Leaderboard

232XXXkm Replaced the thrust arms (again) . Once warm the shimmy on braking was terrible. Ordered the parts and when I got around to fitting them noticed the right arm was obviously leaking fluid. these arms have done 20,000km and the RHS was installed by a very experienced mechanic, so not sure if installation error or wear and tear....either way; new arms are in (replaced both left and right) and the cars driving silky smooth. Felt like i was on a roll. Ages ago I bought diff fluid and drain plugs off @Gabe79. Problem was I couldn't get my fill plug loose, 4th attempt it finally budged. According to service history last fluid change in the diff was 60,000km ago. Out with the old: In with the new: New fill and drain plugs: Also replaced the drivers side headlight adjusters. Wow....what a fiddly job that is. Still have 1 broken adjuster on the passenger side but need another set of adjusters. Also chucked in some new cabin filters which I'm also guessing I got off Gabe.

Installed the shifter upgrade kit from ECS Tuning plus new transmission mounts. Also installed new front and rear driveshaft couplings/guibos since the driveshaft was coming out to get to the shifter bushings. Forgot to take photos but here it is all together(minus exhaust) with new trans mounts and front guibo fitted. Exhaust with SuperSprint back box removed to access the Driveshaft. All parts taken off the car were original and in pretty decent condition, old guibos had a few cracks and not as flexible as new, but still ok for near 180k kms. Trans mounts were fine too. Main upgrade was to the shifter. Original bushings were all slightly worn but fine, except the back rubber bushing that the shift arm? pivots off. That rubber had loosened and seemed to be the source of the loose shifter feeling. Special Turner Motorsports poly bushing went into the slot and the change was immediate. Gearshift is now super precise and feels so good. Very happy with the upgrade and no slop makes the car feel much more cohesive. While thing took less than 2 hours on the lift. The next mechanical thing on the car will be engine mounts and sump gasket. Not urgent, there's a slight weep from the sump and mounts probably need replacing at the kms. Both are in the same area, need to drop subframe, so makes sense to do it all at the same time. Will need an engine stand/holder to do it.

Autosure are awesome. I'd go with them again. Does the last owner at least remember where he serviced it? The workshops should have a record of working on the car. Ask him if he can send them a message and get some email/receipts confirming when it was serviced.

I keep getting loads of 503 errors recently. Makes it almost not worth trying to come here.

Completed my first solo oil change on the 530i today. Going for 12 month change intervals. Even though it’s not a daily the same cadence worked well on my E46. Car turns 20 next month. ?

The latest in a series of "e39 rescue" is now available to its next guardian... I picked this one up just before lockdown as it had a certain style of wheel I thought I needed as a spare set... Lockdown was very busy in the garage as I "worked from home" This early e39 528 with M52 engine has had a lot of attention and too much $$$ thrown at it in a short space of time... Everything is now up to date, all working, and is oil and watertight... As a few highlights... Waterpump, thermostat, front rotors (gen BMW) and pads, rear pads, front brake hoses, new windscreen, windscreen trim and cowl, rear windscreen trim, new console tray and compartment, facelift headlights polished and adjusters replaced, replaced foglight, excellent set of standard wheels with near new tyres, front sway bar links, rear suspension upper control arms and lower inner bushes, power steer hoses and pipes, fuel filter, window regulator replaced, bonnet/boot struts, cupholders.... The electric rear blind has been replaced and the parcel tray dyed black. The entire car has had a time consuming paint correction to remove clear coat scratches, along with the dent magician taking care of a few small dents. The door handles have been painted along with other touch ups around the car. There is still minor evidence of 24 years or so of life, low on the front and rear bumpers, and on drivers door as examples... but in general the oxford green metallic paint is pretty good... This car was imported from Japan in 2005 and has had one NZ owner before myself. The car was fitted in NZ with a widescreen monitor and navigation, the last map update being in 2011, which makes it a bit of fun... Other features include rain sensitive wipers, fold in mirrors, heated front seats, a quiet working sunroof with clear drains. 241,xxxkm or so. https://www.mdecoder.com/decode/bv73322 I have decommissioned the intensive washer function, but the headlight washer system has been repaired with a new supply hose. This car is in excellent all round condition and is "good to go" The engine is silky smooth and the trans is also good, albeit being a Jatco it has the mandatory "jatco jerk" shifting from 1-2 and 2-3 when cold. After a few changes it's all good... Looking for around $3900 or reasonable offers.... "nothing to do" but of course I cannot offer or imply any sort of guarantee / warranty. Fresh WOF.

