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This process is only for the remote locking side of things and has no impact on the ability to start the vehicle or if the immobilizer is working or not. Anyone with any sort of experience should be able to pair the key with the remote locking. Off topic - dealers are franchises and run by different companies. Much like your local pizza hut so if you don't like the service at one, you go to another. Having worked and still do at a dealership, not BMW one anymore, here are where things go wrong; sh*t staff - sadly unavoidable once they are in, it's hard to get them out. Unfortunately they taint the good ones who work there. Customer expectations - being a dealer the customer expects anyone who works there to know everything about everything which isn't possible. I've been cussed out because I didn't know that the e90 323 had a software update in Sept 2009 for some random issue he was having. Said I'd need to look it up and plug the car in to check but wasn't good enough. (Insert car manufacture) enthusiasts and the internet - just because you read it on some internet site doesn't make it the truth. More than once carried a repair a customer self diagnosed it via the internet wrong and somehow our fault that it didn't fix the issue. Older cars - call up Microsoft and ask them to fix windows95 and they'll laugh. Eventually they fix it but it's not always as easy when you don't work on something all the time. Most people I've had as customers are awesome but those are usually the reasons why things go south but ultimately it comes down to point 1. Good staff are hard to get, and sometimes you just need to employ someone to fill a hole so the good staff don't burn out and leave

Not sure why you are assuming i don't have a good relationship with my local BMW dealer, i do, but it wasnt because they spent a whole lot of money and somehow deserved it, but because they hired good staff and management, and put good practices and systems in place, and worked hard to earn my support. If they change things and that relationship falls apart i will take my business elsewhere and stop recommending them to others no matter what brand they represent or how invested they are in their business.

I disagree. My comment was a reflection of the experience at my local dealership which isn’t listed in your post. There is context, I’ve had exemplary service from the local dealer when it comes to their vehicle sales and parts teams. Their parts team in particular are outstanding to deal with. The service I’ve received from the local service department has been nothing but average and arrogant. Damage caused, failing to complete service updates, refusing to acknowledge faults. It’s a shame because the rest of the dealership works hard to ensure customers are looked after often going to extra lengths. There are great independents around Wellington who are enthusiastic about the work they do and their customers.

Very unlikely to sell for 8k, its probably been re-listed many times. Even the 4k one has been for sale for months. Mileage doesn't mean much given the age of these cars, its all about condition at this point. A higher k looked after example is usually the better buy than a average low k's one which are mostly on old original parts ie: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/540i/listing/3729330877. Its fairly common for these engines to have over 300,000km on them because they don't have any major issues. NZ new examples tend to have the more fresher engines in my experience and have less emissions gear too. The main value your car has above others is the wheels. I doubt a serious buyer is going to care too much about an audio system.

Sounds somewhat suspicious. I was recently emailed in response to a TM listing for my E36. There was a valid email address but the correspondence with the interested party threw up a number of flags; wanted to make payment through PayPal without inspection, wanted to send a “courier” to pick up the car (would take a lot of tickets🤣) and was based “off shore” so couldn’t ring and talk to me. Disengaged with them pretty quickly and instead sold to a lovely human being with a phone number who was prepared to meet me in person. 😉 Be careful would be my advice

You do know all dealerships are different and often owned and run by other companies, right? Not all dealerships are created equal. In my experience, including working for them, dealerships tend to want nothing to do with old cars. They aren't worth the time as they don't tend to bring in quick money like late model cars. Parts are harder to get, and diagnostic takes longer and can be more complex. There will also only be one or two technicians at the dealership that have ever even worked on something like an E34 and it wouldn't have been for years.

Hey all, new BMW owner here. As per the title I'm working on building up a 130i as a clubmans rally car, for use on gravel Hillclimbs, Rallysprints and Rallys. The intention isn't for it to be a world-beater or anything, just something that is relatively reliable and that gives maximum smiles-for-the-miles while out on the stages. Here's what it looked like when I picked it up and drove it home from its old home in Taranaki. I can guarantee that it's not going to stay this low for long! The basic plan with it is: Suspension, brakes and LSD - Not sure there's any suitable suspension available off the shelf, so likely to be MCAs (which another local running a 135i uses) or custom-built Bilsteins. Interior - Cage, seats, everything else stripped out, reroute brake and fuel lines to protect them from rocks Electronics - Defang everything! ABS is out, TCS is out, all the nanny warnings about missing airbags/seatbelts/lights etc will (hopefully!) be excommunicated from the vehicle. Engine/Gearbox - Standard. 260hp is twice what I've ever had for rallying so should be enough to keep me smiling... at least for a while! And all the million other minor things that need doing for a rally car - intercom, helmet holder, mudflaps, underbody protection, rerouting wiring to keep it save from the elements etc. And remove the towbar; it's way to heavy to keep as a towing eye for the rear... Since I'm doing it on a (relative) budget and keeping things simple, I'm hoping to be able to build it in stages over the next few months so I can keep doing club events. And all going well it should be ready for the Northern Rallysprint Series starting in Feb 2023.

