Well, it's been a long time since I've posted. This is because the car has been doing very well. Everything is working and I'm daily driving the e24. The sniggling thing that has been bothering me is my power steering would groan in the morning. It's more pronounced when it's cold outside. I have been reading up on this and some say that it could be air getting in the system causing cavitation and noise. OK, the power steering hoses is another of the things I haven't updated since I got the car! It's been close to 38K miles now as my car just turned 180K! It's been super reliable the past year. OK, down to action.
First thing, why is it that so many weekends that I get to work on my car, it's raining? I had to pull the front half of the car into my garage (moving the other cars) in order to do the work.
- It's raining again. At least I have a covered place to work.
- Always Raining.png (1.52 MiB) Viewed 13368 times
First inspection of my fluid reservoir does show a lot of tiny bubbles. I suctioned out the fluid and was left with a bit of grimy gunk. I removed the filter and all the bits and gave it all a good cleaning. Here's what I was staring into.
- The fluid definitely looks aerated.
- TinyBubbles.png (1.07 MiB) Viewed 13368 times
Here's a quick overview of the hoses that were replaced. There are 3 of them that I ordered. I realized that I really needed a 4th, but I didn't have it available so that'll have to wait for another day. In the picture below, I've traced the hoses and labeled them in orange. Two of the original hoses are encased in cloth, which means they are as grim as can be with all the trapped dirt and oil.
- These are the hoses I replaced.
- Hose locations.png (1.21 MiB) Viewed 13368 times
I ordered all BMW OEM hoses as I no longer trust aftermarket hoses on this car. The set cost me $110, however; I discovered that that they supplied easily twice the length of hoses needed. So I have an extra set if anyone needs to refresh their hoses as well. Here's the overview of what I have. Anyone need a set? I'd part with them for less than 1/2 of what I paid. PM me if you have interest.
- Replaced hoses and spares for sale!
- 3 Hoses for Sale.png (908.67 KiB) Viewed 13368 times
There's one more hose that goes from the reservoir into the top of the steering box that I still have to replace, I'll get to that another day. The good news is that the noise is greatly reduced and things feel great. I also noticed the braking feels a bit more solid as well. Maybe another side affect off less air in the system? Anyhow, that's what I have done to my car recently.
OK (about 1.5 hours later)- after studying diagram a bit more, the #18 hose my not be the one I replaced. There are 2 hoses coming out the side of the reservoir. The are stacked one on top of the other. The one I replaced was the
top one that led to the hydraulic unit at the very top near the firewall. It's marked correctly in my photograph. I realized in the diagram from REALOEM, it looks like #18 is the
bottom outlet on the reservoir. In any case, you can't get them messed up as they are different sizes. The top hose is smaller than the bottom. I just thought I'd add that update.
PM me if you need a BMW OEM steering hose set.