So the steering wheel on my R53 is extremely heavy and I'm not sure if this is normal. Hydraulic steering BMW's are known to have a heavy steering feel so maybe it's normal?

But I've been doing a lot of reading and it seems that the PS pump/fan failure is very common in these cars so maybe that's why I have a heavy steering? I don't know. I'm new to my R53.

So my question now is, how do you know if the electric PS pump or fan has failed? Will it throw a CEL or some kind of indicator stating it's dead?

Thanks!

 

unplug it and put 12 volts to it, if it works, but is not coming on, check and clean the electrical connectors.

 

PS fan start same time as engine cooling fan step 1.
PS pump need max. of 80A if turn wheel max. left or right.
If PS pump fail, you can't turn the wheel.

 

Also, check the column, sometimes people think the pump is bad when really the column is frozen up. See post #48 and below.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...pump-help.html