Does An '85 318i Have Power Steering?

[dsio]

Hi, im looking hard at a black two door 1985 318i manual at the moment (e30). after test driving the car, i noticed the steering is insanely heavy at park speeds though reasonable at 15+ kph. After asking the seller, he said that the e30 318i never had power steering!

This guy seams quite competent, but has no clue about german cars and has only owned his 318i for a month (drink driving put an end to his ownership) so i took his word with a pinch of salt, assuming someone has removed the belt, or the power steering system is devoid of fluid.

Having spoken again to him, he insists that there is nowhere to install a power steering drive belt, no pump, no mounting bracket for the pump, no nothing. Im still rather doubtfull that he has any clue and there is a strong chance he doesnt even know what hes looking for but I wanted to check just in case.

My current car, a 1985 Ford Fairlane has power steering standard... My grandfather's 1978 Ford Falcon has power steering... i have no idea how a company like BMW could omit it from even their base model car!

Is is possible that this 1985 australian e30 318i was shipped without power steering?

Also, he claims it never came with central locking. could this be true also?

any help would be *much* apreciated.

[nukeduster]

Originally posted by dsio@Mar 30 2005, 11:55 PM
Hi, im looking hard at a black two door 1985 318i manual at the moment (e30). after test driving the car, i noticed the steering is insanely heavy at park speeds though reasonable at 15+ kph. After asking the seller, he said that the e30 318i never had power steering!

This guy seams quite competent, but has no clue about german cars and has only owned his 318i for a month (drink driving put an end to his ownership) so i took his word with a pinch of salt, assuming someone has removed the belt, or the power steering system is devoid of fluid.

Having spoken again to him, he insists that there is nowhere to install a power steering drive belt, no pump, no mounting bracket for the pump, no nothing. Im still rather doubtfull that he has any clue and there is a strong chance he doesnt even know what hes looking for but I wanted to check just in case.

My current car, a 1985 Ford Fairlane has power steering standard... My grandfather's 1978 Ford Falcon has power steering... i have no idea how a company like BMW could omit it from even their base model car!

Is is possible that this 1985 australian e30 318i was shipped without power steering?

Also, he claims it never came with central locking. could this be true also?

any help would be *much* apreciated.

[snapback]322087[/snapback]

look at the steering rack. if it has steel lines comming off of it, it was orriginally a power steering unit thats not working properly. if it doesnt, its manual.

the 318 had power steering as an option, and overseas alot of things like a/c, power windows, etc, were only options, not standard like on some american cars.