Allanw

Yeah... manual conversion

As above, take off sway bar mounts. Mine pretty much fell in. Mines I not II though.

in ALL cases, each car has to be looked at on it's merits, not what country the first owner lived in - The same owners might live here now anyway! Don't plan on NZ new cars being looked after very well either, and especially so if they were a lease car. Not a single one of my leased cars was ever done "by the book" - just the bare basics were done (and not even the minimum required by the car maker) and work recommended by the dealer wasn't done until it actually failed (they once made the Toyota dealer in Kaitaia leave brake shoes in that had less than 1mm of lining left - They showed me before they put the rear drums back on!). I also personally know two people who had VW Golf TDi's with trans failures under new car warranty (40K and 65K) - is it because they're crap, or because of the lease company servicing? I dunno, but at that milage, I wouldn't expect servicing to matter. Cars are disposible here, so most people just do the minimum they can get away with, and buy another one later As far as seats go, each car is registered as having a certain number of seats. When I had my VW Van certed, the guy was worried, as the Australian compliance pleate said 2 seater, but it was complied in NZ on entry as an 8 seater, so we were OK. IF you fitted an extra row, using all OEM parts and mounts, it's still need to be registered as havinng the aditional seats, though I can't say if that actually required a cert, or some other inspection/change.

Someone else shot off the other side of the same corner on Friday night! Skid mark starts just after the apex, and goes straight into the bank on the other side of the road (on the right side, by the closest marker in photo one, post one). Where do these people learn to drive???

The 525i When I rebuilt the front suspension, I fitted a 10mm strut spacer (like a small version of the ones on the rough road versions). I'm fitting a 10mm one to the rear now, to match. It had factory M-technic Sport suspension, and it's just a touch too low sometimes, and it needs to match the front arch gap anyway. I just fitted a set of Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE002's too, so I'll sort out the lift, and get it all aligned. They're fricken awesome tyres! Feels like a new car!

WooHoo... such a simple thing that cause such bizarre issues! It's a pretty average switch design... the Germans tend to do that for some reason - My old VW van is the same - needs another switch now, after replacing it 3 or 4 years ago. They only cost about $12 though Enjoy your new found luxuries - call the last owner and tell him it's all sorted - just needed a switch

Haha! I wondered why he'd posted a VR Commode piccie, but it does somehow make it look Holdenish! Weird!

It wouldn't work...I don't think anyone wants a big, annoying w@nker as Mayor.... Oh,hang on... Besides... Mayor's are mostly decorative - They're the PR department, not the Boss

Probably not... ACC would "cover" the human damage, so why worry??? Ermmmm... up here, the council CREATES hazards and road dangers as a matter of course - a roundabout on an angle (trucks have to be careful, as the longest, sharpest side is the lowest side!) then plant bushes on it, and the islands, so you can't see the cars already on the roundabout. They build a new intersection, and put a stone wall in the "garden" as well as the bushy plants so you can't see very well from the free-turn lane if there is traffic coming (unless you are in a van or truck etc). Phase the lights so 2 or 3 of the 15 waiting cars get through on the green, then complain about red light runners in the papers... and tell me the lights work perfectly, even though at 645AM, you can wait at a red for over 2 minutes with ZERO cars using the 3 other looooong green phases, and they can tell you that is considered "working correctly" by looking at their computers in their offices - the line of waiting cars is probably just some kind of hallucination, I guess. Build a shared pedestrian/cycle path, but put "driveway crossings" through it repeatedly, so it's bumpy and a trip hazard - mostly just to drain water, seemingly. Build a cycle path, then cut a drain so deep/sharp across it, that you can't use it and have to go on the road, where there are islands, so it's narrow. I had to call *555 last year, as I'd just left work, drove down Maunu road to cross State Highway 1, and a car shot through a gap in the line of cars I was in... there were two green light phases at the same time! crossing each other. They've also started putting red light arrows everywhere - usually at the START of a phase, so half the traffic can't move anywhere, regardless if there is oncoming traffic or not. Tarseal the ONLY direct way to the airport on a weekday afternoon/evening (right into "rush" 1/2 hour), so the 10 minute trip to the airport (even in peak traffc) takes 50 minutes. Build a completely new road, then start the car parking on the side at the exact spot where the busiest right turning spot on the whole street is - the Mitre 10 Mega entrance, so you have to wait for there to be a gap, just to be able to keep the traffic flowing, on what has become a major thoroughfare, as it's the most direct way to cross that part of town..... need I go on??? - It would be better if they employed some dentists, or hairdressers or something, I'm sure it would improve the roading safety no end. I do like our new harbour bridge though - I can drive home going through only one set of lights , or avoid the whole lot on my bike... and I live on the complete other side of town . I can avoid most of these marvels of the genius minds on my (assisted) bike, and it takes less than 15 minutes extra per day, and the power to charge the bike is about 1/100th of the cost of petrol (plus I've lost 15kgs ). Right, I've used up my words... off to bed now.

