EPS failing in specific circumstances

I'll have a check of that, hopefully today or tomorrow. Is this reachable without detaching the column from the car?

I've been in contact with both of them already regarding a rebuild, and the prices are bearable... an awful lot less than £2k plus for a new one, and not much different to the price of a second hand part, which would be another unknown.

As far as I'm aware, the battery is only 2 years old, but I'll get a multimeter on it to see. Around 12.5v with the engine off is correct, I seem to remember?

The only reason I havent really considered power issues is its not an intermittent issue, it will always happen when turning left, and never when turning right, which is leading me to think there's an internal connection possibly damaged.
 
Not sure why my previous post appears three times.😂 maybe something to do with me being in a poor signal area.

As others have said and you, it's probably a bad connection. What mileage/ year is yours on? My advice probably only really applies if you manage to rule these out. However that said the wiring plug on the rack and the battety connections may only disconnect when the car is moved in a certain direction so still worth a check as a cost free measure. If i remeber correctly the ecu plug csn be reached with out to much hassle. intermittent faults can be a nightmare to accurately diagnose. I would try using inpa etc to monitor the rack and turn it incredibly slowly as it may fault in one tiny spot (maybe a couple of mm) and see if you can replicate it over and over. This would rule out the inertia of the car causing a disconnect and confirm it's in the rack itself. Easy to say but not do easy to do unfortunately.
 
MACK said:
Not sure why my previous post appears three times.😂 maybe something to do with me being in a poor signal area.

As others have said and you, it's probably a bad connection. What mileage/ year is yours on? My advice probably only really applies if you manage to rule these out. However that said the wiring plug on the rack and the battety connections may only disconnect when the car is moved in a certain direction so still worth a check as a cost free measure. If i remeber correctly the ecu plug csn be reached with out to much hassle. intermittent faults can be a nightmare to accurately diagnose. I would try using inpa etc to monitor the rack and turn it incredibly slowly as it may fault in one tiny spot (maybe a couple of mm) and see if you can replicate it over and over. This would rule out the inertia of the car causing a disconnect and confirm it's in the rack itself. Easy to say but not do easy to do unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Aha, I have managed to get it to replicate when the car is stationary so movement of a connection is unlikely? Also, if I turn the wheel to the left and restart the engine, it can cut out the EPS when returning to centre as well, it just doesn't cut out anywhere on the right side of centre.

The cars done 104k miles so I'm not shocked, I figure a rebuild would at least give me peace of mind, I know BBA offer a lifetime warranty on their rebuilds which is reassuring.

Edit: In fact, the column has been replaced with a second hand unit previously, to resolve a different EPS issue. INPA reads the build date of the column to be 5/03 so a very early model. In this case, I'm thinking the rebuild is just the simpler, safer option as it means I know everything is good.
 
If it is the column then yes rebuild will probably work out better! But if it's something else then you'll be looking at extra money, I'd say you need to find out exactly what the issue is first. Even tho I agree it is pointing to the column and nothing else. Especially if it's that random.
 
Indeed, I'll check plugs etc but aside from that I can't see what else would be causing it. Initially I thought it might be a dry rack that needs some grease, but there isn't any surges in torque when monitoring it failing, it just seems to cut off.

Speaking of which, anyone able to advise me on pulling logs from INPA?
 
raymond.harper said:
Last time I checked with BMW the upper power steering column was £2500 plus vat and only an 8 week waiting list !
Click to expand...

Oh, is that all? Bargain!


:rofl:
I'll stick with the ~£300 rebuild and 3 day turnaround I think :roll:
 
mjennings23 said:
raymond.harper said:
Last time I checked with BMW the upper power steering column was £2500 plus vat and only an 8 week waiting list !
Click to expand...

Oh, is that all? Bargain!


:rofl:
I'll stick with the ~£300 rebuild and 3 day turnaround I think :roll:
Click to expand...
I just hope they will be able to fix it £300! Do not be at all surprised if the bill goes up by a factor of 3. Mine was going to cost £1250.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/BMW_Z4M/103-INTERIOR-Steering_Column_Replacement/103-INTERIOR-Steering_Column_Replacement.htm good luck witht the replacement
 
mjennings23 said:
MACK said:
Not sure why my previous post appears three times.😂 maybe something to do with me being in a poor signal area.

As others have said and you, it's probably a bad connection. What mileage/ year is yours on? My advice probably only really applies if you manage to rule these out. However that said the wiring plug on the rack and the battety connections may only disconnect when the car is moved in a certain direction so still worth a check as a cost free measure. If i remeber correctly the ecu plug csn be reached with out to much hassle. intermittent faults can be a nightmare to accurately diagnose. I would try using inpa etc to monitor the rack and turn it incredibly slowly as it may fault in one tiny spot (maybe a couple of mm) and see if you can replicate it over and over. This would rule out the inertia of the car causing a disconnect and confirm it's in the rack itself. Easy to say but not do easy to do unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Aha, I have managed to get it to replicate when the car is stationary so movement of a connection is unlikely? Also, if I turn the wheel to the left and restart the engine, it can cut out the EPS when returning to centre as well, it just doesn't cut out anywhere on the right side of centre.

