help..steering goes randomly heavy

[sinth]

Hi guys

Need some help please. Basically my m3 has heavy steering in certain situations . if I'm stationary and about to pull left or right it is quite heavy. Also when I approach a junction and brake and turn it goes really heavy .

I've checked fluid and its at the right level.

Thanks

[italyix]

Faulty power steering pump?

[kenwelch]

Slipping drive belt or low on power steering fluid.

[fuddman]

You might check to see if the PS system has a filter, and, if it does, it may be clogged. In other BMWs there is a filter and when it clogs up, it restricts the amount of fluid getting to the pump, in turn, causing intermittent heavy feels in the steering.
That's what I've heard.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by fuddman

You might check to see if the PS system has a filter, and, if it does, it may be clogged. In other BMWs there is a filter and when it clogs up, it restricts the amount of fluid getting to the pump, in turn, causing intermittent heavy feels in the steering.
That's what I've heard.

The filter is built into the reservoir itself, so when I do power steering fluid changes I ask them to replace the reservoir as well; it's about $30 and an incredibly easy swap. OP, how many miles on your car, and have you ever actually changed your power steering fluid? BMW claims it's lifetime (it lasts the lifetime of your power steering system until it fails from dirty fluid ), but I'd change it at around 30K miles. On that subject, coolant is also claimed to be lifetime, but 2 years is a good interval for flushing that.

Given that the problem is intermittent, a pump issue or some other flow problem is probably more likely, but a flush isn't a bad idea if you've got the mileage racked up.

[Vic311]

Originally Posted by italyix

Faulty power steering pump?

+1

It sounds like the pump because the issue happens more at low or idle rpms.

[sinth]

Fluid looks like a dirty brown colour.

Car is on 72k miles now.

[tinman831]

Originally Posted by sinth

Fluid looks like a dirty brown colour.

Car is on 72k miles now.

The fluid should look like green koolaid. Your best bet at this point is to try to flush the fluid and see that cures it.

[sinth]

Originally Posted by tinman831

The fluid should look like green koolaid. Your best bet at this point is to try to flush the fluid and see that cures it.

damn its meant to be green?

mine looks like liquid poo

Ill change this and see how it goes

[MilehighM3]

Are you running an under drive pulley?

[sinth]

Standard car afaik

[Edward]

Do you have heavy keychains causing your key to fall out of position 2? Do you drive a GM?

[sinth]

Whats a gm?

[JetBlack_M3]

Did you end up figuring out the issue? I'm have the same issue at the moment. Steering stiffens up than gets soft seconds apart

[sinth]

Originally Posted by boussi33

Did you end up figuring out the issue? I'm have the same issue at the moment. Steering stiffens up than gets soft seconds apart

Had the power steering pump changed but tbh I drove my cousins car and his steering was soo much lighter than mine. I've sold the car a few years back

[JetBlack_M3]

Originally Posted by sinth

Had the power steering pump changed but tbh I drove my cousins car and his steering was soo much lighter than mine. I've sold the car a few years back

Turned out to be a clogged check valve. It's located on the steering rack. Replaced that and did a flush. It went back to normal!