How to Replace Power Steering Suction Hose 2001-05 BMW 325Xi

What's up guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video I'm going to show you how to replace this power steering suction hose on this 2001 BMW 325 XI. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description, head over to 1aauto.com.

With the trunk open over on the right side or the passenger side, there should be a cover that goes right here. This vehicle doesn't have one, but you're going to want to remove that cover. The battery is located right here. First thing I'm going to do is take a 10 millimeter socket and ratchet, loosen up this nut for the negative terminal. When that's loose, slide off the cable, slide it out of the way.

I'm going to take these push pins out right here, I'm just going to use some side cutters to get this center pin. Pull that up and then slide it out. Be careful not to cut that. That one's out. I'll just grab this piece, slide it out. I'm just going to disconnect this connector to the mass air flow sensor. Push down on this tab and wiggle it out. Take a straight blade screwdriver, loosen up this clamp right here. That should be good. Push that snorkel off right there. There's all these clips holding the top of the airbox off. I'm just going to take the top off.

This last one over here is kind of tricky to get to. Pull the dipstick out of the way. Then just grab the airbox. Pull the air filter out. I'm going to take these two bolts out and use a 10 millimeter socket extension and an electric ratchet. You can use a regular ratchet if you don't have an electric one or an air powered one. Loosen them up, take them out.

Then you just grab the air box, slide it up. This wire is on it, there's a little grommet right here, just try to slide that out. All right. Take that off and just slide this out of the way. All right, I'm just going to take the cap off the power steering reservoir, set that aside. And I'm going to use this fluid transfer pump, we actually sell these at 1aauto.com. I'm going to suck as much fluid out as I can, and I just have a drain bucket right there, drain pan, then I'll be able to transfer the fluid to the drain pan. This is just going to make it easier and hopefully it doesn't make as much of a mess if I suck this out before.

I am just going to take some absorbent pads and just stick them underneath this reservoir just so that when we take these lines off the fluid doesn't get into the alternator. You could put some type of plastic down if you wanted to. All right. It's going to be easier if I remove the reservoir from the bracket, or the bracket from the vehicle, and just move the reservoir over. I'm going to take a 13 millimeter socket extension ratchet and loosen these two bolts up first. Take those two bolts out and then can take the reservoir, just slide it to the side. I can actually access that clamp a lot easier than if I was to try to get it out with this still attached.

Keep in mind the direction, how this hose is routed, attached to the reservoir, because you're going to want to install the new one like that. I'll just take a straight blade screwdriver, loosen up this clamp. You could also use a socket and a ratchet, then you wouldn't drop the screwdriver so much. It's loose. Move the clamp down and we'll just twist and some fluid should come out of here. Just dump it into the absorbent pad. Actually, this clamp's in good shape so I'll take this off and I'll reuse it for the new one.

If this hose has never been changed before or the reservoir has never been changed, the clamp that holds this on could be a one-time use clamp and you actually have to use the pick and either cut it off or use a pick to stretch it and then pull it off and replace it with a worm clamp, it's more like this style clamp right here.

All right. If you have a shield, you're going to want to remove that. This vehicle doesn't have one. You might have some Phillips head screws to remove right there and then some retainers right there. Pull that down. This vehicle doesn't have it. If you have a manual transmission, I believe you won't have this cooler right here, so that might not be in your way. If you're struggling with this, you can loosen up these four nuts right here, right here, and right there. Move the sway bar down a little bit so that you can access this a little easier. Otherwise you just struggle a little bit. I'm going to use an 18 millimeter wrench. Loosen up this nut right here on the power steering pressure hose, then I'll be able to gain access to that. All right. Once that's loose we can take that down. Make sure you have a drain bucket underneath to catch the fluid. Let that drain for a little bit.

This is where the hose is right here. The back might be hard to see. You really can't access it too well from the side here, maybe a little bit. Once I'm able to get that clamp off then I'll be able to grab it and slide it off. But I have to cut that clamp off or take a pick and try to break the clamp, so that's what I'm going to do now. I'm just going to take a long pick, just get in here and just try to twist, try to break it somehow because I'm going to replace it with a worm clamp. There's not a lot of pressure under this anyway, it's just a return line. There we go, that broke off. Now I can actually take a pick and just go in here and try to release this.

While I do that I should be able to grab the hose here and slide it off. Again, some fluid might come out so keep your drain bucket. Oh, a little bit. All right, now from up top with everything disconnected I can just slide this tube right up, just like that. Just keep in mind where you took this tube out because you're going to want to slide the new hose in that same direction.

