Steering lockups and stiffness

G

gheda

Member
Hi all

My Z4 is exhibiting the steering lockups and stiffness described in other posts on the Internet. After around an hour or two of travel it begins to 'lock' and requires significantly more force than normal to turn making it really unpleasant to drive and I'd say highly unsafe if you were not 100% alert to it!

Most of the other posts are from America and it seems BMW NA has been sending out parts(steering column) to dealers where people have reported the problem but it's not clear if this includes any cars out of warranty. I'd imagine due to the serious safety concerns the problem creates they are fixing out of warranty ones but doing it quietly?

My problem is that my car is in the UK and so far I can't find any posts from people here either having the problem or having it fixed (in or out of warranty). Mine is out of warranty (2003) so worried about how much a repair could run too (even if the dealer can reproduce the problem).

Has anyone in the UK experienced or heard of the problem being fixed here?
 
Wondermike said:
Have a read of this http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=122714#p122714
Click to expand...

Read that one alright, have stayed a ton of greese on it (from a spray tin - does it need to be the extra thick waxy stuff?)

Big journey on Tuesday. Will see what happens.

Thankfully I only bought the car recently and the seller gave me 30 day warranty so if it's a new column it needs it's on his coin rather than mine
 
I suppose it should really be a safety-related recall that doesn't matter if the car is in warranty or not. If you can't get it sorted under th 30 day warranty then I would try BMW for a goodwill claim.
 
If I had a 30 day warranty I would drive it straight back to the dealer and make them fix it.

It is a safety issue and it won't go away on it's own!!
 
2 Zero said:
If I had a 30 day warranty I would drive it straight back to the dealer and make them fix it.

It is a safety issue and it won't go away on it's own!!
Click to expand...

Yeah if it's a confirmed big problem I'll be getting the seller to fix it. Unfortunatly he's not a bmw dealer, just a trader and he's in Scotland while I'm in northern Ireland
 
Had the same prob and had it fixed.

My car was bought from BMW and 2 months outside used warranty but luckily for me they fixed it under goodwill and me paying part of the labour and half the programming which was a lot lot cheaper than the full price. :D :D

The part is around £1500 :o plus labour plus programming.

The steering rack has to be replaced as the electronic steering control unit (which is the faulty part) comes attached they replaced mine with the latest version not sensative to heat and so far so good no probs at all today after a 3 hour drive.

The new rack has a heavier feel to the steering which is a lot nicer on motorways
 
GAZA62 said:
Had the same prob and had it fixed.

My car was bought from BMW but 2 months outside used warranty but luckily for me they fixed it under goodwill and me paying part of the labour and half the programming which was a lot lot cheaper than the full price. :D :D

The part is around £1500 :o plus labour plus programming.

The steering rack has to be replaced as the electronic steering control unit (which is the faulty part) comes attached they replaced mine with the latest version not sensative to heat and so far so good no probs at all today after a 3 hour drive.
Click to expand...

1500? Yikes, there's not a chance in he'll I'm shelling that out on a car I've had 10 days! Lucky I caught this right away. Straight into dealer this week to confirm issue so!
 
for those who have had or are having the problem.

did the stiffness / stickness vary?

Like on two different long journies it could stiffen up a bit and be jerky one trip and then feel quite spongey the next? I feel like I'm going mad but I wouldn't have thought there was a problem unless there actually was something going on.

Also, sometimes from cold it feel loose and 'floaty' or it can feel quite solid and definite constant - running out of words to describe it but it does seem to vary.

Anyone?
 
Only bought my car 10 days ago I have the same problem I have contacted the dealer I bought it from and they have said they will sort it by having the steering rack reconditiond I have told them that I will take it to bmw for a diagnosis and I will get back to them as I want the car repair to be permenant so I got in touch with my local bmw dealer and looks like it is going to be sorted under good will the car is going in tomorrow 09 june I will let you know how I get on ,I have not informed bmw that I have just bought the car as I think they will just tell me to take it back to the dealer I bought it from and claim under the three month warrantee wich is your right under consumer law , but if I do that all that will hapen is recon rack and the problem will come back and bmw wont want to touch it if somone else has been messing with the steering
 
IIRC, it's a ambient heat problem. Summer will set it off. Mine's a 2007 so evidently got the updated part from the get-go. It gets hotter than heck down here in the SE and no probs.
 
Any news Z4phill?

I just bought one and stupidly assumed it just had worn bushes/wishbones on the test drive; it was all over the bloody palce. It is an 03 3.0 with 36,000 and a FBMWSH.

I put 4 new non runflats on yesterday (FK452's) and today I fitted two new wishbones and rear bushes. Alignment is being done tomorrow.

I can feel the issue clearly now and it is mostly definately sticky steering. Not centering correctly and staying put during shallow left or right turns. I've just plastered the UJ's in oil and I'm going to test it again shortly but I don't hold out much hope...

I don't mind parting with say £500 but I'm not paying them £1500+ for a new EPS system because they totally cocked it up during design.

Of course, I'm out of warranty....
 
Oiling the UJ's seemed to do nothing but I will be trying again, you can get at the lower one from behind the road wheel.

Had the alignment today and it was some way out. The car is much better behaved now but the feeling is mainly that one minute you have a lot of assistance and the next not so much, just variabilty in assistance with the occasional tug left or right that requires some force to correct. You don't really feel it when you are chucking the car about but when you are just crusing its a pain in the ass.

Gonna try and get a scrappy EPS column from a facelift, I have a GT1/DIS setup so I can do the steering angle sensor adjustment/reset myself...
 
ok bmw not going to put mine rite under good will i have been to see somone in vosa they want to inspect the car I would urge any one who has the same problem to contact me so we can get this done on mass and get bmw to resolve this problem once and for all if we all act together bmw will have to listen and repair the cars on recall they wont want the bad press
 
Well my car was sat in the sun all day today and I guess I have this problem too :headbang:
It's not major but it is there. I've felt hints of it before on the hottest days, but today I was pretty sure. As I made small adjustments to the steering whilst crawling along in traffic, there was a definate irregularity to the force needed.

I'll be ringing my local dealership tomorrow to see if they can sort it. They got my rear springs done for free last year, so I have some hope.
 
ive had hints of it when its hot but i dont think its the sticky steering, just a bit more resistance at low speeds. no sticking or different feel other than the rft tramlining. mines a 53 plate on 67k miles. id guess its down to hot roads.
 
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