Inside the box (archive)

Bob,
Inside the box there is a rubber seal on the bottom. On top of the seal is a flat round metal plate about the size of a quarter. I cannot remember if the metal plate is supposed to go above or below the seal but I think this makes the difference between the box functioning correctly or not. In the middle of the round metal piece there is a pin that is about 1 inch tall. This metal pin goes through some kind of magnetic piece (I think it's a magnet)and sticks out the top of the metal box slightly. My guess is that this box controls the flow of fluid that goes through it which in turn controls the amount of assist that the power steering gives. As far as any other cautions to taking this box off the car and disassembling it, there are none. No springs or anything else will fall out; only power steering fluid (ATF for my car), so have a pan or bucket ready to catch it when it comes out.

This is what I did to my car and it fixed the problem. However, my power assist did not work if I turned off the car and started it up again. Mine would only work about once a week. I would say that your symptoms and and mine are slightly different and have heard of people having to replace the electronic control box that is on the bottom side of the dash board. I don't know anything about this electronic box though. Whatever you decide to do, I hope you succeed in fixing the problem without spending any money,
Tim Bryan (88 735i 160k)

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