Power Steering Pump Problems of BMW 540

The bracket that holds the power steering pump on my 2001 BMW 540i snapped on the top and bottom pieces of the bracket resulting in my belts and pulleys to be thrown and destroyed. The repair is very expensive and time consuming. This is becoming a more and more common problem on the e39 style 1997-2003 BMW 540i's,.

See all problems of the 2001 BMW 540 🔎.

Started the car and began to drive out of driveway when I heard a noise in the engine. Shut down engine and popped the hood- found drive belt shredded because power steering pump snapped and let loose into tension pulley- luckily I was not at speed and belt did not fail- otherwise catastrophic engine failure would occur along with loss of power steering.

See all problems of the 2003 BMW 540 🔎.

After starting up my car, there was a slight whine under the hood. I gave the car a little bit of throttle to see if the whine went away and heard a loud bang. The car was still running but my battery light was on. I needed to get home, and I thought that my car may not start again if I turned it off so I drove home. Immediately I noticed that I didn't have any power steering. As I drove my engine temperature got higher and I barely made it home without overheating. A few days later I looked in the engine compartment and saw that the power steering pump had broken free of the engine - the bracket had sheared off. That in turn caused the belt to fall off which was turning the water pump and alternator. I got on the computer and looked up the problem and found a lot of people experiencing the same problem, some driving during the incident. This is a real defective design and causes me to be concerned about the safety. I hope nothing tragic has to happen to someone for this to be considered a recall.

See all problems of the 2002 BMW 540 🔎.

Power steering pump broke causing accessory belt to be thrown from engine at highway speeds, resulting in loss of steering and power.

See all problems of the 1999 BMW 540 🔎.

I was driving along and I heard a "pang" sound followed by a loss of power steering, a moment later my battery light came on. I was able to get the car to a safe stopping place to be towed before the lost belt that followed overheated me. Pump snapped in at least one place making the pulley crooked, and shredding the belt.

I was driving in stop and go traffic when I noticed the steering felt a little stiffer than usual. After about 5 miles and better flowing traffic I pulled into a restaurant for dinner when my upper radiator hose exploded. I pulled into a stall and opened the hood to inspect what happened. The hose was very apparent and after further investigation I noticed the power steering pumps pulley at a very sharp angle compared to linear with the serpentine belt. I can only assume that from the bracket on the pump breaking, it caused a chain reaction of events. First the bracket brocket putting the pump at a steep angle n forcing the belt to go off track which then caused all the other accessories to be disabled including the water pump which overheated the car.

Lucky I was stopped when this occurred. My engined made a terrible noise and cut out. I went to restart my engine and noticed that all my indicator lights were on. I went to drive and my power steering was completely shot. Come to find out that my power steering pump broke with no real warning. If I had been at a high speed this could have lead to a serious injury.

See all problems of the 2000 BMW 540 🔎.

Vehicle was driven at highway speed (55-60mph) and a loud metallic 'thunk' noise was heard as if something struck or bounced off the underside of the car. The serpentine drive belt was discovered to have come off the drive pulleys, and upon closer inspection the power steering pump was discovered to be loose. The upper mounting ear was broken, and the lower mounting bolt was missing entirely. It appears the break in the upper mounting ear cause the lower bolt to vibrate loose, and in turn the serpentine drive belt was dislodged. The result was sudden loss of power steering that nearly caused an accident when attempting to turn at low speed due to sudden and unexpected increase in steering effort.

Started my car and heard a thumping noise and found out it was my belt being chewed up because the power steering pump brackets broke.