[RJ_]

Haven't seen one of these written up in all my searching, so why not be the nice new guy.

Car: E92 335i N54 6MT, Standard steering (Not active)
Symptoms: Grinding, ticking, vibration in steering wheel as you approach full lock, sound is proportional to engine speed but not at the same frequency.
What this covers: Removing and replacing power steering pump and reservoir
Cost: $260 BMW dealer quoted $1400 for a PS Pump replacement. You do your own cost/benefit analysis.

What it sounded like before:
https://youtu.be/IDXhenovImI
Why it was making that noise:
https://youtu.be/5k3fY4U7pkM

Let's get started.


^^^^^ So for those unfamiliar, here's where we're going. Those 3 little bolts in the center.


^^^^^ We'll start by removing the radiator fan and shroud.
Disconnect the power connector by squeezing the tabs and pulling.
Lift connector cable and coolant overflow hose out of tabs on top of shroud.


^^^^^ Remove 1x - T25 torx screw in the upper right corner of the shroud.


^^^^^ Remove the lower IC pipe from its tab on the lower portion of the shroud. To do this, I disconnected the rubber elbow from the lower S-Shaped plastic IC piping. This provided enough movement to pull it off of the shroud.


^^^^^ Pull the plastic retaining tab away on the middle-left side away from the radiator while lifting up on the shroud. This will release the shroud.
Carefully lift the fan/shroud assembly straight up out of the engine bay.
The plastic ribs will want to catch on everything and get stuck. Just be patient and move and rotate things as necessary.


^^^^^ Fan/shroud assembly


^^^^^ So much room for activities


^^^^^ At this point I filled/flushed the system with DEX6 ATF.
The reason was twofold- I wanted to get all of the assumed metal shavings (oh, just wait) out of the system before subjecting the new pump to it.
Also, my old pump leaked out all of the fluid so it was empty as of taking this pic. So I used cheap fluid because it was gonna get dumped anyway.


aside PSA: ATF and CHF11s are fully compatible and DO NOT have any adverse interactions, precipitates, etc. However, the greater proportion of ATF mixed in will reduce the beneficial properties of CHF11s at low temperature. Basically, just make sure it's completely drained.


^^^^^ If you haven't already, put the car on stands and remove the underbody tray. Mine was already off.
Also worth noting, the front crossmember makes a mighty fine lifting point and jackstand location. Fully boxed and tied to structural locations on the car. Bonus: Very stable and reduced loads from a longer moment arm.


^^^^^ Disconnect recirc tube


^^^^^ Removed filter. My hand is sorta covering where the tensioner release is located. You'll want some room here.


^^^^^ Loosen these 2 Torx screws to allow the intake pipe to wiggle a little bit. No need to remove, they seemed captive and were happy to just hang out. You can see the tensioner release in the upper right corner of this picture.


^^^^^ Release tension on the belt using a Torx T60 with a good long ratchet and pull toward the alternator. (Clockwise in this angle)
While tension is off, use your other hand to slip the belt off of the upper tensioner pulley. DO NOT get your hand/fingers between the belt and pulley at any time. If the socket slips, you're gonna have a bad time.


^^^^^ Mark the belt in some manner to indicate direction if you plan to reuse the belt. Remove the belt from the engine.


^^^^^ Position a catch pan and drain PS fluid by loosening the high-pressure feed line and return line. I did both, honestly you may be fine just doing the return, but I wanted to be sure to get all of the fluid. 19mm hex on feed (upper) and 22mm hex return (lower).


^^^^^ Draining. If you're lucky, it will miss the subframe and not make a mess of everything.


^^^^^ Remove PS reservoir now that the system is drained. 2x 10mm hex nuts and washers. Careful, those little aluminum bushings will fall out of the rubber mounts and you will search forever for them. Don't ask.


^^^^^ Release feed and return line hose clamps by simply twisting a screwdriver in the screwdriver-sized gap to pop them loose. Remove lines and the reservoir is free.

RESERVOIR CLEANING


^^^^^ I'd read many times that the reservoir must be replaced, filter is built in, etc. This doesn't have to be the case if you want to save $25. Open it up and remove this small Torx screw that holds the filter in place.


^^^^^ With the filter released, flip it over inside the reservoir; it's too big to completely remove. Mine was loaded with metal shavings and oily residue caked to the metal screen.
Carb cleaner makes satisfyingly quick work of this mess. Spray all of the inside faces of the squirrel cage filter, shake it up, rinse, and repeat as necessary.
Note: Dish soap will get laughed at and WD-40 sorta works but gets everything oily and you'll never get all of it out of the res.


^^^^^ As you can see, the fine metal screen is like new. At this point, flip the squirrel cage over and tighten the single Torx screw. Easy as that.

End Cleaning


^^^^^ Back on the car, remove the rest of the intake piping from the intercooler to throttle body. Remember to wrap it up, don't want strange things in the end of your hose.

