hotwire

A lot of these strange bugs on these cars can fix themselves after the battery has been isolated then reconnected. Any strange antics like this - first thing to try is disconnecting the battery to see if it resets - can often save a lot of anxiety. Soooo is the wife now allowed to drive it anymore?

Yuen - HID's well described I have had E34 projector lamps apart before & cleaned the inside of the glass & the projector lens itself - on the beamsetter I noticed a big difference in light output -before to after. Customer who was complaining of crap low beam lights was amazed at the improvement at night too. Camera Doctor - I too remember you talking of this problem in your E39 earlier. Did you try & clean the inside? Mine being a Jap import looked to have a slight film build up on the inside when I bought the car into NZ. When I fitted the angel eye rings I cleaned the inside at the same time & they came up as new (lenses are not discoloured at all) I find the lights brilliant in factory form although I have upgraded to the "cool blue" zenon bulb which is a slightly better output. If yours are as bad as you say then it must be the lamp/lens discoloured or dirty unless there is a voltage/drop issue - which I would think unlikely

As said already - with two straight through resonators it will be noisy, you need a muffler at the rear. You can put on a free flowing type where you will still get noise but subtle & not over the top

These are notorious for burning contacts on the brake light bulb holder - sh*t design which fails over time - will probably need to get aggressive with it

Connected to old auto shift, -4 pin plug, -green/yellow is supply, blue/white is reverse, green/black (from memory) is start. Brown is earth - not required. Bridge green/ yellow & green black for start. Connect green/yellow & blue/white to reverse light switch on manual box for reverse lights.

Mark, Those circuits are controllled by 2 "unloader relays" K5 & K7 in the fuse box (outside left, 2nd from bulkhead & front most, which both open circuit during cranking - the earth circuit in both controlled from memory by a black/green wire which switches to earth normally but opens during crank. Not sure off hand what part of start circuit controls this wire though, I will check tomorrow on mine to confirm. You could confirm this as being the fault by lifting the rubber boot on the car- engine loom plug (beside fuse box) & giving that wire (black/green) an earth - this will earth both those relays & in turn make those circuits you mention operate - assuming that being the problem. Cheers Grant

Would have thought unlikely to be injector problem, either try disconnecting one of those two at a time or remove rail & either relocate to different cylinders to compare or have them bench tested

Ray, Penry's right with the common faults but as Yuen said - get it checked on a scanner otherwise you are only guessing - will save a lot of grief

Yep, CD53 is a new generation (world tuner) unit. These were phased in from 03/01 in the E46. If it is as he says - then yes - will work here

Bill English - Johns puppet

Thats one tidy 325i Alex, definitely the go for that money guys

Ian, dont think so from vin number - have you got the car on hand?

Yes -as I thought it would be, dont think anyone has the answer to that one, doesn't even use a map disc as we do here. If you want high spec with nav -Singapore version probably only answer I would think

Yep Singapore just require a disc but there is a catch - some will only read a mode 2 version disc -BMW NZ only supply in mode 1 format -seen an E65 last week like that.

You may like to look for a Singapore version car, not a great fan on older ex Singapore cars but being as young as you are looking at will be no problem. Same radio & nav systems as here - I can sort you out then with what you require to get nav working. Cheers Grant

Not aware of anyone knowing with this system but stand to be corrected on that. Pics of the set up in the boot L/H side, the monitor is generic in the E65.

Yea that was my thought as well, (fitted & not working correctly) asked several people & everyone said "cant be done" which created the challenge for Jochen & I (he more so) to suss it out, since then we both individually have helped many others get their systems operational. If you want to send me some pics of the set up I will confirm it as I think it is. Cheers Grant

I too am realitively familiar with Jap nav conversions & have seen through lots around the country, was Jochen & I that did my car first (we both learnt the system on mine -probably the first in NZ). From my experience -Singapore E65's -not a problem, havent seen a Jap one in the flesh but have seen the set up of them & they are a totally different ball game to the earlier cars & their Singapore derivatives. To my knowledge & consultation with Jochen - I am not aware of a solution in these. I drive is not the issue in conversion but the actual set up is, BMW wont have the answer either. The Japs seem to have gone out on a limb with their system in these cars. Will stand corrected by Jochen though.

Our E12 520i of which we are only the second owner & have now had nearly 14 years was bought as "tourist delivery" off the assy line in Munich by the first owner (local person). He specced it as he wished (still now has genuine BMW original option floor mats, sheepskins, air con) Becker motorised radio I replaced (but kept)with a CD when we got it. He saw the finish of the build, drove off the assy line, around Europe, across to UK where it spent the first 18 months before it was allowed to be bought to NZ in 1980. I have all the original factory documentation/ spec options & early servicing along with the first Euro Rego plates. While in UK someone with a grudge carved a swastica on the bonnet which he had repainted when it arrived here. Car has had a pretty sedate life, done only 85k when we bought it & now only just over 120k - has seen me with a couple of infringements over he years though

I went from original 4 barrell solex to L-jet injection in my E12 M20 -way better now than on carb -performance & economy Was easy enough - fit L-jet manifold assy, overlay L-jet wiring / ECU into car, fit electric pump in rear. No reason you cant go the other way but I wouldn't. You would require an external fuel pump as the pump drive point is blank in the E30 block casting.

Agreed on that one Glenn

Bags not doing the alternator either by the looks there! Bring on the hairy

And the smallest has the tow bar

E39 Lemon - That dosen't sound right - What was the story?