I've had a little bit louder whine in the power steering than I was accustomed to and took it to the dealer for a check. Turns out my warranty expired 2 weeks ago (that's what you get for procrastinating setting service appointments!).

The repair bill will be in excess of $800, but I can buy a pump myself online for around $370. Is this something that can probably be done with the help of a repair manual? Which repair manual is the best?

 

This can be done yourself with the right tools and some patience. It WILL make a mess, and there is nothing you can do about it.I don't know if the Bentley manual covers the p/s pump, but if you are mechanically inclined, it should be easy enough to figure out, and buy some CHF 11s fluid, do not put anything else in that system.
This job would be about $470 complete in my shop to give you an idea.

--Dan

 

yeah is a simple repair if you an follow the manuals instrauctions and if you are mechanically inclined.

is kind of a pain to reuse the old clamp so just buy a new screw type clamp for the top line.
good luck!

 

I read the procedure on the BMW TIS CD. Looks easy. I'd be surprised if it took an hour to do if you were just piddling with it. Bleeding is simple. After you get it together, fill up to max level on the dipstick, start engine and turn wheels all the way both ways a few times, shut off engine, top off fluid.

Just wipe everything down. Hydraulic systems don't tolerate dirt and grit at all. Make sure everything's clean in the vicinity of where the hoses attach.

Rawhyde

PS Take yourself out for a nice dinner and horse-laugh the fact that they wanted to rip you off for $430 to do such a simple job!

 

Thanks for the notes! I ordered the Bentley manual from Amazon for ~$65 and will let you all know how it goes when I finish.

AF

 

Job was finished a little while ago, it just takes me a while to get around to posting!

Took about an hour and a half; the hardest part was getting leverage on the hose to pull it off the pump. Not much space in there to stick your hand in.

All's well!

 

Good Job,

Have you worked on cars much before? Have you ever replaced a power stearing pump on previous cars? If not its nice to know that little things like this can be done buy just reading the Bentley manual. I ordered that a while ago.