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Arma

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Posts posted by Arma

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Agreed... Looks like they've sent you the wrong ones. Bugger.

    Yeah, looks like e60. Meh. :(

    I'll grab some oem ones tomorrow. Thinking of plasti dipping them - do I need to sand them prior to plasti dipping or can I just plasti dip directly on top of the chrome? Assuming it will need at least a few coatings of plasti dip on the chrome.

  4. Posted · Edited by Arma · Report reply

    M54 Vaons is piss easy - timing doesn't change - just te piiston mechanism is taken off.

    Follow the Beisan giude (although he says it takes 4-6 hours, it takes a couple for someone with some vague clue what they're doing). I think I did ours in a couple of hours I think, and I had to go and hunt out the right torx socket.

    I don't know if the difference is as noticable in an auto, but it made a massive difference in our manual.

    The only real difference between fitting the seals, and a rebuilt unit is the seals themselves. Fitting the rebuilt unit still involves screwing in the left hand thread screws. If yours isn't rattling, may as well just do the seals - it probably only adds 10 to 30 mins MAX to the procedure

    ANYONE (who can read) can do it on an M54, IF you follow the Beisan guide - buy new bolt the bolt the pistons to the cams (the left hand thread ones), a new lower gasket, copper washers for the vanos hose etc.

    Have always referred to this guide for my engine:

    http://www.beisansystems.com/procedures/vanos_procedure.htm

    I mean, I'd love to be able to do the job myself but it looks pretty involved so feel a pro should do it instead. Taking the vanos unit apart just sounds risky to me (noob). The reason I want to get it done is because there seems to be oil leaking from the Vanos. Perhaps it is just the gasket, but perhaps not. So may end up getting it done by a pro.

    Also, does Besian systems still sell the kit? It's on their website, just wondering whether they are still operating. Are there any alternative seals kits?

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Mines had so many oil leaks its hard to know whats what sometimes hehe.

    but a lot of mine was due to the CCV Valve, it caused a chain reaction of problems, which started with the valve cover cracking.

    Its probably a good idea to replace all those bits sometime.

    Yeah I know what you mean. I got little bits of oil falling on my exhaust cps, but not sure whether it's from vanos or something else. I replaced the valve cover gaskets couple months ago as it was dripping oil onto exhaust manifold, but that's sorted now so can't be that (I hope :D ).

  6. Posted · Report reply

    So I know a lot of m54 (and m52, m62 etc.) owners do the Vanos seals job to deal with the leaks and Vanos rattle and I hear it's a pretty expensive job labour-wise. My question is, I've seen a lot of rebuilt vanos units that be bought and shipped here for ~$300-400 total. Is it worth buying a completely rebuilt unit and installing it or actually getting the Vanos seals job done (by a mechanic, assume you have no mechanical expertise)? How hard of a job is it to just install the Vanos unit? So no taking it apart to do the seals or anything since it's already rebuilt.

    Example rebuilt unit:

    https://www.turnermotorsport.com/ShoppingCart.aspx?add=true&ReturnUrl=showproduct.aspx%3fProductID%3d5776

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Just ordered an OEM radiator. Figured may as well go ahead and replace that while everything is out - can't be stuffed having all the cooling parts taken out so many times to replace 1 part at a time...

    Just did mine, the so called lifetime fluid was black pretty much, but no metal shavings as such, so a good idea to do that.

    Be sure to use the correct tranny fluid Esso LT 71141 compliant.

    Yep, mine is pretty much black as well, and the gasket is probably bad too cause there seems to be oil leaking around that area slightly.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Took a few pics this afternoon.

    Removed most of the nose and drained the coolant. There was some coolant leak (based on missing coolant) but not much - couldn't figure out where it leaked from... maybe the drain point. Radiator looks fine though. Noticed some coolant seaping from one of the small hoses under the radiator on the right side of the car (undamaged side). Not sure which hose this is exactly but perhaps needs replacing. But from the looks of it, i might be able to actually drive it after the panelbeater repairs are done. Though, will probably take it to get all the maintenance stuff done straight away, including replacing all the parts I bought recently (refer to my project thread). Have taken some photos of chassis damage.

    15366871338_e0fa081d4c_b.jpg


    Haven't had this much of a clear view of the chassis damage until now, so here it is for those that are curious:
    14932258984_5382dc6c68_b.jpg

    And here's the bumper shock area where most of the impact force probably traveled through:

    14932829263_ca27c13f07_b.jpg



    Didn't think I could fit everything in the car (apart from bonnet ofcourse), but turned out I could:

    15550331371_c73bda7dfc_b.jpg

    Estimated to take a couple weeks to fix - hopefully earlier but we'll see. Miss driving her!

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Seriously? I've bought som big parts from them - engine trim, rear diffuser, etc and shipping was sub US$100.

    Yeah :S. They pretty much said it wouldn't be under 1000. Schmiedmann quoted similar. Ebay was a 100 bux for shipping and arrived in under 2 weeks.