Here's the old part. Here's the new power steering return hose from 1aauto.com. As you can see, the shape of the hose is the same. It has a protective sleeve on the outside, just like the old one. It does not come with new clamps, you're going to have to get new worm clamps. Get yours at 1aauto.com and you'll be ready to rock and roll.

We want to position this hose the same way it came out, but I am going to take this little protective cap off, at least the bottom. I'll take the top one off too just so I don't forget it. It'll make it a little easier. Slide this back the same way the old one came out. Then we're going to attach it down below first and then we can attach it up top hereafter. There's the hose. I'll move it down where it need it to be. I need to put this worm clamp on, so you want to position the worm clamp in a way that you can access it to tighten it. Then I'll reach in through here. Slide this hose up a little bit.

Slide the hose back where the old one came off, and that's actually attached to the lower part of the power steering pump. It's just the return, or it's a suction, the suction side of the power steering pump, it's not the return. All right. Slide this back. All right. I'm going to position this in a way that I can get a eight millimeter swivel socket extension and ratchet. Tighten this down. It's kind of hard to get in there, so just do the best you can. You could use a small screwdriver and do this as well, but this is working pretty good. Not too tight. That's good. All right, that looks really good.

Now what I'm going to do is reconnect the high pressure line. Slide this in here. Get this started. I'll just take a stubby wrench, at least get this started, make it easier to come in here. I'll just tighten this up a little bit and then I'll tighten it up more with the longer wrench, 18 millimeter. Then take my 18 millimeter wrench and just snug this up. That's good.

Before I lower the vehicle at this time I'm going to take some brake parts cleaner and just clean this all off. We made kind of a mess, so get that all cleaned off. If you have that cover, you can put this cover up at this time.

All right. Now we can take the reservoir ... Oops, more fluid came out. Remember to put the clamp on first, then install the suction hose. All right, that's good. Remember, you want that in the same direction as it was coming off, so just like that. I'll tighten this up, I'll use a eight millimeter socket extension and ratchet, tighten this up, or I could use a screwdriver. That looks good. I'm just going to position this bracket back over here. Take the 13 millimeter bolts and use my 13 millimeter socket and extension and get this one started first. That's good. And then put the outside one and get it started, and then I'll tighten it down with a ratchet. Snug that up, same with this one.

That's good. Good. All right. Now I can remove these absorbent pads and see I didn't get any fluid on the alternator. That would be bad to get power steering fluid in there, you could damage the alternator.

Now we're just going to slide this side of the lower air box in here. Yours may have something that this connects to, this vehicle doesn't, it just slides in position and then this lower part slides there. Make sure these holes are lined up. Take these two bolts, get these started. Take a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet and tighten these down. I'm using an electric ratchet. If you don't have an electric ratchet, just use a manual one.

The air filter and install it. I'll take the top part of the airbox and slide it onto the snorkel first, just like that. And then there's all these clips. Take these clips, lock this part down. Connect the mass air flow sensor, or the air flow meter. We're going to slide this clamp right here. Take a straight blade screwdriver and tighten it down. Just snug, not too tight. Give it a shake, make sure it's good. Take this piece, slide this into the airbox, just like that. There's retainers right here, take those push pins and lock them down.

Then we can take the negative side, connect the negative side with the same 10 millimeter socket and ratchet, tighten it up. That's good. At this point, if you have that cover you're going to want to put the cover back where it goes.

Now we're going to add some fluid. Take the cap off, set it aside. Take a funnel. Make sure you check your owner's manual for the appropriate type of fluid. Sometimes it actually says on the cap what type of fluid. You want to check underneath the vehicle and make sure you don't have any leaks. Everything's dry, that's good. I'm just going to check the fluid level. A lot of the fluid came out when we were changing the line so the fluid is a little on the high side, which is okay. What we're going to do is we're going to start the vehicle up and turn the wheel back and forth stop to stop. It is going to aerate the fluid a little bit so you're going to have to let it sit and recheck the level, top it off again.

Now I am going to have the wheels up off the ground. That's just going to make it so there's no pressure on the steering rack when I'm doing this. All right, so I'm just going stop to stop. I'm just going to do it about eight times.

I'm going to just take the cap off. Clean this down a little bit. It actually didn't get to aerated, which is good. Use a little more. Just use the funnel so I don't spill it. That looks perfect. It's a little bit on the high side, but that's okay. I'm going to put it down in the ground and do the same thing on the ground and then road test it and recheck my level and adjust accordingly.

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