jeffbebe

I re-gased my boot struts today (well I didn't but I found someone who could). Not so good for knocking folks out cold and bundling them into the boot but much better for not knocking myself out cold while I'm bundling the bloody shopping into the boot.

I'm lost for words... Incredible. Not in a good way.

Fashion in the '90s was pretty bland... I reckon interior design followed suit. Exteriors were mint!

I don't think you buy an AM if money's a bit tight; only if you can afford to own it, fix it and have a couple of backups in your Leno-like garage!!

I know a couple of people who are bang into 60s Jags (and they've got a bit of coin to boot). I'll pass this on.

Cheap Gazebo's not a bad idea... Think my good lady would take exception if I spent the evenings mucking around with the car as well! haha

So killed two birds with one stone at HellBM this morning. Fitted an OEM air cleaner box and scanned the car again. It seems that the ASC fault code had not been deleted after the cable was repaired so the car had been compensating for the fault causing the high fuel consumption. Fault deleted, drove around a bit, rescanned - everything good and doubtless the OEM box and air filter helping immensely. Also ran into Steve aka Crunchy who had advised contacting Ray about replacing the air intake assembly with OEM, so thanks gents! Drove back from Silverdale to city - about 45kms in total - using 9.2L/100kms, compared to just under 16 on the way over to Ray's. Job done (Vanos seal next!!)

Yep, I agree. Exterior is amazing. Beast of an engine and the interior styling is pretty good considering this car was built right in the heart of one of the blandest and style-less decades of the past 100 years. Glad every Lotto winner isn't driving one of these as they are the new Vantages... It wouldn't seem so special if you saw one every 5 minutes.

Thanks Brian! Very decent of you... I live in the city so not that near unfortunately but I'll definitely drop you a line if I'm planning to clean my car and I fancy a drive to boot!

I don't have a garage and our carport/street parking gets the sun pretty much all day. I've also got a black car so it gets pretty warm even in winter if the sun's on it. I'm just wondering what the impact of cut/polish and waxing in the sun actually is on the paint as I don't have too many other options short of driving the car somewhere else to clean it... Which isn't very practical. Incidentally, I bought a pot of beeswax and jojoba oil about a year ago, from Larry the shoeshine guy (what a character!) - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article....jectid=10548034 - and it is spectacularly good for vinyl and plastic, etc (dash, wiper blades, mirror fixings, door and bumper mouldings, etc). Makes leather look great too but probably not as good as a conditioner as it sits on the surface rather than soaking in.

Think it's luck of the draw sometimes. I bought a brand new bumper from Europe and expected to pay duty and nothing. Bought a used guitar a few years ago from Japan and got stung (heavily, it was a $3K guitar) despite it being 30 years old. They probably look at value - where can we cream the most tax, rather than what the actual goods are.

So that show ponies could buy a 'Vantage' without it costing as much as a 'Vantage' probably.

I worked opposite the AM dealership in Mayfair briefly in the mid90's. I used to go and look at one of these almost every day and dream about owning one... Love it! http://myautoworld.com/astonmartin/cars/as...-95vantage.html PS If anyone has one of these that they don't need any more then I'm more than willing to take care of it for you.

Check with Ray (HELLBM), Brent (Brent HARTGE335i) or Jon (JKSE) between them they can probably come up with most parts! Otherwise eBay's always a good source for cheap used parts.

Mine's low but Ray said he might be able to scan the car this weekend so I can take a look then. I can get a much more respectable 14-16L/100kms driving in manual mode so I'm sticking to that until I can find a fix for the problem.

How do I know whether it's low or high OBC?

I've had the car for almost 2 months though I probably only drive it 10-20mins max per day. Any idea how long it takes to adjust? Wondering if the short trips I mostly do mean that the ATC doesn't read it as a change in driver pattern but as a one off anomaly and not adjust the preset. Anyone know much about these things? I know, I know... I should do a manual conversion and save all the bother.

Thanks.I agree that it must be something affecting fuel mix control but no idea what yet, though Brent's hopefully going to help pinpoint the issue. Fuel consumption is obviously at its worst while accelerating, cruising no problems - in fact fuel consumption is very good - is there an explanation why the fuel mix on acceleration would be hungry but okay when cruising? And I definitely don't have a heavy foot, quite the opposite actually, have been trying lately to ease off even more to see if it affects the fuel consumption but hasn't made much difference.

A classic. Love the wheels!

Indicator stalk is the indicator control lever by the steering wheel. Is this picture with the engine on or off? In my 528 when the engine is off the park lights come on if 1] the running lights switch is on or 2] the indicator is left signalling left or right. In the case of 2] only one side (whichever direction the indicator signal was left on) will light.

Spent a couple of hours checking filters, cleaning everything I knew how to clean and testing the car. I worked out how to reset the L/kms counter on the MID so went for some round town driving then a longer motorway drive. What I discovered is that my own round town driving (after about 20kms - so not hugely accurate) is using around 17L/100kms but on the longer drive (again not that accurate but over around 80kms) I used less than 9L/kms. So the previous average must have been from the Ks clocked up by the previous owner (I admit, I probably should have checked that when I bought the car). So at least my own fuel consumption is not as bad as I originally thought, but 17L/100kms still seems pretty high. Since then I found this: http://spaghetticoder.org/bmw/wds/zinfo/246010001.htm Looks like my A5S310Z transmission has an adaptive transmission control that selects one (of 4?) presets based on your driving pattern. I'm guessing that my predecessor liked the car pretty sporty. I've never really paid much attention to the L/kms gauge before but I watched it like a hawk today. I noticed that my car doesn't kick up gears very quickly when you accelerate gently, preferring harder acceleration which is not my normal driving pattern, which means my regular driving is using quite a lot of fuel as the car is sitting in low gears at higher revs a lot of the time when I drive round town - which is most of my driving. I realised that by altering the way I drive to suit the auto gear changes I could conserve some fuel but the transmission preset seems to suit a sporty, uneconomical ride. If I'm right and it's the adaptive transmission control preset that doesn't suit me, does anyone know how to reset it? Edit: So apparently you can reset with a scan tool... Can anyone help? I should add that I also tested the car around town manually changing gear with the Steptronic controls and the fuel consumption was reduced to around 15L/100kms over a similar distance. I realise that over such short distances the measures are pretty inaccurate but I watching the gauge as I drove it was pretty clear that changing gear to suit my own driving was using a lot less fuel.

haha!

Thanks Brent. Might try and pop over later today if you're around. I'll drop you a line.

It's 90% city driving for sure and I'm not particularly heavy footed - the opposite if anything - and I already use 95 not 91 so my feeling is there is a mechanical issue. It's been scanned recently and nothing unusual showed up, had a full service (all filters replaced, oil change, etc) and the engine runs perfectly otherwise (idles around 500-600rpm), no smoke or anything untoward. Incidentally, anyone know how to reset the L/kms counter on the MID. I can't find the manual for my version of the MID (only later ones). It's a 9/96 E39 528i.

Something's not right. Averaging 20.2L of petrol per 100kms at the moment. Insane. Going to dispense with the aftermarket cold air intake it had when I bought it, which should help but I don't think that can be the sole cause. Any likely culprits? Lambda sensor? Vanos seals? And anyway I can pinpoint the problem without a mechanic's help?