M3AN

Oft, I'm pretty sure virgin angels die any time one of these is destined to be parted out... such a waste.

I'd say either the BMW software (ISTA) or BimmerLink are probably the best bets. If Epsom is convenient to you I'm happy to plug it in to my rig to see if we get any results, at least that'll be free.

Probably needs to be plugged in if you want any proper insight, I'm assuming there are no codes or errors? You could try pulling the vanos solenoids and filters and give them a clean if you're flying blind but YMMV. This is probably a ~2 hour job max if it's your first time in there.

That's ^ a good looking car, well done.

Well, they were selling for low 20's a few years back... buying one now is not a good investment. They're the first of the big, heavy M3's which is not a cool thing, and is an M3 really an M3 if it has a V8? Bottom end is bad, but so was the S54's and that's still iconic. If it's an emotional purchase and you have the coin go for it, if it's an investment it's a terrible one, if you want to thrash it then yes, if you're not going to thrash it then there's no point in owning it. It's not likely to appreciate with the same trajectory as an E3/4 series M3 because supply is not an issue.

This. But then it's a $2500 car right? I wonder what BMW traded it for, $5k max surely, and they're just trying to take the piss.

Ah, no worries Olaf, it's a free bump for an obscure thread, my post history will confirm I'm not so prissy about strict forum discipline... it's the internet after all! Nevertheless, I totally agree with you... I'm building out my physical 4K collection and the HD audio tracks themselves occasionally have a higher bitrate that streaming 4K video+audio!! That's a crazy difference... 6mb/s audio + 80mb/s video off disc, compared to 5-8mb/s audio+video off Disney+ (and they're one of the better ones!). It does however go to show just how good compression, especially HEVC, is these days.

It's lovely but surely it'll only appeal to an e46 enthusiast with $20k too much in their pocket? Otherwise, if you're walking into BMW with $20k looking for a small/mid car you're driving out in a nice Fxx aren't you?

Glad to hear at least something improved, keep us posted with the headlights, to be honest they're not something I've ever worried about, as long as they're on when I need them. Heading down to the 04 myself tomorrow at sparrow's fart actually, we've had shitty weather up in the 09 but I'm not looking forward to the chill!!!

Certainly not a 130... https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/135i/listing/4138031298

Have you checked to ensure your FRM isn't wet, or has tell-tale signs of being wet?

You should be able to reset it through the iDrive but I do recall it being a fight on my e87, nowhere near as simple as it should have been. IIRC I had to input a new service interval, I think I set them all to 400,000kms (car is at 135,000) to ensure I didn't get annoyed again. The service intervals in the computer are wildly inaccurate anyway, just intended to generate revenue for BMW... the brakes have physical wear sensors anyway.

I think that's the one I used, did it advise you to clean the windscreen and ensure it was dry and you were out of direct sunlight? I think that's the procedure I followed but I can't remember precisely sorry. I wasn't aware of the BC menu option, I might look into that one also. I do know that recalibrating (perhaps it was "initialising") my rain sensor worked wonders for my wonky intermittent wipers!

The Kodi plugin must be using the Sky Go or Sky Sport Now API's so yes, they can tell how many concurrent streams per account and where the traffic is going, they just might not care.

I agree, I'll be keeping some in DVD format, many don't need state of the art 4K and in some cases, they may never be released in 4K.

Yes, you can recalibrate the light sensor (and the rain sensor FWIW) using ISTA+, I'm not sure about other software though. BMW will be able to do it for you of course but I'm sure they'll want you to bend over for that.

I was lucky, my ballasts were fine, I cleaned the wet one out with water displacement spray (WD40, RP7, 5.56 etc) and let it dry. A good replacement would probably be available from Trademe or a wreckers.

That ^ actually looks not terrible.

lol - that site is simply depressing, it represents unachievable ambition for me. BMW M used to talk to enthusiasts, now it's just to milk people with more money than they know what to do with. Yes, that is a green tinge you see in my reflection... and I've owned an M car for over 20 years.

FTW for Techno, E36 gold. Oh, and Atlantis Blue!! Also E36 gold, is that still available?

