Allanw

Nah, they use a special epoxy for that nowadays!

Probably the wattage issue. The factory system monitiors the load, it expects a current peak upon xenon ignition, then a drop to a certain level which eventually settles and remains quite stable. The higher wattage ones may upset the measurements.

Uh-huh. Or you could read what I actually wrote. I never claimed I thought it was any different to the 5 series scenario. You have no idea of my understanding of a "Type R" variant. What I actually said was "They may see a Civic Type R as a Civic model variant" which as far as rego papers go, it is. I'm not talking about what *I* think, I'm saying what NZTA might think. Anything technical about the cars is irellevant, I'm theorising about the NZTA systems and a possible shortcoming leading to the discrepancy that a lot of this thread is about. A car registered as "Honda Civic Type R" is a Civic on it's rego - it's written there plain as day, that could be their "reason" for lumping it in with all civics. The Make is Honda, the Model is Civic Type R. To a pleb, it's a Civic. A car registered as "BMW M5" is NOT a "5 series" on it's rego. The Make is BMW, the model is M5. It may be considered a stand alone model, as that's what it is on paper. A car registered as a BMW 525i is a different model on it's rego, only the Make is common.

I got a genuine one for our E39 through Milland.co.nz, quite a lot cheaper than the dealer.

Nah, Took me about 3 hours, but doing it again would probably only be 2 hours max.

If it's june 2000, it's not an actual facelift -they started september 2000. Could still have had factory xenons though, and been upgraded to angeleyes later. The genuine BMW retrofit kit DID use cable ties to secure the ballasts. It was a "no-code" retrofit, meaning there were adapters fitted to stop check messages, though my car didn't need them and I fitted a later LCM and coded it to suit anyway. See if it's factory fitted - if it's a retrofit, that may explain the difference in errors. You can PM me your VIN last 7 digits and I can check if you want.

I thought I already said this, but it's not there :-) They may see a Civic Type R as a Civic model variant. Technically... An M5 is not the powerful version of a 520i, it's a different "model" as such. The Civic is registered as a "Civic" and type R is a variant, just like a EX or LX. A 5 series is not normally listed as "5 Series", but a 520i, 525i or M5 etc. Another Example is the M3 - it's not a BMW 318i M3, it's a BMW M3. The M3 CSL is a variant of the M3 though. Perhaps it is a technicality within NZTA Model naming system. BMW specifies each "variant" of the 5 series as a different/individual model.

For facelift lights, you used to be able to get aluminium ones on Ebay. Not cheap, but should last for ever really!

Much more low end torque. Basically if they haven't been done (probably not) they'll be due. BMW used the wrong material O rings.

Are you sure they're factory fit, not retrofit, or aftermarket? Or perhaps has the LCM been changed and not correctly coded? I thoguht if the LCM was coded for the "Xenon Ignition" option that it would attempt to re-ignite the xenon, and then bring up the low beam warning if it still didn't work. I have a genuine retrofit kit on mine, and I have coded the car to the xenon settings - it once didn;t ignite the left low beam, but it re-ignited it a second or so later. Are the bulbs you bought brighter, or bluer? If you've gone from 35W to 50W, the ballast may have issues igniting the lights because of the higher resistance perhaps.

^WHS, Especially the bollocks about the ad! "around 1000kgs" = around 1300 kgs - pretty similar to an 80's commodore. E30's were no lightweight. "just under 200HP" = 170HP on a good day. =130HP/tonne, not 175hp/tonne - which is the WORST V12 W140 power to weight ratio. Plus we all know a 325i (auto esp) doesn't do 0-100 in under 6 seconds, like the 2 tonne+ S600 can. Open road economy of a Vitz? I bet it doesn't. Maybe the E30's open road economy is like the Vitz town economy when its having the arse caned off it. "as fast as a Porsche Boxster" Really? maybe you could get away with: nearly as fast as a 2.5 Auto boxster... but that really isn't impressive. It's a bit like saying it's faster than my neighbours MX5. "car has a racing diff" Uh-huh "a reason for sale: need some cash for a house deposit." Or more of those drugs perhaps. I wouldn't be listening too much to what the guy has to say about the car. You'd want to rely on your OWN opinions!

That's the weird thing about E30's = the roof is so low (especially with the sunroof), but the seat goes back for MILES. I'm 6'1" and my head touches the roof all the time in Dads. But I can get the seat so far back that I can't push the clutch all the way in. Most people who have their seat back like in the pic, can't drive to save themselves anyway. General disregard for everyone else, and no clue what's going on around them.

Da-daaa: Surgical Method I hope you have small girl hands!

Average Punter wouldn't even know. It's only a 318i If they were buying for performance prowess, they'd probably get something faster. At the end of the day, it would still be more "M" than half the "M" stuff on Trademe!

If your car is from Singapore, it probably has - they are usually very well specced. High OBC has text display at the bottom of the instruments cluster, Low OBC has a picture of a car, and doesn't warn far as many things :-(

Oooof! That's not good! For the gauge to get into the red, the engine has probably gotten to well over 115C (the OBC is usually set to gong when the coolant gets to 125C - WAY too hot!). I'd get that coolant problem checked before it gets more major too (As a side note, there was a guy up here with a 540i who had it diagnosed as needing a cam chain tensioner just a few weeks back. He decided to save up some dollars to get it done........ a few days later - CRUNCH clatter clatter etc. 32 bent valves etc. BIG billl coming for htat dude!)

First most common leak on an M54 is the racker cover - cheap and easy. usually you'll small burning oil though, as it leaks onto the exhaust. Second most common is the oil filter housing seal. Even cheaper, not as easy though. It tends to look dark and nasty, as it leaks slowly and gets covered with dust and dirt on it's way down. If you have a coolant leak, you want to fix it VERY fast. M54 do NOT like to be overheated, and they run hot anyway, and over heat FAST. If you have high OBC, it's not so bad as the car monitors the coolant level. with low OBC, you can leak the coolant out, and it will not worn you. Plus it may not register as being hot until it's too late, or maybe not even show hot at all! If the sensor is in air, it doesn't read properly.

Boy... you guys thought we had some GEMS on Trademe.... REAL Gem

It seems, that it's just the engine and software to change. You may have different diff ratio and auto gearbox maybe. I'd like to convert my M54B25 to a 3.0 too, but it's manual - all I really have to do is change the engine and install the correct software via WINKFP - it's the same ECU and everything. The manual trans is different, but it'll work.

Awesome colour - Parrot-Screech Yellow :-) VAT is only taken off "VAT qualifying Cars" too I think - not all are, as it depends on the vehicles previous use.

Yeah.. Nah - still looks like an X3 Keep your E46, almost the same car, but nice looking

Alpina also deveoped the 4.6is and 4.8is engines for the X5... wouldn't you think they'd have used one of them instead of the 4.4??? So many dreamers. He probably beliveved the guy who sold it to him...

furry muff. Spend a fortune on a ViPec instead Same as a link, but often with more stuff for less money. Really is a link inside though - made in the same place

You want my M54B25? Sounds interesting :-) I can't see it happening any time soon. It's only done about 125K and I can't see myself upgrading to the 3.0 until either something goes wrong, or I win some money. I spend most of my "car money" on other toy cars :-)

Only the one from Jimmy - DIS worked fine, but I don't use it. I've fiddled quite extensiely with BMW Scanner and NCSExpert. The BMW Scanner interface doesn't work with other cables.