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Drivers seat all done. Welded lower base as per previous post, welded one of the tabs that the backrest screws into and recovered the seat in brand new fabric. Still need to put in the new seat shocks but the seat feels fantastic. Hopefully the passengers seat doesn't involve too much welding!

Date: 11 Nov 2024 Distance: N/A kms 1. Parts gathered.... Diff, and Front ARB Great news. The parts car produced a decent diff. Jon @ Begley Motor Worx has now degreased, prepped, painted the replacement 3.46, new seals all round incl BMW sealant on the cover. Ready to go with Penrite Synthetic. Fig. 1 what a diff'rence a day makes 24mm front ARB sourced from Hell BM (Thanks Ray!). I'll strip, prep, paint when it arrives. It's 5 years since we did the rocker cover gasket, so I've sourced a replacement (Elring) with bolt seals, and new BMW washers. Fifteen of the buggers! BMW part number 11127838077 (for ref). Nearly ready to sort it out. 2. Next items list: Replace right rear tyre (or both rears) - it's at 2.9mm Fit Replacement diff (e46 medium case) 3.46 (including the two small bushes, input and output seals, fill and drain bungs, oil, rear cover sealant) Replace the Power Steering fluid reservoir Top-end oil leak - replace valve cover gasket. Prep and install replacement 24mm front ARB New sunroof seal (Part ready to fit) Install that Msport steering wheel with the stereo integration, have sourced a post-Takata recall airbag from the parts wagon. Clean and rust paint the surface rust on rear subframe Then in near future I'll get into the stereo as per this thread... Next year: could be time for Lesjofors MSport springs, and either Sachs Msport shocks or Konis. Jeez, next April we'll have had this car 13 years. What would an Olaf update be without a musical reference? Let's take a trip back to 70's disco-pop with Esther Phillips 😄

Parking this up for 6 years seems crazy to me!

Managed to stumble my way into another problem project. With an addition to the family imminent, I started looking at options to upgrade the wife's mode of transportation. Her trusty Subaru Outback is getting rather tired and is not a car I particularly enjoy working on so was keen to lure her over into the wonderful world of German engineering. With her enthusiasm for eventually getting back into riding and owning horses, the criteria was a 4wd with enough ground clearance to at least not get stuck in a paddock, and something capable of towing a horse float. Easy enough. I wanted to keep it in the familiar era of the early 2000's so quickly narrowed the search down to E83 X3's & E53 X5's. The V8 was never an option and despite my love for the M54, I felt that in a big lump of an SUV (SAV?) it might be a bit underpowered and too thirsty, so the legendary M57 became the preference. Not an awful lot of them around as it turns out, and all close to or above 300k on the clock. One 306k example had popped up, went to check it out and although I was impressed with the drive and feel, I decided against it due to the shoddy aesthetics - passenger door handle was missing, a bunch of interior trims were quite worn, the steering wheel was sticky and disgusting and some underbody plastics being held in place with self tappers and wood screws. The condition was reflected in the price but since the car is meant to be for the better half, I'd have wanted it to be a bit nicer. I then went back to a FB Marketplace listing I had saved a while earlier. The ad had been up for a good number of months, the asking price was essentially double that of the car I test drove but was well presented and looked heaps tidier. Before I got around to texting the owner though, the exact same car popped up on a TM $1 reserve auction with a "FUEL INJECT. SYSTEM" error on the dash and a crank no start condition. Despite numerous messages and requests for a viewing, the seller never replied so I was left bidding blind. Not ideal but it is what it is. I figured I'd go low enough that I could recoup the investment through parting it out if need be, and after brief bidding war I emerged victorious at a price I was happy enough to gamble. The next day, I recruited a mate to help out with towing duties, hooked up our rally car trailer that was barely big enough for the job, huffed and puffed pushing the 2 tonne beast onto it and carted the new family member home. And there she is - 2004 E53 X5 3.0d with 288,600 km's on the clock. Overall looks really tidy, the body is straight with a few paint imperfections here and there but still presents really well. I do love the facelift design, doesn't look at all dated even at 20 years old, in my eyes anyway. Interior is in great condition too with the only blemish that stands out is the passenger door arm rest leather coming apart. Even comes with an Android headunit, which is pretty handy. The biggest drawback, for the wife in any case, is the lack of heated seats, although that's something I can try and rectify at a later date. All of that counts for nothing though unless I can get her up and running again. The car had sat since July, the battery had gone completely flat to the point even the gear indicator light wouldn't come on. Took 2 days of charging to get the battery back to full charge but I suspect it might be too far gone anyway and a replacement will be the first item on the shopping list. Ran out of weekend before I could start properly digging into it but did get the battery charged up enough to pull some codes. Definitely something to do with fuel delivery. Whether the code for fuel pressure regulating points to the regulator being faulty I'm not entirely sure. I've learned that these cars have a total of 3 fuel pumps - a low pressure in-tank pump; an inline pump and a high pressure pump - and it could be either one of the 3. Will need to do more research on whether any of the codes might help pinpoint the culprit more accurately. The glow plugs should be easy enough to replace and definitely on the list of preventative maintenance I'm aiming to take care of. Whether the glow control unit is also a common failure point I'll need to also look into. Another suggestion I found was that the fuel sender unit may have gone bad, the gauge would still show there being fuel in the tank but it wouldn't be making its way over to the pump side from the opposite side of the "saddle", causing a fuelling issue. The fuel needle did indicate barely a fifth of a tank so could be plausible. I'll try pour some 20L of diesel in it and see what happens. Would be pretty funny if that's the cause of the issue but I don't dare hope to be so lucky. On the running gear side, a few codes could be a cause for concern, namely the transfer case code for oil abrasion and gearbox shutdown code due to overtemperature. Will see how she feels once she's running and driving but servicing those two will definitely be on the list. Will take some time on the weekend to dig into it proper, see how far I get with the diagnosis and start putting together a shopping list of parts. Pretty excited for my first diesel experience. Time will tell how much of a bargain it turns out to be. Long live the Family Tractor.

