E61 steering rack. HOW MUCH??

[eltax91]

Hi guys

I had my e61 525i in at the council mot station today and its failed for excessive play in the steering rack.

I called at the local BMW specialist on my way back to discuss getting it fixed and he hit me with the good news:-

£1k ish for a new rack
£600 ish for second hand

So, are the parts genuinely this expensive? Is it some massive complicated job in terms of labour?

I've not had the car long and this is the first time I've used these guys for a big job, so just wanted a second opinion.

A new pattern part at ECP is £275 on an exchange basis.

[kambites]

I'd guess it's a fair amount of labour. They tend to be an arse to get at.

[ADEuk]

It's probably play in the tie rod. Very common and a piece of cake to change. About £30 from ecp

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/BMW_5+Series_2.5...

[HustleRussell]

ADEuk said:

It's probably play in the tie rod. Very common and a piece of cake to change. About £30 from ecp

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/BMW_5+Series_2.5...

It could be the rack but I agree with the above- get a second opinion.

[eltax91]

ADEuk said:

It's probably play in the tie rod. Very common and a piece of cake to change. About £30 from ecp

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/BMW_5+Series_2.5...

I know the guy well at the mot station, been using them for years. He's an old school 'time served' mechanic and he was quite specific saying the play is in the rack. My symptoms are a notchy steering feel, mainly when lock is coming off and it will sometimes then get 'stuck' for a second before righting itself.

Could it be that easy to mistake play in the rod as play in the rack itself??

[TheLordJohn]

Good to hear you trust his opinion, but I'd still get a second opinion.
A worn steering rack at that age is a hell of a lot less common than a simple ball joint

[Herman Toothrot]

Does it have a universal joint before the rack on the column, I had a well respected Toyota independent tell me I needed a new rack, fitted it and then found it was actually just a universal joint. Same symptoms as yours, I was not happy to say the least.

[eltax91]

TheLordJohn said:

Good to hear you trust his opinion, but I'd still get a second opinion.
A worn steering rack at that age is a hell of a lot less common than a simple ball joint

I will get the Indy to look at the tie rod to be sure.

It's a 2006 car on 144k miles. Better still it covered just 12k in first 3 years, so it's had a motorway life of 33k a year for the last 4 years. Is a worn steering rack common at this mileage?

Clearly I'm not spending out on a new part. I will be choosing either a second hand rack off a low mileage crashed car or the pattern part

Would be interested to gather people's opinions on using a BMW rack from a breaker vs a pattern part from ECP. I'm favouring the former to be fair.

[Krikkit]

It's worth changing the joints and TRE's as a precautionary measure as they'll be quite cheap, but it does sound like the rack...

[eltax91]

Krikkit said:

It's worth changing the joints and TRE's as a precautionary measure as they'll be quite cheap, but it does sound like the rack...

Cheers

Anyone have any opinion on using a 2nd "genuine" rack over a pattern part. Cost, on the face of it seem similar

[DaMasterMind]

I would go pattern part rather than used that could already be on its last legs.

[Kentish]

Definitely check out the tie rods, as said above its quite common for them to need replacing.

They look integral to the rack & the track rod ends screw onto them. It does look like play in the rack when they need replacing. So I can understand why you've been told its the rack.

Very unlikely it's the rack tbh unless it's a really high miler (200k +) usually.

[natureboy8891]

It's actually quite common for the rack to wear on late BMW's they usually wear in the middle.

[Krikkit]

eltax91 said:

Krikkit said:

It's worth changing the joints and TRE's as a precautionary measure as they'll be quite cheap, but it does sound like the rack...

Cheers

Anyone have any opinion on using a 2nd "genuine" rack over a pattern part. Cost, on the face of it seem similar

As MasterMind says, I reckon a decent pattern is the best one to go for. A used OE one could be on its way out within 20k miles.

A quick google suggests it has a replaceable inner joint, whether that's true or not is another matter!

[Mr2Mike]

eltax91 said:

A new pattern part at ECP is £275 on an exchange basis.

If they want an exchange then it's not a pattern part, it's a reconditioned rack. However, the quality of reconditioned racks varies greatly IME, at the bottom end of the scale they get new gaiters fitted and a lick of paint.

[M3CS]

eltax91 said:

My symptoms are a notchy steering feel, mainly when lock is coming off and it will sometimes then get 'stuck' for a second before righting itself.

Could it be that easy to mistake play in the rod as play in the rack itself??

I had a notchy steering issue in my old car. Turned out to be the drop links not the rack....... still cost about 800 to fix!

I suggest a second opinion before you drop a grand on this and potentially don't fix it.

[Kentish]

M3CS said:

eltax91 said:

My symptoms are a notchy steering feel, mainly when lock is coming off and it will sometimes then get 'stuck' for a second before righting itself.

Could it be that easy to mistake play in the rod as play in the rack itself??

I had a notchy steering issue in my old car. Turned out to be the drop links not the rack....... still cost about 800 to fix!

I suggest a second opinion before you drop a grand on this and potentially don't fix it.

£800 - WTF!!!

They are £75 each at the most on an e60/61 & are a simple DIY job.

Go to ECP & Lemforder (OEM) drop links are even cheaper.

[M3CS]

Kentish said:

£800 - WTF!!!

They are £75 each at the most on an e60/61 & are a simple DIY job.

Go to ECP & Lemforder (OEM) drop links are even cheaper.

I didn't say it was a E60/61. Old merc... I got a merc indy on the case.

[Kentish]

M3CS said:

Kentish said:

£800 - WTF!!!

They are £75 each at the most on an e60/61 & are a simple DIY job.

Go to ECP & Lemforder (OEM) drop links are even cheaper.

I didn't say it was a E60/61. Old merc... I got a merc indy on the case.

It was a fair assumption seeing as you posted on a thread about an e61
Yes, there's always a better cheaper option out there irrespective of make, it's just a case of finding it

[eltax91]

The one on ECP is branded as a 'Remi' rack. I've never heard of them. Are they any good??