charles28

Hi Guys, Today I purhased a new headunit with USB/MP3 Support. I got a El Cheapo Panasonic one as the car already has a Panasonic Head Unit Fitted (old ish one, with tape Deck, but has CD Stacker controller). The problem I have is that I can't remove the old headunit, have made a real mess of the thing trying to get it out. even tried using the thin metal keys that came with new headunit. but theres no where to put them, the metal cage doesn't seem to have the usual part where you can put these. I did have the faceplate removed when i was trying to take the Headunit out. All i have suceeded in doing is munting up the metal around the headunit. I've installed plenty of headunits in my time, amps, subs, speakers etc.. so i'm not trying to be a total noob or anything.. Usually the thin metal keys can slide down the left and right side of the cage where the headunit sits, then it should be able to slide out..

I found a front lip for $85 + GST, seems cheap enough. Yeah I know what you mean about those headlight covers.. lol but I am an old man pretty much, 30 years old..

I got the BMW last night, wasn't able to take any pics yet. but heres a pic from when it was for sale. Its a tidy old beast, came with alot of receipts, incl full head rebuild etc worth $2500 17,000kms ago

Awesome, aslong as 3k @100k is normal all good, am purchasing the car tomorrow.. will post pics once i get it

I have looked at a very tidy 1990 BMW 320i, everything about the car seemed to be good. However I noticed at 100km an hour that it was a 3000rpm, is this normal RPM at 100k for a E30 320i in automatic? its a Facelift 1990 model with the motronic injection. Most auto cars i've owned sit at 2500rpm at 100k, just though I better check it out before I hand over the cash

Guys, I havn't been on here in a while, i sold my E36 320i over 1 year ago, I got sick of the Jatco auto transmission. I have been thinking about buying an old E34 535i, but did any of these come with the Jatco trans? i want to avoid getting another BMW with that type of gearbox. It seems that a 535i E34 in Auto tranny form can be picked up for a good price nowdays, I realise they are an older model, but according to wikipedia the E34 is one of the most reliable models right? This car will be used as a daily driver/cruiser. I don't care about fuel economy, but I like some low down pulling power (torque), i trust a 535i will do the job. Currently I have a 2001 WRX Wagon (tiptronic) that goes well when you put your put down hard, but off the mark it takes a bit to get moving..

Since installing an aftermarket headunit into my E36 the radio reception has been pretty bad. From what I can tell the back window heater is the aerial.. its almost like it needs some kind of signal booster.. When i disconnected the factory headunit there was a thin wire connecting to the back of the headunit that was labelled 'AMP'. I am thinking this is something to do with powering the factory signal booster, however if this is the case, where can i connect it to? could I wire it upto the 12v from the headunit perhaps? surely someone else has had this problem. Thanks

I took the car in to get diagnosed, the error code related to "SPEED SENSOR" or something.. they reset the trans computer and said to see how it goes and that the error may never come back, but that if it did, that i may need the trans replaced.

Thanks for that, that would be appreciated

They put 8 litres of fluid into it, any ideas what the actual capacity is? (seems to be a hard thing to find on the net).

I just went out and tried to get the error codes, couldn't do it(don't know what i'm doing), (warning light was still on of course) moved car through all gears, didn't matter what was selected, still started in high gear.. switched car to power/econ/snow modes, all lit up as usual.. so switched car off. went back inside. 20mins later I went to take a pic of the error light on the dash, but it didn't come back on? then I tested the gearbox, car was now starting in 1st gear as normal. took car for a 30min drive, didn't miss a beat. So my question is.. what should I do now? ok, so its working at the moment.. but will this happen again? or maybe its a glitch that won't .. who knows.. am doing a big road trip in 2 weeks, so don't want the elervated risk of breakdown.

Mmmm I went back out and started the car, the warning light is still on, the Sport/Economy switch appears to be working though.. as far as it lights up on sports mode when selected.. etc.. Being stuck in 1:1 seems to be the issue, but I guess Limp mode could be caused because of another type of fault. Being a Jap Import it has the JATCO transmission, 2 weeks ago i got the Transmission fluid changed.. so i'm a bit worried that its something to do with that.. I got it done at oil changers, but they do some kinda reverse flush method of changing the trans fluid..maybe thats stuffed it. doh

Tonight I was driving home from Rolleston to CHCH, all was well, until a warning light on the dash came on, i noticed the car was revving higher than normal (was on the open road), eventually when i stopped at traffic lights, i found that the car seemed to be starting off in 3rd or 4th and didn't seem to change gear at all.. could also hear a whirring/wine constantly at 50km per hour.. I guess the trans is stuffed?

