[Cal122]

Appreciate any ideas or thoughts on what hose this is that's rubbing on my lower steering column.

I checked on my N52/RWD car and the hose isn't there, so I'm thinking it's either unique to SULEV or xDrive. Can't find it on realoem.

-It's not the two coolant hoses that come through the firewall in the same area. It's also cold to touch after the engine was running.
-The hose is routed from behind the engine and heads down below the firewall. My next step is to diassemble the cowl and see where the other end terminates.
-The lower end (that I can see from above) are silver/crimped, and it's under pressure. I tried pushing and moving it out of the way, but it just goes back to where it was and I'd have to zip tie it out of the way. I'm wondering if it's a power steering hose.

Some recent background:
-Dealer replaced the valve cover under sulev warranty
-Oil pan gasket was replaced, which involved dropping the frame
-Reason I noticed this is I started hearing an intermittent rubber/squeak from inside the cabin when turning the steering wheel.

Appreciate any help in identifying the part, the rubbers a bit chopped up, so I want to ensure it's either replaced or routed/installed properly so I don't have any issues.

Thanks for any help!

[watchout-everyone]

I can't really recognize much in this picture.

Just to double check, is this oil filter housing (Green) on the left and also you're looking for the part name in Red?

View post on imgur.com

[oVeRdOsE.]

the green is the power steering reservoir.

the red is the steering column shaft.

the hose with the metal crimp is the A/c line to the evap.

The hose touching the column might be is 1 of the 2 coolant hose for the cabin heater core. The other coolant hose is on the right of the picture, with the fabric like protector. (look a bit small tho)

if you said its not a coolant hose, might be the 12v power cable. Is it soft ?

might be a vacuum hose too depending on how they have replace everything. A better pic should help

[Cal122]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

if you said its not a coolant hose, might be the 12v power cable. Is it soft ?

might be a vacuum hose too depending on how they have replace everything. A better pic should help

Thank you very much, you guys are awesome. Exactly as you described. It's hard to get a good photo, I may try with my endoscope if I can get better light in there.

The lower part of the hose that goes under the firewall, I can see that it has a silver crimped end which is just like the A/C hoses or some of the power steering hoses. I just can't see what it's connected to on either side unless I start disassembling. The upper/other side, as you can see in the pics, goes up and swings behind the engine. You can see the two coolant/core hoses, because they have the protective covering on them in the pics. This one has an extra rubber protective covering on it, in the area, which has been chewed through from the steering column.

Here's a few more pictures:

[Cal122]

Was able to get a scope in there to grab a photo. Here's the lower part that heads underneath the car... Thanks again

[Cal122]

I'm pretty sure at this point it's the main fuel line. Great!

The hose runs underneath the car as seen in the right photo. The upper end swings into the back of the engine somewhere. There are also green markings on the hose.

It looks like the pictures of the fuel feed line (16127263228) that of course is unique to the N51 SULEV and explains why I don't see it on my N52 car.

I'm not sure how it got this way that the steering shaft is rubbing into the hose (what a horrible location), anyone have any ideas how/where it's actually supposed to be secured? I wasn't able to find any pictures online. Also welcome any suggestions on how to temporarily protect it until I get it back to the mechanic to see what the deal is - I was going to zip tie some rubber around it in the meantime so it doesn't get any worse.