[ngng]

Just got back from a drive in today in my GFs 335i. On the offramp on heading home she started to feel some resistance in the steering wheel. As we got closer to home, we could hear an audible whine that correlated with the RPMs.

My initial thought was power steering belt (not sure if the E90 has one) may have snapped or a PS line blew off and the noise was from the pump, but it appears that the power steering is still working. I looked under the car and noticed fluid stains originating from the area near the driver side axle. There is a lot of fluid all over the underbody.

I touched some of the fluid and it is a slippery, yellow tinged hydraulic fluid. Any ideas? I have no experience with BMWs, but have worked on all my cars in the past. She has the Powertrain Plus warranty, and we're hoping whatever it is, will be covered in it. Unfornuate, just last month some vacuum hoses cracked on the wastegate and BMW wanted $500 for it :/

Here's a crappy photo I took in the garage of the fluid origination point.

[ngng]

Here's a photo of the fluid color, the black isn't oil, it's just the dirt off of the underbody aero.

[S4to335]

Jonathan...I think it is power steering...check the reservoir first...like I said, if you turn the wheel full right or left..the sound should get worse if it is PS. Remember, request Richard Vijay at Stevens Creek BMW.

[Express]

PS for sure.

[ngng]

I'll check when I get home. Now the question is, does the PS fluid + parts cost more than $50?

[ngng]

I checked the reserverior and didn't find any leaks at the two lines, so I put the car up on stands and removed the underbody aero. Nearly all of the PS fluid was collected on the underbody panels...now I smell like burnt toast

After I had the panels removed, I was able to trace the source of the the leak to a decoupled power steering hose to the a hard connector at the front of the car; I'm guessing it's the PS cooler? I'm not sure if it's the feed, or return, but I think it's the
feed line (#11 in the photo). It's the upper hose.



Anyhow, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with BMW corporate to verify the PS lines are indeed covered under the warranty. Gonna send this guy over to BMW of Fremont...BMW Stevens Creek is an absolute joke.

For future reference, any ideas WHY the hose popped off?

[Bartman619]

Looks like the hose just happened to slip of the cooler. Good thing its covered under warranty.

[John 070]

Interesting, I didn't even know we had a ps cooler. Didn't a guy just get an outrageous quote for a new PS pump out of warranty? One would think the cooler would prolong its life. I just checked he was quoted $1467 for a new pump.

[hmmcolor]

Electronic steering in the F30 is gonna fix all of this

[ngng]

Originally Posted by Bartman619

Looks like the hose just happened to slip of the cooler. Good thing its covered under warranty.

That's very odd to me, it's a quick disconnect, and it's the same as some fuel lines (if I've read correctly). No way in hell it should just "slip off"! Perhaps a defective coupler?

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by hmmcolor

Electronic steering in the F30 is gonna fix all of this

Only if you consider a numb steering feel as a fix.

Tom