1 series steering issue - fixed(?)
Discussion
My wife has a 2014 120d Xdrive. It’s been a great car with no real issues to speak of, until recently.
It suddenly developed an issue that the steering wouldn’t self centre, it felt absolute awful at speed, constantly having to adjust the steering to keep centred, very uncomfortable to drive at all.
I consulted a BMW dealer and specialist and they both said it would need a new rack, at £1300+ for an aftermarket one or multiples of this for a BMW One, I wasn’t keen to just do that, so with a very competent mechanic friend recruited, we decided would we would do some digging.
We pulled off the steering column connecting rod and checked the UJs, all fine, checked the top mounts, all fine, hmmmm, maybe it is the rack…..
Thought we would start by checking the slider (quite common to replace these to solve the ‘knocking’ noise on these racks)…
New on the left, old on the right, spot the issue…. So where has that gone.
Pulled the rack out and took it apart very carefully. There it is!
And here’s where it was, stuck in the gear for the electric motor, no wonder it suddenly felt so bloody awful!
All removed, feels as smooth as butter, all carefully reassembled and will be back in the car tomorrow, hopefully with a massive bullet dodged, I wonder how many cars have had thousands of pounds of steering racks for the same issue?!
It suddenly developed an issue that the steering wouldn’t self centre, it felt absolute awful at speed, constantly having to adjust the steering to keep centred, very uncomfortable to drive at all.
I consulted a BMW dealer and specialist and they both said it would need a new rack, at £1300+ for an aftermarket one or multiples of this for a BMW One, I wasn’t keen to just do that, so with a very competent mechanic friend recruited, we decided would we would do some digging.
We pulled off the steering column connecting rod and checked the UJs, all fine, checked the top mounts, all fine, hmmmm, maybe it is the rack…..
Thought we would start by checking the slider (quite common to replace these to solve the ‘knocking’ noise on these racks)…
New on the left, old on the right, spot the issue…. So where has that gone.
Pulled the rack out and took it apart very carefully. There it is!
And here’s where it was, stuck in the gear for the electric motor, no wonder it suddenly felt so bloody awful!
All removed, feels as smooth as butter, all carefully reassembled and will be back in the car tomorrow, hopefully with a massive bullet dodged, I wonder how many cars have had thousands of pounds of steering racks for the same issue?!
Well done on fixing it... Its generally an easy fix and it should be done as a preventative fix too, but folk done do it...
Thats if you have the ThyssenKrupp rack (3 holes on the top cover)
If you have a nut on the top cover (like our F31) it has the ZF rack which doesn't have the issue as much and you can adjust it by turning that top cover a touch etc
Thats if you have the ThyssenKrupp rack (3 holes on the top cover)
If you have a nut on the top cover (like our F31) it has the ZF rack which doesn't have the issue as much and you can adjust it by turning that top cover a touch etc
What the hell??? The one on the right that fell apart is also the 'new' one! Yours has had the upgraded tensioner block fitted at some point. Weird it came apart like that. I suspect whoever did it the first time over tightened it, causing the PTFE pad to break off. Either that or it was just a bad egg.
There is a very complex and drawn out procedure to fit that part using dial and torque measurement gauges. It's a good few hours labour at a dealer and only they have the tools to do it, but in all honest, you can achieve the same results by gradually winding it in over some miles to get the best knocking to feel compromise.
For reference, this is the original tensioning block. I don't think the repair kit came out until 2019 ish.
There is a very complex and drawn out procedure to fit that part using dial and torque measurement gauges. It's a good few hours labour at a dealer and only they have the tools to do it, but in all honest, you can achieve the same results by gradually winding it in over some miles to get the best knocking to feel compromise.
For reference, this is the original tensioning block. I don't think the repair kit came out until 2019 ish.
Yes, it was replaced about 4/5 years ago with the updated part by an ex BMW tech, so I’m putting it down to freak failure of the part.
Happy to report that the car is now back to 100% health, driving like a dream. It cost £100 for the new rack slider and £100 for a wheel alignment then some beer money for my mates help, much more cost effective than the £000’s a new rack would have been!!
Happy to report that the car is now back to 100% health, driving like a dream. It cost £100 for the new rack slider and £100 for a wheel alignment then some beer money for my mates help, much more cost effective than the £000’s a new rack would have been!!
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