Allanw

Those plastic pulls to open the front will last forever... ... like all the other plastic bits on a BMW... And the "emergency door opener"... that breaks as soon as you use it (unless you remember that time you read the manual once), and presumably means you can't get out in an emergency...

It's not a 4 cylinder one The 6's don't haemorrhage like the 4's

Yep. The 6 cylinder versions will probably actually save you money long term. Plus someone might actually want to buy it come selling time - the 4 cylinder ones (N42 engine???) might be better known by then! (plus the 6's are generally more desirable, have better resale, go better, and aren't really hungry at all)

Ahhh.. the ABC of Kei cars The Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino were the B and C. I had a Cappo for quite a few years. Beat: Cappuccino:

You jacked it up and fitted swampers????

Prince of darkness (and misfires).

hmmmmm... aja540i was replacing them about yearly I think, in his E39 - I think the were genuine he was using too (it usually is). Last set may have been whiteline poly bushes??? The stock ones didn't cope well anyway.

The MY02's aren't a bad tyre - I had them on our old Impreza. For not more more money (like Andy says!), you can get the RE002, which is a stunning tyre for the money! They really perform - The E39 and the Touran both have them now. I got a set of RE002's for the Touran a couple of months ago, in 225/45/17's for under 800 (I think it was $740) as there was a buy 4 for the price of 3 sale and I usually get a good deal from my tyre guy anyway. If it's not urgent, wait for the next sale

You could get 4 to 6 motorbikes in the gap though In reality, the BMW driver probably arrived first, having no clue how to do it, so the Toyota driver thinks "Screw it! I can fit... ish!" We know what those BMW drivers are like!

Check out the parking at a hospital near you... hopefully it's not the surgeons who can't judge proximity of sizes... At least in that pic above, they got two cars into the space available.

Yep - sounds like expansion tank / radiator.... or any one of the old plastic cooling system parts Good time to buy a massive box of cooling system parts and tip them into the engine bay.

You best long term solution is to recover it. They all crap out eventually. There are some Ebay sellers who claim to sell the "correct" fabric, but it reality on a car that won't be a coolectable classic anytime soon, something close will be fine. If you go the way of recovering - buy the correct glue - standard spary on ADOS will sag on the first decent hot day - you want stuff that says on the can that it's suitable for headlinings (Wurth Extra Strong Spray Adhesive is a good one).

It's a common E39 thing - at least you don't live in the UK, where the boot lid, wheel arches, sills and everything under the car rusts too! If its the normal stuff - you may find it never gets any worse for many years... but you could always scrape the top off, sand it back a bit, clean it up with some rust converter and more sanding, then etch prime it and go over it with some touch up paint.

Haha.

///Mmmmm, nice! I almost like the wheels...

I too would love to see it fairer! I cycle to work, but still have to contribute more to roads than I potentially "cost" - a car does actually wear roads out, a cycle basically doesn't. A cycle doesn't need a massive wide road. Concrete cycle lanes last a VERY long time with no/little maintenance. So yes, I'd love to see a more fair system. You'd get charged more for commuting by car based on what you "use" up, and I'd get charged less because I commute by cycle and the infrastructure is cheaper and longer lasting. Please promote this! Why aren't there PUC (Path user charges)??? when you walk? Coz I don't have any footpaths near my place, and still have to pay for them. Why does everyone in NZ have to subsidise Aucklands motorways via taxation? Why do my taxes cost more than I get from them? Why are my retired parents taxes used to pay for other peoples kids education? etc, etc, etc,

Get the listing number, then go to ebay.co.uk, and type it in the search. The listing will still be German, but the buttons are in england you can understand

Still a buttload better looking than a prius! An added bonus is you wouldn't feel like killing yourself everytime you drive the i3.

