Flat battery now steering issues...NO MORE

MACK said:
firebobby said:
So no show from the auto electrician, Any way the steering came back to life the other night, after a 50 mile drive out and the sports button lit up and all seemed fine. Next day EPS light back on and heavy steering, no sports button. So now I'm looking at going down the ECU route. I was interested in the BMW recall and did a bit of scouring of the net.
I found this from 2012 https://suffolktradingstandards.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/bmw-power-steering-recall/
which looks like a recall for the early Z4, any thoughts on this.
This is the sort thing that was happening on mine when the battery was on its last legs. New battery and it's been fine for the 2 and bit years since. The fact that after 50 Miles of driving everything came back to life could indicate it's a battery/charge issue. Have you actually tested the battery? Might be worth trying a new one etc before going any further.
Hi Mack, yes I checked the battery with bladeowners tester and I've bought my own now. I get 12.6v when the car has been sitting for a day or so and 14.1 when started and running. From what I have read, this is OK. I'm going to call BMW, so will let you know how I get on.
 
OK, so BMW said they will fit a brand new EPS system free of charge, as long as I don't go to the papers with my story. Told them to stick their offer...







Not really, their not interested. Had the car checked by an indi in the end and he confirmed what bladeowner found the other week, the EPS is not communicating. So I went digging under the dash and got this bad boy out. Bloody tight but it came out with the column in situ.
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Thank you to the forum members who replied to my questions on PM, now off to ECU testing and hopefully I will have a working power steering.
 
Good luck with it, hopefully they should be able to sort it. I guess if you wanted to you could drive the zed again with that motor out of the system, albeit with old school non power steering!
 
MACK said:
Good luck with it, hopefully they should be able to sort it. I guess if you wanted to you could drive the zed again with that motor out of the system, albeit with old school non power steering!

I was wondering about that, would it not give me more lights on as there is a part missing from the car, these cars don't like electrical tampering. Also, I read that you should lock the steering straight ahead so things stay in line. Think I will leave it alone until it's back.
 
So looking at ECUtesting and found this on ebay, same name and logo, but different addresses.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-Electric-Power-Steering-Column-Motor-Rebuild/401352168863?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

http://www.ecutesting.com/common-faults ... ng-problem
Ebay is £300 or less and the other is £300 + vat
 
firebobby said:
bladeowner said:
Company info is the same though Fred -http://www.ecutesting.com/company_info.html

I know Dave, I'm a doughnut :slaphead: :whistle:

BBA Reman used to pull the same trick on ebay (dont use them anymore so they may still do.) higher price on their website, cheaper on Ebay.
firebobby said:
MACK said:
Good luck with it, hopefully they should be able to sort it. I guess if you wanted to you could drive the zed again with that motor out of the system, albeit with old school non power steering!

I was wondering about that, would it not give me more lights on as there is a part missing from the car, these cars don't like electrical tampering. Also, I read that you should lock the steering straight ahead so things stay in line. Think I will leave it alone until it's back.

It might be worth just leaving it to be on the safe side. that said the folks that have done the conversion to hydraulic steering are basically driving around with the same column setup as you currently have. They seem to get on fine, although they all seem to still have the dash lights on. I dont recall anyone ever being able to get rid of them/code them out and do wonder if this effects the stability control systems etc.
 
ph001 said:
You did well getting that out with the column in situ. How tricky was it?
I removed the lower cover and undid (not removed) the 8 bolts holding the column on, I only removed the 2 column bolts nearest the steering wheel. That and I un-clipping the spring gave me enough room to be able to get to the torx bolts with my mini ratchet. The front was the worse.
Because the column was loose, I was able to slide the motor out and unplug the wires.
It was tight, but I have dainty hands :)
 
I had a message saying a parcel will be delivered today. A lovely box arrived from DHL and inside I found my steering motor. Had it fitted back in within an hour. No dreaded EPS light and the steering is nice and light again, I'm a very happy boy :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

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These were my weapons of choice to remove and install the 2 torx bolts

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I found that the hardest torx bolt to get at was the front, (nearest the steering wheel). And I found that removing the 2 bolts that hold the column on, by the front torx and removing the big spring, gave me more room to get at the torx bolt. The black wire in the photo moves easily out of the way.

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I have saved a lot of money doing this and would fully recommend http://www.ecutesting.com/, who give a life time warranty on their work.
I payed a total of £306 for them to repair, including postage.
This is a pretty tight and awkward job to do, but can be done with the column left in the car and removed and installed within 2 hours. It sound more daunting than it is and I would really say have a go
Hope this will help someone else when the dreaded EPS light comes on and your steering goes heavy.
Thanks to all who have commented and helped with info. :D
 
Glad your back on the road! Good clear explanation of what you've done etc so hopefully this thread will be very useful to anyone unfortunate enough to have this failure in the future. :thumbsup:
 
I dont wish to put a downer on your success but i had the same issue 2 years and 3 months ago had a similar repair done at power steering place in Tamworth worked great until last week when again .(had a 2 year warranty)
so i ended up converting the steering to hydraulic .
 
alane29 said:
I dont wish to put a downer on your success but i had the same issue 2 years and 3 months ago had a similar repair done at power steering place in Tamworth worked great until last week when again .(had a 2 year warranty)
so i ended up converting the steering to hydraulic .
Thanks, I had mine done at a place in Derbyshire and it comes with a life time warranty so hopefully it will be fine. Good luck with the hydraulic conversion
 
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