Worth noting: that expensive Bentley manual is WRONG (for me) in the next few steps. The following is how my N54 was done.


^^^^^ Remove high pressure line from PS Pump. I used a crescent wrench like so because it faces straight at the frame rail and I couldn't fit any of my ratchet/socket combos in there.
Bentley shows the high pressure line facing directly toward the ground.



^^^^^ Bentley also says to remove the feed line. This is probably possible if the pump were rotated 90 degrees like their picture, but this is flat out impossible to reach. No problem though, we'll just remove the pump with the feed line attached. Remember, it's free from the reservoir.


^^^^^ Remove 2x E12 external Torx front PS Pump mounting screws. (Already removed)


^^^^^ Remove the final E12 external Torx screw at the rear of the pump on the side of the engine. Detail shown below.
Bentley is also different here. They show 2x E12 screws to the side of the engine and an additional bracket holding an AC line.


^^^^^ This is how I removed the last mounting bolt. You're looking to the front of the car and seeing the back of the PS Pump. It's tough to reach, but not bad. If you have the car on a lift, you can probably get it from underneath.


^^^^^ Pump is free and can be lifted up and out.


^^^^^ asdf


^^^^^ Bummer. Original pulley so who knows how long it's been this way. Miracle it hadn't shredded a belt and god forbid taken out the main seal. 2007: Never Forget. Ordered an aluminum replacement.


^^^^^ Reman'd OEM pump


^^^^^ I found it amusing it had the same build date as my car.


^^^^^ Separate pulley from pump if you haven't already. Might want to use some penetrating oil to break up the rust if it's really stuck and go slow working your way around. Or say screw that stupid plastic pulley and bash it off like it deserves.


^^^^^ Remove the mounting brackets from your old pump to swap to your new pump. 5x Torx T40 screws.


^^^^^ Reinstall the feed hose onto the pump and secure the hose clamp. The white line matches up with the notch on the inlet. (And the arrow end matches the arrow on the reservoir. Idiotproof.)


^^^^^ Replace the brackets on your new pump like so. The front only fits one way, however, the rear bracket can be flipped. Spare yourself the cursing and struggle, I already did it for you. See below for how not to do it.

XXX THIS IS THE WRONG WAY FOR REFERENCE ONLY XXX

^^^^^ THIS IS WRONG.
XXX THIS IS THE WRONG WAY FOR REFERENCE ONLY XXX


^^^^^ Remember to remove the old crush washer from your high pressure line banjo bolt and replace with new ones. Bolt => Crush Washer => Line => Crush Washer => PS Pump.

Installation is the reverse of removal.

[ctuna]

Dude I appreciate that you did a DIY but Why are the pictures so big
in relation to the text. Also is that a can of ATF you are putting in the
car because on the label for the reservoir it clearly says that is not the
right fluid.
Ok you used the Dexron as flush.
Is the power steering better now and how many miles
did you have on the car?

[RJ_]

Yeah... I didn't want to take the time to resize them, mainly because I don't know any quick way to do it. So they're just 10MP straight off the camera. I was kinda hoping the forum would auto resize. Oops. If you don't maximize the browser window they scale to fit the available screen.

And as for the ATF, I did it basically to save ~$7 because I knew it was coming right back out in the flush. I filled it back up with CHF11s on the reinstall.

Plus it gave me a reason to answer this question and point out to everyone that it is perfectly safe to do so.

[RJ_]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Ok you used the Dexron as flush.
Is the power steering better now and how many miles
did you have on the car?

The car has 85k on it.

I'm waiting on the replacement aluminum pulley now, so I haven't driven it.
Although, I did start it up with the belt disconnected and it's amazing how much better it sounds without the blown pump spinning.

[Agent11br]

Thanks for the great DIY fellow Michigander!

[RJ_]

Originally Posted by Agent11br

Thanks for the great DIY fellow Michigander!

I appreciate it!

One week follow-up:

- The steering is quiet and smooth lock-to-lock.

- The Hamburg-Technic aluminum PS pulley purchased from ECS works as expected. It isn't lightweight or optimized for strength-to-weight by any means, but I don't care; it's never going to break and damage my engine.*

*Dimensions were identical to stock, on the high side of tolerances. Machined belt surface was clean and smooth. Cast face showed some porosity, but there's definitely plenty of factor of safety on it that I wouldn't worry about it.

[AndyW]

Necroing this thread to ask a question...what type of torx bit did you use to get the center (of three) on the front bracket? I can't get mine in there without an angle that risks rounding it off. Thx!

Update: Nevermind...ordered this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[AndyW]

And then the replacement P/S pump came with the brackets attached...lol. Oh well, new tools are always fun...

[blacktj15]

Just joined to thank you RJ!

Quick note if the N54 is an auto, the transmission cooler will be connected to the bottom driver's side of the fan in step 1 and it'll be in your way most of the time. One can still manage to squeeze it out right next to it though using this walkthrough!

[tadaska]

Awesome! Loving nice big clear pictures