power steering pump

Hi,
Just rebuilt my power steering pump on my '89 6er this weekend. Did all pumping and bleeding stuff, and everything seems okay. Today on the way to work, the power steering growl came back, pull off the freeway, and shut off the engine. Pop the hood and looked, didn't see any leaks at first, and it seemed like it was very hot (power steering components ). Under the car no leaks at first, after about 5 minutes there was a puddle the size of my hand under the power steering pump, and drips down the steering side of the car. Checked the power steering tank, and there was only about 2 inches of atf fluid in it. That was when I found the puddle, I felt around the pump itself and no leaks, except where this hex bolt goes into the pump in the bottom. What is this bolt for? I tried to tighten it up, and it seemed to go in too far! I unscrewed out back to where it was and noticed what looked like dried locktite pieces coming out in the threading of the pump. Thanks for any help on this.

I just would like to know what the bolt is for!

Originally Posted by dogboy635

Hi,
Just rebuilt my power steering pump on my '89 6er this weekend. Did all pumping and bleeding stuff, and everything seems okay. Today on the way to work, the power steering growl came back, pull off the freeway, and shut off the engine. Pop the hood and looked, didn't see any leaks at first, and it seemed like it was very hot (power steering components ). Under the car no leaks at first, after about 5 minutes there was a puddle the size of my hand under the power steering pump, and drips down the steering side of the car. Checked the power steering tank, and there was only about 2 inches of atf fluid in it. That was when I found the puddle, I felt around the pump itself and no leaks, except where this hex bolt goes into the pump in the bottom. What is this bolt for? I tried to tighten it up, and it seemed to go in too far! I unscrewed out back to where it was and noticed what looked like dried locktite pieces coming out in the threading of the pump. Thanks for any help on this.

Did you unscrew that bolt when you rebuilt the pump? There's two pumps used on your car. It may be a spring retainer (?) Did you look at the Realoem.com diagram? Do you have a barrel shaped PS reservoir? They have a non-replaceable filter in the bottom and should be changed if the pump required rebuilding.

Thanks catso for responding! At the realoem I saw the 2 types of pumps, mine is the 130 bar one that looks like the older pumps. I never loosened or touched the screw on the bottom. I just noticed that thats where it was leaking after the rebuild. I pulled the pump off lastnite and will be taking pics of it to show what I'm talking about.

Sorry for not posting any pics, I just ending up buying a new one.

A lot of BMW 635 owners do not know this but when you check the pas oil level you must NOT have the engine running and you must remove the reservoir cover and then keep pressing the brake pedal until it goes hard and dead and the oil level must not exceed 10 mm below the top of the tank, Under no circumstances top up the oil level without doing as I have instructed otherwise pas oil will be forced out of the system as there will be too much oil in it.

the power steering growl is caused by a bad filter in the power steering Fluid canister; try BAVAUTO.com or pelicanparts.com