BMW 330xi Power Steering

Knocked out some work on this 330xi the other day. The power steering rack was completely blown out, and since it had been driven dry, the pump was also shot. Nearly 200k miles on the clock, it definitely needs some work.

Didn’t get many pictures of the rack R&R as my hands were covered in ATF most of time time, but it involves lowering the subframe down to get access to the rack. Once the subframe is down and suspension components out of the way, there is just enough room to slide it out the driver side.

Here you can see the rack out of the car. Getting to the hose connections is a bugger.

To lower the subframe down, you need to support the engine and loosen the motor mounts to allow enough drop.

And then the pump needed to come out. Running a PS pump dry will kill it quickly.

Coming loose. Eventually it will come up and out the top.

And the pump.

Then the car was throwing a CEL light, which was related to the secondary air injection pump. The pump hose was split in two, so we replaced that as well.

And since the rubber mounts were blown on the pump and it was just sort of flopping around in the engine bay, I fabricated up some new mounts and secured that in place.

After that I started troubleshooting the litronic headlights which were not working. A lot of contact cleaner here and there, re-seating plugs, etc and I *think* I have them fixed.

330XIBMWLitronicsPower Steering PumpRackRennsportKC