The cars done 104k miles so I'm not shocked, I figure a rebuild would at least give me peace of mind, I know BBA offer a lifetime warranty on their rebuilds which is reassuring.

Edit: In fact, the column has been replaced with a second hand unit previously, to resolve a different EPS issue. INPA reads the build date of the column to be 5/03 so a very early model. In this case, I'm thinking the rebuild is just the simpler, safer option as it means I know everything is good.
Click to expand...

Chances are your original column was suffering sticking steering (unless you know differently of course) and there's suppose to be a relatively simple fix for that . Which is obviously annoying for you now because if the original was fixed you probably wouldn't be having trouble now. Ive seen folks say they spent between £300-700 on a column repair which is obviously alot cheaper than bmw. Plus no coding is required if have your existing rack fixed although you could probably avoid that if the ecu is fine and you swap it from one rack to the other .

From what you've said it sounds like it's definetly something in the rack rather than a loose external connection etc my choice would be take it off, repair it yourself or send it to ecu testing over bba reman as they seem to have a much better reputation these days.

Good luck with it.
 
MACK said:
mjennings23 said:
MACK said:
Not sure why my previous post appears three times.😂 maybe something to do with me being in a poor signal area.

As others have said and you, it's probably a bad connection. What mileage/ year is yours on? My advice probably only really applies if you manage to rule these out. However that said the wiring plug on the rack and the battety connections may only disconnect when the car is moved in a certain direction so still worth a check as a cost free measure. If i remeber correctly the ecu plug csn be reached with out to much hassle. intermittent faults can be a nightmare to accurately diagnose. I would try using inpa etc to monitor the rack and turn it incredibly slowly as it may fault in one tiny spot (maybe a couple of mm) and see if you can replicate it over and over. This would rule out the inertia of the car causing a disconnect and confirm it's in the rack itself. Easy to say but not do easy to do unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Aha, I have managed to get it to replicate when the car is stationary so movement of a connection is unlikely? Also, if I turn the wheel to the left and restart the engine, it can cut out the EPS when returning to centre as well, it just doesn't cut out anywhere on the right side of centre.

The cars done 104k miles so I'm not shocked, I figure a rebuild would at least give me peace of mind, I know BBA offer a lifetime warranty on their rebuilds which is reassuring.

Edit: In fact, the column has been replaced with a second hand unit previously, to resolve a different EPS issue. INPA reads the build date of the column to be 5/03 so a very early model. In this case, I'm thinking the rebuild is just the simpler, safer option as it means I know everything is good.
Click to expand...

Chances are your original column was suffering sticking steering (unless you know differently of course) and there's suppose to be a relatively simple fix for that . Which is obviously annoying for you now because if the original was fixed you probably wouldn't be having trouble now. Ive seen folks say they spent between £300-700 on a column repair which is obviously alot cheaper than bmw. Plus no coding is required if have your existing rack fixed although you could probably avoid that if the ecu is fine and you swap it from one rack to the other .

From what you've said it sounds like it's definetly something in the rack rather than a loose external connection etc my choice would be take it off, repair it yourself or send it to ecu testing over bba reman as they seem to have a much better reputation these days.

Good luck with it.
Click to expand...

Believe it was a complete torque sensor failure on the old column, perhaps the rebuild idea was not considered, but no matter now! I'll check plugs etc tomorrow but I'm not hopeful, especially with it seemingly getting more random each day telling me something is probably getting worse.
 
After some weekend diagnostics, I know the following:

Can't find any loose cables to the column or motor.
Greasing of the engine bay components seems to have done nothing.
Fault is happening closer to straight than previously, indicating something is deteriorating.

All of this is leading me to think it is an issue with the electrics in the column or motor. Looking at prices from ECU testing and BBA, seems BBA are cheaper but their reviews on google are not good reading, so perhaps better to spend the bit more!

Any other ideas before I pull the column out this weekend?
 
raymond.harper said:
Second hand unit if existing unit is going to cost too much. It would have to be keyed to the ECU .
Click to expand...

Not messing about with that, hence going for a rebuild of the current unit.

EDIT: Realised I misinterpreted what you said! To be honest I'm looking at following yourself and Mat down the hydraulic route, I don't want to take another chance on an unknown second hand column that could break itself in 6 months.
 
enuff_zed said:
noz85 said:
Bump.

What was the outcome?
Click to expand...
I saw that car at the weekend. He went hydraulic.
What's your issue?
Can we help?
Click to expand...

Maybe?

I have a turning toward left lock EPS failure problem. Happens every time at the same point. It has provided the error 63ED EPS steering-torque sensor.

If I turn off the engine and restart it is fine.. until I turn to near left lock again.

Sounds like the torque sensor or angle sensor on the steering column. Possibly would need to remove the EPS motor and have it shipped to ECU Testing perhaps? All a bit of a guess at this stage.

The car still has private warranty until June 2025 so I am looking to get it done via that route if possible. I have contacted a local German car specialist.

But any thoughts and input welcome. I have also seen this thread but it is E85 specific where as my car is an E89.

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82880
 
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