power steering hose replacement

[4byr]

OK, here we go again. One more challenge. It appears the leaks I have, may be attributed to the power steering hose or hoses. I see fluid up near the head so one of the hoses with the heat shield has given it up. The hose that I think has given it up is the front one on the resevoir that feeds the pump. The hoses at the resevoir have new clamps and are clean so there is no leak at the top. How much of a problem is this one or the other to replace? I really need some help on this one. I just finished replacing two broken motor mounts (driver side was absolutely soaked with oil and or fluid). The new one on this side is now soaked again with transmission fluid. I havn't even started the beast yet! I was in the middle of a big job with injectors and intake manifold now to find I am deeper! It is only money.... The hose has the heat sheild on it. Does anyone have simple replacement instructions. Is anything simple on these things?

Rich

[Unregistered]

The hoses on my 94 530 were leaking as well. After looking into to doing it myself, I gave up and reluctantly went to the dealer...a bit pricey but worth it to have them do it. Unfortunately, I let the resevoir run a bit low too many times and now the pump is a bit noisy. So one day, I'll prbably get into replacing it.

You mentioned the motor mounts.....I need to do mine. The drivers rotted away from all the damn power steering fluid.....it craked and leaked all the fluid out....I thought I had an oil leak, only to find out it was the motor mount. Did you replace yours yourself? They look like a pain in the rear to get to. From the bottom they look easy enough, but how do you get to the top bolt?

Any help at all would be appreciated.

Mark
94 530i

[callen]

how much did the dealer charge?

callen 91 535i 94 530i 5spds

The hoses on my 94 530 were leaking as well. After looking into to doing it myself, I gave up and reluctantly went to the dealer...a bit pricey but worth it to have them do it. Unfortunately, I let the resevoir run a bit low too many times and now the pump is a bit noisy. So one day, I'll prbably get into replacing it.

You mentioned the motor mounts.....I need to do mine. The drivers rotted away from all the damn power steering fluid.....it craked and leaked all the fluid out....I thought I had an oil leak, only to find out it was the motor mount. Did you replace yours yourself? They look like a pain in the rear to get to. From the bottom they look easy enough, but how do you get to the top bolt?

Any help at all would be appreciated.

Mark
94 530i

[Unregistered]

how much did the dealer charge?

callen 91 535i 94 530i 5spds

Way too much.....it was about $460 including the hoses....OUCH. It was at that point I decided to try working on this thing!

[4byr]

I did the mounts myself and it wasn't too bad until I got to the driver side install. If you are going to do one, do them both. They are easy enough but.... You will need a few very long extensions. I was able to scrounge up 3 extensions and a universal from my collection. You need at least 20-25 inches in length. I just used the 3/8 inch drive. The 1/2 is too large! You'll see when you get to the driver side. Some cursing of the engineers is coming. First thing is unfasten the ground strap off the passenger side. This is pretty easy. The second nut isn't too bad also but is a tough one (use some penetrating oil first). You get at the top of these through the engine compartment. By the way, both of my mounts came out split in pieces. They were wasted, one (driver side) with oil, the other passenger was clean but completely twisted. The bottom nuts are two different sizes and come off easy. While you are on your back, unscrew both the driver and passenger side at the same time. Note or mark the hole location and line up! There are 4 holes there and these use two plus a guide pin. BY THE WAY. MAKE SURE YOU ARE SUPPORTING THE MOTOR FROM THE OIL PAN. I put a 1x3x12 on top of a sturdy bottle jack and lifted the motor slightly. OK, now that you have the easy ones done, take a breather. The driver side is an absolute beast! I had to weave my way between the brake resevoir to ease the length of the socket down to the top of the mount. You cannot put your hands on this at all so it is by feel and braille. You will need a small flashlight to highlight the nut on the post of the mount and then unscrew. It is not easy! Trust me when I say you cannot get a hand on it. Once this is loose lift the motor about 21/2 to 3 inches and work out the mounts. They do come out without removing the power steering pump. Trust me. I did it last night. What a bitch! Once you get them out the install is fairly straight forward. At least for the passenger side. make sure you get this lined up and then lightly tighen the top nut. The driver side is incredible. jack up the motor a bit more until you can get two fingers with the nut on top of the mount attachment, then insert the stud into the hole and pray that the stud and nut line up and you are able to spin the mount to get the nut started. With me the nut slipped for 15 minutes until I finally contorted my fingers enough to get it started. Trust me you are not done! Once you get both top nuts finger tight slowly lower the motor and make sure the alignment of the mounts are in the right holes as it lowers. This is the easy part. Fasten and torque the nut to spec on both sides and take another breather. You now have to tighten the nut on the top drivers side and you can barely see it. I did mine at dusk so I could use the flashlight and wasn't blinded by sun. insert the long socket wrench with a swivel in through the same area and fish around until you find it. It took me over an hour (with frustration breaks) to finally get the socket on and tightened. As I was now overjoyed and feeling quite good about things I retracted the socket only to find that I did not reverse the socket to take the fit off the nut and pulled out the extensions with the universal and the socket still attached. This is what I look forward to tonight. Along with a good beer! Tyring to get this socket off should take an hour!

