charles28

So, I managed to do 2 Road Trips and daily driving for about 2 Months (5000k's approx) before it started leaking oil onto the ground.. again.. for the.. 4th time?

The factory amp and headunit is crap by todays standards. I installed an Alpine amp to replace the factory one using the speaker level inputs. It improved it over stock, but was still average, I installed a Parrot MKI9100 System and use that with the Alpine amp, does USB, Bluetooth, etc. Sound quality is now a lot better. The factory headunit is still installed and functional, I just don't use it, as the Parrot system is quite discreet.

From researching things I've found that diesels seem to closer match the "claimed" economy figures, why this is I have no idea. I was looking at buying a 2014 Polo 1.2 Tsi, it has a claimed average economy of 4.7L/100k, but from research I concluded that the average would really be about 6.1L/100k. But after researching some diesel options I found that they were often closer to the claims. I used websites like www.fuelly.com

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=832536906 nice, a classic

Heh what a noob.. sorted hehe

Just seems like there's a bit of intake noise, as in air sucking into the engine sound, does it sound right? Cars got no error codes and runs fine, but just checking.

I sold my SA 325i for $4800 to a guy that works for BMW.. the car was only average condition really.. but they can demand a good price due to being popular.

On my E39 530i the CCV and related parts were all cracked and broken, causing oil to leak. I've had to fix a lot of oil leaks on my car, finally its leak free, it also seemed to run better once i replaced the CCV and related plastic pipes.

Well as it turns out my partner doesn't seem to like them, the car has to be for her to use also, as her GOLF VR6 is kaput. She likes older Mercs, such as the W126, W124 etc and she used to have an old W201 (190e) We looked at an older 500SL today also, but she didn't like it all that much, still preferred an older design.

I got mine from ecstuning.com

So finally got around to giving the car a wash and taking a couple of pics showing the new front bumper. Can tell that I need to line it up a bit better on the drivers side, but its not too bad.

Not actually sure sorry, as my method of payment was a 24 pack of Heineken.

Front Bumper painted, sitting in the spray booth.

hehe, usually the total claim payout doesn't exceed the price / value of the car anyway... I might look at E60's perhaps, but they seem to be 20k + for one I want

I guess its only an option if I purchase a mechanical warranty with a generous claim limit. Of course they would probably argue that it was a wear item, due to it being suspension related.

These W211 E500's seem rather cheap. Ie: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=811268790 (cheapest) http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=811269991 (Newer 7 Speed autobox) http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=819602137 (Lowest K's) Most also come with Harman Kardon Logic 7 Audio in these models.. But..whats the catch? these seem like a lot of car for the money. for some reason the same cars in Christchurch at 2x the price too, infact I could get an E55 Amg in Auckland for the price of one of these E500's in Christchurch. The E55 AMG is tempting, but I do 400-500k a week, and read that the normal model is a lot more economical. I'd imagine the handling isn't as good as my E39 530i Motorsport, but straight line power would be a lot more impressive, thanks to the 225kw V8. ie. http://www.zeperfs.com/en/match986-1125.htm

Its quite common on newer cars. Even the old Mk3 Golf VR6 has a plastic valve cover, (which I removed today due to the useless plastic timing chain guide breaking, which then caused the chain to jump a tooth or too resulting in the engine sounding like: Yes.. cars come with plastic timing chain guides too sometimes, what a clever idea. Basically.. the plastic parts are always the first to cause issues with any euro car i've owned.. whether it be the cooling system, valve cover..oil separation valve and associated hoses.. a lot of the rubber parts also become hard and stock working correctly, but i suspect a lot of newer japanese cars now feature a lot of the same plastics. I have replaced ALL of these items on my E39 now. (not the timing chain guides, not sure if they are even plastic on the E39 530i)

Yes the actual valve cover is plastic, its a silly design. I had to buy a brand new one at a cost of $500 as mine was warped.

The Valve covers are crap plastic and crack if you try and tighten the bolts much over 7 foot pounds. Its likely a vacuum leak. Did you put Sealant on the 1/2 Circle bits?

I think you would have regretted selling it for 10k, its worth more than that.

Its all good, I used the part numbers on my parts to ensure I got the right models. A bit expensive really.. I ordered some new spark plugs, oil filters, air filter etc along with the bits shown (some new mounting screws etc), the shipping was $71 USD The guard liner piece is quite an awkward size though, which probably didn't help.

I'm also going to replace the lower bumper lining, along with the fog light frames. Its the right hand side, I have ordered a replacement. Which will look more like Fog Light Frames (One of mine was missing and the other looked a bit worn out) at $13 USD each it seemed silly not to get these at the same time.

Removed the Front bumper last night, as I am talking it to the panel shop to get plastic welded and painted. I was then worried that I was not going to be able to fit it in the MK3 golf to take it into town. But.. it just fits..

Mine are DLS, my model is end of life now, they are expensive and made in Sweden, a few years ago there was a local supplier of them, just before they closed down I got them for a cheap price. Infinity Kappa are meant to be good, but the tweeter is too big to go in the side mirror location, but you can install it in the door panel where that small mid speaker comes installed from the factory.

A month later and 3000k's clocked up, no error codes have come back (Replaced cam sensor, intake side). Today I replaced the factory amp with an Alpine MRX-F35. Its a small efficient class D amp. As you can see its not much bigger then the factory Amp and I got it to fit on the factory bracket (using Zip ties for now until i tidy up the install). I have DLS MS5A components in the front which use these crossovers. (I'm not using any of the factory speakers). I have a small subwoofer for 80hz and under noise. Finished, as far as it all working well. I will tidy up the installation when time permits. The difference between the stock amp and this is night and day.