Built the Lift Kit

Yeah... and the council refused to put up signs or arrows on the road......

True Then I could get you to take my wife for a drive in it, and prove to her it's no faster than the 525i, then I'll be allowed one....

^This - used to have it all the time in our rental fleet.

Oooooh... might get to see it local...

Manual conversion.

To be fair, there is a chunk of seal missing on the apex of the corner... people don't expect the camber and gradient changes that occur through that corner... but it comes down to going too fast at the end of the day... I reckon 2 cars go over thereeach year, at least. 2 so far this year :-) Still what's worse, is the 4 times we've seen people drive along this road on the wrong side! Tourists leaving the attraction around the corner - one made it about 1km, around about 6 blind corners, and 2 brows of hills

E39 530i or 540i manual touring

Did you buy a red Mitsi??? The trees had a trim just a bit further down: :lol:

Some of the UK guys do run plain fluid. A lot of them probably get plain fluid from unknowing garages. It probably wouldn't hurt as a short term thing, if you want to flush the box, or test it for a couple of weeks. You could put cheaper stuff in to try it, and see if it helps. Then get it flushed properly later. I've heard of a number of transmissions failing after flushes that were used to try to fix a problem though I also wonder if your voltage issue could be part of the problem (I haven't heard the noise though :PI have some youtube issues )

Oh yeah, it's not the checks that are the issue I think - the LCM actually pulse width modultes the 12V to run the LEDS, and they can burn out if run on 12V direct. I seem to recall you can alter the PWM to alter the brightness (or burn them out if you do it wrong). I'm nott 100% on that though - that's why I'd want to check the settings first. I have some vague recollection of the standard lights being set to 80 and coding to my car sets it at 20... But I could be dreaming - it's happened before

The factory fitted Celis rears apparently never had the resistor/ballast packs (except maybe the faceliifted but prefacelift date M5's), they came with the retrofitted ones it seems. Mine has none, and it's a November 2000 build date (facelift started septmeber 2000). Josh would be mush handier, and is probably better at it The tamper dot is ONLY an issue if you don't update the VIN in the LCM... it actually has nothing to do with milage. BMW Scanner will change both VIN and Milage to suit the rest of the car. I have the LCM4 in my, from a wrecked E53 X5

^That fan is possibly working perfectly though.

Hmmm.. this is why I wondered. Driving over arthurs pass shouldn't make it heat up much, and the viscous fan shouldn't be required if you're moving at much speed - it may have a clogged/worn out radiator or similar, limiting the cooling capability. The viscous coupling should only really be required at low RPM and very low speed, when there is limited air flow. By 25 or 30km/h there should be enough air through the front that the fan wouldn't do anything anyway. The Coupling relies on the heat off the radiator to cause it to lock. As soon as more air comes through, the air/coupling should both cool down.

You'd need to know what to look for though - the dealer only does what the customer pays for. Full service history only means it's had oil changes and inspections, but doesn't mean it's had all the repair work that was recommended done. It could still be a poked old peice of crap. That's why the expert is required. Leased cars are classics for scrimped servicing - none of mine were ever done "by the book", but all had the stamps -one never had plugs fitted, even when required every 30K. NZers are cheaparse when it comes to servicing/maintainence/repairs.

Magic!