Allanw

NOT silicon (RTV), if you ever want to paint anywhere near it! You can buy proper seam sealer, like the factory would use, PU is usable, but the paint won't stay on it forever. Seam selaer is a bit harder and less flexible/rubbery. You can get brush on too.

PA SOFT BMW Scanner 1.4.0 is the easiest way to do it, although it can be done in NCSexpert I think (I only do it via BMW Scanner though). BMW Scanner will reset the lights (although you can do it via the cluster too) and can be used to change the litres of fuel between oil changes.

Good to hear! Prolly don't (shouldn't) spend much time at 1100 rpm. I wonder if it's from the high pressure combustion pulses of the diesel at such a low freqeuncy? Hopefully I get a lot of time to decide, before mine craps out! I assume it would be a bit less noticable in a 6 cylinder petrol anyway - higher frequency and lower combustion pressures... Dunno! Thanks!

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow! We're having a damp subtropical Christmas it seems - it's about 1045 PM currently, Still 20C, and 98% humidity - fortunately the easterly wind is keeping it bearably cool feeling. At least I've managed to get about 12,000L into the water tanks. I've had the Christmas pork in the oven for 14 hours, only about 12 to go The poor E39 is going to get messy heading to Dads family lunch and then the in laws place out in the sticks. I wish everybody a safe and happy day! Be careful if you're traveling. Season Greetings,

Hi David, I wouldn't recommend an oil flush - if the engine is dirty, it may release crud that blocks the pickup. If it even works! The ones that did work used to cause havoc on some cars when the crud blocked off the oil pickup or things like oil spray bars. Better to use a good oil that may help clean things VERY slowly. The M54 motors seem to collect sludge under the filler cap. I thought ours was a bit grubby (firm brown very small lumpy bits) and that it may have had a lack of oil changes in the past. When I did the Vanos seals, I took the rocker cover off and was actually stunned at how clean it was inside - seriously shiney with just a very light clear golden coating on the non-moving parts etc. The plastic cover itself was a bit grubby, but I assume that's a "cold" bit too. Same when I did the oil filter housing gasket too. I brought a new oil cap and fitted it just after the oil change, and it's done about 6500 kms and already has some tiny brown lumps - I guess because it's a "cold" part of the engine, the oil vapours condense there. And for Qube: I think the 5W-30 is A3/B4 anyway (or can be purchsed as such anyway). It may not meet the BMW LL-01 spec, but it's obviously not a bad oil. I don't like the 23,000 or so kms our car would run according to the standard SI interval!

hehe! 1/2 a star economy rating - claimed 23.9L/100kms. Awesome.

Hey Clinton, Any progress? Did they find the sound? Did you only had the clutch done? Our clutch still seems fine, but I want to decide what way I'll go before it craps itself. Did they put the noise down the the Solid flywheel? Is it just sound, or vibration too?

Maybe it was 7K yen for the gear knob swap??? NZ$100

Is it like a Camry?

Must have been your twin! Don't hink it had the black grilles or eye bows though - didn't see it for long.

I'd think new battery time AND the charger too Yes, a good trade account at RIPco helps - their retail prices have huge margin on a lot of stuff.

Yep - get a proper battery maintainer (fully auto charger). Most do a reverse polarity pulse to prevent battery sulfation, then charge the battery to a standby voltage (usually 13.8V) then maintain that level (or close to) with a minimal current charge. I had a car until recently that was doing anything from 27 to 250kms between WOF's and I had it connected to a small maintainer (2.5A max) that I paid about $100 trade. It was for a small battery though. That battery was in the car for nearly the entire 7 or 8 years I had the car, and never gave any issues. I left mine on 24/7, but it would sometimes sit 4 or 5 months without even being uncovered!` When I wasn't using the Transporter daily, I did the same thing, and it was always ready to go. When our last Son arrived, I didn't use it for 4 weeks, and forgot abuot the charger - it was just flat enough not to start (has a complex alarm and some battery monitoring gear live all the time). as was mentioned above, make a tidy little socket, so you can plug straight in, without having to clip onto the battery - less chance of stuffing anything up each time you connect :-). With the clips you cut off, wire the same plug on, so you can still connect them on for other batteries. I need to find a decent one of these things in 6V for the Model A now

Where you in Whangarei last weekend? With a surfboard on the roof? Your car is looking awesome!

