Sticky steering problem. Time to sort it! Help and advice.

[v8z4]

Just FYI guys, I actually broke open the steering column last night (I'm in the process of converting to the M hydrolic rack) to gut out the electric power assist. What I found is that there are both mechanical and electrical parts in that housing (where you are squirting grease). The electric motor has a metal worm gear which drives a plastic gear on the steering shaft. "Below" (moving "down" the shaft towards the fire wall) the gear is a hub, a sensor, and some electronics. I believe these are the angle torque monitoring sensor as there is a "flex" point in the shaft at this location. With this in mind, I can confirm that you guys are putting the grease fitting in the relatively correct location to hit the gear. IDEALLY, you could come "down" a bit and hit more of the grease on the driven gear. But certainly stay away from the lower area (where the electronics are).

Also, if anyone wants I'm trying to sell my electric motor/controller and sensor: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=53661

 

[Ewazix]

Just FYI guys, I actually broke open the steering column last night (I'm in the process of converting to the M hydrolic rack) to gut out the electric power assist. What I found is that there are both mechanical and electrical parts in that housing (where you are squirting grease). The electric motor has a metal worm gear which drives a plastic gear on the steering shaft. "Below" (moving "down" the shaft towards the fire wall) the gear is a hub, a sensor, and some electronics. I believe these are the angle torque monitoring sensor as there is a "flex" point in the shaft at this location. With this in mind, I can confirm that you guys are putting the grease fitting in the relatively correct location to hit the gear. IDEALLY, you could come "down" a bit and hit more of the grease on the driven gear. But certainly stay away from the lower area (where the electronics are).

Also, if anyone wants I'm trying to sell my electric motor/controller and sensor: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=53661

A few people have suggested the possibility of converting to the M's hydraulic PAS but I've not read about it being done before, I'm sure people would be interested to know more, or maybe a few pics?

 

[bladeowner]

Just FYI guys, I actually broke open the steering column last night (I'm in the process of converting to the M hydrolic rack) to gut out the electric power assist. What I found is that there are both mechanical and electrical parts in that housing (where you are squirting grease). The electric motor has a metal worm gear which drives a plastic gear on the steering shaft. "Below" (moving "down" the shaft towards the fire wall) the gear is a hub, a sensor, and some electronics. I believe these are the angle torque monitoring sensor as there is a "flex" point in the shaft at this location. With this in mind, I can confirm that you guys are putting the grease fitting in the relatively correct location to hit the gear. IDEALLY, you could come "down" a bit and hit more of the grease on the driven gear. But certainly stay away from the lower area (where the electronics are).

Also, if anyone wants I'm trying to sell my electric motor/controller and sensor: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=53661

Thanks for the info. Have you got any pics of the parts broken down? I only have schematic drawings:

 

[Machine monkey]

What is actually needed for the conversion to hydrraulic? I know a e46 rack is slower so i wouldn't want to swap with one of those? So would i need a z4m rack and gubbins? Or can you use the z4 one and buy cheap 330 parts and fit it? Also will there be a massive headache with all the electronics? has anyone even done it before??

 

[v8z4]

I didn't bother to take pictures of the "guts" of the column, but the schematic bladeowner put up is dead on.

I purchased a rack from a Z4M roadster with 12,000 miles. I'm currently waiting for the rack to show up (should be here the end of the week). It is certainly possible to use any of the e46 racks, but as the ratios are slower I don't think it would be a good choice (would make the car less responsive). I am getting all of my hydrolics off of a wrecked 2003 330i (have to go pick up the parts today).

As far as electronics, the car drives without any of the steering electronics (it's just takes a lot of muscle to park.....the full manual steering is amazing out on the highway). I have already disabled the ABS/DSC so I don't know what "issues" any of you would run into with respect to those systems. However, I can't imagine that the steering and the ABS/DSC have anything to do with one another. My GUESS is that IF someone (with a fully operational car) disabled the electronic steering and went to hydrolic, they would at most get a light on the dash. Even that might not happen because with the electronics removed, there would be nothing there to send an error signal to the gauge cluster.

 

[Machine monkey]

Yeah i have driven mine with no power steering. I had a mouse eat through the can bus network!! I know how much trouble that caused so i just didn't know if disconnecting parts of the can bus eg steering position sensor is going to throw up errors and lights on the dash.

Z4M steering rack only then. I wont be doing this any time soon then....

 

[v8z4]

Well cutting the can bus network would cause all sorts of issues. In this case though, you are just pulling a single module off the network, so I don't see it causing much of an issue (I would be inclined to think it doesn't even trip a light since the module is not there to trip the light).

 

[Machine monkey]

Interesting this and the m3 diff are very near the top of the mod list. Just life and finances getting in the way at the moment!

 

[v8z4]

Ill document my install as I do it so you guys can decide if its something you want to do.

 

[Machine monkey]

Sound great letting you do all the hard work

 

[Oddballs]

I experienced sticky steering for the first time last week after the Zed had sat in the sun during a very hot day but everything has been fine since.

Does it do any harm to continue driving with the problem or is it just bloody annoying?

I'm due to take the Zed to Italy next week and hopefully it will be hot so now expecting to have problems.

 

[Phil-E30]

I've never read anything about it causing any real harm (I could be wrong). It is largely just a massive pain in the ass. At times it has brought me close to selling the Zed!

