Sticky steering when did the change happen?

tiggy1985 said:
Were all dooooommmmeeeeedddddd to have a £2500.00 repair bill, its a good job I love this car :rofl:

that's when you trade in for that newer model you couldn't make your mind up about
:thumbsup:
 
BluZiff said:
or possibly some kind of heat shielding around the ECU?
To me, that sounds like the simplest solution to start with. Surely wouldn't be too hard to attempt I guess?

Not had this problem myself but I thought there was a problem relating to sticky steering that was mechanical too? But only happened in warmer climates mainly? Am I thinking of a seperate problem?
 
ranski said:
wouldnt applying some heat reflective material prevent the issue?
It might deflect direct heat from the car's heater but I don't think you could anything about a general heat build-up apart from cranking up the aircon :(
 
tiggy1985 said:
Been given the option to buy a steering column from a 07 plate care for £150.00 what do you reckon? Bargain?

Has the forum ever done a poll on who has been effected by this and to what degree?

I have a 53 model and have had the heating up full the past few weeks with no such issue (he tempts fate!)
 
tiggy1985 said:
Been given the option to buy a steering column from a 07 plate care for £150.00 what do you reckon? Bargain?

If you don't buy it, give me first go at it mate :wink:
 
ranski said:
tiggy1985 said:
Been given the option to buy a steering column from a 07 plate care for £150.00 what do you reckon? Bargain?

Has the forum ever done a poll on who has been effected by this and to what degree?

I have a 53 model and have had the heating up full the past few weeks with no such issue (he tempts fate!)

try driving about 40 miles with it on full (in the footwell only) and you may well get a result
 
I did a round trip last week of 150+ miles with the heating on mixed between front and footwell and didnt have any issues :|

But if its only effecting the steering if you only have the heat on the footwell i will try and avoid doing this
 
ranski said:
I did a round trip last week of 150+ miles with the heating on mixed between front and footwell and didnt have any issues :|

But if its only effecting the steering if you only have the heat on the footwell i will try and avoid doing this
I guess it's just a matter of degree. I've only experienced this back in March when driving for over an hour with the heating on high directed into the footwell, but it was on VERY hot - must have toasted the ECU!
 
Very rarely use my footwell heaters allways the dash vents so its not just footweel plus i am sure the ECU sits just behind the dash need to get my TIS reloaded.

Thing is its not just the heaters that can cause this if the car is sitting in direct sunlight this can also cause the same prob as i am sure some of our US members from the hotter states have found out
 
GAZA62 said:
Very rarely use my footwell heaters allways the dash vents so its not just footweel plus i am sure the ECU sits just behind the dash need to get my TIS reloaded.

Thing is its not just the heaters that can cause this if the car is sitting in direct sunlight this can also cause the same prob as i am sure some of our US members from the hotter states have found out

Exactly - if the ambient temperature rises enough, no amount of heat-shielding will do any good.

Any more news of the investigation into this in the US?
 
GAZA62 said:
Thing is its not just the heaters that can cause this if the car is sitting in direct sunlight this can also cause the same prob as i am sure some of our US members from the hotter states have found out
Ah, that could be what I was referring to earlier in this thread. Not mechanical after all then. Direct sunshine, never a worry in Scotland then :thumbsup:
 
I've experienced this once on my 04 2.5i. It happened on a hot summer day on one of those rare occasions that I parked it in the sun. The whole drive home was really annoying with a slightly sticky steering. Haven't had the problem since.
 
Mine's suffered twice in 2.5 years both times when parked in the sun all day cooking. Start it up, close roof n windows,set the climate on full chill for a few mins and it will go away. Not really an issue in the uk., it's never hot enough. :D
 
bigshurv said:
Mine's suffered twice in 2.5 years both times when parked in the sun all day cooking. Start it up, close roof n windows,set the climate on full chill for a few mins and it will go away. Not really an issue in the uk., it's never hot enough. :D

x2. As I've said before, I think it's probably there in every early car, given the right conditions.
 
Had my first experiance of "sticky steering" tonight on the way home from work , leaving edinburgh tonight it was basically gridlocked at Hermiston Gate , took me an hour and half to get from City centre to the M8 , after a few miles on the motorway the steering became notchy ,those fine adjustments one makes to keep in a straight line ,were kinda sticky, jerky. I have always got my footwell heater on and window open. Im expecting the steering to back to normal in the morning . The cars a 2004 2.5
 
If its an electrical problem rather than mechanical then why do you need to spend £2,500 on a whole new rack? Surely just a new CPU would be needed?

Just a though but people who build high-end desktop PC's for gaming use micro cooling systems with water jackets around the processor. Sounds dangerous (using water) but its tried and tested. Maybe something like this could be adapted, after all that is a seriously expensive fix if it happens to you.
 
If it becomes generally known that probably all early Z4's potentially have this problem, maybe it might be hard for BMW to continue to ignore it?
 
tomTVR said:
If its an electrical problem rather than mechanical then why do you need to spend £2,500 on a whole new rack? Surely just a new CPU would be needed?

Just a though but people who build high-end desktop PC's for gaming use micro cooling systems with water jackets around the processor. Sounds dangerous (using water) but its tried and tested. Maybe something like this could be adapted, after all that is a seriously expensive fix if it happens to you.

That was my thought also, why if its an ECU issue does it cost £2.5k to sort.

Unfortunately what you are thinking about regarding the PC cooling wouldn't work, water cooled PC's are just smaller adaptations of the cooling system in your car, they use radiators, pumps, reservoirs and heatsinks over the source. In an engine bay, the whole lot would get very hot and fail long before your steering did.

If you guys are saying that a heat source (ducting?) providing the heating into the footwell is causing this in winter months then I think this could probably be stopped by shielding.

In high ambient temperatures, well £2.5k it is :(
 
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