Wondering..... what could cause intermittent power steering loss
Hey all,
Wondering if anyone can help me out here. I have a 2005 330Ci E46 and I hit a massive pot hole yesterday. A few hours later I parked the car about 40KM away from where that happened at my buddies house and parked the car on a steep incline.
About 3 hours later I left my buddy's place and started to make my way onto the highway and realized the steering was becoming very stiff. I got off the highway and realized my power steering wasnt functioning.
I was able to drive it home (about 80km) without power steering and parked the car at home and did some research. I popped the hood and opened the reservoir and PS fluid was full. I turned the car on with the reservoir open and couldn't see a change in fluid and power steering still not functioning.
Fast forward to this morning... after leaving it overnight the power steering is back and working better than ever!
What gives? I did some research and BMW has a TSB about this issue and instructs to upgrade the power steering unit from the LF20 to the LF30..
Should I be worried? Should I get it replaced??
Any help here is greatly appreciated!
Thanks all.
Posted Dec 13, 2018, 12:51 AM UTC
You need a new pump, I have replaced many e46 pumps for this same issue. The shaft is broken, it’s probably catching intermittently and working. Pull your belt off and you can probably pull your p/s pump pulley out of the pump.
Thanks a lot for your help, this is what I suspected. Would you recommend paying extra to have the LF20 upgraded to the LF30 as per bmw TSB?
Sure. You will also need to replace the pressure hose (the one from the pump to the rack). There are 2 different part numbers for the lf-30 pump depending on which part number pump you have installed now.