However, mine has not been so bad recently, which caused me to delay the drilling fix mentioned earlier in this thread. But, yesterday (the warmest day we have had in a while) brought about some of the worst sticky steering I have experienced yet. Today (another very warm day) things are fine. It's just one of those intermittent, annoying, niggly faults.

 

[AC3.0]

Hi Guys,

I have a 2003 53 plate 3.0ltr Z4 which has less than 16K on it. It is only used as my summer toy and has never been out in the rain or on damp roads and is kept stored correctly in a insulated garage over winter. I have the sticky steering issue which occured for the first time a couple of years ago. Mine is fine on short outings but if left parked up outside on the few days when we get hot weather the issue occurs. It has got to the stage where i do not use the car due to the fault. I assume from reading the post that the replacement of the stearing column is going to be required?

 

[v8z4]

Hi Guys,

I have a 2003 53 plate 3.0ltr Z4 which has less than 16K on it. It is only used as my summer toy and has never been out in the rain or on damp roads and is kept stored correctly in a insulated garage over winter. I have the sticky steering issue which occured for the first time a couple of years ago. Mine is fine on short outings but if left parked up outside on the few days when we get hot weather the issue occurs. It has got to the stage where i do not use the car due to the fault. I assume from reading the post that the replacement of the stearing column is going to be required?

Try greasing the column (as people have done on here) first. My guess (from having dissected the column) is that the plastic driven gear gets hot/dry and swells up causing the gears to not turn (too much friction). Greasing the gear allows it to slip.

Worth a try at least.

 

[bladeowner]

Since I greased mine a couple of weeks ago, I've had no issues. I wouldn't say for sure that it's cured yet as the ambient temp has been around 23 deg C on the long journey to and from the National Meet and I had the top down all the time. Just been to the shops and the temp inside the car was 31 deg C and still no symptoms. So it looks promising though.

AC3.0 Are you the guy I chatted to at Crooklands just before we set off on Sunday?

 

[AC3.0]

Since I greased mine a couple of weeks ago, I've had no issues. I wouldn't say for sure that it's cured yet as the ambient temp has been around 23 deg C on the long journey to and from the National Meet and I had the top down all the time. Just been to the shops and the temp inside the car was 31 deg C and still no symptoms. So it looks promising though.

AC3.0 Are you the guy I chatted to at Crooklands just before we set off on Sunday?

Sorry No not me, mines only been out once this year.

 

[Stromtech]

I drilled the hole as indicated on Bimmerforums by Bmwha but instead of grease I injected Remoil (Remington Gun Oil) which is a very fine oil with silicon. I cut the end of the spray straw at 45 degrees so the lube would spray off to the side of the straw and rotated the straw in the hole as I sprayed...my result is no more sticky or notchy steering and we have had very hot weather here. I decided to use a fine oil lube rather than grease because I was concerned about grease drying up over time with no way to remove it.
So it seems getting any kind of lube in there does eliminate the notchy-stick on center feel. I still notice the steering gets a bit heavier when I park in the sun with the hood up and I think this is due to the expansion problem with the tight tolerances...however the lube makes it smooth and hardly noticeable.
I was ready to sell the car but now I am thoroughly enjoying it again.

 

[bladeowner]

I drilled the hole as indicated on Bimmerforums by Bmwha but instead of grease I injected Remoil (Remington Gun Oil) which is a very fine oil with silicon. I cut the end of the spray straw at 45 degrees so the lube would spray off to the side of the straw and rotated the straw in the hole as I sprayed...my result is no more sticky or notchy steering and we have had very hot weather here. I decided to use a fine oil lube rather than grease because I was concerned about grease drying up over time with no way to remove it.
So it seems getting any kind of lube in there does eliminate the notchy-stick on center feel. I still notice the steering gets a bit heavier when I park in the sun with the hood up and I think this is due to the expansion problem with the tight tolerances...however the lube makes it smooth and hardly noticeable.
I was ready to sell the car but now I am thoroughly enjoying it again.

Good to hear. Since I last posted above we have had some quite hot weather here and I'm pleased to report that I too have had no sticky steering since I greased the column. I agree, I think the steering is certainly a little heavier when it's hot but I can live with this as it's not hot for very long in the UK!

 

[v8z4]

I drilled the hole as indicated on Bimmerforums by Bmwha but instead of grease I injected Remoil (Remington Gun Oil) which is a very fine oil with silicon. I cut the end of the spray straw at 45 degrees so the lube would spray off to the side of the straw and rotated the straw in the hole as I sprayed...my result is no more sticky or notchy steering and we have had very hot weather here. I decided to use a fine oil lube rather than grease because I was concerned about grease drying up over time with no way to remove it.
So it seems getting any kind of lube in there does eliminate the notchy-stick on center feel. I still notice the steering gets a bit heavier when I park in the sun with the hood up and I think this is due to the expansion problem with the tight tolerances...however the lube makes it smooth and hardly noticeable.
I was ready to sell the car but now I am thoroughly enjoying it again.

Sounds like a reasonable solution.

 

[Oddballs]

I experienced sticky steering for the first time last week after the Zed had sat in the sun during a very hot day but everything has been fine since.

Does it do any harm to continue driving with the problem or is it just bloody annoying?

I'm due to take the Zed to Italy next week and hopefully it will be hot so now expecting to have problems.

Just back from the trip & no problems thanks goodness. The Zd was brilliant and no tramlining in the hotter climate