economy is probly about right - vans are never amazing with the weight, boxyness etc. My VW Transporter is BIG and square, I get about 12L/100 kms driving from home to work (10ks each way, half town, half winding hilly country) with It's subaru 2.5 EFI engine (I do give it a good squirt at times though!!!!!). Those econovans aren't great for economy - Mum had a couple of E1800 short wheelbase ones in the mid 90's that they ended up LPGing, because they were hungry, but often loaded up and did big kms. They were great vans though. Most vans won't do too much better than that - even our POS work van (2006 Hiace auto diesel turbo 4wd) only gets about 10L/100kms, and it's mostly open road and empty, or with maybe 200 kg max in the back. The transit loaner we had got the same, but felt twice as fast. My Mate had a electronics repair shop and picks up TVs and Stereos etc in a mid 2000's Mitsi L300 2.4 EFI - he's getting pretty similar mileage to me. I wouldn't expect much better than you're getting, around town :-) 800 kgs is a bit of weight! PS - these ford/mazda vans can rust along the gutters - I'd spray some cavity wax in there from the inside of the van, sometime during summer when it should be pretty dry. The condensation sits on a seam in there and causes the issue. They're often OK, but can get expensive to repair if they are failed on a WOF - worth the $40 or $50 for a few cans of good wax.

I find it funny that people have hangups about milage. The engine is most cars should do the milage if they're maintained properly, it's the wear items that need replacing regularly - brakes, shocks, clutches bushes. The problems come about when people get stupid ides about how the car isn't worth much, so better not to spend money on it. Then you end up with a poorly maintained car that starts to cost moeny, so they buy another car which could have any number of problems, and do the same thing. My father in law does exactly that. So tight fisted that it ends up costly him money. I rely on Dads E30 with 215K on over the father in laws Honda, half the age with half the milage. The E30 is maintained, the honda is kept going. Just. Actually, even my Mrs's old impreza would be more trustworthy - it was a 95 with 322,000 on it when we sold it - I only sold it to get something bigger and safer - The E39. That E34 is probably better than MANY E34's with 1/4 the milage on it, because it was probably looked after like it should be, not according to it's "value" in dollar terms (although an M5 always is worth a bit, obviously!).

I wonder if the 7K smg trans upgrade was just some screw on bits, and someone made $6800 profit from the guy? Is that why it's about $7K (at least) too expensive? Well... it could be even MORE embarrassing: Bahahaha! Especially with the ///M badge done all wrong

Moral: Don't leave spare keys in the car!

Sounds dodgy You can report them as stolen, and have new normal NZ plates issued, but they'll be a new number. Doesn't cost much.

Fair enough!

Hey Clinton, I've heard of people fitting solid flywheels and having gearbox noise, particularly at idle (especially on diesels). It's not very loud, but something to be aware of. I assume it accelerates gearbox wear too, because the pulses aren't softened (hence the noise) but I don't think that's going to make any real difference over the long term - I haven't heard of boxes failing. Anyway - google it if it may concern you.

The M54 requires LL-01 AND ACEA A3/B4, according to BMW. The ACEA rating for the M54 engine mostly relates to the true viscosity and the high temperature shear strength. That particular oil is towards the high end of the viscosity and strength scale for it's type of oil. I'd have to check, but I think the "correct" oil is the 0-W40 type of Castrol Edge A3/B4. I'm a bit anal with oil and stuff, so that's what I run in my M54. Repco have it for about$97 for 5L, but I talk them into "trade" at about $85 - If you can find a big place with a real account, you might get it a bit better - not really that much margin in oil (Well, not 500% like on some stuff!) There will be other stuff around that is correct, but I like this stuff, as it is LL-01 (which has more zinc etc than LL-04 which is designed to be DFP safe) and it meets the A3/B4 rating too. Having said all that, there are literally thousands of M54 running around on the "wrong" oil and are doing fine. You certainly would need to be careful how long you ran some of them, but even with the "correct" oil, I've altered my SI interval so it come down from about 23,000 to 15,000 kms. I am more than happy with that interval - quality oil and there is 6.5L in there anyway.

And if you stop asking, you'll miss out!

The other key can be disabled, your current key and the replacement you get can be the only enabled ones. They can still open the car by using the mechanical lock, although they may not know exactly how to do that.

I haven't seen that car for a while, but it used to be mint. It was owned by Tony Gordon (panelbeater) for a long time, and it was at a few track days, but mostly seemed to be driven by his Mrs. He has an E30 M3 for a while too - haven't seen it lately, but it might still be hidden away.

The ECU is designed to cope with lower octane fuel. It will retard the timing to cope with the extra knock from 91, thereby making the car less fuel efficient and burn hotter. You'd probably SAVE money by using 95. I've had cars that would get 1/3 MORE kms from a tank of 95 than 91, and that's when I was a rep, doing similar driving/routes everywhere. Edit: Oh yeah, I HAVE seen engines damaged from too low octane, but they weren't Modern EFI engine, which compensate like above.