    The front bumper carrier and front bumper shock absorbers for the 325 are rated at either 4km/h or for Korea at 8km/h. Would imagine the 5rs would be rated much the same. Glad to hear you are going to get her fixed if possible get involved with either the dismantling or re-assembly as it will give practical experience and how the cars are but together. Best of luck with the repair.

    Yeah I'm trying to get involved where I can (when not at work!). A good lesson.

    Shane will be hiring the jig for Monday, so going to drop off the parts today. No idea how long the actual repair is going to take.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    The rain sensor might just need re - initialisation. I have inpa if you need help with setting it up :)

    Ah, actually I should try that before ordering. Waiting for the inpa cable I ordered still but might end up pinging you for setup help at some point.

    Oooo! Lots of new stuff... Good luck with the grilles. I spent a fortune on E39 gloss black grilles with 'guaranteed perfect fitment'. Of course they didn't. Cheaper and better to get genuine FL grilles, some sandpaper, paint and clear coat.

    Yeah, I was told by some other peeps I know that these fit well. But yeah you never know - might end up getting some genuine ones here if those fail.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Apart from the crapload of stuff I had to get to fix the crash (http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/50725-e39-530i-crash/), ordered a few parts for maintenance/cosmetic stuff from ECStuning:

    • Upper and lower radiator hoses (kind of due to crash... upper one looked squashed. Lower is fine from crash but aging and hasn't been replaced)
    • Parking brake shoes. Been due for a replacement for a while, they barely hold and I need hulk strength to get clicks when pulling the brake lever. Dunno if I need new cables for this? Can get new ones here if i do
    • Hawk HPS 5.0 Performance Brake Pads set (rear) - will likely need rear rotors too so will order genuine bmw ones locally
    • Hawk HPS Compound Performance Brake Pads set (front)
    • Platinum White H7 Halogen Bulb - Pair (High beams)
    • HB4/9006 Super White Halogen Bulb - Pair (Fog lights) .. just to match the white car, never liked the yellow/amber
    • Gloss black kidney grilles from ECS that I'm told actually fit well unlike a lot of aftermarket ones

    Other thing(s) I will get in the next couple weeks:

    • Transmission filter kit (filter, gasket and whatever else required) - transmission oil is currently yuck so pretty much needs a service

    Things to do in the very near future:

    • Diagnostic scan (perhaps will do it myself once my inpa/ediabas interface arrives)
    • Fix small oil leak coming from the Vanos area and falling close to the exhaust cam position sensor - perhaps a full Vanos seal job?
    • Replace rain sensor behind rear-view mirror. Doesn't sense anything atm.
    • New tires

  13. Posted · Report reply

    I ve got a full DIS INPA etc setup in one of our spare laptops in the office running XP. Feel free to use it if you need it.

    Oh cool. I was planning on just doing it all on a VM running xp in one of my laptops.

    I've ordered a INPA/Ediabas cable so waiting for that to arrive. Have read quite a few docs that say that most of the stuff can be down on 64 bit win7 running the appropriate apps in XP compatibility mode. So will try that out. If all else fails I might get in touch with you! :P

    On another note - how painful is the setup of the software?

    • Like 1

  17. Posted · Report reply

    that works too :D NCS expert is more complicated though.

    If you're semi serious about doing stuff, having both is good. BMW Scanner allows you to fit used modules that the BMW software won't - like a used LCM or instrument cluster.

    BMW Scanner is very easy to use, as it's all tickboxes etc, but doesn't always let you alter every option possible, where you can hunt them out with NCS (and NCSDummy).

    Yeah have been meaning to get more serious into the stuff, but just haven't got around to it. I'm a programmer so figured that may help.

  22. Posted · Report reply

    Just fit them and see what happens if it throws codes you know what needs to be done if not all good and you get to keep a few $$$$$$

    Yep that will have to be the plan.

    or buy BMW Scanner 1.4 from xcar360.co, for about $40. Reads fault codes too :D

    Yea, don't think I've got a 32 bit OS running anywhere though. I believe that scanner relies on 32 bit OS, specifically XP. Or can someone confirm it works on 64-bit Win7 fine?

    Thanks for the help guys.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Their are two systems for the auto leveling that I'm aware of. one you do it with the little wheel with 0,1,2,3 by rotating it the higher the number the more the auto leveling motors will lower the headlights . The second is automatic through sensors attached to the front and rear suspension this picks up the movement of the suspension as it works and lowers and raises the headlights accordingly to avoid blinding on coming vehicles.

    As your 530 is 2001 you may be lucky with it not throwing warning codes mine didn't you will definitely notice a difference in the light quality on low beam.

    My 520 has the manual headlight adjuster with the little wheel, but my 530 seems to have to automatic one (I only assume this because whenever I turn the head light low beams on, after 2 seconds they adjust automatically and move slightly upwards). From what I read, there's not too much of an issue if the car comes with the headlight adjusters, so am hoping mine will just work plug and play. Still not sure whether I need to take it to the dealership to recode it to know i'm using Xenons.

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