Hi folks, as above it looks like my power steering cooler has a bad leak, I’ve lots of fluid dripping from below the radiator.
I can’t find a write up or you tube video in how to do this job, and was wondering if any of you guys had done yours. I can’t see how to get to it without possibly pulling the front bumper off to get a better look.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Car is a 2006 3.0D
Not joined yet? Register for free and enjoy features such as alerts, private messaging and viewing latest posts and topics.
Power Steering cooler leaking
Power Steering cooler leaking
Pull the bumper off its quite easy.
Power Steering cooler leaking
Hi, yes, it looks like bumper off, electric fan off in order to expose the passenger side plastic clip which holds the rad to the condenser, possibly intercooler removal, difficult to tell until it’s exposed.
I would have thought with the age of these cars that it would have been a common problem but it appears not.
I’ll take some pictures along the way and do a mini write up if it helps anyone else.
Thanks
I would have thought with the age of these cars that it would have been a common problem but it appears not.
I’ll take some pictures along the way and do a mini write up if it helps anyone else.
Thanks
Power Steering cooler leaking
Thought I’d update this just in case someone has a similar problem.
Firstly a removed the bumper, front fan then air con radiator, that’s when I realised that the power steering cooler has to be removed from the engine side not the bumper side, unless you know it’s not obvious!! So you only have to remove the radiator
Once the radiator was out the cooler slides out.
The 2 pipes going to the power steering cooler have to be removed in a very specific way, they’re plastic rings with 4 quadrants, the whole ring has to be pushed back evenly so that all 4 parts of it are pushed back flush.
There’s a special tool, I didn’t have one so gently used small vice grips some ingenuity and some terrible language to get them released, I used lots of WD40 don’t know if that helped but they were a bitch to release. Be very careful not to snap that plastic ring or you’ll probably then need to replace the entire hose. Having the entire front end removed really helped.
A new cooler from BMW was around £78, I thought it would have been more as a 16 year old grubby second hand one is £55
While I had the entire front end of the car stripped off I changed the belts and pulleys, this is an easy job with so much access, removed and cleaned the EGR valve as well, it was very coked up!
Fitted a new water pump and thermostat also as the car wasn’t previously heating up properly, the new thermostat fixed that, the water pump though was in great condition, it’s not a plastic impeller on these cars, though for peace of mind!
Firstly a removed the bumper, front fan then air con radiator, that’s when I realised that the power steering cooler has to be removed from the engine side not the bumper side, unless you know it’s not obvious!! So you only have to remove the radiator
Once the radiator was out the cooler slides out.
The 2 pipes going to the power steering cooler have to be removed in a very specific way, they’re plastic rings with 4 quadrants, the whole ring has to be pushed back evenly so that all 4 parts of it are pushed back flush.
There’s a special tool, I didn’t have one so gently used small vice grips some ingenuity and some terrible language to get them released, I used lots of WD40 don’t know if that helped but they were a bitch to release. Be very careful not to snap that plastic ring or you’ll probably then need to replace the entire hose. Having the entire front end removed really helped.
A new cooler from BMW was around £78, I thought it would have been more as a 16 year old grubby second hand one is £55
While I had the entire front end of the car stripped off I changed the belts and pulleys, this is an easy job with so much access, removed and cleaned the EGR valve as well, it was very coked up!
Fitted a new water pump and thermostat also as the car wasn’t previously heating up properly, the new thermostat fixed that, the water pump though was in great condition, it’s not a plastic impeller on these cars, though for peace of mind!