My daughter and I spent some time troubleshooting the X’s clunky steering. I was convinced that the source was the upper column, or a bushing at the firewall, however as soon as she started turning the wheel it became fairly apparent to me that the noise and excess play was at the double u joint every 30 or 40 deg as it turned. That not to say I don’t have other issues too with the steering, but I ordered a new double joint from FCP (pn 32306758076), and new bolts as a place to start.

Bentley has the torques listed fortunately (in section covering the steering rack), but little else that I can find. There are some good writes ups on the board though that I’ve found. It seems the key to getting the old joint out is to fully remove the bolts? I think I can do the job without pulling the heater hoses, hopefully. I’m still enjoying a leak and mess free engine and don’t want to make a zerex G48 mess so soon.

I need to read up on the siphon jet o-ring as I recall seeing that it can fail. I also have a new fuel pump laying around that I was going to install during the motor swap, but did t get to it. I think however, that my current (second) pump only had around 80k on it, so maybe I’ll hold off longer. Makes sense to do the siphon jet work and fuel pump at the same time though.

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Current
Original owner 2002 E53 X5 4.4i to 4.6i swap
2026 G80 M3 6 spd
2025 G06 X5 50e
Former
1972 Audi Fox
1986 Saab 900S
1996 BMW Z3
1998 BMW E36 M3 Sedan
2004 BMW E46 M3
2006 Audi A3 Quatro
1993 Mopar 318 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2015 V6 Jeep Grand Cherokee