Oh dear... this might have been good http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/volkswagen/auction-842095796.htm

It's very common really. There are also a LOT of ABS module common faults out there, on all sorts of makes - you'd think they'd have this stuff sorted by now with all the technology around! If you get a new unit, DIS will code it to the car, but you MUST have a proper cable, with actual voltage sensing that works. I purchased mine direct from Germany too, but I was comfortable with doing the coding and replacement, and also the risk if anything went wrong - If you aren't into that, get something local for sure! Fitting takes about 10 minutes, but coding is the harder part. You've got some good options above, in Auckland. I only found one place in NZ that did repairs (But I didn't look really hard!), and they quoted a price close enough to the new replacement for for me personally not to bother (about 3/4???). I did destroy my old one afterwards, just to see the dumb design for myself

and it's absolutely legal, as it is on a passing lane.

And yet, you quoted "dross on the internet". He hasn't done any testing under controlled conditions. From what you've posted he doesn't even appear to have posted/measured the oil temp at the time of testing, or other test conditions. Speculative - you mean like stating that Daves "photo IS an example" of a poorly maintained car? And can we "speculate" that you're now saying the seals DO in fact fail, because of this bad maintenance? Funny it only affects those seals, and not the others in similar conditions. The o rings in mine were so hard, that I could break them into many tiny pieces with my fingers - they no longer stretched, they were like hard brittle plastic. They were poked. If they were the right material, they'd last as long as other o rings in similar conditions- they don't though. The o rings don't even make the main seal - the "teflon" rings do, and the o rings provide the tension in the back of the telfon seal, and seal the back of it onto the piston. The go flat, hard and end up coming out oval shaped, flat inside and outside, instead of round section at all. If these o rings were the correct material, they'd last as long as an oil seal or similar part in simlar conditions in an engine. I'd not expect the rear main seal to be as hard as these o rings after such a short time. The biggest two benefits our M54 had from changing the seals was there was no stumble when opening the throttle with a cold engine and a substantial torque increase at low rpm. The M54 retards the exhaust cam timing like crazy during cold starts for "emmisions" (to burn fuel in the exhaust and heat the cats - as stated in BMW literature), when the seals leak, the stumble is a common syptom, because it can't advance the exhaust cam fast enough to keep the engine smooth - it can cause really easy cold stalling, or really lurching takeoffs (for those of us with a proper gearbox). Rough cold idle is sometimes atributed to it as well. As the oil thins it can leak past the seals more, though the flow increases which helps to compensate to a degree. Some people have had seals go bad enough for a code to be logged, because it can't get the cams into the requested position. Changing the seals clears the code, so it obviously shows there is a possibility of them failing. Like Andy says - why NOT do them. It's only a little bit more work than doing the rocker cover gasket (which was still soft on mine BTW - I reused it and there's no evidence of leaks from before or after and I did the seals maybe 25 to 30K ago). Would you leave the gearbox oil in, just because BMW say it's lifetime fill, or the fuel filter like they say on some new models?

If they haven't been replaced with the correct kind, they're poked. BMW used the wrong o rings and they don't last long as all. Mine were poked at 115kms/10 years-ish when I got the car - I don't know how long before that, and it's had regular oil changes etc - inside is very clean. "Allegedly" Bmw continued to use the same o rings after the problem was discovered - even new/replacement vanos units continued with the old seals when BMW replaced units under warranty. The o rings had hardened up so mauch, they no longer exerted any pressure on the teflon seal, and the pistons literally slide out of the bore with no friction. The new ones were better, and use the correct o ring which doesn't start hardening instantly on contact with oil and heat.

You need BMW Scanner 1.4 to change the VIN in the cluster. You also need to buy one with milage less than your car has - the car will update to the highest milage at the next update point (every 100 kms or so). The VIN must match, or you'll have a tamper light. The cluster will also need to be coded to your car using NCS expert setup - this makes sure you have the correct speedo settings, and options suited to your car.. Every E39 owner who like to play should have both - I think I already gave you the link to the Xcar-360 site for BMW Scanner, and google "cable shack" for a reliable NCS setup with support if you need it - Jimmy is the dude who runs cable shack - he's on ebay too. Pixel ribbon replacement is easy, but that won't change the economy readout

I remember seeing the ZOOZ number plate around saint lukes or sandringham or somewhere, in the late late 90's Very nice