welcome to the Tractor Gang! Jebus but they do like their codes. And tyres. And brakes. And transfer case and diff issues. #1 hint: ensure tyre sizes are in-spec. My brother had an e53 3.0 Sport diesel when new. Stunned me, made a real impression. Followed. Looking forward to learning of your exploits. Guidance for cars that your spouse carries your offspring around in: they shall always be over-maintained, and they shall never leave your spouse stranded with your offspring.

I brought in an 850CSi too (2013), from Ireland. Fjord Grey with light grey interior. Sold it for $38k about 6yrs ago now. It was blowing smoke (known to seller, had compression check, slipped rings) when sold and unfortunately on the trip to its new home the engine seized due to lack of oil (he burned that much of it on the trip home, it was topped up before sale). I don't think its yet made it back onto the road. Why would it need a bare metal respray in your opinion? Personally, I wouldnt pay anywhere close to $50k as presented, but I guess we shall see. PS: All CSi's are manual! 😛

So much harder to find them in this condition and unmodified, it’s been pampered by the 3 private owners, always garaged and drives impressively well considering its age (smooth and tight). There are few imperfections, but honestly they are so minor I get compliments all the time about its condition. Bought this to enjoy on the weekend and only gets driven a few times a month, but have had an opportunity to purchase an M3 of this vintage and can’t keep both. Most likely if you are looking at this, you know what it is, so will just overview the main points: BMW 330ci 2001 (170,000) - $9500 - NZ New - Genuine Motorsport - Top spec - Service history - Full leather - Folding seats - Cruise control - Multifunction steering wheel - AUX upgrade to connect to phone - Brand new windscreen - Recent service - All books/manuals and 2 keys Questions and offers welcome, viewing in Silverdale or Viaduct/CBD If you need the plate, please txt me (0211706651) TM: https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-5013061653.htm

That video popped up on my algorithm too. Worth a watch and I agree with the sentiment (so the youtube algorithm is clearly working well). I think part of it also down to out-sourcing, out of necessity (cost), the development of the software that underpins the technology and probably there is some element of rushing the delivery of said software too, lack of testing etc. Add to that designers who are catering to a demographic that seems to value size and bling and shiny screens over quality and engineering prowess and you have all the variables of a poor outcome.

Welcome. It is exactly why we try and keep this forum going. As people move away from Facebook all that information is lost. Enjoy the F11

Sorry mate! There was a Bimmersporter here many years ago ( and I thought his name was Brad) and he managed to bring in this ex UK, beautiful purple 850csi ( Daytona violet or Technoviolet- can’t remember which one). It had clocked some relatively big miles but he couldn’t get compliance due to a nasty case of rust. There was talk of transplanting parts from a donor car - but never heard anymore. Would have been a magnificent car in its hey-day.

Started on fixing the broken frame this afternoon. Stitched it back together and added a reinforcement piece. Happy with how it all came together considering the little welding experience I have.

She's been on daily duties and I love it even more now

Yeah dude. I love the gold wheels on dark cars. They stand out heaps! Thank you so much dude! Yeah I tried to make everything tie in with each other.

To test out the faulty fuel sender unit theory, I did a couple of trips to the servo with a jerry can and poured some 20L of diesel into the tank. Having had the old battery on charge for a few days, I hooked it up and turned on the ignition, to which the car proceeded to have a full on seizure - cluster flashing on and off, relays clicking, alarm beeping etc. Not knowing how old the battery was and the little peep hole staying black even at full charge, I picked up a brand new Century DIN85LHX MF as a replacement. Before I could hook it up, I discovered the clamp on the negative cable had somehow seized so you couldn't tighten it properly. Took some vice grips and an impact wrench set to full blast to break the stubborn stud in half. Luckily I still had a few spare ones on hand. Battery hooked up, you could hear the fuel pump priming as you turned the ignition, although there seemed to be all sorts of modules coming back to life and there was all sorts of sounds coming from all directions all at the same time. Gave it a couple of 10-second cranks, on the third one she fired right up! Happy days. Fuel injection system error still lit up the cluster but seemed to idle fine. Took it for a quick lap around the block, didn't really give it beans but didn't feel like it was in any sort of limp mode. Hooked it up to the scanner, still had the old list as well as a few more errors this time around. It now takes a second or two of cranking but then fires up fine. Cleared all the codes, took it for another quick lap and none of the codes are yet to come back. Great success. Too soon to jump to conclusions but seeing it run and drive really made my day. Heaps of preventative maintenance to do before she goes into full on daily duties but the beginning looks well promising.

Yes control units do go faulty. Replace all 6 glow plugs and the control unit