Herbmiester

My Niece will be getting her licence in July and she has her heart set on a BMW. She will have a bout 3.5k to spend which I think wont be enough to get something reliable. I was thinking about a an E46 sedan. I see some 1 series are cheap but they are all 116i's which dont have a stellar reputation. Is this possible or do I steer here towards a Japanese car or maybe a Golf? What to do think?

I am using Sach's OEM replacments.

Just wondering, I read that I am supposed to ad 50ml of oil to my strut housing before inserting my new strut cartridge. Is this correct?

I like it. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/740i/listing/3432170276?bof=qLfOFCYX

Not really, I am probably boing to use amodern fabric that is close but not exact.

Not sure I can agree with this, if a 135i is too fast for most NZ drivers then we should all be driving 1.3 Corollas. 135is are quite manageable and the big boost in mid range torque makes them easier to drive in some respects. Driver control is the key whether is 400hp or 200hp. When the 130i thread popped up on here I was intrigued so I went and drove a few as I really like the looks and thought it was time to replace the 335i. I was then and still am a wee bit underwhelmed by them especially in direct comparison to a 135i which I also drove. I drive a lot of twisty country roads to get to where I live and there was no difference in handling between the 130 and 135i but torque out of tight corners made the 135i auto both quicker and easier to drive than the 130i which you had to get up it to make it fun. I guess like others here I had a lot of high HP cars so my Stage 1+ 335i never felt anything other than nice. BTW I have had one speeding ticket in the last 15 or so years for going 56 in a 50k zone, I was driving a Toyota Highlander.

For the price premium you pay for a 130i manual you are into 135i auto territory. The big torque curve of the 135i works a lot better with the auto than the the 130 in my humble opinion.

LHD and questionable past really put me off. Prefer my 540is even though its not as fast or potentially desirable.

Wow best 130i I have seen. GLWS.

I gather the check valve is in the bottom of the hose that goes into the block?

Ah I see now, thanks for that.

Do you think I could get away with spraying a bit of carbon cleaner into the hose and letting it seep down into the pump? My thoughts are this might displace oil or grease and end up causing even more issues, not sure where the vacuum vents to?

Yeah the M engines are completely different to the N engines.

Thanks that makes a lot of sense, Time to pull the belly pan off.

That looks like an M57 pump not an N57 pump.

I dont think the booster has a leak because when I removed the vacuum hose there was a big hiss indicating I had broken a seal. That said the pedal was still firm-ish. Will check to see if there are any codes just in case there is another issue.

Any thoughts on how to clean it? Looking at real OEM I cant quite work out if its a separate unit or not.

Thanks for that I will try that and see what happens.

I have trolled the internet but found very little on whey I have no vacuum, I f anyone has any thoughts I would be happy to hear them.

Theory and reality are not always the same thing, as an Auto Sparky I saw this proved over and over again.

Exactly!

The pipe I haven't tested is the one off the vacuum pump, its a bit tricky to get too but I guess it has to be done. Fixing/replacing the vacuum pump looks expensive

After further investigation there is no actual vacuum when the vehicle is first started. I checked the one way valve with a simple blow suck test and it was fine. I then disconnected the main hard line on the passengers side and tested for vacuum, there was none. So the vacuum pump may be at fault?

Hoping someone can shed some light here. My E70 40D has a hard brake pedal when I go to start the vehicle in the morning. When starting it the pedal does not drop down as you would expect and remains hard with what would appear to be no vacuum assistance. When the car is warmed up the fault disappears and I get vacuum assistance again. If I drive with the hard brake pedal I often get a half engine power warning that goes away after about a minute or two, and when it goes away I get the vacuum assistance back again. I have replaced the brake booster seal, where the vacuum pipe enters the booster, and initially this fixed the problem, but now its back again. I am thinking perhaps its the one way check valve but would appreciate any advice. I do find it somewhat odd that when the vehicle warms up the issue goes away.

Sorry it was 4 years ago, just saying that amazon might be an option.