.

 

[mac27040]

besides adjusting the ring, unlock the adjustable steering column lever underneath and pull the steering wheel towards you, turn it full lock left and right a few times then put it back in a slightly different position and lock the columns.