Thats how we roll in NZ.mp4

No not the same vehicle, I still own the one I posted about in 2016, and posted about it here also 540is getting a refresh - Showroom - bimmersport.co.nz I'm still looking for a set of staggered ACS type III 18's. The other 540is has been sold and I'm told now resides in ChCh, so I'm told, will try and arrange a photo shoot when I'm next in ChCh Recently have been working on a E60 530i and have done a bit of retrofitting to it, with the aim to do a engine conversion, and end up with a unique E60 in NZ.

I believe the NZ new cars not having cats was due to us having sh*t/leaded petrol at the time, which would kill a cat. My M3 was NZ new catless and didn't even have o2 sensors.

I mean one of the pay phones on the street.

Yes that green car was for sale dollar reserve a while ago. Sold for 4.4K (which I did think was a bit of a deal, but probably an indicator of what the market thinks its worth) and the person who bought it immediately relisted it trying to make a quick buck to no apparent avail so far. I watch E34 540s sales quite frequently, there was a red NZ New 2 owner example with 160,000km for 10K which sold in 48 hours. Other than that the sales are rather slow. Even an NZ New 118,000km E34 540i with a factory almost "iS" spec (aside from the most important bit... the manual) with all the M-tech goodies including an LSD, sports seats, shadow trim etc sat on the market for ages recently. Pretty sure it didn't pull much over 10K which really surprised me as that car was a bit of a unicorn. All it needed was the 420G and it's an un-official iS.... Maintenance is a very big thing, mine has done very high ks but was serviced religiously every 6 months from 2003-2019. Today mine actually clicked over to 376,000km! M60 B40 is a great engine if maintained properly. I honestly don't understand why 540 values are so poor, they are awesome cars. They have the classic BMW look but pack some pretty decent performance, great build quality and are relatively reliable if looked after. FAR superior to an LS400 of the same age imo. All NZ New cars up until 1996 (so basically all of them aside from a handful) are factory cat delete which is a nice bonus imo.

Overseas "buyers" are a completely different case. Most are a well known scam. I've sold some cars via weird or sketchy communication. Just give them a call, they probably just dont know how to computer but are genuine buyers. Buy a disposable 2degrees sim if you're worried.

Put on aluminum foil hat and Groucho glasses/nose/moustache combo...

Call, from a public phone...

But if the duck has the $$$, give him the car! I think just go straight to setting criteria for the cash in hand, buyer to seller meet, it's a real quick way to let scammers know it isn't worth their time...

One of the annoying professional hats I wear is information security and while I would love to believe in humanity, I'm with @poggle112233. I hope a phone call later it will all be great and you will have cash in hand.

Seems quite simple to me, call the phone number. If you feel it is something "unpleasant" use your judgement and walk away. Unless we've missed something? As an aside we recently sold a high value item off TradeMe. The buyers account was registered in 2017, and this was the first trade. Your guy may be bonafide, and simply as suggested not kept the contact details up to date. Amazingly a larger percentage of the population than we think have very limited technical skills. Even in 2022 .😀

Sounds a bit like the person has not updated the email address they registered with TM back in the day when ihug was a thing. This opinion assumes that the email you received was sent by TM and contained the enquirers registered email address for your reply. Cheers...

Sadly, this. Not that it is in any way unusual and most organisations have a few like this. Often they mean well and don't understand the impact (on others) of their way of working.

225,000km Oil service. Figured Id try some engine flush, but when I dropped the oil it wasn’t missing any so maybe it’s not burning like it was before…either way, no harm done. i picked up 2 cans of Castrol Edge 5W-30 from repco @$54 for 5L. Chucked some Ceratec in too. Got the Liqui Moly stuff from Harrys Euro. Was cheaper than buying it local despite the shipping. My Aliexpress fog lights lasted a week before one side stopped working so put the originals back in. Pay for what you get eh. I had a weird thumping noise when going over bumps coming from below the handbrake/rear console. Figured it was Guibo or CSB so loaded up the FCP cart in preparation for a refresh but after getting under the car I found one of the exhaust hanger brackets was missing a bolt and the other was only just threaded in. tightened up the exisiting bolt and will order another 2 as the other bracket is also missing one. Sounds gone today so will be ‘saving those items for later’ on the fcp cart. Was kinda looking forward to doing some wrenching but time wise it was going to be a bit annoying as I’m halfway through making the garage space nicer.