2001 530i touring for sale. 217000km, second NZ owner after the 1st privately imported from Japan. Full cooling system replacement late 2014 (including those horrible hard lines under the intake manifold) , both cam & crank sensors replaced ‘15, ABS / ASC unit overhauled around the same time. Front upper & lower control arms & brakes replaced early 2019, new viscous coupling & radiator fan not long before Xmas last year. SLS airbags replaced earlier this year, MAF replaced at the same time. Serviced at 5k intervals with Castrol edge 5w-30, all work has been done myself. Xenon headlights with the clear tail and side lamps. Two keys & an NZ fitted towbar. We live in a semi-rural area so there are the usual stone chips around the front end and a small dent in the front passenger guard which I had quoted at less than $100 to have pulled out Job got derailed by L4 and subsequent L3 restrictions and haven’t yet had the time to get it sorted out. Has been a reliable and safe family hauler, with the exception of the SLS bags all parts were replaced as preventative rather than reactive maintenance. Selling as we’ve had to go up to a 7 seat suv with the addition of our third child, and I’ve gone to an LS1 with the end goal of a 650hp cruiser. $4750 negotiable I work a rotating 12 hour shift pattern so it can take me a little while to respond sometimes. In Waiuku, 20 minutes west of Pukekohe. 021 911004

Looking for an E36 touring, will consider any engine size or trans, wof/no wof. South island preferred unless its road worthy then will consider options. Current daily is coming off the road shortly

it does look like a low volume commercial unit, that is not expected to be used 24/7 tbh. but from experience, the pumps on these keep going as long as your intake water is clean. (especially if you will be using bore/rainwater) may want to consider intake filters.

I'd be seriously questioning your wof guy. The only difference is the direction of the internal vanes, and that is only if they are contoured vanes and not standard straight vanes. If the internal vents are straight, it doesn't matter what direction the slots or drill holes turn. 3 minute video from guys who make brakes to explain. The only time they would be on the wrong side is potentially if they are Brembo rotors with directional vanes. Next time you get failed on something so trivial, do a bit of research - at the end of the day, it is up to the wof guy to prove the car has failed, and what standard. If he can't show the standards or the precise measurements/reasons for failure, the car hasn't failed and he has to pass it.

Pending sold

Took the M5 for its WOF last week only to be told the rear brakes disc's were on the wrong sides! Continental offered to swap them for me, for $300! 1 hour on Saturday and they were back where they should be. They must have been like that for the whole time I have owned the car because I haven't ever had them off! Before... after...

Hey, everyone sorry for such a late reply with updates and thanks so much for all the advice. @Olaf you hit the nail on the head with the advice i needed, thanks so much for all that. I managed to talk it through with the insurance company and it has come to the agreement that i am handling all the repairs for a payout of $4400, which should hopefully cover it. They will not be deregistering the car which was a big relief and gave me a couple options for insurance. I will have to cancel the current policy and open a new third party one while working on the repairs, that can then be switched to full cover again when its done. No change in policy cost too which is nice. So all in all its good working with them. Although frustrating, i understand why they didn't put in the leg work for parts and just wanted to close things. I'd like to make sure its done properly anyway and so don't mind the extra time with it. Getting some more information on one of those older panel beaters would be great actually, especially since experience really tends to show with that and paint. Good to hear about the Datsun, what was it and is it still around? Any chance i'd be able to get in touch with Phil about the panel beater out in Rongotea? That sounded like an option worth exploring. Thanks Again!

Thanks! No, definitely not. I am already looking at some crown and pinion to change the diff ratio as 3.23 in LSD is "a unicorn" as I've been told, and also, I have a weak spot with the Apex Arc 8's... so, next thing will be the diff, some maintenance as the steering pump which is noisy (probably crooked) and reinstating the air conditioner. After that, Apex and maybe turbo.. not sure about that yet. I want it to reach somewhere the 300 or 350 hp mark so turbo or mechanical compressor will be down the line but not sure when the CFO will approve that hahaha. Yeah, shoot a message, I'm not a master of it but if I can help you to save some time and headaches, will be happy to do so. Cheers

@Herbmiester hope you can secure this!

