What Have You Done To Your Car Today? Volume 2

[TriggerFish]

I think the side to side play is the t-piece esque part on the gearbox input shaft, based on my e30. There's a bush in them that wears. This would be a ball ache to change with the gearbox in I suspect. It was a bit of a pain with the gearbox sat in my garage, detached from the engine. I have a video of the play somewhere, but it'll be a pain to upload - I can dump it on YouTube if you're interested though - it's shocking how much better it made it. It just feels tighter than I remember, but given it was dislocating itself every movement fore/aft, an improvement is to be expected!

 

Thanks - I've got a clubsoirt knob somewhere. It made a difference on my old car, but nothing huge like I was expecting. I think I paid £15-20, so can't moan. It needs a new emblem for this 6 speed one though. It was destined originally for my e30, but the one-piece original part has grown on me. That, and I suspect that the shorter knob (ha!) Will make the throw on the e30 too stiff (ha!) to use daily as it's already running a short shift which has made it pretty notchy without reducing the leverage further. (Ironically, I think I change gear slower now as I need to be more precise due to the notchyness and stiffness. Bit of a fail, but I'm not changing it again!)

[TriggerFish]

I don't think pulling the stick will show anything, but you could remove the rubber grommet and see if it shows anything. It took me about 80 minutes to do without ramps with only one corner jacked up, including about 30 minutes of fixing my own stupidity, and the part is a tenner from BMW, so no harm if you're doing something in that area anyway, or planning a short shift. 

[Tim-Ci]

Thanks a lot Triggerfish. I think the gearchange is pretty good but if there's room for improvement for a low price I'll be happy with that. Is the grommet under the gearstick gaiter? Is it the big foam pad? If so, I might pull the gaiter up and have a nosy. There's probably 5mm of side to side play in the central position in neutral, before the movement firms up. Not much to worry about but if the cup is showing wear I might change it and see if it makes a difference. I don't fancy the sound of surgery on the gearbox though.

I'll try not to punch myself in the nose next time though if I ever need to remove the gearknob again!

I think my standard 330 6 speed setup with the Clubsport knob is the perfect length and weight (lol). You can pick up 6 speed badges for a few pounds on EBay I think.

[TriggerFish]

Yes - pull the foam up, and then there's a big grommet there. With that removed you can see part of the shfiter mechanism, including the cup.

For reference, here's a video of the play in the e30 mechanism. It's a bit different on the e46, I think, but the principle is roughly the same, so far as I know.

(It seemed stupid not to upload it given the internet speeds at work! This isn't even a 'good' day - I guess students must be consuming bandwidth)

Edited February 14, 2017 by TriggerFish

[Tim-Ci]

Thanks Triggerfish, I can see why the E30 had some issues with play...

Yikes, your connection there is about 50 times faster than mine on download speed, and 500 times faster upload, even on a bad day.

[TriggerFish]

Removed the back of the diff so I can get a new bush pressed in, and to change to oil at the same time. Much easier to do than on the e46! Took comfortably under an hour to get it off, including reattaching an ill fitted undertray on the 330d. 

It's all lovely and clean inside. 

Edited February 15, 2017 by TriggerFish

[MICK 330]

Leaving the house at 6.05am to be greeted by ........a flat tyre!!!!!

So cussed it a little bit!

[MICK 330]

Today praised it...as it passed 225,000 miles!

[mjn]

[feva]

Where's the side view? [emoji53]

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[mjn]

Here ya go.

[feva]

Here ya go.

Certainly be able to find it in a car park Mal. Very different [emoji106]

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[mjn]

1 hour ago, feva said:

Certainly be able to find it in a car park Mal. Very different [emoji106]

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Ha ha, yup.   They really pop in the sunlight.  Certainly got a lot of attention when driving to work this morning.

[Bamse]

Fitted new Led interior lights including this multi led dome bulb. Had a bit of a clean of the interior at the same time .

[Tim-Ci]

Fitted new interior LED bulbs too, in the map reading lights, seem much brighter than the other LEDs I had in there before. They're the £1.30 EBay special's, I'm using them for my sidelights too and they're great for those (after coding out the bulb checks), bright and a nice white colour, no blue tinge. These bulbs won't fit in the central interior light position, just the side ones.

Had my driver's mirror replaced under warranty the other day. I bought the mirror base unit from a BMW dealer just after I got the car, as the dreaded ribbon cable was shot on the original mirror. After I folded the mirror up at the shops the other day, the ribbon cable on the new-ish mirror tore slightly, so the mirrors were'n responding to the control knob, and the passenger side began auto-dipping even with the sliding switch set to the passenger side to override it. The two year genuine parts warranty covered the dealer to fit a new mirror base, even though I fitted it myself. There was however a threat of a diagnostic fee if no fault was found, so I removed the door card and left them a nice note explaing how to easily diagnose the fault, just in case I did end up having to pay.

The dealer also replaced both the passenger side dash airbag and one in the steering wheel, both were outstanding recalls on mine. I think the steering wheel airbag is a recent recall, perhaps only done if requested. Also got a lift home and pickup from the dealer, so a good service overall - Cooper BMW Sunderland. I also had a chance to briefly ogle a new M3 saloon while sat in the dealers, it was in white, with red leather, looked very classy. They also performed a visual safety check on the car, only reported a gearbox and engine oil leak, and wanted £200 to diagnose. I declined! The gearbox is fine, it's lost no oil, but there might be a tiny leak from the sump or the rear crank seal. I mean so tiny it's not even dripping onto the undertray or underside of the car. I think the remains of previous oils leaks from the VCG and OFHG might have made them think any leak problems are worse than they really are. Anyhow I nipped up the sume bults slightly and will see how it looks in a month or two.

