Power Steering Woes

[phoenixcsl]

Anyone else had this problem? Hoping its nothing too serious.

Went off to get my hair chopped this morning, as I was parking Cecil in the car park, the power steering made a groan, then from the front smoke! not much but some mist.

Thought uh oh not good, power steering is now REALLY groany and notchy, so switched the car off.

Came back to the car a hour later and its dumped the entire power steering fluid on the floor.

Suspecting the high pressure hose has finally given out.

Poor Cecil is stuck 15 miles from where I live, gonna have to tow him home later urgh

[Pip1968]

Can they not just be driven without the power steering operating - big arms or will it mess the unit up even more - ?

Incidentally having just renewed my BMW/Mondial warranty, apparently even if you do not pay for BMW assist they will still come and pick up your car as long as you are more than 1/2 mile from your home and are stuck.

Pip

[outnumbered]

A steering hose went on mine a couple of years ago. It was OK to drive to the dealer, but hard work to steer.

[phoenixcsl]

yeah in hindsight and in non raging panic mode I could have driven it home easily, though the steering was mega heavy.

Got a local low loader recovery guy to bring the car back for me £40 so not too offensive.

Looks like the high pressure hose is the culprit, so nothing major thankfully.

[shimmy]

yeah in hindsight and in non raging panic mode I could have driven it home easily, though the steering was mega heavy.

Got a local low loader recovery guy to bring the car back for me £40 so not too offensive.

Looks like the high pressure hose is the culprit, so nothing major thankfully.

Sometimes better safe than sorry for sure.:thumbs:

[glendog74]

Darren's car suffered the same on track when we were at the Ring a couple of years ago. It was quite a worry at the time as his car disappeared in a huge cloud of oily smoke in front of me! :119:

Luckily he was able to get off the track whilst I followed behind and we ended up driving to Tom Schirmer to affect a repair.

My own CSL had the power steering hoses replaced under warranty a year or so later as they had corroded/perished badly. It is quite a common E46 M3 problem by all accounts.

[phoenixcsl]

There is a really good DIY guide over on M3forum.net which I'll post here incase this happens to someone else and it's a good reference point:

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=252164