E34 530 540 power steering heavy

[632 Regal]

Well I was wrong, I didn't completely flush the mud out of there. Today was cool and the steering was heavy, about half as much as when I got it. I checked the comparison between the 202 and 11S and we should be fine. Thinking the residual is jacking **** up. Will order a couple extra litres to do this correctly. Looking below there is no reason to believe someone raised the engine to adjust the nut there.

Started the 94 up and took it for a drive around the block (5.7 miles) Perfect cold and all the way. Will try a reflush as there is only a 50K mile difference between. I cant sell the 94 till I figure this stuff out.

[MBXB]

Both are still available at the local NAPA down here in Tampa

[632 Regal]

We have a revelation!

23 degrees out and I went to pull out the driveway, Crunch Crunch!!! Turned the wheel straight and Crunch Crunch! I noticed the blinker lever was moving the same as the steering wheel when I turned it. This is the tightness and binding all along. Something is not right in the steering column, not at all. If I can get the glove box open and IF I have the radio code this should get a little more interesting today. Might be someone used some grease in there that don't like the cold. Seems to loosen up after driving a few hours but still the blinker moves with the wheel. It also threw the SRS code and then it said brake light circuit, the last error went away after shutting it off and back on.

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showt...-BillR-Archive

[632 Regal]

Update again...

Removed the airbag, thought I stripped the torx bolt/screw and freaked out a bit until I realized I must have used a #25 and not the #27. These things are in there pretty tight and I can't imagine what I would have done if it did strip. Anyways I disconnected the 2 wire leads and put the airbag in a safe spot.
Edit: These are actually a Torx #30! Would have never known until I bought a #30 for another project and realized how close the 27 & 30 are. Much nicer fit and had no worries about stripping them out this time.

Removed the steering wheel bolt, a 17mm was too loose and 15 was too tight so I used a 5/8 which fit perfect.

Tried removing the wheel and couldn't disconnect both wires so I pried the bottom cover off after studying how it clips together and I found a bunch of goodies. The big orange connector I cut out after so I could figure out how all this is supposed to go together inside where it was warm.



Here is the wires and the slip ring behind the wheel





The slip ring was very tight and wouldn't move much at all. I took it all apart, cleaned and used Vaseline for the little brass centering ring that holds it together. It spins fine now. The slip ring is supposed to have 6 free turns and mine has 5. I centered it in position where the tab holds it while you reassemble things. This slip ring does not have any metal to metal contact for the horn or any connections, it just centers and lets the 2 plastic parts turn freely.

What I am guessing happened is the slip ring popped off the little plastic dowel that holds it from turning in the column and freed up the tightness. While things were moving it must have pulled the wires disconnecting and trashing the wires and connectors. I will try to glue this back together and tape it or something once I figure where the metal connector piece goes.

[genphreak]

Ahh the airbag wheel on an EWS equipped >95 column. The airbag connector has one way (which is of course, the most, unapparent way), of coming apart.

IIRC, you have to slip out the orange rectangular piece- either that or you do but it makes no difference (!). Done it a few times but can never remember the knack one needs, now I just fiddle and fiddle and eventually pop it off in a way that seems so damn obvious I should have tried in first... it's just one of those 'brilliant' connectors that took someone who was far too smart for their own good and also hell-bent on making it impossibly efficient and ended up making it improbably ridiculous to work with. Of course it didn't fail to do its job in the field, so they went with it anyway.

How do you know the sklp ring has free turns? IIRC mine had something like 7 or 9 half turns total movement. I counted out the total turns, then wound back half way to find the middle before mounting it all back (with the wheels straight). Worked for me fine that way.

[632 Regal]

I can't figure out where that metal thing goes. Nowhere online or anywhere else can I see where it would possibly go. It's almost like someone threw that in there just to mess me up. The copper color tells me it is electrical in nature so it should go in the crushed up end but it don't lol. Some sort of safety in case someone pulls the thing apart? Idonno.

[632 Regal]

it goes like this.



I need a new plug end to solder on and be done with this. I have no glue that will work on this plastic. My fingers feel like they are in a cast from superglue.

==========

Edit: I hot glued the connector together making sure not to fubar that mystery electric component above. What it does is ground the 2 airbag leads on the steering wheel side male connector.

I also figured out why the blinker was moving with the wheel. The tabs holding it on the top broke so I zip tied it solid and that is fine. The way the wires were routed into the column was wrong which lead to the plug getting pulled into the hub instead of simply disconnecting. Anyways this chapter is closed.

[genphreak]

Thanks that's a much better pic, now I see what you mean...

No magic fixes for that- I'd get a new connector though; a jerried airbag plug may void insurance and/or kill you driving!

Re Superglue: It is is fine for clean plastic but the quality varies results. The best stuff is q-bond and you can get others- they are similar to plain superglue but of consistently higher quality than generic super-glues. Also, they come with black powder stuff to allow you to build up material to fill gaps, make up for missing pieces, gouges and so on. Panel shops use them for fixing cracked bumper-covers and filling gouged parts that can be painted.

Re the Vaseline- make sure you change it out quickly, petroleum jelly has a melting point is a shade over body temperature, so it won't last behind the wheel once the sun hits the windscreen. You need some carbon grease with a high melting point for the airbag and horn rings. Be very careful, anything goes wrong with any of the damn stupid system and it'll end in tears...

[mattyb]

image 2 looks partially like the sinister holding clips for the rear mudflaps

[632 Regal]

image 2 looks partially like the sinister holding clips for the rear mudflaps

My fingers hurt just thinking about them.