Young Thrash Driver

Yeah there's a few "While I'm there" jobs. I took the opportunity to do full CCV system replace, both intake elbows, valve cover gasket, both heater pipes, all the o-rings on the oil filter housing screw-on cover, dipstick o-rings, and of course intake manifold gasket which was rock hard both times. Both receipts ran me about 300USD from FCPEuro, but not all the parts were Genuine BMW. No "special" tools required from memory, but you will need a torx socket set and I found a set of gasket picks useful for getting the broken ends of the heater pipes out of the head, and I found a mix of 1/4'' drive (access is tight on some of those nuts) with a wobble joint and bigger stuff was needed to remove the nuts on the intake mani. Be prepared to be horrified at the state of the plastic pipes...

Hey Arma I have done it a couple of times, the job does take a while but is easily doable over a weekend for a novice. There is nothing hard about it if you are already familiar with bleeding the cooling system and fixing the oil filter reservoir housing leak. You will wreck the CCV system while you are in there- it will all be old and brittle by now unless recently done- so factor that replacement while you are in there. You will need to do both heater pipes too.

Yes, it is an old internet thing mocking Honda fanbois. An M54 is slightly more technologically advanced than "VTEC yo", and has no distributor. Get it scanned, that's the trick- by someone who knows their stuff. It may be throwing nonsensical codes that an unknowledgeable scan operator will take as legit.

Check your dizzy cap (sorry couldn't resist) Have had similar symptoms on an M54B30 with a faulty MAF.

You should keep the wheels

Such low km... does this mean when the door cards fall off they will be mint enough to just glue back on?

Two down, how many more to go...?

Errr... yeah. Sorry The Leaf guys are just too nice of a target to not poke fun at, even if I don't know any (literal) gay Leaf owners.

Powerstop Engineering in Tauranga is the place to use.

Do they cast any shadow when the headlights are going? They look like they might interfere with the light beam a bit.

Woohoo, isn't it fun pulling the trigger on the parts cannon! Nice going

Beaurepaires is doing the same deal too, FWIW.

When I redid the front struts on one of my old E39s I went with Meyle, I also did the shock mounts, bump stops and other associated bits in there as they were all totally shagged too. The springs were fine, I understand it is unusual for the springs to wear out. The Meyle struts were fine as far as function and ride etc but after they were installed the car did sit quite high, so I would advise you to do some homework regarding lowering the car... which means you will need to do the back end too What a shame!

You don't need a house. Or a Mrs. Or food, come to think of it...

@dirtydoogle

Interesting what gets thrown up when you go looking at prices... as far as waiting, FCPEuro will take a week, and if Gavin has it you might be waiting for a day for it to arrive.

Don't be scared to ring BMW for a price, they can be the best deal going on a bunch of things. A new tail light gasket would be unlikely to break the bank. A quick look on FCPEuro shows you might be looking at USD27 in parts.

Glenn's advice was to always buy the diesel of these newer cars to avoid headaches.

They will cover it, it will be helpful that the council will have it on record they attended a diesel spill. Rim repair plus paint could be more than the excess alone.

Ouch! You may need to get another wheel alignment, too. Out and about today and using the Tauranga Eastern Link, the Te Puke bypass is engineered OK but the Papamoa section is shithouse, standing water all over the show. Happens whenever it rains, it is real aquaplane type stuff. PS should have given it the jandal and grabbed a bit of oppo

An old Fiat or even a Morrie would be cheap on fuel... but regrinding the valve seats every weekend would get old pretty quick! An E46 320i would be a little better than the 330i on fuel, and doesn't have an engine made by Satan in it. BTW I think buying a Leaf means you sign a contract saying attendance at KiwiFist is mandatory, so I'd avoid that ? Still got the Levin? That'd be OK on petrol.

@325_driverWhat sort of fuel consumption do you get with your 330- ie, what figure are you trying to beat?

Hi and welcome! She looks pretty tidy, congrats Style 32's are a nice wheel as well. Just to scare you- these are all around the age where the coolant return pipes to and from the heater fail, you can do a visual inspection with a torch without having to tear the engine apart. If the plastic pipes are brown discoloured and leaking, they need replacing asap.

None of these ^ methods involves a burnout, so I am skeptical about their effectiveness.

I replaced the earlier Motorsport steering wheel with the triangle shaped airbag for one like this in my late year 2000 build E39. Completely plug and play, all functions work. Just if anyone was wondering about compatibility...