mons2b

Im interested.

Hi

Wondering if anyone here knows if a automatic transmission from a 2002 M54 520i e39 would work on a 1999 M52TU 523i? I know the engines are different but I believe both are the same transmissions with the same transmission model number. The only difference is end of the part number varies slightly between 520's and 523's and 525's.

Im taking a educated guess and thinking maybe they are setup for different engine torque ratings?

None the less if bolted up would it work or would the ecu reject it with a christmas tree of error lights?

No ideas anyone?

Hi

Wondering if anyone here knows if a automatic transmission from a 2002 M54 520i e39 would work on a 1999 M52TU 523i? I know the engines are different but I believe both are the same transmissions with the same transmission model number. The only difference is end of the part number varies slightly between 520's and 523's and 525's.

Im taking a educated guess and thinking maybe they are setup for different engine torque ratings?

None the less if bolted up would it work or would the ecu reject it with a christmas tree of error lights?

The put downs of Compacts annoy me. I just bought one and I love it. I went out of my way to get it. It has more advanced steering than a standard e46 of its vintage. BMW was testing out some handling systems for the later models. I may not be fully correct but I understand its not subject to subframe collaspe like a standard e46. I dont find my 316ti slow at all. Its not as fast as my 540 was but its great for driving to work in and saving on gas. I dont know about the rest of NZ but in CHCH theres like a billion e46 sedans on the road.

Here you go:

E46 COMPACT BUYER'S GUIDE

The following is a list of items to check when purchasing a BMW E46 compact. Hopefully this will help you avoid some of the common pitfalls associated with E46 compact ownership.

ITEMS TO CHECK

1. Your head.

That is all.

Hi

Does anyone know if a splash shield from a (e46) sedan will fit the compact or does it have to be compact specific?

Hi.

Another possibility is a clogged Cat converter.

hey guys,

have convinced my father to stop been a lazy c**t and do an oil change on his 635 by himself instead of taking to mechanic. Need to know what oil would be best suited for it. car is 1985 with m30b35 engine with 170000km.

Cheers

Mitchell

If it was ME, given the age and vintage of the car I would go for top brand semi synthetic. Not full. But thats my own opinion.

Hi Ive done some research into this. Get a new tensioner (looks like a bolt) and replace it. Its apprantly not hard to replace. When I get round to it ill prob do the same for mine. UK beamer owners have written a lot about it. Its not expensive.

You may want to see if you can find one at a wreckers, altho alot are broken/missing.

To give you an indication on new price, My E36 coupe center undercover was about $450 new. And on the E39 there are 3 one for each corner of bumper and then one under engine/radiator, The 2 corners were $500 EACH (insurance).

Obviously the price will be different for your car so just get the Chassis number and call for a price. Just don't expect it to be a $50 peice of plastic.

Thanks guys for your advice I appreciate it.

Hi. Just became the proud owner of an E46 compact. Its missing its plastic underbody cover that goes under the engine. Is this worth replacing? I gather its very expensive? Does it make a huge difference to fuel economy or any other benefit?

Ok guys youve been excellent and really easied my worries! Thank you.

Anyone ever had their TV/Monitor screen go spazo then come right?

JW

Christchurch

I posted a thread a while back about NZ's ability to increase the ethanol content. Fonterra exports over 10 million (10,000,000) litres of pure ethanol to Russia every year for production of cheap vodka and that ethanol is just a by product of milk...makes you wonder really. Our older engines can easily run on mixtures of 35% ethanol, NZ should do it as it is a greener fuel.

Im all for green things as long as someone doesnt tell me what I can and cant drive.

JW

Christchurch

Rear cup holder was missing in my e39 when I bought it but dealer put in the tray for me on my request. They tried to find a used cup holder from wreakers but the ones at wreakers are mostly already broken!

I would say if you replace the cupholder dont use it. Unless you want to replace it every year. My front one is fine but Ive no intention of ever using it. Theres a guy that sells nice replacement cup holders. Do a google and youll find them.

JW

Christchurch

I guessing that your "issues" might be common to a number of the later BMW's.

My latest E34 purchase has the same issue, except that we dont have the luxury of full manual selection.

Symptom:

When cold, car will hold 1st gear under load, as in it will attempt to change gear and go back to selecting first. However if you come off load the box will change up into a neutral and first will either need to be selected manually or allow the speed to drop enough that the box follows its programming and selects first.

When the car was in at Pages for a WOF, the boys checked with their Auto repair place and they reckon that the box has a sticky solenoid, that can be freed up. However they did say they would take the trans sump pan off and look for metal fragments, if there were any then the job probably wasnt worth attempting to repair.

One observation that I did make was when I asked the previous owner about the state of the trans, he did remark that he looked after the car by warming the car up for 10 minutes every time he drove it, and he had no problems. The guy wasnt the cleverest person in the street, and I reckon that he had been suckered by the last owner. The car also had a fault */E/S selector switch which had locked the car in * mode, it was only after bashing the switch a few times that I actually got 1 & 2 working. The guy was selling it to get something faster, so I suspect it had been a 2 speed auto for a while, which could have accounted for the sticking 1 - 2 solenoid as they hadnt seen much action for a while.

