E36 M3 Steering wont return to center after driving in rain.

[E36PoWr]

Sup yall. 1995 M3: My steering wont naturally return to center after driving in the rain. I can rotate the wheel 80 degrees going 50, let go of it, and the car still turns. After a few days of dry weather it feels normal again. Yes, I have a small power steering leak somewhere. And yes, it still feels like I have power steering when going slow/parked. I cant find anything about this on the forums. Anyone have this same problem? Is water getting into my steering rack?

[dworthy]

Any noises while turning from the wheel itself? There is a known issues with the upper column bearing, they wear out and start to become stiff. I had this issue with a 97 M3, it was super stiff on turning the wheel. After replacing that bearing, it was easier, but now it doesn't like to return to center on its own.

[E36PoWr]

No noises at all

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Update: Apparently a friend had a similar issue and the fix was to lube up the u-joint on the steering input shaft. Im going to try this when I have the time. I will give another update on whether it works or not.

[dworthy]

Cool, I will try the same to see if that helps.

[E36PoWr]

Finally drove in some rain. Spraying the chain lube on the u joint worked for me.

[dworthy]

Thanks for the update, still haven't tried it out yet, but it is getting looser as the weather warms up.