Allanw

D'oh! Quite impressive though! Looks like it's new tyres time too

I saw somewhere else about checking tyre pressures and tread - rolling circumfrerence of the tyres can trick the car into doing silly things, as it reads different speeds from different wheels.

It's quite awesome the difference the Vanos seals makes. I did it with under half that milage, the they were absolutely poked. There was even side-to side movement of the piston in the bores! I just did the OFH gasket too - easier than the Vanos, although I didn't order new fan belts and iders etc - I should probably do them one day. Good work!

Fitted a new oil filter housing gasket and water pump, discovered I should have probably got belt tensioners - didn't know it had idlers etc on . They don't seem too poked though. Changed coolant. Cleaned the alternator ducting - was FULL of leaves! About 3 cup fulls!

Yep... best not put a set of tyres on it either. Bypass them.Rego and insurance as a percentage of purchase price are pretty up there too. Although, a set of Mags and a nice exhaust seem to make better sense. To be realistic, buying a 3 to 6K BMW is NOT a wise financial move. If you don't have any money, why buy a car which have so many gizmos in it to start with. If you're tight, buy a corolla. They're sh*t, but there's hardly anything in them to go wrong. The sensor should NOT be bypassed, but some people will. There are a LOT of eBay traders selling the sensor, which does NOT work. A guy in the UK brought multiple ones and tested them - most cleared the light and told the SRS system there was no occupant, so the airbag would not deploy in an accident where it should. Upon disassembling them, they were a diode and resistor, twisted together onto the wires and poked in a plastic box. They were dangerous, and will possibly cause ECU problems as the connections degrade and arc microscopically. Then the light comes back on. This is why I suggested the original poster have in checked that it shows the seat as occupied - which he seems to think it is, even though the lights not been cleared.

Does the carsoft stuff do it? I have a spare Carsoft 6.5 (chinese ahcked rip-off version, like they all are) that you could have for $50, posted. It "should" do it - I only used it once on my laptop (via serial port) and connected to my E39. Seemed OK. Then put in back in the box. you will need a serial port to use it anyway.

If you get the light reset, ask them to check that it is showing the seat as occupied, then the airbag will go off in the correct circumstances (and even if the seat is empty, which is the safest way to bypass it). Just an FYI: SOME occupancy bypasses tell the car that the sensor is fine, but there is no-one in the seat. If you brought it from eBay or similar, there is a good chance it is like this, and is made from a few simple components that are just twisted together, not even soldered. If you have an accident, and some one dies because the airbag doesn't go off, you could be charged with manslaughter, as you have tampered with a safety device on the vehicle which may have saved their life. If you sell the car with it in place, things can get worse, too - you've then knowingly sold a vehicle which has had it's safety features tampered with, to someone who assumes the safety features are working.

Used is always a gamble, and those boxes aren't known as the most reliable thing in the world. If it was rebuilt or recond, I'd certainly expect more... but then there are rebuilds and rebuilds too. Fully reconditioned should last pretty much as well as original. Used... Russian roulette - it's the chance you take. A mate just spent $7K on his 4.4 V8, because he KNOWS it'll be good, whereas a used one could pop it's clogs again anytime. Bummer dude!

I think it's a good idea when selling a Focus... "Look at these pictures of all the crap that hasn't broken off yet" Clearly it's a good one, because most of the stuff on a Ford that age will have broken off or stopped working

$60 is OK. For not much more, you can buy software to do it. Either carsoft type stuff, or an OBDII cable and adapter to the big round socket (if you need it) from eBay - search for cable-shack - he did mine, I think it was about $75 shipped??? You'd need a latop with about 30Gigs free, and several hours to set it up. Not too tricky if you're puter savvy. Cable and software

Yeah, I thought that! It's the US though - it's BIZARRE what people sue for! The guy probably fitted it himself anyway There was a woman who sued a shop over there, because a toddler ran in front of her in the shop and she fell over and broke a hip or something. She won the case. It was her child..... They should sue him for expenses, because he hasn't had to pay for Viagra, and they've provided the same service to him

Lucky bugger - everything I try to paint looks arse afterwards... although I once painted a Suzuki Super Carry that looked pretty good after. I have to Pint my VW van soon, but I'll prolly do it white - easy!

But if the sensor bypass unit is telling the car that the sensor is there, but no passenger is there (like some of the eBay ones do) then it won't go off - Dodgy.

IF you do the occupancy sensor bypass, you will probably want to check (INPA?) That it senses the seat is occupied. On the UK forums, many have discoveredthe eBay bypasses get rid of the light, but DON'T tell the car that there is someone there - so the airbag doesn't go off! It MUST be set to say there is someone in the seat, otherwise there's no protection. I don't think it's so much the weight that's the issue, more people kneeling on the seat etc, putting a lot of weight in a small spot. Personally, I'd fix it and tell people not to kneel on the seat. Even after checking with the software, I'd still be worried the Bypass wouldn't work and have no airbag at accident time Car sounds like a good deal. 540i's are awesome. Shame there's not more manual ones, Or I'd have waited to find one

Australia is listed, NZ can't be to hard for them to do. Group buy anyone? I've seen osme good US reviews on them too.

Not according to BMW - facelift E39's were all 2001 models. That's what they made them as, and what they come up as in EKTA. So when I look for parts, I have to look for 2001, not 2000, otherwise I'll be looking at an M52TU powered, non facelift car. I'm sure it confuses a lot of people when they go parts hunting.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo! Buying a new one???

Genuine Xenon Retrofit kit arrived Installed the lights - Awesome , now just have to do the self levelling loom install - Prolly another hour or two if I fit it through the car interior The lights only took 25 mins for the pair.

Wow - that's expensive though! On Ebay, there was a guy who would paint it to code, and ship to NZ all for NZ$750 - but didn't include the extra kidney grilles. Dunno how good the paint job would be - pics looked OK from memory. I'm still tempted to order one sometimes, but the Mrs prefers the standard bumper

They seem to have the first rego year... my E39 is a 2001 Model (facelift) but was built november 2000... so it says 2000, even though 2001 Models start in september 2000 for BMW.

Well, at least he doesn't look like you Congrats dude! I have number 2 coming in August. WHY OH WHY are we doing it again... Glad all is well. Enjoy it! Having much time off? I should have five-ish weeks by then! Awesome!

Can't be as confusing and me and "Allan" ! Welcome, BTW. I wanted an E38 728i or 740i, but the Mrs thought they were too big

So it's not an M3? At least she's not STILL trying to pass it off as an M3, like the "other" one, which is M3 running gear, but has the Vin from a 318i!

Sounds like a drive shaft vibration, and the bearing carrier or similar is vibrating against something sound like the body work, but itmight sound different because of the microphone. Maybe when the mounts were done, it has moved the position a bit??? Or something wasn't tightened. I had the same thing on deceleration is a subaru once, and the bearing carrier was loose on it's mount on one side.

Not really, if you wrap them in plastic, tightly, might be $50 or so - Seats are quite big.