[the_man_in_blue]

2013 328i

There's an undercarriage liner, and an even a harder plastic cover to presumably prevent something like this.







Crossing over some train tracks with a steep grade on the other side at night. Not sure what I ran over, but it hurt. Lowered on H&R Sports, and the M Sport front lip took no damage


Quick search on ebay shows I may be able to buy just the motor?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-F22-F30...rd!91740!US!-1


Best case scenario, the motor itself is fine, but the electronics certainly are not.

1) Can I get the motor off without taking the rack itself out?
2) Any tricks to getting the rack out, if needed? What does that entail?


Shadetree mechanic here with no rush to get the car back on the road, it can sit for a while, I barely drive it anyways.

[Solidjake]

Wow! That sucks big time. Out of all the things that could be hit it was that

[Billfitz]

The motor cannot be replaced, the entire steering rack must be. You may be entitled to a replacement under the terms of the service bulletin/extended warranty on the rack. Contact your dealer. If not it would be covered by your insurance, as it's clearly collision damage.

[the_man_in_blue]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

The motor cannot be replaced, the entire steering rack must be. You may be entitled to a replacement under the terms of the service bulletin/extended warranty on the rack. Contact your dealer. If not it would be covered by your insurance, as it's clearly collision damage.

Not that I don't agree with you, as clearly, there is no part number for the motor itself. But, what about that ebay link?

There a youtube video out there of someone taking the motor off for diagnostics.

Again, very likely waiting until i find a complete steering rack, just curious about the motor option.

[Billfitz]

Do a search here on steering rack. For years the bolts holding the motor to the rack have been failing, to the point that BMW finally had to issue a service bulletin and extended warranty. There have been many threads on the subject. For example:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1469927
Hard to imagine you haven't seen one.

It's very well documented that if the motor fails it cannot be replaced, the entire rack must be replaced, and it must be coded to the car VIN by the dealer or it won't work.

[dvzznts]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Do a search here on steering rack. For years the bolts holding the motor to the rack have been failing, to the point that BMW finally had to issue a service bulletin and extended warranty. There have been many threads on the subject. For example:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1469927
Hard to imagine you haven't seen one.

It's very well documented that if the motor fails it cannot be replaced, the entire rack must be replaced, and it must be coded to the car VIN by the dealer or it won't work.

This is what BMW wants you to believe, however there are rebuilt racks out there for sale. So, if EPS motors are breaking and failing and the only option is to replace the entire rack, then how are racks being rebuilt?

I recently replaced my damaged EPS motor with a rebuilt rack and had it successfully programmed by BMW Programming & Encoding (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaz...xFGuq-aA/about), so it definitely doesn't have to be programmed by the dealer. I studied the old rack and found it rather easy to remove just the motor as it's offset and held on by only 3 torx bolts. It looks like it may be possible to remove the motor directly from the rack without having to remove the entire rack.

F30 racks seem to have been designed with easy removal of the motor in mind but because BMW wants to make as much money as possible, they do not allow selling or servicing of just the motor. In fact, a BMW service advisor told me that the steering rack is the "most expensive single BMW part". Despite costing more than $3000, the connector housing on the back of the motor is made from cheap plastic, easily prone to cracking as well as being placed in a position that is vulnerable to damage (especially water damage).

Has anyone successfully mated an EPS motor from a donor car to their rack? It likely requires more work than simply unbolting/removing the old one and inserting/bolting down another but I believe it can be done. It would be great if someone could debunk this myth that one must replace the entire EPS steering rack...thanks.

Here are pictures of the removal:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...ght=EPS&page=5

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by dvzznts

if EPS motors are breaking and failing and the only option is to replace the entire rack, then how are racks being rebuilt?

I assume from junkyard parts. There is no part number listed anywhere I can find for a new replacement motor.

[dvzznts]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

I assume from junkyard parts. There is no part number listed anywhere I can find for a new replacement motor.

True. Same for the bolts, I believe.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

I assume from junkyard parts. There is no part number listed anywhere I can find for a new replacement motor.

Originally Posted by dvzznts

True. Same for the bolts, I believe.

I think I ran across a EPS kit that included the bolts in BMW's ETK. It may or may not be on RealOEM.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=32_2071

It might be item #13. But even if that's the kit for the recall, it's not going to fix the OP's problem with the EPS.

