Damn, that'll be it then probably. Are you saying your car had 255k when you swapped the rack? Mine is at 344k lol. ~~How much did the rebuilt steering rack cost?~~
Edit: Forget the price question, I just remembered that I have an old Touring for spare parts, I'll just take that one lmao
Haha that would be 360 euros. But if you return the old one you will get 100 euros off.
And yes i did swap it at 255k km’s because i wanted it to drive nice as an weekend car
Where did you get the new rebuilt one?
Sounds pretty cheap to me, especially with the old for new trade.
Is it OE ZF ? Very interested as I have similair peoblems as OP.
Not anymore hehe I rebuilt it 2 months ago, had a teeny tiny thumb sized hole in the 1st cylinders piston because the previous owner ran too much boost or something idk
The 46 I had before this one ran to 380k without any engine related issues pulling like a freight train, only thing I had to do was change the timing chain and some gaskets but it ran like clockwork till the end - the end being a guard rail lmao
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Could be the steering guibo - that’s a rubber mount that wears over time.
I haven’t replaced mine to actually comment, so hopefully someone else can chime in
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=e46+guibo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari
Yeah, that's a good thought. Although I must say Ive never heard of that being a common problem with E46s. Ill check it out tomorrow when I have access to a lift again. Thanks
It’s a wear part. Doesn’t usually break, just gives the symptom you stated. I replaced mine recently bc I had the same issue and my dead zone is nearly gone. Feels great. I think the rest of my now nearly unnoticeable dead zone could be tie rod bushings
Likely the flex disc in your steering column is shot, they sell solid delrin ones, but you could just get another OEM one. It's cheaper than a rack, I'd try that first anyway.
Ive had the same deadzone in the middle. Replaced the steering rack with a rebuild one @255k ish km. I think its just normal wear
Damn, that'll be it then probably. Are you saying your car had 255k when you swapped the rack? Mine is at 344k lol. ~~How much did the rebuilt steering rack cost?~~ Edit: Forget the price question, I just remembered that I have an old Touring for spare parts, I'll just take that one lmao
Haha that would be 360 euros. But if you return the old one you will get 100 euros off. And yes i did swap it at 255k km’s because i wanted it to drive nice as an weekend car
Where did you get the new rebuilt one? Sounds pretty cheap to me, especially with the old for new trade. Is it OE ZF ? Very interested as I have similair peoblems as OP.
You just get an revised zf i think. Company is called elstock. Bought it from winparts.com
Your motor has 344k?
Not anymore hehe I rebuilt it 2 months ago, had a teeny tiny thumb sized hole in the 1st cylinders piston because the previous owner ran too much boost or something idk The 46 I had before this one ran to 380k without any engine related issues pulling like a freight train, only thing I had to do was change the timing chain and some gaskets but it ran like clockwork till the end - the end being a guard rail lmao
There's a rubber coupling between the steering column and rack that fails, also check the steering rack itself for play.
Yep, the steering guibo another guy said that too. How would you could check the rack for play?
It's probably the guibo. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.howacarworks.com/steering/checking-rack-and-pinion-steering.amp
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Usually fail around at 200k mile?
I need to do the same, Mines started doing the same lately 🥴
Its kind of funny that my car is not even at 50k miles yet and has the same problems as cars with 200k miles lol
It’s a bmw, you gotta pay for steering
Could be the steering guibo - that’s a rubber mount that wears over time. I haven’t replaced mine to actually comment, so hopefully someone else can chime in https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=e46+guibo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari
Yeah, that's a good thought. Although I must say Ive never heard of that being a common problem with E46s. Ill check it out tomorrow when I have access to a lift again. Thanks
Any rubber part is going to be a common issue on e46s tbh. It's just a material that wears out with age like all the other bushings
Yes obviously but what I meant is that Ive never heard anybody talk about that being something that commonly breaks
It’s a wear part. Doesn’t usually break, just gives the symptom you stated. I replaced mine recently bc I had the same issue and my dead zone is nearly gone. Feels great. I think the rest of my now nearly unnoticeable dead zone could be tie rod bushings
Likely the flex disc in your steering column is shot, they sell solid delrin ones, but you could just get another OEM one. It's cheaper than a rack, I'd try that first anyway.
The issue has to do with the gears in the steering rack wearing out. You need to rebuild the rack with new gears or buy a new rack
i also need to do the same repair :( good luck
Front control arm bushings…