Sooo, garage might try a fast one

Adam said:
If it's as bad as you suggest, how come you didn't notice it on the test drive?
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It's not bad enough to notice just leaving the car park.

The amount of force feels like the wheel has a large stone stuck on it, that after the resistance patch, has pushed past the stone. If that makes sense? Like a brick in the way. There are a few spots like that when turning right. The test drive was down a road, into a petrol station, do a u turn and back up again. I was busy focusing on testing electronics and listening for noises to feel if the steering had an issue.

I noticed it on the way home, the more I drove, the more suspicious I became. The next morning, I gave my mate a call and asked him to jump in the drivers seat, I had to tell him in the carpark where to look out for and then he agreed. There was indeed an issue.

It's not bad enough to notice straight away until you realise it's there. There are no knocks, grinds or crunches when turning, it's entirely normal, no excessive whine from power steering. All seems normal. It's simply the feedback, as though there is crap on the steering rack.
 
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Not sure what you mean by random points but old crappy power steering fluid could cause your issues.

It's really easy to flush aswel. Materials would be a tenner and you just need some pliers and a Phillips screw driver.
 
pepsilol said:
Not sure what you mean by random points but old crappy power steering fluid could cause your issues.

It's really easy to flush aswel. Materials would be a tenner and you just need some pliers and a Phillips screw driver.
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I'm no expert but the fluid it's self, isn't it a loop from and to the res? Thus, if it was crap fluid, the spots I describe would be at random points through the turning circle, left and right no?

Or is it sort of a push pull thing? As in, like brakes, the fluid gets to the bleed nipple and pretty much sits in the same position throughout it's life until you re bleed it?

If so, then yea, I see how it could cause the issues I describe.
 
Well, maybe they will automatically replace the fluid and it will solve all issues, who knows! I really hope so as it will save both parties a lot of fuss if so.
 
Regular repeatable spots where the steering goes funny sounds like either damaged power assist (maybe corrosion on the wall of the rack at that point, which the piston seals get caught up on/leak past), failure of some control component in the hydraulic circuit, or maybe a busted/snagging universal joint between the rack & steering wheel.

I'd guess the garage will stick some of that power steering quick fix fluid in it.
 
agnes said:
Ultimate worse case scenario is I take the car back, with the info the steering rack has a fault.

I pay £125 for a reconditioned unit (correct price) and get my local to fit it. Overall, not a large hole in my pocket. Whilst they have the car on the lift, they can also replace gearbox and engine oil, saves me the job.
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They pay, not you!

I'm surprised you seem happy to accept that you'll be doing this at your expense, this is entirely wrong.
As I alluded to earlier, you've paid a considerable premium for the car by buying it from this dealer,that premium is what gives you come back and him the obligation to sort such a fault out for you.

I hope your back at the garage soon and arranging them to fix it or refund a sizeable chunk of the purchase price.
 
agnes said:
a lashing for buying an old beemer.
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Only because we've all got experience of exactly that - there is a wonderful 2001 530i parked outside which I absolutely love and which I will try and treasure for ever but it became a tedious annoyance to run as a daily driver. These are old cars now - if they were Ford's or Vauxhall's they'd be £500 bangers with no expectations but because it says BMW on it people wade into purchasing them for ridiculous amounts of money* and expect everything to be dandy.

* Yes, ridiculous amounts of money. I don't care what they are up for on Autotrader or what other people who don't think before buying are prepared to pay for them but £3000 for a 14 year old E46 SE is just absolutely bonkers. It is not 'like new' as you so confidently professed before, it was never going to be 'like new', the only 14 year old cars that are 'like new' are those weird garage queens with 200 miles on. It's an old BMW - a lovely car, no doubt, but an old BMW it remains and you will spend most of your ownership chasing niggles - the only surprise here is that it's begun so soon after purchase.

You bought it within 2 hours of deciding you wanted a car - how you could possibly have learnt enough to purchase a car like this in that short time I've no idea - and to not even take it for a proper test drive strikes me as madness. Heck the cheaper the car the MORE IMPORTANT a proper test drive is! The only car I've ever not bothered to test drive properly was the most expensive one I'd ever bought (And guess what, it took all of the drive home to realise I hated it, moral in that story).

If you have an opportunity to use any rights you might have to convince the dealer to take it back, do so. Then spend your £3k on something else. Or if you really want a 14 year old SE E46, buy one for £1500 and use the other £1500 to fix all the irritating foibles.

This dealer has paid 1200 quid max for this car, he has significant margin in it to allow for just this sort of eventuality.
 
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If the seller is offering a refund then snap his arm off, that was definitely too much to pay for the car.

If you really want it fixed, it might not be the steering rack itself; the universal joints on the steering column can get fouled if the engine mountings have broken or sagged with aged.
 
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