Allanw

Yeah... there's a few makers with them... I'm not sure why though - I guess it's supposed to make it feel like an auto. I'm still a manual fan though. It just feels right, and makes you think about driving. I've always said that if you can't drive a manual (excluding physical disabilities), you shouldn't be driving. If you aren't co-ordinated enough to operate a clutch, how can you be coordinated enough to brake, turn, look, indicate, accelerate, judge, adjust and avoid at the required times

The oil filter housing gasket is a common leak point, and you'd be amazed where that oil gets to! - it's probably worth doing - only takes a couple of hours at home. As Brent says, the rocker cover gasket is probably the most common leak, and it will go nearly everywhere too! Because these things run such thin oil, it can run nearly anywhere!

Dads E30 started to creep (if you held the pedal in, it would slowly start to engage and drive off!) I got the parts from partmaster (they were in stock, and I get trade there) for under $100 (I think) for both master and slave. They're both pretty easy to change, so worth doing anyway. It would also have a rubber pressure line fault - the inside can break down and block small orifices - effecting making one way valves You may find a good bleed would fix it anyway, but the parts are cheap enough - just flush the hard lines while the slave is off, to clear any crud out.

BEFORE the works starts I once had a similar situation (although it wasn't the guys fault he wasn't insured - it was a license issue, he wasn't told about by the Police), except the entire rear 1/4 on my accord wagon needed replacing. It was $4500 +gst! I informed my insurance company, but told them he wanted to sort it privately. That way, if it went pear shaped, they knew what was going on, and couldn't accuse me of doing a dodgy of any kind. The guy did pay up in cash, when I collected the vehicle from the repair shop Probably best they have a note on record at least.

It's funny how the euros are mostly doing dsg type setups, and the japs are more into CVTs

Yeah, but it's a Holden. 'nuff said As the revs climb, it clearly become less efficient

I think 7 manual gears would confuse a lot of people... have you not seen how many already can't drive? It'd be better with a 2 speed transfer box or diff! Racing and Cruising! Taller gearing doesn't necesarily equate to better fuel consumption. Most consumption gains from gearing are because you have a better choice of gear, instead of labouring in one, or revving it's nuts off in another You can select a suitable gear and use part throttle. The efficiency of the engine for a given HP requirement is what determines the fuel consumption and the revs that equilibrium is reached is different for different engines. A particular design of engine with a 60 HP load at 4000 rpm may be just as efficient as another engine design with a 60 HP load requirement doing 2000 rpm.However, the first engine with the same load may use 25% MORE fuel at 2000 RPM - this is often true of smaller engines which struggle to maintain the required HP output at low RPMs. Most road tuned cars have roughly the same efficiency from about 2000 to 4000 at a FIXED hp requirement (such as the power required to move a particular car through the air at a fixed speed), then above and below the efficiency drops. Using 5th in town can actually increase consumption over 4th gear. I have seen graphs for a NA Subaru engine on an engine dyno, where the load is constant, the fuel consumption is roughly the same from 2000 to 4000, then climbs either side. That was the 2.2 SOHC motor, which was the benchmark for midrange torque in it's day (it was a 1996 engine I believe). Subaru even stated it in the owner manual of the time - 2000 to 4000 was the best range for efficiency for that car. As engine revs climb, each combustion cycle can produce less power and still keep the same HP level, so less fuel is required each cycle and each cycle can be run leaner as a result. At low rpms, timing is retarded more, and fuel richness is increased, to prevent pre-ignition and detonation. so if a more HP is required at low RPM, the engine is struggling more and is running less efficiently. Conversely, as revs climb, a lean burn results in more heat, and running rich helps to overcome the problems associated with this, so most manufacturers insure themselves by upping the mixture a bit and lose some economy. I'd imagine crunchy does that (could be wrong though): generally tune for ultimate power, then richen up the top end for safety and lose a bit of power (for street cars anyway - not those with big wallets and a speed fetish!) The gearing has to be matched to the particular car, but even the 1M mentioned above may not have sacrificed any fuel consumption in the gearing (not having a go or anything - just an example). It could actually be better because of it.

You live in Auckland. Do you need them? Just move into the city Even better, get a taxi or a bus license.

