bimmer7410

I have been trying to diagnose my steering issues, and I have come to the point that I believe that my steering rack needs to be rebuilt or swapped out.

I did post this in my other thread, but since this is pretty much the only thing holding me from driving the vehicle, I thought I'd create its own thread for max visibility

The symptoms are the following:
When maneuvering at low speed, active steering engages and causes full locks to come at 2 less turns or so to the left or right.

When I full lock to the left while parked, the steering wheel stops as expected. When I continue that full lock while in drive, the wheel is able to be maybe an inch more to the left, past the previous full lock position. It is at this point that the wheel becomes a dead weight and power steering is no longer available. The vehicle will drive in circles while I am unable to turn the wheel.

The only way to get out of this stuck position is to reverse the car which pulls the tires in the opposite direction. Once they turn the steering wheel back that inch or so, power steering is restored.

Its almost as if turning past the initial lock position causes it to leave some gear internal within the steering box.
This also happens when full locking to the right, but I am able to use a bit of force to pull it back left and into power steering range.


Since I have active steering, a new or even rebuilt replacement is extremely cost prohibitive. I am wondering if I could install some limit stop which can prevent that extra inch or so of travel as a stopgap solution..

To answer some possible questions: no, I do not have any active steering error codes. The CHF-11s fluid reservoir is topped off. I have also tried the active steering calibration diagnostic within ISTA+, but the result is the same.



Any thoughts/recommendations are GREATLY appreciated.

E60550imsport

Maybe just don’t turn the wheel that far? it sounds like it’s only an issue when you make it have that issue.

Why are you forcing the wheel past what you KNOW is the full lock position? Just to see if you can break it? i mean, come on.

bimmer7410

it will happen when trying to maneuver the vehicle eventually, without fail. It’s a dangerous position to be in trying to make a u-turn and the car gets locked in the turn position when you need to reverse for a bit more space
min pretty certain I’ll just have to buy a steering rack anyway. No big deal as the project has been mothballed lately as I don’t have the time to give to it just yet.