Z4 Steering Assembly issues "blog"!

L

Llewelyn

Member
Hi guys

Edited this to become a sort of progress report as opposed to a Q&A type thread!

I am in the process of sorting out my power steering issue, by having the whole assembly rebuilt by BBA Reman at a cost of around £500.00 (inc. VAT) which will handily come with a lifetime warranty.

However I do have some questions about the steering assembly which I am curious about if anyone can help?

- What is the difference between the 03-05 and the 05+ EPS unit?

- Is an 05+ EPS unit compatible with an earlier car?

- Even if it fits, is there a pairing restriction which makes the upgrade impossible?

- Has anyone had an EPS unit rebuilt? Is so, what is actually replaced?

My EPS unit has not yet been sent for repair (getting it out is a massive job in itself!!), and I am considering buying a 2nd hand 05+ one to have rebuilt so I can have it removed and swapped in one go. I am guessing the poor design issues from the earlier ones have been rectified so with that in mind hopefully I can enjoy greater reliability and peace of mind if there is a later unit fitted?

I will keep you all updated with the repair and let you know how I get on with the reconditioning service and end product etc!

Cheers for now,

Llew
 
I heard they had issues until 06. My dealer said there was some simple software updates that needed to be done after new unit install.
 
Update this evening....

Miraculously... As I was driving home this evening in the cool weather my steering came to life again and the car drove perfectly the whole way!? I bought the car with the fault and I've never had any working power steering at any point up until now (i.e. it hasn't been intermittent).

What makes this particularly odd is that the cabin was extremely hot, my girlfriend isn't mad on the roof being down at anything below about 15 degrees or so and my compromise is to allow her to have the heater on max, seat on max etc etc. The AC settings were diverting the hot air down into the footwells primarily so the steering column area must have been roasting!

Anyone had any experience of HEAT causing the steering to work as opposed to cold? All I have read on the net points toward over temp issues.

Sport button engaged correctly but the orange steering light was still on the dash. Got home and turned the ignition off and on again and the fault has cleared itself. Not sure wether to drive it round for a while and see how I go or just repair as planned anyway. Strange.

I shall keep you posted :)
 
I think if my steering every packed up, I'd find a way of installing a hydraulic system from a 330 or similar.

Andrew.
 
My poer steering is intermittent. In the summer months its fine. Come the winter it will go off once every two weeks. I looked into the rebuild with that same company, i would be interested to see if they could fix it. Spoke to a guy there before said it would be £700 odd for a rebuild.
 
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