Sound like you, and aj540i may need to work on things like interpersonal skills and try to build relationships with the core people within the businesses we are discussing, you may find your objectives suddenly become far easier to achieve. 😕 Really aj540i, with a comment like this, "Like any local business they have to earn my support and they won't do it just by investing money in their business." get off your high horse. And btw I'm not decrying the independents, but they would not be here without the main dealer network. 99% of the owners and staff acquired the skillset from the dealer network remember.

I disagree, I try to support my local BMW dealer as much as possible, but not because I believe they "deserve" my support. Like any local business they have to earn my support and they won't do it just by investing money in their business. I have had mostly excellent service from my local (Continental cars BMW) but others on here may have had different experiences and they are quite justified in sharing those experiences.

We have owned BMW's since 1976 in New Zealand (And the UK) and must say that we have enjoyed exemplary service from the BMW main dealer network, including Jerry Clayton in Takapuna, McMillian BMW in Auckland, Coombes Johnston in Hamilton and Christchurch BMW. The owner have substantial investment in their business and the brand, and deserve support from posters on this forum not the continual "slagging off" that happens far too often Showing our age here, aware that most of the outlets named above have been rebranded, but you get the drift surely?😁

Just survived dinner with the inlaws, don't even know where to start that rant 😁

Overseas people use VINWIKI quite a lot to document the history of cars, it has yet to take off in NZ though. Obviously there are issues with any online WIKI as it is a public run db- my issue with this sale is that there is a strong possibility that someone could buy this without any idea of the history of the car, a car that on paper regardless of how well it was repaired or converted is not as advertised. Omitting details is not appropriate on a 100k sale. I have family that bought a super low km classic from a reputable car museum, who completely ignored the fact that the car had been well shunted. Due to the age of the car and repair it was not on any documentation, but later when questioned about it a huge back story suddenly came to light. People who know me wonder why I'm a control freak and have trust issues....... Genuine people are getting harder to come by everyday.

Pretty sure it would be sold already if it was in Auckland 😁

Auctions finishing soon, need money to support wife, kids and race car (not necessarily in that order)..

Id buy that for 5k in a heartbeat if it didnt spend all my money on broken British cars already. Want an 09 Swift Sport to trade in instead? 😅

What are you actually wanting for it, there are plenty of us that have impulse issues and are great at man maths.

Well well! Thought it might be time to revive this thread, as I now own this car! This thread went dead in 2016, the last few pages before this show some of the issues. There is another thread in about 2018 or so with some more issues this this vehicle. For a few reasons, Graham decided it was time to part ways with the car as a non-runner, and ever looking for a project, Elijah @eliongater picked it up from him. Elijah fitted a new battery to the car, and also found some touring specific rear leather seats for it, but otherwise had a few other things come up in his life as well, and also decided to pass it on. I picked up this car, some time in 2020. I went through both this thread and also the help one linked above, and basically came to the same conclusion. For some reason the pressure sensor at the rail was showing 2.1 bar when cranking, which is basically nil.Somewhere in the links above there is a document which is the official BMW fault finding manual for the M47, which was very useful, and in the end diagnosed that the DME is the fault with the car. So there it sat in my yard for another year or so, which dozens of cars came and went around it. the 320d being a fairly rare car in NZ is very hard to find a DME kit for, and havent had any luck over that time Some of you that have been around this forum for a very long time will remember Greg Hook from Hawkes Bay, who at that time daily drove a yellow E36 M3. for the last 12 years or so he has worked at Hawkes Bay BMW, and is now what BMW call a Master Technician. He is also a close friend of mine. 4 months ago, he decided to take the step and move out into business for himself, and has set up GH Automotive https://www.facebook.com/GHAutomotiveLtd I love it when people decide to have the balls to leave the safety net of a regular salary and go out into the big wide world. So I decided I would send the 320d to him for one last look over, and if he agrees its the DME, then ill get order one. But it cant hurt to have another look over it. Dropped it off on Thursday (with a box of Heineken in the front seat, if you know you know!) and he pulled it around yesterday. I told him, ignore the work others have done, just go back to basics and see what you find. He called me yesterday afternoon, and after 5 years, it is alive once more! A very strange issue with the car, and one no wonder Graham, Elijah or myself didnt find it! On the Touring model, there is a difference to the sedan with the relay wiring for the intermediate and fuel tank pumps, with the sedan having a 4 pin relay and the touring having a 5 pin one. Well for whatever reason, this car had a 4 pin relay installed, and so the intermediate pump was not triggering. When testing at the wiring, on the pump however, it would test out with 12V just fine. So now with the correct relay in place, it starts up and chuggs away quite happily! Unfortunately, that will not be the end of this saga I suspect. There has to be a reason why someone was in there playing around with those relays (and installed and incorrect one) and so it will remain to be seen what that is. But now that the car is running once more, I will get it back down here, and I can go from there! Milage: 305,xxx miles, or 492,000km So it will be getting a big birthday for 500,000km!