Few minor things tiked off the list this last couple of weeks; - new radiator was dripping, turned out to be the drain plug wasnt as snug as it needed ot be, eaay fix - realigned my under tray brackes (how i saw the rad was leaking) and now all under tray hardware can find it's home. Also instaled new captive washer where needed for the under tray screws. - treated the rear cubby to a good clean and protect to remove the white ashy condition the rubber coating was starting to take on, now looks near new. - sorted rattle in drivers side seat belt mount and poorly fitted B pillar trim in the same job. grear and a tighten applied to the seat beld mount and removal and reinstal of the Lower B pilar trim meant i could liine it properly with al the clips in place. some whwre bent fomr soem haphazard reinstall in a previous life thankfuly they werent broken, as i had initialy thought. however in the processi noticed the rear seat trim is broken and missing a clip, so in the market for those, if anyone reading thiss has one. - Oil change this weekend, bit over due, due to lock down forgetfulness and other priortities but going to smash that out tonight or tomorrow.

Not just you. And there's the misconfiguration of the forum software, raised months ago. And the lack of proper security certificates, also raised months ago. Given the amount of free technical support and even cold hard cash that's been offered by members here it's pretty inexcusable really.

Hi there, Picked up an E46 330i Touring a few months ago and have been fixing it up to be a reliable daily. So far I have done the following: - Full cooling system refresh (Including hard lines under the intake manifold) - Front pulleys and drive belts - Power steering reservoir and hoses - CCV Replaced - Intake boots - Oil level sensor - Oil filter housing gasket - Valve cover gasket - Vanos rebuild - New DISA valve - Engine & transmission mounts - Windshield cowl - Transmission filter & fluid - FCAB's - Front control arms - Tie rods - Wheel bearings - Stock sport springs from HellBM - Sport Sway bars from BM World - Koni Special Active shocks on all four corners - Set of Style 72 rims to replace the Style 79 rims that came with the car - Changed differential fluid - Other little minor things around the car What I have got left to do is to replace all the bushings in the rear (If anyone has an RTAB tool I could borrow...) and I am looking at getting some new tyres soon since the ones that came with the new rims are pretty average. Best money spent so far was on the shocks as the originals were completely shot. And having everything in the cooling system replaced is great for peace of mind. For the future it would be nice to swap in a manual, but for now the auto is pretty good for what it is. Only major issues I have had is a tire blowout in Wellington on state highway 1 near the terrace (I think I must of run over something on the motorway), and a fuel line disconnecting itself which left me stranded outside Kumeu (Car didn't catch fire which was good). Overall the experience has been pretty good though, the car's fun to drive and I have learnt a lot during the process.

Less harsh light is alo good for when the kids fall asleep in the back and you need ot transfer them with out waking the little Angels up

Happy early Father’s Day to me. New low profile 3000kg jack.

Finally, after letting it all dry / cure for 5-6 days, I reinstalled the interior (not much fun), gave her a good groom and a photo shoot. I'm stoked with the colour and quality, there are a few tiny areas where I would have liked to do a better job but you would only notice by having it specifically pointed out and eyeballing from 6 inches - for day to day use it perfect and my wife thinks I'm crazy to think otherwise. The colour is a great, classic navy / tan combo with the orient blue and IMHO has enough wow factor without getting into 'marmite' territory. Only issue I've run into is my airbag light is now on, I believe due to switching the passenger and driver seat bases with the passenger occupancy sensor no longer in play. Hoping I can clear that and get the sensor delete thing from Ebay / TradeMe. I'm a little anxious to see how this wears - supposedly should be good for years (we can but hope) - at least this car rarely see's passengers and I now have the perfect colour match for any driver seat touch ups that may or may not be needed in the future. Its been finished 3 weeks with daily driving and several beach trips (i.e. wet, salty bums) and looks perfect. Final pics once completed - looks and feels better than most new cars inside now.

After the clearcoat failing around the place and gearbox having a sick bearing i decided to throw in the towel after 6 years\70,000km with no mechanical issues. Its been parted out\recycled with only a minimal amount of plastic waste going into the landfill. The rest will live on in some form. I wouldn't do it again as its very time consuming, but i received about $80 from recycling the aluminum, wiring and steel, so at least paid for my carbide tip sawzall blades. The bare shell weighed about 350kg RIP