The buzzing behind the dash, has been "normal" in both of my NZ New Climate Air E34 535s, suspect its the Air Conditioning Systems "parking" their vents and valves. The E34 servo driven heat control, parks in the "open" (or hot) position, so one of the noises will be the motor opening the valve if you have had the air conditioning running cold.

Buzzing starts when I open the door. Ie. I can walk into garage open unlocked car and the buzzing starts. Thats with no key in the ignition. Buzzzzzzzzz. Just seems to go away after a few minutes of driving.

JW

Christchurch

Im really guessing, but may be similar through all models, your auto g/box may need a new filter and oil, check when it was last replaced, it could be a cheap fix now rather than a large auto repair bill at a later date..

You said your in CHCH, when my car was an auto, i took my car to *cough* Autotek *cough*, who (apart from charging me a whooping $2000, had the car back 14 days later) then took the car to Aceoautomatics on the back of their towtruck....

Maybe take the car to Aceo and get it checked out i think they do a diagnostic free road test too..

Hope this helps, my car is an e30 but still..

doesnt seem like the transmission is faulty. I can change to manual mode and change gears as I please. What Im talking about is it goes to over 2 grand before changing up from 2nd gear. When warm its brilliant. I was planning on leaving auto service until next oil change..

JW

Hi guys.

Got some questions. Since buying a 1997 e39 540 ive noticed a few things.

When its stone cold in the morning or after sitting at work all day it holds 1st and 2nd gear longer until the car warms up? Normal?

Sometimes the car has a loud electrical buzzing sound that seems to be coming from behind the climate control area?

Today after extended watching of the little tv screen followed by playing cds the image on the screen became unreadable and squashed in on itself. I turned off the car and restarted and it was back to normal? Any ideas?

JW

Christchurch

It would of been this one sorry i forget his name , he has gone for the two tone look. I think it looks good, and totally different.

Yes it was that one. Why the removal of the BMW badge itself? Wanted a completely clean look?

JW

Hi ya to whoever drives the Silver E30 in Christchurch. I was behind you in my E39. Noticed you debadged in the back. No badges at all including the BMW badge itself. Nice black wheels look pretty fat on your E30. What happened to the grill on the front?

JW

Labour vs National blah blah blah!

Don't vote at all [unless you want to complain]

Remember: Guy Fawkes was the only man in history that really understood politics

Main point of this thread was to see if anyone knew what affect bio petrol has on BMW petrol engines.

Im not into politics either. Anyone know about effects of biopetrol on BMW engines?

Easy answer, dont vote Labour! But in saying that she's just speculating an idea that wont go anywhere as she has no great interests in the enviroment.

I will cry when gasoline is gone, lets hope it happens after we pass on.

I wouldnt guarantee any kind of Government (National or otherwise) wont force bio mixtures on us. Dont think it makes any difference who you vote for.

Just seen on the news tonight that the government is going to replace its "gas guzzlers" (im sure Ford NZ appreciates those comments) and Helen will make compulsory biofuel mixtures at the petrol stations.

What will biofuel petrol etc do to our BMW's?? I know in my E39 user guide it expressly forbids use of biodiesel in BMW diesel engines.

Who cares what crap someone puts in their Japanese car what will this greeny fuel do to modern BMW engines?

JW

Do they still make anything other than 98??

I put 98 (BP) in my 540 the other day and it seemed quite happy pleased with itself. hehe. ;-)

JW

sounds like a mechanical problem,could tru flush and filters ,but i dont like your chances.Any auto E34 is likely to have a dodgy trans now....

Not all e34's. I just traded my e34 525 and the transmission on it was almost as good as new with 132 thou on the clock. It depends how well the car has been looked after. Some people act like morons and trash their autos causing premature malfunction.

JW

Yeah it does look a bit scarey all that delicate plastic,

but if I was doing that to my car, I would do the sides and rear lights myself and depending on how hard the front ones look, jerry clayton would do that for $50 max.

And its definitly worth it, in my opinion they look a lot better with clears, or even smoked lights.

Ok thanks for your advice. :-)

nikasil bores not cylinder head....Nikasil was an issue for some E34,s (NOT NZ ones)by the time the e39 came along they had switched to Alusil.I dont know if the nikasil "problem" occured in japan.These are relatively high compression engines,if the rings are gummed up a bit that could affect compression.A couple of squirts of oil will seal it up for a compression check.A bmw dealer will give you a much better check (for a BMW) than the AA.

Thanks for advice. I would have thought that given the muturity of the car if it had the factory head issue it would have been dealt with by now. Was only imported to New Zealand in 2003. Having done around 70 thousand at that stage.

Engine seems to run well and smooth so I dont know.

Nothing I can do but keep my fingers crossed and keep my expensive warranty close by..

JW