Matt 123 Report post Posted July 24, 2011 Hi again. It seems I am constantly posting here with problems haha. Such is the fun of having an old bmw I suppose. Anyway, latest problem is to do with the steering on my e30 that has an e36 rack. It is an intermittent problem where, sometimes when I drive it, the steering has a massive dead patch about 10° each side where turning the steering wheel does absolutely nothing, as if theres a heap of slack between the worm gear and rack. Once past this point the steering feels really rubbery and doesn't self centre very well. Needless to say it makes it pretty hard to drive the car, even just in a straight line. Weird thing is I could park up and when I get back to drive the car an hour or 2 later the steering might then feel absolutely fine again. It never starts happening mid-drive, its either like that from the beginning and will stay until I stop or it will be fine the whole drive. Anybody got any ideas?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CamB 48 Report post Posted July 24, 2011 What's the coupling look like? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt 123 Report post Posted July 25, 2011 My coupling attaches the e36 lower end to the e30 upper end with an aluminium spacer. This bit doesn't seem to have any slop in it. The slack seems to be further down, possibly in the rack itself when I wiggle the steering shaft around in the engine bay. Like I said, the weird thing is that it doesn't always do it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CamB 48 Report post Posted July 25, 2011 Hmm, that's my theory out the window. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E30-323ti 66 Report post Posted July 25, 2011 Are the rack bolts done up tight?? ie. the whole rack isn't moving left-right. IIRC you should have also added spacers between the rack and cross-member. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt 123 Report post Posted July 25, 2011 I checked the bolts that mount the rack to the crossmember the other day and they were nice and tight. I am not sure if there a spacers there or not though, I'll need to check again. So thinking about it... If the spacers are missing, this will mean the rack is sitting to low, which could mean the shaft isn't quite seated correctly which could be causing the slack. Does this sound right?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E30-323ti 66 Report post Posted July 25, 2011 There is usually enough 'give' in the whole system for the rack to be high or low within the cross-member. But if there are no spacers, then the tabs must be done up so tight they have been bent to do up onto the rack. This will also mean the whole bolted surface is not in contact with the rack, and possibly only the outer edge. So yes, they may be tight, but not becuase the rack is held tight, hopefully there are spacers in there... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