[Billfitz]

That's not bolts. The bolts that attach the EPS to the rack aren't even numbered. Once BMW was forced to issue the service bulletin and start doing inspections and bolt replacements obviously they had to make the bolts available to dealers, but they haven't made their way to retail yet.

[GlacierF32]

Sorry to revive a dead thread. I recently had a jack slip off the middle jack point and catch on jack stands. The car (2015 435i RWD) fell less than an inch however the flange of the EPS motor cracked and now the motor is held on by only 2 out of the 3 bolts.

The motor is made by Valeo. The part number on the back is V29010262.
Other info on the back of the motor includes: "W3721/C3" as well as ">PBT-GF30".

I took the motor off the rack and repaired the flange. Planning on taking the car to the dealer to program the EPS module as I now have no power steering but hear the electrical motor spinning. The splines on the end of the motor appear to be undamaged as well as the belt that it fits into. Hoping a flash of the EPS and relearn will fix my issue.

From what I've read, it is possible to swap in a used rack or just a motor seperately, however they need to be coded to the car win. There are ways around this with E-SYS, but my dealer shouldn't run into this problem as it is the motor and rack that came in the car.

Will update with more info for anyone having similar problems.

[Dark_knight]

Originally Posted by GlacierF32

Sorry to revive a dead thread. I recently had a jack slip off the middle jack point and catch on jack stands. The car (2015 435i RWD) fell less than an inch however the flange of the EPS motor cracked and now the motor is held on by only 2 out of the 3 bolts.

The motor is made by Valeo. The part number on the back is V29010262.
Other info on the back of the motor includes: "W3721/C3" as well as ">PBT-GF30".

I took the motor off the rack and repaired the flange. Planning on taking the car to the dealer to program the EPS module as I now have no power steering but hear the electrical motor spinning. The splines on the end of the motor appear to be undamaged as well as the belt that it fits into. Hoping a flash of the EPS and relearn will fix my issue.

From what I've read, it is possible to swap in a used rack or just a motor seperately, however they need to be coded to the car win. There are ways around this with E-SYS, but my dealer shouldn't run into this problem as it is the motor and rack that came in the car.

Will update with more info for anyone having similar problems.

I'm defo interested as my F32 2017 430i had a damaged undertray that had let water splatter all over the steering rack. I had no idea it was like that but then on a really wet journey, the dashboard lit up and I intermittently get the heavy steering issue.

I'm in the UK, Northwest based - can anyone recommend a reliable firm to reppace either the whole rack or just the motor and recode?

I saw a firm called ECU Testing who say they can rebuilt it? For £255... they say they can do sensor replacement but I have no idea. Can that be done?

I found that on the real oem website, the "steering gear" part number is two digits less than the "steering box + gear"... e.g. my part look to be 6881032 and 6881034 respectively.

I am either considering a rebuild of my rack or get one from a matching donor car.

Any other help or advice appreciated.

[thephantastic]

Originally Posted by GlacierF32

Sorry to revive a dead thread. I recently had a jack slip off the middle jack point and catch on jack stands. The car (2015 435i RWD) fell less than an inch however the flange of the EPS motor cracked and now the motor is held on by only 2 out of the 3 bolts.

The motor is made by Valeo. The part number on the back is V29010262.
Other info on the back of the motor includes: "W3721/C3" as well as ">PBT-GF30".

I took the motor off the rack and repaired the flange. Planning on taking the car to the dealer to program the EPS module as I now have no power steering but hear the electrical motor spinning. The splines on the end of the motor appear to be undamaged as well as the belt that it fits into. Hoping a flash of the EPS and relearn will fix my issue.

From what I've read, it is possible to swap in a used rack or just a motor seperately, however they need to be coded to the car win. There are ways around this with E-SYS, but my dealer shouldn't run into this problem as it is the motor and rack that came in the car.

Will update with more info for anyone having similar problems.

How did you repair the eps motor flange. Once you did that was it as easy as slipping the motor back in? How did the belt inside sit.

[amlowvolt]

GlacierF32 you never updated the thread. What ended up happening with you steering? Did you get that servo motor programmed to work correctly? I’ve got a similar issue and want to know how yours turned out?