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I also wanted 20W50 but apparently the 20/60 is pretty much the same. Mineral vs Synthetic…I’m just putting in what the manual said. I also run it on 91 as that’s what the fuel map on the Turner Motorsport chip is. I’m doing 750km between wof’s atm so not doing enough km‘s to really have any notes. would be interested what everyone else is putting in there M20’s?

Ok. The 16>20pin adapter is what ive always used and most common way to connect. Dont think ive ever seen cable like you describe. Mines not for sale but PM me and i maybe able to loan it if local.

I was thinking the same thing. There's RON, and something else ==> US number is lower for NZ octane rating.

😳 I had no idea. Thanks

Thanks - sorry no photos. Looks silver/dark grey.

Id say that chart is based on whatever mineral oil they were using at the time period. Modern synthetics are far superior.

here is a Turner motorsport quote for you just as a heads up on cost (US$) as far as I can tell FCP Euro has them "on back order"

Getting pretty off topic into the realms of personal opinions on a controversial matter. back to the OP, huge diff between an e91 and f31 but you obviously pay the price difference up front. In the long run the f31 might end up being the better and cheaper car. It would be my pick any day. if you have the money for a f chassis wagon definitely go for that. If you want a lower buying price then an e91 is still a great car/bmw and just get things fixed as you go.

I got mine off Amazon on a freight free to NZ deal. Jacinda missed the GST as well. Happy days.

ADS/OBD1 does not work via a USB port. You need an old fashioned XP computer with a real serial port and a special cable if you want to use INPA and BMW standard tools. It's all about how the BMW engineers tried to speed up the processing by doing clever stuff with the serial chip commands that the USB serial emulation does not support. Anything 96 or younger car has an OBD2 DME, so your 97 323i should work off a USB port and the right K-DCAN cable and 16 to 20 pin adapter. Your car will however, have lots of OBD1 modules. BMW didn't get around to making the whole car OBD2 until later. It was 03/98 for the Z3 (E36/7). Other models may have different dates. The usual problem with setting up INPA and a new cable is the addressing of the com port. You need to have the same com port in, INPA, Device manager and the cable. The cable comes set at com port 1. But every time you play with the cable setting with the FTDI software, the com port is incremented by 1 when you save to the cable. The switch on the K-DCAN cable is of no consequence with the E36's. It only comes into play with the E46's and later.

Replaced left rear window lifter mechanism, the casting that carries the window was twisted and cracked and the cable had lost its little ferrule that keeps it in place! Also gave it a long overdue wash, I keep thinking I should give it a polish, but the paint is so bad I think it would be a wasted effort.

Took her out for my first sustained seat time - a good 3-4 hours exploring the Whitford / Pohutakawa Coast / Clevedon / Kawakawa Bay / Kaiua. Was an absolute blast, aside from choosing the hottest day of summer so far and my AC not working - nothing the windows couldn't handle to be fair. Looking forward to doing this fantastic drive again after I've fully serviced her plus a full suspension refresh.

Took the M5 to Matamata and back yesterday, easy run, hardly any load, managed to get the average consumption down to 13.6 which is the best its ever been!!

Replaced water pump, thermostat, fan belt, coolant, vacuum pump O ring, bottom rad hose showing signs of age so will order a new one, also couldn't get correct O ring for vacuum pump, made do with an undersized one and some sealant, will order correct one . Car actually gets up to normal temperature now! Still had original water pump with plastic impeller, 320,000 km and no signs of failing, but better safe than sorry.... Front brake pads still bedding in but no signs of squealing so far!!

I'm not sure the BMW dealer is the gold standard to compare against ....I dunno.... i read stuff like "pin holes in intercoolers" but miss cracked charge pipe.... it's all very sus. I may be old fashioned, but I think if you're paying a professional for a job, if they are not comfortable with the process they should say so, or you should expect sensible and methodical diagnostics to be carried out

Finally fixed one of the more worrying previous repairs carried out on the old girl, at some stage someone had damaged the section of the drivers door card that covers the airbag, and decided to turn it into a home made Claymore mine by repairing it with a good solid layer of Araldite! I shudder to think what this would have done to me if the airbag had ever deployed!! As you can see there is some silicone in there as well, just in case. Replaced with a good door card from Pick a part, unfortunately it was from an electric seat car so it has the memory buttons which mine has no need for ( manual leather heated seats for the win) so I will keep an eye out for a correct replacement, but in the meantime this one won't cut me in half if the worst happens!