M3AN

As challenging as it might be that's what electrical diagrams are for. I'd certainly start with a diagram before I picked up a drill.

You should be able to disable valet mode elsewhere no? Is it not just a grounded connection or simple switch? Trace that and disable or switch back electrically?

Might actually be an upgrade!

For the sake of $10? Yes. Not strictly necessary but nice to be able to say "including every nut, bolt and washer". They'll also be cleaner and go on easier. Some would say essential but I don't think it's that absolute.

Hope it stays in the Bimmersport family, it;s a genuine classic this one. Surprised you're keeping the M5 over this little beauty!

Started replacing the trunk lid wiring loom in the M3 (common e36 problem). It's a bit of a PITA job and BMW make it harder than it needs to be. The repair loom is provided with wire tails, tiny solder connectors and heatshrink tube so you need to splice up to 20 wires into the chassis loom. Considering they can charge what they want for the repair loom why not provide a damn connector to avoid all that faffing around? All you'd need to do then is plug the chassis side of the wires into the connector once you cut them. Seems really stupid. So I went and purchased some plug-in electrical connectors to do exactly that. Can't disconnect the spoiler brake light connector without removing the spoiler (another dumb design decision by BMW) so I'll have to cut those wires in the trunk, pull them out, feed them back and connect them up again.

This is a very old thread Jake, you might not get a reply. In your case, with no spare, your best bet is to call BMW. They'll need your license plate number so they can work out your chassis number. I recommend you get a couple of keys, at least one with remote. Unfortunately that will be expensive.

Umm, but you shouldn't expect to replace an engine over the life of the car, that's not the case for batteries. If the up-front cost of an EV included lifetime battery replacements then the comparison could be valid.

Until the batteries need replacing... then they're worth $0.

There wasn't any.

^ yes, worth mentioning. That looks great! On a day other than today I discovered and fixed a coolant leak on the 328 and replaced the belts and pulleys, tensioners were fine. Belts were on their last legs so timing was good. Removed the ECU from the M3 and found what I suspect is a problem with the circuit board.

Reminds me of summer. Nice. Bring it on.

No, it was built in April 1996, a MY97 would be no earlier than September 1996, more likely November. It was first registered in November 1997 so sat around for quite some time unregistered. It's only through a disingenuous interpretation of registration law in NZ that it could be registered as a 1997 (covered in other topics here and elsewhere). It's a 1996 car. Pre-facelift too which is the instant giveaway.

VIN: WBACF22060EV25424 Prod. Date: 1996-04-01 That's about as far away from 1997 as you can get. Nice car though.

Simple Green next time.

Hmm, I don't want to piss on your picnic but whilst everybody else is walking around with a BMW boner I'll tell you one thing: - There's not a single BMW ever produced for the road that will give you the thrill of a worked STI. None, not even the 1M or the CSL. Sure, many BMW's can still give you a thrill but up to 180 km/h they'll all feel much slower than your STI. It's a different story above 200km/h but that's rare territory. I went from a trick TME Evo to an E36 M3 (way back when that was about as much BMW as you could get) and, even with acclaimed prowess of the M3 chassis, the Evo would run circles around it all day, every day. The difference, for two cars produced 24 months apart, especially considering one was half the price, is embarrassing. Until you hit 200km/h then the table is turned. Completely. You're not going to get the same experience as your STI in any BMW, especially a modern one. They're simply too big and heavy. You will however get a completely different type of experience and once you're used to it you'll probably find it just as enticing. I still own the M3 for this reason. But I'd love another Evo to sit alongside it.

I have a couple of old steering wheels and airbags, what does your look like? Note sure mine are 1990 old but there might be something in there for you.

^ wild assumption dude!

Congrats Garett, hope mum and son are both doing well.

^ dude, let me tell you about racism at the gas station! I'm a white guy in a BMW and I pulled up to the bowser the other day and the coloured dude at the pump next to me filling up his POS didn't even offer to wash my f'ing window. Does he not know who I am? Geez.

Fair enough. If they didn't keep the codes and the problem persists the codes will get stored again (if they existed in the first place) and the shop should scan it again for free to give you the codes.

I think people are jumping to conclusions about getting it (re)scanned. We have no information to suggest it wasn't done by a competent mechanic the first time around. That picture you posted @Bendy says "faults listed" and then "recorded" - did they give you a copy of that record? i.e. did you get the fault list? Post that here.

I like how they're now calling sequential gearboxes "automatics". As they are.

I'd flush the system (with inexpensive synthetic oil) and then refill with a good synthetic. Penrite HPR5 is perfect, especially when on special at Repco. A million opinions won't change this, it's fact. Now, for my M3 I use Castrol Edge. You should actually avoid Magnatec in NZ because it's a mineral blend (mineral = bad). But 'Edge grade' oil can't be justified in a m52.

Neither DropBox nor PhotoBucket allow embedding now so they're dead for image sharing. I signed up with a free web host with storage and they don't prohibit embedding (at least for the time being). My traffic requirements are low so I expect it will be fine. If you give them your phone number you also get FTP access which makes things very easy. https://www.000webhost.com/