Caught me by surprise too! Headlight, and all components are OE (Valeo) as delivered from the BMW factory. There are reports of this happening (UK and DE) from as early as 2 years from brand new vehicle purchases so it is a common and persistent problem. There are reports from Europe that some were "fixed" under warranty whereas other claims were rejected, no pattern is obvious to me in these cases. The water I drained was clear enough and with no tell-tale 'tide' marks on the housing so I assume this is a recent accumulation over Auckland's wonderful summer. I did drive home during the January floods, I did drive in the wet during the February cyclone, and it was parked outside for ~18 hours during the "atmospheric river" that we had last week... so a terrible set of circumstances. Regardless, the failure is inexcusable from a design and engineering perspective, cars get wet. Mine verses others? Can't be sure but it's certainly a common problem (heaps of reports on 1er and babybmw), I suspect it's just a matter of time if the car is ever exposed to severe water/rainfall. Apparently the way water runs off the gutters of the car funnels it almost directly to the headlight, which then drains to this housing. It's an afternoon exercise to check and create the drain holes, I'd recommend that as preventative maintenance, I don't think there's a real downside (unless you're submerging the vehicle).

Caught me by surprise too! Headlight, and all components are OE (Valeo) as delivered from the BMW factory. There are reports of this happening (UK and DE) from as early as 2 years from brand new vehicle purchases so it is a common and persistent problem. There are reports from Europe that some were "fixed" under warranty whereas other claims were rejected, no pattern is obvious to me in these cases. The water I drained was clear enough and with no tell-tale 'tide' marks on the housing so I assume this is a recent accumulation over Auckland's wonderful summer. I did drive home during the January floods, I did drive in the wet during the February cyclone, and it was parked outside for ~18 hours during the "atmospheric river" that we had last week... so a terrible set of circumstances. Regardless, the failure is inexcusable from a design and engineering perspective, cars get wet. Mine verses others? Can't be sure but it's certainly a common problem ( heaps of reports on 1er and babybmw), I suspect it's just a matter of time if the car is ever exposed to severe water/rainfall. Apparently the way water runs off the gutters of the car funnels it almost directly to the headlight, which then drains to this housing. It's an afternoon exercise to check and create the drain holes, I'd recommend that as preventative maintenance, I don't think there's a real downside (unless you're submerging the vehicle).

If you have Xenon headlights, and haven't created drain holes for your ballasts then be warned...

BMW engineering... 😭

I've not needed to do much with the car recently other than drive it, which I don't do all that much now anyway because I normally bus to work and back. Having said that I've had to spend some time on it recently, including today. A few weeks back I had a problem with the right front indicator, after faffing around for a while, which included removing the airbox and then the front bumper, it turned out to be the bulb holder so I sanded the contacts and bent them out a bit, did the trick but it's an unnecessarily complex task. Then, just the other day, my right front Xenon died, literally straight after the new WoF sticker went on (whew)! Long story short - the ballast flooded whilst it was waiting in the yard for it to be collected... how? Shitty BMW engineering. 😠 If this hasn't already happened to your E8x then read on because it will happen eventually... I confirmed the HID light itself wasn't faulty by swapping it to the other side (terrible design, requires removing the entire airbox). I knew from prior research that the ballasts can flood, unfortunately this is a headlight removal exercise which requires removing the bumper (again, terrible design). With the bumper removed I pulled out the RHS headlight and it was sloshing with water... which had all drained to the housing that contains the (high voltage) HID ballast (terrible, terrible, dangerous design)... I mean seriously BMW, do you not saturation test your vehicles? (No, they don't). The entire ballast was submerged. Pulled the ballast, filled it with a ton of RP7 and left it to dry whilst I removed the other headlight to check that. The LHS was dry as a bone which aligns with many internet anecdotes, it's typically a RHS problem. The permanent fix is simple, some 10mm drainage holes, I did both sides, as BMW should have done from the factory... Tested, reinstalled, and ~4 hours later fixed. What a faff caused by a bunch of poor design decisions. As I say above, if it hasn't happened it will if your car sees much water, including washing. I was lucky, my ballast was salvageable but many report they're not so fortunate so be warned. Edit: my car is very rarely parked in the rain, garaged at home, inside carpark if I drive to work, it normally only gets driven on the weekends. Auckland's summer of rain hasn't helped of course and the day it was at the mechanics was Tuesday just gone, so a little bit wet!