w0lfy

Got an 2001 facelift 520i (2.2l) get about 10.1 average,cruise open road at 8.6,around town average 11.4km/l.

Not as grunty as the bigger size engines but alot better than the pre 2001 2.0l machines.

At least the twin VANOS upgrade engine provides some better relief but not the quickest in accelerationbased on the bigger engines.

Still a good all round car and reliable so far.Coil pack,radiator replaced...the parts are suprisingly cheaper than my Honda.

They found the cat bro!!!.

www.catchacrim.co.nz

The aftermath...

Flip man you were lucky ..they could have done worse depending on how desperate they were.

My BMW got tappered with last week by some hoon wanting to get in the door,flippin screwed my lock.

I have joined catchacrim.co.nz so i can post stuff ike this again.

If i had an s14 id steal it off myself then claim the insurance money so i could buy back everything i owned but pawned off to buy it(plus probably half the neighborhood garden gnomes.

Hey this catchacrim site,there really nothing like it in NZ,would be cool if your buying parts from trademe then linking back to this site.

Especially if the S14 engine is for sale eh bro!!

Lol no s14 as in m3 engine. Nah it didn't get stolen, i didn't even have one but dreams are free.

S14 engine is a steal!!!...if ya lose it maybe this site will help ya then.

Go the burglar !!!

Yeah dont reakon thats true.

Good idea though..im going to check it out tonight.

Good if your buying something from trademe and want to check it as being stolen first i guess?.

I see that the waikato has started its first crime fighting website for new zealand,i heard about this via the grapevine.

Looks pretty cool,if you have got stuff stolen etc...

Should of had something like this when my car was stolen and the police hardly tried!!.

Look as though if you join they let you know if other crime happens in your area.

Hi Willi

Similar issue with my 1997 E39.

Here's what I did

a) fit new front glase, as the old one was crazed and no longer clear

fix the broken headlight adjusters :-)

c) align the lights myself

d) get a WOF - and the lights got re-aligned. I watched what he did - he aligns on low beam only, and it's a rather rough and ready alignment, because his initial height reference is very coarse

e) decided the alignment was crap (too low), so compared to my Honda Odyssey. Realigned vertical height and horizontal direction so that the beams were parallel, and the low beam was pointing as far as the Odyssey

f) now its much much better :-)

Cheers for that,just had mine realigned and its made a difference,the mechanic raised them slightly above WOF level but not as far as to shine in oncoming traffic,alot better.Thanks for your reply.

Wolfy.

You're welcome. Can you take a picture of your lights? It can only be the bulb, the projector, or the glass (or was it plastic on the E39 ones, I can't remember).

Don't go for Arctic White lamps or whatever they call those things nowadays. Any halogen bulb with any form of tint on it (Arctic White is blue tinted to give out white light IIRC) will have decreased output due to the tint not letting 100% of light through. Your eyes may perceive them to be brighter due to them being more white, but if you look at the road surface you will see less output. There are halogen bulbs out there that are not tinted and claim to put out more light, such as Osram Silverstar, and they actually do... but the increase is quite marginal and is not worth the premium you pay to buy them.

The only way to get a significant increase in lumens now is to go for HIDs, but beware of putting HIDs in a halogen headlight because the headlight was not made for that - the beam may be funny (certain headlights work better than others, I'm sure you've seen plenty of older cars with HID kits stuck in the halogen headlights and glaring the hell out of other drivers). That's how HID got a bad name.

H7 puts out more lumens than H1 bulbs and my E36 has H1, and is putting out plenty of light. I have taken the lights apart before and cleaned the projector and the outside glass. I'm not sure if you've owned the E39 from new, but if you have, perhaps you recall it putting out great light back then? Those lights are good if aimed correctly.

Glass can be a problem if it is dirty or scratched (while plastic lenses will go hazy with age), and block a lot of output and could also cause glare.

Post up some good pics of both headlights and we'll see

Hi Yeun,sorry for late reply,the lights look exactly like the ones in the picture below that Alan has posted.

Hi Wolfy, So I'm not on my own with this problem. As Yuen said check your adjusters I have had mine replaced by the dealer, as both were broke on mine. To replace them they had to separate the clear front lense from the rest of the head light or it was replace the whole headlight. Also make sure the headlights are clean as this also defuses the light. At present I have the stock H7 halogen 55 watt low and high beam but the low beam are shocking have had them checked for correct adjustment and still no improvement . To be honest my 95 nissan sentra has a better low beam set up than the beamer does but the high beam on her is brilliant. Have been checking out the pro and cons of going to Xenon as a possible remedy.

Allan

Thanks for your reply Alan,yes i would agree that your sentra would have better low beam,is frustrating to have a bright light about 5 metres in front of your that does not shine up the cats eyes in the road (or signage at 100metres say).What your next step to improvement,would you go for Artic white lamps or similar as sold in Repco? or remoce and place Xenon type as Yeun suggested..but at what cost?.

Thanks Wolfy.

It's surprising that you say that your mechanic has tested the angle and said it's OK. This sounds like a broken headlamp adjuster problem to me. The E39 headlights have 2 plastic adjusters in each headlight and they get brittle from heat and age and break. This causes the projector to lose support and point downwards so you get little usable light. On the pre-facelift lights the adjusters are available as a part from the dealer. However on the facelift (angel eyes) they are not. There are some aftermarket options available though but they are not cheap, but still much cheaper than new headlights.

To test if the adjusters are broken, try adjusting the projectors using the adjustment screws on the back of the headlights. If the beam does not move it means they are broken. When you are driving and hit bumps/potholes they will also flop around.

Yes the adjustments are working and you can see them move on his marker board he uses for WOF checks,thay are definatley ponting to the correct height..it is going in again on tuesday 28th August and while its there will get it double checked,i dont think the mechanic is stupid but it may just be the projected light difference compared to Jap cars that may take getting used too.

Thanks for your time to reply Yuen.

Wolfy.

Hi ,on my facelift 2001 E39's there seems to be a lack of forward headlight vision.

Reading some of the forums suggests this is a common problem.

The forward vision seems to be low on the road compared to other vehicle i drive which had a broad range.

I have had the lights angle tested from a mechanic which proved to be ok on my vehicle,What lamp improvements can be done to improve light throw.

Not sure what version of headlight i have ,but it is the standard BMW with the angle eyes,i think running a standard H7 halogen lamp.

Can anyone please help with lamp suggestions or anything else.

Thanks W0lfy