I think the same - the dual zone thing is stupid - I always want to set both sides to the same temp, you'd think there'd be a mode for that. Instead, I have to change both sides. (Somone will tell me there IS a mode for that now...)

Not as interessting (or cheap!) as you might think E39 Manual Twice the milage, non facelift (but possibly tidier), for a grand more than mine No options though - even has manual AC! Would be a good daily for someone. At half the price! 2.0 manual probably goes OK-ish

Has anyone else noticed... Telstras $75 deal is for one year, then standard pricing applies... whatever that is. I have a wireless radio conection, and pay $50 a month for 5 gigs, and have a cellular vodafone home phone for $25, Not the cheapest, but my house isn't even connected to the outside world (not with wires anyway!). I only pay for the slowest connection speed, which is 3mbps, but I get just over that on download, 3.11 and upload is 2.79. Geez - I've had the interwebnetz for about 15 years now! I can remember downloading "the Matrix" on dial up! Took about 3 weeks of leaving it on overnight with "getright" 'specially since it was pay by the hour back then - I was Ihug customer 62, when they brought out unlimited dialup for $59.99 if I recall correctly I find its easier to buy a bunch of DVDs at once from Amazon.co.uk nowadays, rather than downloading movies with crap sound or nasty compression.

The extra power has to help - ours is seriously average! Some of the passing lanes going north take all of it's power just to keep at 100ish, flag passing anything! I had heard the injector issues weren't so bad on newer ones. 3 replacements under warranty is pretty ridiculous and common around our year (Hiluxes too) and the injectors were about $800 each for the part! Historically, there was the 2CT and 3CT, the 2LT and the 3L (to a lesser extent) which tended to eat heads. Their track record is pretty average. I don't know how long the Transits last for (I do wonder to be honest!), but it had so much torque, I could pass trucks in 6th on a short straight, where I would never consider it in the Hiace. It used the same amount of gas too. Strangely though, super easy to stall - usually diesels are harder. Traction is terrible in them too - the inside rear wheel will spin at random times, and it's super easy to get stuck! I dunno what we're getting next time, yet - prolly a VW, which I imagine isn't to flash on the reliability front either, but man do they haul! Maybe a Hyundai (the dealer we use for other vehicles is VW, Hyundai), but we're thinking high roof this time, so our stuff can stand up if we want, so the Hyundai would be out. Anyway, we're getting off topic (I do it a LOT ). It's often cheaper to maintain an old car, than the capital cost difference in upgrading. If reliability is way on your list of concerns, newer is generally better, but if you can get by for a day or two, older can be cheaper long term.

Has Toyota EVER made a good diesel??? Our Hiace is a giant bag of arse! 2007 model, 10l/100 kms, mostly open road, mostly empty. It feels like it's about 1/2 the power of the Ford Tramsit loaner we had while the Toyota was in for repairs (again!).

This one Costs more, but has freight to nz They work great too Dads E30 dash is crack free!

Don't think that was me..... Might have been "Allan"???

Yeah, best you stop there, before everyone loses all respect for you Marmite and vegemite aren't the same thing, or equivalents / substitutes. They are very different, I use both! For example, marmite and jam on cheese, but vegemite and cream on pikelets I still have half a jar, but I've had to cut back on doctors orders (for something unrelated)

Awesome! Sounds a whole lot better!!! Well done.

It will need money spent on it, but then so does my E39, with under 120K. I'm just pricing up rear suspension bushes/arms etc as they are a bit knackered, and the wof guy wondered how the rear stabiliser bar was still attached because the links were so poked! If it's so much cheaper to make it worthwhile, go for it. Wear items such as suspension and brakes etc are going to need attention on any 10 year old bmw, almost regardless of milage, but engine and trans etc are more likely to need attention on a high miler. Maybe not soon though. Who knows. I was going to get a newer car than the E39, but when you look at them, even a 3 year old car with 80K on it can need a lot of parts - shocks, brakes, CV boots etc, so in the end, decided older with lower purchase price was better. The most reliable, cheapest car to maintain we have had was a 1995 Subaru Impreza which we sold at 320,000 - and only then becuase it was too awkward to gets kids into seats and had no safety gear. It only ever broke down once, when the fuel pump died (at 315,000) and only ever had a clutch, rack end and cambelts/tensioners/waterpump for repairs, the rest was brakes, CV boots, rack boots etc, which I class as wear items. It was an awesome car even with the huge kms. If you are worried about reliability/expense, a BMW isn't always the best choice, especially not an old one. With high kms. If it's really cheap, and you'rehappy to fix things that come up, go for it.

