2/6/2010 Power Steering Round #2 and E46 Rear Shock Mount Replacement

Mileage 137,513

So as I found out in the last post, the rubber for the power steering lines were hardened and no longer doing their job. I decided to replace the intake hose and return line. I ordered the replacement part with cooling pipe just for insurance. I also replaced the clunking rear shock mounts with E46 Mounts.


You can see in this picture the factory hose clamp around the center of the return hose. There is a little reducer in there. This helps in reducing the pressure and therefore leaks. Everything in this picture went on my car today except for the brake fluid.

There's not much to add on the power steering swap. I bled the system as I did before and just replaced the two lines. The only difference this time is that I had to remove the banjo bolt from the end of the cooling line to the rack. It is the same M16 22mm bolt. One kind of silly issue was that the center 10mm bolt holding the cooling pipe on was hard to get off. It was too close to the hard lines to get a 10mm socket around. A spanner does the trick, but was still hard to get in there. The replacement from Codan had the hole drilled a little lower.


I didn't take many more pictures down there, but as you can see the rack is filthy. I'm starting to think there is a combination of oil leaks collecting on this thing. My plan is to remove it and rebuild it when I get around to some suspension work.

I buttoned up the P/S system and crossed my fingers that the rack would stop it's perfuse leaking.

The other task at hand before I hit the track was fixing that loud clunking coming from the rear of the car! As anyone knows, the rear shock mounts are a problem area for the e36. I didn't look up any DIYs as this seemed pretty straight forward in the Bentley. Honestly the hardest part was realizing that I needed to take the rear speaker grills off to remove two screws to drop the rear speakers. Here is your first step in the rear shock mount removal. The grills come off best by lifting from the rear. I popped off about all the plastic tabs figuring this out.

Previous Owner put some crap "reference" speakers in the back that sound terrible. ICE is probably the last thing I'll do as most of my time is spent going to and from work listening to Claire Bolderson and Kai Ryssdal...my commute is 5 minutes.


So taking those screws out will allow you to move those big blocks out of the way. After that remove the carpet back there. Mine wasn't really held on by anything so it should come right out. You might have to take some plastic nuts off here and there, but I mean they're right there. Remove the sound deadening to reveal your RSMs.




The PO was nice enough to put in TMS rear shock mount reinforcement plates, but it looks like he used the bottom of the line JTD cheapys. I don't really go for the RSMs on the market. Maybe some people have had some good results with the aluminum ones, but I don't want that hard of a ride. The style that are two piece and can come loose and bonk all over the place. The bushings that were in there weren't even crushed! It was just installed poorly or just crap to being with. I don't know. Either way I replaced them with e46 M3 RSMs.

Next step is to jack the car up and remove some bolts. Two on the top and one on the bottom. You can support the trailing arm and take the wheel off if you want but totally unnecessary. The shock will drop right out so be ready.


After that, take your dirty shock and clean it off on the trunk of piece of shit e30 laying around. If you don't have the trunk of an e30, I suppose a work table or ground will work.


I forgot to mention one step about removing the top nut. If you don't have a vice it may be easier to bust it loose while still in the car. You have to hold the top with a hex key and break it free with a spanner. Honestly I don't know. I didn't have to do it, but I've done before with this method, either while in the car or while holding the shock in a vice, or between your legs, or with the help from a friend. Luckily I had an impact wrench..BRRUP BRRUP.


Take a good look at what order all the parts are in and replace them with your new parts. I replaced the bump stops because mine were all hard and cracked. This isn't necessary and they were $12 a piece. Here they are all put back together. The top nut torques down to 10ftlbs.


Here's a picture of the busted parts. Like I said the bushings weren't even blown out or anything, but it was clunking all over the place. I think they separated or they were just cheap.


Well that's about it. Take your shocks with new mounts and put them back in the car. Don't forget to use a new gasket as well as new collar bolts. These are replacement items. Torque to two collar bolts down to 17ftlbs and the rear bottom bolt to 37ftlbs iirc. Also tighten down the top bolt to 10ftlbs, or get close with a spanner and hex key. If you still hear a clunking noise the top bolt may need to be a little tighter. I also think the reinforcement plates are a good idea. Without those you can bust through the thin metal or just go through RSMs much faster. I, of course, kept that part.


After doing this there are no more clunks! Also the P/S has subsided most of it's leaks. Now I just have to find the oil leak... :/