[Matt2408]

So let me start by saying I know its a long write up and it may be a bit confusing but just trying to explaine every scenario where it happened to give a better idea.

I had this issue happening at the beggining of the year, power steering came and went, once during a turn. Fluid was low so topped that off but still was there, it would go away most times after restarting the car. Battery was almost 10 years old so replaced that and issue went away. A couple weeks ago I had a battery low fault but power steering still worked, now today after taking a short drive I go back in to go home and fault for steering, the "steering amlmunction, increased effort required", didn't even move the wheel, restarted the car still popped up. Got home read codes and restarted the car, it works. Fluid level still full, battery was showing 14.2v with car on, checked bimmerlink and showed battery state of charge at 87%, check with a volt meter, car wasn't locked just sat off for a few minutes and it was 12.52v dropped to 12.3v guessting a module was shutting down went back to 12.52-53v which I think is right around that 87% like bimmerlink showed. The jumper post were weird though, my volt meter woudn't show me any reading basically mV and not V. Grabbed the cheap harbor freight one, that one was sparking on the negative posts and wires were hot. Turned out I needed to hold the negative lead to the side of the post. Not sure if this is an idication of a bad ground in other areas too.

I cleared the codes so it didnt show up when I read the values but for
Servotronic the values were -

Actual Power consumption 859mA
Duty cycle 66.68%
No fault
Setpoint Power consumption 860mA
Status of servotronic valve - Function Active

Status of Terminal 15 (Bus signal) KL 15N-Permanent on (car was on for this)
Voltage , Terninal 15N 13.2V

Electronic control valve values were -

Actual Power Consumption 967A
Duty cycle 58.14%
No Fault
Setpoint Power Consumption 968A
Status of electrical Control valve - Function Active

Again this was after restarting the car and clearing faults and steering was working.

The other faults were
ICM (Tail Light Module, Inner Left)
D01A7C - Servotronic Interface (Status of Servotronic ECO, 241.0.2) Signal Invalid

SVT (Servotronic)
482D07 SVT Servo Valve: Short Circuit Between Positive or Negative Lead and Termial 30 (Battery +)
482D0E SVT ECO Valve: Short Circuit Between Positive or Negative Lead and Termial 30 (Battery +)

More recently -
Leaving in the morning popped up, restart didn’t help. Car did sit for a couple of days. Started driving, had the light come on and off 7-8 time before I got 1/4 mile down the road. Like it popped up and before I could even clear it, power steering was back. Then it settled down, drove for like 20-30 miles no fault popping up but on some turns I feel it grabbing at certain points. I’ll start turning with no efforts and at points it feels stiffer and wants to center but no faults. Here’s what the jumper post looks like, anything to check in my case? Other fuses somewhere? Would there be a connector of the rack itself?

[buanbopez]

Hey!

It sounds like you have a lot of the same issues I’m having. Have you figure put what’s wrong?

[Matt2408]

Originally Posted by buanbopez

Hey!

It sounds like you have a lot of the same issues I’m having. Have you figure put what’s wrong?

So I have done some more research and I'm almost certain it's the servo/eco valve that's on the steering rack. Its the only elecronic part on the rack I believe and the faults are really random so maybe back plug or internally in the sensor. It is weird when I feel it binding the steering througout the turn, not fault I just feel it. Have you felt this? Maybe the sensor is just not working strongly enough, not completely off to trigger a fault but not 100%. Still actively figuring it out though.

[MJE]

Hello Matt2408,

I was wondering if you ever had a break through on figuring out the issue. I tried the trick of turning the steering wheel side to side and clearing codes to try and reinitialize it, but to no avail. Currently looking at replacing the whole rack but curious to see if maybe it's something simpler.

[Matt2408]

Originally Posted by MJE

Hello Matt2408,

I was wondering if you ever had a break through on figuring out the issue. I tried the trick of turning the steering wheel side to side and clearing codes to try and reinitialize it, but to no avail. Currently looking at replacing the whole rack but curious to see if maybe it's something simpler.

Well actually i ended up ordering the eco/servo valve and was able to get the car up on a lift yesterday but then ran into problems. I knew where it should ge located but after taking off the front belly pan I couldn’t see the valve let alone reach for it. First the axle was in the way then subframe covered up the rest. Mine is a x drive so I don’t know how much more room I could have created if I had removed the metal skid plate further back.

Maybe it would be possible to see it then. I don’t want to have to remove the whole steering rack. I’m starting to think if maybe reaching from the top or wheel well would be an option. But that’s where I’m at, valve is available but not easily reachable.

[Hoa]

I believe it is accessible from the top once you pull the fan

[Matt2408]

Originally Posted by Hoa

I believe it is accessible from the top once you pull the fan

I’ll have to check, I was thinking maybe on the side by the intake manifold, possibly remove charge pipe and do it that way.

[MJE]

Originally Posted by buanbopez

Hey!

It sounds like you have a lot of the same issues I’m having. Have you figure put what’s wrong?

Scroll to the end for the repair.

DTC codes for intermittent codes for the eco valve and a permanent for the servotronic valve on my 640XI, a Xdrive model car. Very important to verify if you have a hydraulic Powersteering rack or an electric Powersteering rack. Hydraulic rack has a power steering reservoir in the engine bay. Electric rack will have a BIG motor attached to the rack.

The SVT module was replaced and vin programmed (it must be vin programmed to work). The issue still persisted. I ended up tracing the wiring for the servotronic valve on the rack along the car and found where it entered the inside of the car.

2 connections on the hydraulic rack, eco valve which was accessible from the top of the engine bay and the servotronic valve which requires you to drop the subframe.

The connection from the servotronic valve on the rack has a connection attached to the subframw about 2 feet away from the rack. This is where I unplugged it and measured the resistance of each of the 2 wires to its opposing end at the plug that goes into the servotronic module in the trunk. Light purple with a dark purple band and a yellow with a blue band.

Found that the purple line had resistance but the yellow line did not meaning it had an open in the line somewhere.

Simply followed the link back from the rack side to where it goes into the body under the driver footwell and found a break, soldered the line together and all is well.

I bought a test lead kit off Amazon and then used some speaker 16 gauge speaker wire I had to extend the cables so that I could measure from the trunk module to the front connector about 8-9 feet.

[MJE]

Above information sort of applies to the F10 chassis, my issues were on a F06.

Attached are somw images for the F10 people having some hydraulic Powersteering issues.

[MJE]

Originally Posted by buanbopez

Hey!

It sounds like you have a lot of the same issues I’m having. Have you figure put what’s wrong?

^^^ Check posts for possible solution to your issue. ^^^

Feel free to ask for any additional details or attach anything that might be unique to your situation.