E34 530 540 power steering heavy

[632 Regal]

image 2 looks partially like the sinister holding clips for the rear mudflaps

My fingers hurt just thinking about them.

[632 Regal]

Update, I think the petroleum jelly is getting tired. Need to upgrade to lithium and get more than 1 year out of it. The summer didn't seem to make a difference although I'm pretty sure it has no lube now.

[632 Regal]

Well the vasoline is still working, don't fix it if it aint broke.

[genphreak]

Well the vasoline is still working, don't fix it if it aint broke.

Maybe something is lost in translation, here in Oz, Vaseline is petroleum jelly.



The right grease for the job (conductive and high melting point) is probably referred to as 'Carbon Grease'. Not sure if it is what BMW uses on these contacts exactly, but it is probably something like this.

For non-conductive greases, attached below are some summaries of the main properties/types:

[632 Regal]

Maybe something is lost in translation, here in Oz, Vaseline is petroleum jelly.

That's the stuff. All I had at the time.

[Jazz_89]

Nice thread..BTW I used Liqui Moly ATF III on my E34, when I emptied the steering lines. I hope this wasn't the wrong one.

[genphreak]

Nice thread..BTW I used Liqui Moly ATF III on my E34, when I emptied the steering lines. I hope this wasn't the wrong one.

Fine for any of the 4 speed autos- and some of the 5 speeders too, (HP18EH) with the black ID plate. If you have green plate, you need to use the BMW lifetime (or appropriate synthetic*) fluids.

* Meaning they meet the published BMW/ZF fluid specs

LiquiMoly make very good lubes- your tranny should like that stuff, just make sure you do several changes- to have a hope of getting rid of the older fluid.

[632 Regal]

Update a couple years later...

Stiff steering back when real cold, turn signal sticking with the wheel and moving when turning. Christmas day and 70 degrees, perfect to check this out and lube it proper this time. Took it all apart and as mentioned above the vasoline (petrolium jelly) was virtually non existant. Not sure why its so tight but took it apart and used lithium grease under the brass clamp. Since it isn't cold can't be positive it is fixed yet. Almost broke that airbag connector that I hot glued. This isn't real easy to do without pulling wires while removing the wheel etc. Patence is not me forte, if I had patients I am in the wrong business.

Here is a picture I stole off the net of the brass clamp thing I failed to photo myself but shows exactly whats up:



If you look under that knife there is an access slot for a small screwdriver which is what I did. All you need to do is clean the brass deal and the plastic it rides against and then lube it up. Amazing such a small thing can cause such a big drag issue and noise in turning the wheel but it does.

[632 Regal]

Lithium is way to heavy below 35F, it causes the slip ring to pop out of position and pull the airbag wire out. Cleaned it up and just put a small amount on it. Still seems tight at 60F. Not sure what I want to do yet. Might just put it together to see how it works in the cold, might be that petroleum jelly is slipperier... might use pet jelly again cause I had no issue last winter and it was much colder then. Yep that's what I'm going to use.

[632 Regal]

Did the trick, no problems at all in the cold like it did with lithium.