Also finished dyeing my carbon cube black interior trims with Forever Black trim dye, to cover all the white scratches the trims pick up. This stuff is very good, it just blends in with the black paint around it, so I just used the foam-on-a-stick application that comes with the dye, and applied it to the worn areas. I didn't go too near the leather parts, but there's no stripe on the areas where I didn't put the dye.

As I've recently refurbished my seat bolsters with a patch, filler and leather paint, and plasti-dipped the soft touch trim to refinish it, the interior almost looks like new. Once I've got new rear trim pieces, the textured soft touch foam ones on what would be the rear door cards (if it had rear doors, if that makes sense), the interior will be almost like new.

Took it out for a trip to the shops with the roof down to exercise the hood too, I wasn't posing, honest

Edited February 28, 2017 by Tim-Ci

[TriggerFish]

Started diagnosing why it doesn't start properly when it's stone cold unless you prod the throttle pedal.

Computers make life so much easier! I think I've found the cause though - there's no reading from the coolant temperature sensor making it back to the ECU (although the sensor does appear to be reading within range), so I think the wiring must be at fault, so that's tomorrow's job to pin down. Without this, the ECU doesn't know how hot the engine is, and based on my assumption, is assuming a hot engine at all times, hence why it idles so poorly when it's cold. (~300 ohm = hot, ~3,000 = cold. So no reading logically equals very cold!)

I also started to panic that the head gasket was leaking, as there was oil pooling around the top of the block. It turns out I'd only tightened the rocker cover by hand with a screwdriver, and hadn't put any tension into them. Hopefully it shouldn't be dripping now and I can stop scaring myself!

Edited February 28, 2017 by TriggerFish

[TriggerFish]

Fixed the cold start issue. Both earth and signal wires from the coolant temperature sensor to the ECU had failed. After fixing them, it fired right up and settled into a stable idle without needing any throttle input, despite being about 3c outside. I'll consider that a result, but also a warning to replace my wiring repairs with some more substantial wire as this is the 3 of out of 5 have that failed completely now. 

[Bamse]

On 28/02/2017 at 20:28, Tim-Ci said:

Fitted new interior LED bulbs too, in the map reading lights, seem much brighter than the other LEDs I had in there before. They're the £1.30 EBay special's, I'm using them for my sidelights too and they're great for those (after coding out the bulb checks), bright and a nice white colour, no blue tinge. These bulbs won't fit in the central interior light position, just the side ones.

After changing a few times I settled with this one in the dome and 2 x 6 led bulbs in the reading lights. The multi led dome light is very bright, pure white and has a nice even spread due to the diffuser. Very happy

[alan53]

Yesterday started badly my 330CI exhaust started blowing where the manfold meets the twin pipes,I knew this day would come its been in a cruddy condition since i got the car

I had decided after reading around that it wasnt a job for me,so i popped it into Hastings custom exhausts this morning they looked at it said 2hrs and £80 plus vat which seemed a

good deal they are a friendly group of guys i would recommend them.

 

[Tim-Ci]

That's not a bad deal. The nuts on that join are in a poor state on mine, I might try and attack them with various rust proofers to try and delay needing some work done in that area. Luckily the steel of the downpipes and mid section still looks tidy on mine now approaching 150,000 miles, the backbox might not last too long though as the outer shell is crumbling slightly in a couple of places.

[Markxr]

Went for a spin now need a new rear shock and the airbag light is on was fun tho lol 

[Hawnet]

Replaced old very tatty steering wheel, replaced parking sensor (bumper off), replaced headlights bulbs., MOT I am slowly getting it back to a better condition. 

Next jobs, relaquer front bumper, get the hands free sorted out,  maybe get better speakers. And find that sloping front 1st aid box.

[alan53]

Well my car finally passed the 200,000 mile mark and its MOT,but it required all new tyres though because of bulges,so never again will i fit PZeros,on the plus side the oil use is cured thanks to the rapid oil changes and the 02pilot mod.i am currently adding dipthane to the fuel to decarbonise it internally again.

[Tim-Ci]

Disconnected the wiring to the glovebox lock motor, it's not working when I lock the car, it just squeals and doesn't lock the glovebox. Now I can't hear the squeal I'm happy, will buy a new base part to the lock sometime - the half without the lock barrel inside.

Spent a few hours over a couple of days cleaning and buffing the interior trim and leather with Poorboys Natural Look Dressing. It has really brought out the colour in the leather (burgundy), it hasn't been cleaned since I've had it for 18 months, and was looking rather dull. I've still got to go over the front door leather and front seats. A massive improvement on the ambience of the interior. I just need to finish off the front leather, wash and wax the car, then it'll be very tidy.

[Tim-Ci]

1 hour ago, alan53 said:

Well my car finally passed the 200,000 mile mark and its MOT,but it required all new tyres though because of bulges,so never again will i fit PZeros,on the plus side the oil use is cured thanks to the rapid oil changes and the 02pilot mod.i am currently adding dipthane to the fuel to decarbonise it internally again.

Not bad going compared to most cars with an M54 engine, hopefully it could go another 200,000 without too much hassle. Mine's on only 150,000 miles but still very strong. It has slightly high oil usage but for the moment I'm tolerating it, I'd never heard of the 02pilot mod but that could be something to look into, thanks.

In case it helps at all, I use the Redline SI-1 additive at approx. 1/2 the dose recommended (30ml per tank). I did some research and concluded it works even at lower doses. It contains PEA which is apparently a very good fuel system cleaner helping to remove varnish and carbon buildup. Works out around £1 per tank.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Tim-Ci