91 - 95 power steering boost

[bruce.weiland]

Friends,

I have driven a few Q's lately. The steeing is much "lighter" than I remembered. To me it feels very over boosted.

Compaired to my 2005 G35 sedan, my wife's 2001 X5 3.0, and my daughter's 95 325i, it is just too light.

OK, with everything else a Q has to offer, I can live with this, But......

As Queen said, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it NOW!"

So, is there a way to decrease the boost. Smaller orifice, smaller pulley, anything?

Thanks for the responses.

Bruce

[Q45tech]

Follow the proceedure in FSM to set Pinion Gear Preload.............within bounds you can set it harder than the 9 pound required steering wheel pressure.

Use an electronic fish scale to accurately determine existing pressure required.

[bruce.weiland]

Thank you

[elwesso]

its probably not a bad idea to reset the pinion preload, im sure it gets really loose after 15 years anyway.

[Q45tech]

The viscosity of PS fluid greatly affects the feel so an external cooler in summer or a thicker ATF [redline high temp] or both along with pinion preload could help fine tune.

Measure the control voltage [St-42] and make sure it is within 1.8- 2.8v [term #7] at 60 mph.

One could TRIM the 1-5 volt signal from speedometer to make steering easier vs speed, not easy to do the opposite.

[elwesso]

Tech, if the steering rack in question is already in spec (as measured with the sliding force), instead of doing the entire process of draining the fluid and all that stuff, could you just loosen the locknut and tighten the adjusting screw a little bit at a time until you get the right preload.... What im saying is measure the sliding force, tighten the screw a little bit, measure again, and keep going until you get it a little tighter....?

it seems to me like the adjustment is to be made after the rack has been taken apart for a rebuild....

[elwesso]

Also something that might be cool is to rig a switch to the PS solenoid so that you can flip the PS off once your moving but turn it back on if you are in a parking lot or somethign where extra assist might be ideal.

[Q45tech]

Just do small increments and make sure the ATF is cold as you don't want to bind [stop it from moving at all and blow a hose from excessive pressure] the rack when it's cold first thing in morning in Feburary.

[elwesso]

Ok thanks tech.. Would you adjust it 9lbs over COLD or a little more COLD (IE just short of binding), so that it would be somewhere in the range of 9lbs over HOT?

And by incriments, were you thinking like 1/4 turn at a time or even less?

[Q45tech]

90 degrees will probably BIND a well adjusted rack.

Tiny 10-15 degree increments..........adjust wait until it's cold and drive.....take a few weeks to get it just right from 4-6 adjustments.

[elwesso]

So I guess in theory, we're trying to get it as tight as possible without binding in the cold weather....?

[elwesso]

I went to try and do this this afternoon, but unfortunately my large wrenches have been misplaced....

[Q45tech]

One of the downsides is increased dampening of steering which makes it harder to feel the onset of rotor warping and tire imbalances.

[maxnix]

I have driven a few Q's lately. The steeing is much "lighter" than I remembered. To me it feels very over boosted.

Compaired to my 2005 G35 sedan, my wife's 2001 X5 3.0, and my daughter's 95 325i, it is just too light.

OK, with everything else a Q has to offer, I can live with this, But......

As Queen said, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it NOW!"

So, is there a way to decrease the boost.

I suggest bigger stickier tires.

I like the boost and feel particularly as it is speed sensitive so as not to be over boosted at high speeds on the highway.