Back to my problem...I need to replace the power steering hoses. Do you know if it is doable?

If you need someone to talk you through it you can call me and I will try to help. Send me a number and we can try to hook up.

Rich

[Unregistered]

Rich,

Boy oh boy, am I in for a good time. Actually my girlfriend and I.....she volunteered to help......and she's more patient than I am.

Sounds like a royal pain in the ass. But I'm going to give it a try........and after reading your ordeal, I must be either or just plain stupid. I took a good look and the passenger side looks straight forward, But I couldn't even see the top of the drivers side.

Do the mounts come out the bottom or the top? Also, what are the torque specs? I looked in the Bentley book, but couldn't find anything on the motor mounts......either that or I just didn't look that well.

So I'm planning to do these Sunday

Now for your hoses, I'm sure it's doable, but from some of the postings I've seen here about them, they are worse to do than the motor mounts. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

If you want, you can send your # to my e-mail:

mark.snyder@infineon.com

Take care,

Mark

[4byr]

The motor mounts come out the bottom. The passenger side is easy. Just need to jack it up enough. The driver side you need to jack up a bit more. Be careful you don’t crush anything on the top side! One of the problem areas could be the coolant reservoir or hoses. This process is going to move them a bit.

Definitely fun! I would keep the involvement to a minimum with your girlfiend (if you want to keep her). The driver side is a one person job in that you can’t fit your hands on the top of the bolt to guide the socket and too many hands in the area around the brake reservoir is another problem. Defineately do not do this in bright sunlight! You can’t see the nut on the mount. Use a small flashlight to look into the area. Trust me you can see the nut but it is only in about a 2 inch field of view. One way or the other and you won’t see it. It is there underneath the power steering hoses in line with the brake reservoir and master cylinder. I found that by sticking the long set of socket extensions with the swivel on the bottom that it does fit in there. As soon as the socket shaft goes in it is more difficult to see. You will need one of those handy tool extractors that looks like a claw in the event you drop the socket or a portion of the extension. These are the thumb actuated extractors that can pick up lost screws and tools in tight areas?
If you don’t have one, buy one or you may have an ex girlfriend. We don’t want that.

Good luck,

Rich

[4byr]

I was able to get one of the hoses off last night and even completed the install. It was tough but with some ingenuity I got it done. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be but it was probably the easy one. I know this one was leaking as the flex hose was loose at the rigid connection and it was wet. Albeit I had to nearly remove the alternator again to see in there. These cars are definitely trying to work on. The other hoses appear to be in an absolutely awful place that looks like the steering unit needs to be removed to replace. I am praying that I found the culprit or the next replacement is going to be downright unpleasant. It is probably easier to remove the engine and replace it all.

Good luck with the mounts. They are just about as challenging as the hose was.

Rich

[Elekta]

Dude's get a reputable indy to do this for you. The hoses on the v8 are tight, and they jump a little when you turn, especially in a hard cornering situation.

If not reassembled exactly right, they can arc onto your alternator, fry your voltage regulator, and smoke your battery, and your positive cables. The even caused a small engine fire on top of the cover. A true spincter 10 moment.

This can happen even when you don't do the work yourself....<cue music to "don't ask me why...I done toldja"

you need a warranty on this type of work. Those hoses are real close to the alternator and that's all I can tell you. I had mine replaced by Terry in Austin, and his guys did a great job. 6 mos later,I went cheapo and got a battery and electric place to replace my bosch alternator....EOS they did it twice, and I still had to have their work looked over after the second alternator and second $100 battery. I believe my horror story is in the old archives, and I know there was at least one 530 owner who said it happened to his wife, left her crying and stranded by the side of the road. The smoke coming from under the backseat is hair raising indeed.

unless you are a whiz shadetree mechanic, or have the straight sixer

...my $.02 when it comes to power steering hoses

[Travelfeet]

Right down to losing the socket on the top nut when trying to pull everything off. Do yourself a favor and slap a layer of duct tape on each connection between your socket and ratchet then jam everything together. Its the only way to be sure you can retieve it all after you've torqued the top nut down. What is the torque spec you might ask, right. good and tight, good luck trying to get an acurate reading with 4 joints between your wrench and the socket...