I personally have a 1997 Facelift 320i auto, jap import, but the main reason i purchased it was because I got it for $5k. which at the time was bloody good value.. (still is now i guess, but k's are upto 137,000k now). This is my 1st BMW, I used to always have Jappas, but my last car (a Golf GTI) got me into Euro cars. Fuel Economy Wise, its not that economical around town, I get about 200ks from $40 (which is about 24litres) so 8km's per Litre of fuel basically. On the open road its totally differn't, on an average trip i'll get 15kms per litre, i think the main reason for this is that the lockup torque converter kicks in at open road speeds, the RPM at 100km is just under 2500rpm, which is good for a 2litre engine. Around town the car is a bit of a slug, unless you put it in sports mode, turn the ASC off and put your foot down alot. Handling wise the car performs ok, however mine doesn't have supportive m-sport seats, so you tend to fall out of your seat on hard cornering.. the stock brakes are fairly responsive even by todays standards (imo). Now i'm hooked on BMW's, but my next one with have a manual transmission and some more power.. I'll probably keep this one for years as my missus loves driving it.

Hehe.. mmm my 1986 Mitsi Sigma GSR had rain sensing wipers too..... they have been around for a while..

Hi Guys, I'm wondering if I can possibily install a 3litre V8 engine from a mid 90's 730i BMW into my 1997 320i, this would give me better fuel economy than the stock 150hp 2litre straight 6 as the engine wouldn't have to work very hard to carry the E36 chassis around. (and I get the added bonus of a V8 Soundtrack) Has anyone performed a conversion like this before? I would keep the transmission auto, but i'd assume that I would need to use a 7 Series transmission anyway.. What other engines should I consider for this conversion? I thought of the 730i engine due to only being 3L but still having the V8 sound. Cheers

I just tried that Vin Decoder and got the following... I was wondering if this info is correct? as Its a Jap Import BMW, i was told that the transmission is some Japanese type. Are Jap Import E36's assembled in Germany? thanks. Chassis number AM94689 Vehicle code CB62 Series E36 Model 320i ( 320i M52 ) Body type saloon Catalog model ECE Production date 1997 / 04 Engine M52 Transmission Automatic Steering Right Catalyzer YES Production FROM : 1995/09/01 TO : 1997/08/31 Engine M52 Engine Oil 6.50 Liter Transmission Automatic Transmission Model A5S 310Z Transmission Oil 9.60 Liter Rear Axle Oil 1.10 Liter Coolant(w/o Air Conditioner) 10.00 Liter Coolant(with Air Conditioner) 10.00 Liter Brake fluid 1.00 Liter Remarks : Automatic transmission: lifetime oil filing

I ended up getting Firestone Firehawk TZ100's, they seem to be good enough for the 320i e36 that i have.

Heya, has the problem come back or is it all good now? mine does the same thing, also a 1997 320i like yours.

I have thought about trading it on a manual 325i, havn't driven one, how much faster would it be? annoyingly it will cost a good 12k to get one thats older than the one I got for $5k.. but I guess you pay the price for a manual due to being rarer in NZ

Heya Guys, This is my 1st BMW, I have owned it for about 3 months now, its got the 5 speed auto, seems to be a face lift model as the auto trans lever is a knob instead of a T-Bar. The car runs well, and seems to have good power on the open road, but around town shes a bit laggy. I got it cheap at $5000, was a dealer trade in, 135,000ks on the clock. is there any basic performance mods I could do to get it moving quicker off the mark? I assume the stock 0-100 time is a good 10 seconds.. although I havn't bothered timing it.

Hey guys, I am trying to install my Sony MP3 headunit into my car. I have a wire conversion harness to go from BMW wiring loom to the Sony one aswell as an Aerial Adapter cable, however there is this small connector cable with AMP written on it thats going into the factory head unit (its not the usual RCA type connector, and theres only one of them), does this mean I have a factory amp somewhere in the car? if this is so.. then will I be able to connect my headunit to the normal part of the loom and just leave that amp wire unattached? (and run the speakers from my headunit) or will there be a host of problems?

When I drive my car around town, eventually it warms up and the temp needle reaches 1/2 way.. however tonight i took it on the open road.. and the temp hardly moved above the Start. wasn't even 1/4 of the way.. this resulted in the heater not producing much heat (annoying when its freezing cold) I'm assuming the problem is with the Thermostat, it must be letting the coolant go around the radiator all of the time.. this would explain why it didn't heat up much at all on the open road I assume? So my next question is, how much is a new thermostat, where can I buy one in Christchurch? and is it hard to fit myself? (I can do basic work on cars, like changing sparkplugs, oil, filter etc). Cheers

yeap its an E36, i'll give it a go. thanks

Hey guys, At random times i get 3 beep tones, but theres no warning lights or anything like that.. what could this be? Thanks its just a BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP.