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Big but temporary vibrations through steering wheel - help!

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On two separate occasions now, I've had to pull over due to a sudden onset of really heavy vibration through the steering wheel - which is in time with the engine vibrations. Video of the second time it happened here: https://youtu.be/jwGuTTyxxbo

The vibration gets worse when I rev it, and also when turning the steering wheel. 

I had it checked over by a local garage after the first time, and they couldn't find a thing wrong with it. No worn bushes, nothing wrong with the steering rack or engine mounts. 

The weird thing is, both times it happened, it kind of wears off by just driving the car again. Also worth noting, both times it happened were after I booted it a bit out of a side road onto a main road. 

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Does the power steering still work when it happens? I know it could be difficult to tell when at speed..

Have you checked PAS fluid levels?

If it matches engine speed i'd say it's something on the belt drive (hence asking about power steering). So either Power steering pump, water pump, crank pulley, tensioners or AC pump.

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2 hours ago, momo said:

Does the power steering still work when it happens? I know it could be difficult to tell when at speed..

Have you checked PAS fluid levels?

If it matches engine speed i'd say it's something on the belt drive (hence asking about power steering). So either Power steering pump, water pump, crank pulley, tensioners or AC pump.

Thanks for the reply! It just had a full service immediately after it happened the first time, and they mentioned topping up all fluids so I'm guessing the PAS fluid is fine. I'll check though. 

What you're saying about the belt drive sounds sensible though. Plenty of things to investigate there! I'll mention those things to the indie BMW place when it goes there in a couple of weeks. 

Ps it had a new water pump recently so hopefully it won't be that.

Ps ps, I noticed the rear brake pads weren't changed in the service - is it normal to only change the front pads in a full service? Btw, this was at my local garage, not at any kind of dealership or indie bmw place.

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14 hours ago, kirkynut said:

Have you got to the bottom of this? It's puzzling me.

My gut feeling is a pulley with a damper on it is on it's way out but I don't know if the crank pulley has a damper on it or not.

Kirkynut 

Does on the 330d. The pulley has a rubber centre hence why they always fall apart on the 330d.. lol.

Could be something knocking the rack as it moves maybe?

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On 17/07/2019 at 22:38, kirkynut said:

Have you got to the bottom of this? It's puzzling me.

My gut feeling is a pulley with a damper on it is on it's way out but I don't know if the crank pulley has a damper on it or not.

Kirkynut 

I never got to the bottom of it no - but last week the power steering pump died! So I'm willing to bet it was that all along, in it's death throws! 

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