Click on "My COntrols" top, just right of centre, then on the left side, under "My Subscritions" you can veiw by topic od forum. Change the date range to "from the beginning" and there they all are! Unsubscribe those you want to.

There is the possibility of more to go wrong with a diesel. Turbos and all that jazz. Not so bad on a newer car that's been looked after, but older ones can give some big bills, and may be uneconomic to repair. Remember that a diesel car costs 4.5c a km on top of the fuel. 2000kms a month is another $90. Also, a E39 is never going to be really cheap to run, as they are heavy. Personally, I'd go petrol, especially if you were getting a cheaper car.

Sorry, I actually meant cluster! Low cluster has a picture of a car, High cluster has a text display and no car picture. You can unlock it and get it to show the coolant temp (I can't remember how now - Google) Otherwise you can get Glenn or someone to watch the real-time data to see what the operating temperature is via a scanner etc. The gauges on these things seem to be calibrated to show normal from actual temps of high 70's up to well over 100, so you could be running near the low end a lot, and it's burning more gas than needed. Even though the gauge shows it up to temp, it may be cold.

The actual revs of an engine have very little to do with it's fuel consumption - it's the load and efficiency of the engine at a given RPM that determine it's economy. Within a certain RPM range, the engine will use the same amount of fuel regardless of RPM, as long as the required power is the same (i.e. an engine producing 60hp at 2000 RPM may use the same amount of fuel as the same engine doing 3500 RPM but still only producing 60hp, but more or less RPM may actually increase consumption). An example is the Subaru engine I have in my VW transporter - the fuel usage is within about 5% from about 2000 to 4200 RPM at the same load, and outside of that range it increases. The time spent accelerating is when fuel is used the most. Do you have a high OBC? (with the text display?) You can use it to tell you the coolant temp - maybe the thermostat is stuck part open? It'll run richer when it thinks it's cold. I know our engines are different, plus I have manual trans, but we get about 10.2L/100kms "commuting" (no heavy traffic here, half is winding, hilly open road, 100k limits, but 35 and 55 corners etc) - although when the Mrs was away, I used only 9.5L/100kms doing the same commute. We have the climate air going all the time too. Just did a trip Whangarei to Tapeka (near Russell) with 3 adults, a child and the boot absolutely CRAMMED full, and two bags squeezed in the back seat, and got 8.0L/100kms on the way up, and after the return trip, was on 8.4L/100kms. Another time, just me in the car, Whangarei to Warkworth I got 7.0L/100kms sitting on 100, but just cruising along. That's on the OBC, but it's always within 0.1L/100 kms of what Fuelly.com shows based on my fillups. I think given the differences between the two cars, your open road figure is probably close to correct. The commute seems a bit hungry though! I have a friend who lives in glenfeild, and drives to silverdale each day (pretty good trafic wise), and local groceries etc driving on weekends (with a HEAVY foot!) in a 540i touring and gets about 14-15L/100kms. On a trip, he got it down to about 9. He seriously has a heavy foot though! Full throttle up to the speed limit (ish) usually, and was only getting about 15K from his tyres (dunlop sport max or something). I'd have thought that even with a typical Auckland commute, that a 528i would be getting 12 to 14 without trying too hard. Even 17 seems high - better off with a 540i if that's the case!

'nother local! Sweet! Looks nice! My Father has a nice '90 E30 325i SE manual in Glacier Blue that you may have seen around too.

Being charged with fraud would ruin your life too. Plus... You try claiming for a loss/damaged item when the customs declaration says US$50 is the total value of the shipment. They're not going to pay out the $700 you spent... I've ordered parts from Germany and had them Shipped by German Post, and the NZ$700 value wasn't picked up for customs or GST. Have done it twice now. If you use DHL etc, they have their own customs brokers, so will sting you for whatever they can. I always just assume I will have to pay it, and it's a bonus if I don't get charged