My question is regarding some play in my steering wheel. When I first picked up the car, there was similar play (maybe an inch or two, pretty unnerving during driving) that I diagnosed as the drag link (ball joint that connects to the pitman arm at the steering box. I replaced the drag link and the play in the steering was seemingly gone. Since then, I've driven the car maybe 5 times for 10 minutes at a time. There is, now, play in the wheel, and looking down at the steering box, moving the wheel (at least the amount that there is slop) isn't moving the pitman arm much. I'm confident it isn't drag link, idler arm, tie-rods, and that the play is almost for sure in either the steering box itself or the pitman arm. NOTE this is while the motor is turned OFF. So my long-winded question is: could the steering box get noticeably looser after maybe 50 minutes of driving? The fact that it was (at least to my recollection, and maybe it was just noticeably better than it was when the drag link was bad) seemingly better has me a little confused.
** A few additional symptoms that may or may not be related:
1) driving at slow speeds, turning the wheel is very difficult, I assumed something with the power steering wasn't working. I checked the fluid (it appears fine). In my garage, I restarted the car and, low and behold, I can hear that the power steering is working seemingly correctly. Maybe the PO overtightened the box because he thought that was the cause of the slop? Looking at the top of the ZF box, it doesn't look like it's been touched.
2) there's a clicking that sounds like it's coming from the locking cylinder inside the car. if you crank the wheel to the right (key not installed), I can get it to make a little noise that sounds like the "key in ignition but door open" buzz. The PO said he replaced the lock cylinder so maybe he did something wrong.
Thanks in advance!
Steering Rack/Column Woes
Re: Steering Rack/Column Woes
The clicking sound is not normal, so I would investigate that first. Maybe the locking cylinder, indicator return or something else is getting caught, jamming and causing the symptoms you're seeing. If you mark the alignment of the steering wheel yoke, you can pull the whole steering column off fairly easily to get a closer look at it on your bench.
Then you can see if the problem still remains, or what it turns into. With recirculating ball steering people usually tighten up the screw at the top of the box as the first thing they try, and that's rarely the cause of play. Too loose and it will cause some play but too tight and the gears are grinding against each other, wearing them down and breaking off bits of metal to float around the system. Maybe it's getting looser as it warms up, but I'd say it's not adjusted right and once you've eliminated everything else, adjust it according to the factory specs. You also have a rubber damper connecting the two shafts underneath the brake booster - check that that hasn't deteriorated as that will introduce play.
Also, most steering boxes have a weird trait - there won't be play dead on center if adjusted right, but there will be play side to side as the teeth are spaced further apart so that steering is more accurate at center like on freeway but faster on the turns (for parking). This is intentional, as the idea is the car will be pulling hard against the direction so the play won't be felt. This play doesn't matter in the real world but it will show up if you're trying to adjust the box, so only adjust it with the steering wheel dead on center and rotating the steering wheel at most 90 degrees either direction.
Then you can see if the problem still remains, or what it turns into. With recirculating ball steering people usually tighten up the screw at the top of the box as the first thing they try, and that's rarely the cause of play. Too loose and it will cause some play but too tight and the gears are grinding against each other, wearing them down and breaking off bits of metal to float around the system. Maybe it's getting looser as it warms up, but I'd say it's not adjusted right and once you've eliminated everything else, adjust it according to the factory specs. You also have a rubber damper connecting the two shafts underneath the brake booster - check that that hasn't deteriorated as that will introduce play.
Also, most steering boxes have a weird trait - there won't be play dead on center if adjusted right, but there will be play side to side as the teeth are spaced further apart so that steering is more accurate at center like on freeway but faster on the turns (for parking). This is intentional, as the idea is the car will be pulling hard against the direction so the play won't be felt. This play doesn't matter in the real world but it will show up if you're trying to adjust the box, so only adjust it with the steering wheel dead on center and rotating the steering wheel at most 90 degrees either direction.
1979 528i - Sold