jcerecke

I found a pdf manual on e38.org but it didn't have that in i (that I could find)t. If yours is any different I'd love it.

On my fog light dial switch, I can switch it to the right to turn the fog lights on. A green (I think) symbol pops up in the cluster. But there's another position on the switch further to the right which is momentary (the switch jumps back to the "on" position). And this toggles another light on the cluster which look very similar to the fog light symbol (maybe very slightly different) and it's the standard orangey interior light colour. Any idea of what it is? The symbol on the extra switch position itself is of two fog lights facing away from each other (which is different to the cluster light that it toggles).

Just purchased this out of Japan. Picked her up on Saturday morning and drove her from Auckland to Chch over the weekend. Very happy with it so far. I'm learning new cool things about it every time I drive it. Just experienced heated seats for the first time today haha, awesome. I'm sure I'll have more questions in time, but ones that I have right now are: When you're in tiptronic mode, and you slow down to a stop it puts the gear into 2nd automatically. Does this mean it's OK and normal to drive off from 2nd? I got the fault codes checked out and cleared, then drove and rechecked and the only code that was thrown was the Cam angle sensor. Car seems to run fine although I noticed the Sunday morning when I started it in palmerston north it kind of jerked going down the road a bit, I threw it into manual and all was good, so went back to drive and it didn't do it afterwards, except for like once when I put my foot down to pass someone. Is it possible the fault is false? Also does anyone know the process to through with the whole car dealer/consumer guarantees act thing if I wanted to get something checked out? Do I pay for it myself and then get the dealer to reimburse me, or what? Anyway, love love love it. First decent sized engine for me, and modern car. Looking to do something with the screen in the front, either dynavin or custom carPC. I really want to get the resler interface and see what damage I can do within the ibus system. Then upgrade the audio with some better speakers and a small sub. But that's for the future, car stung me for enough as it is.

Love it but would definitely have to use one before shelling out cash. But I'm happy waiting until the good ones come out. When you say OBC support, is this in android or the other side? Ideally I'm pretty much looking for a complete android solution that also talks ibus. Technically android should be capable of doing CD/DVDs, USB, SD media, analogue radio, internet radio, nav, bluetooth phone, and all the other cool things people want to do. Now THAT I would shell out money for without blinking.

I'm keen for one.... now I just need to hurry up and get an e39.

Glenn, nothing my brother found screams out to you problems? I may not as well get an inspection until things are looking positive.

Ok so my brother had time to go have a look at the 2003 model. He said it drove all good, although when breaking he could feel it change down gear, unlike other auto's which just stay in gear until you're near stopping/push the accelerator again. This pretty normal? Also said when he opened the oil filler cap that it had red coloured oil, like rusty water colour. Thought this sounded a bit weird but the last time it was changed was last year sometime the owner said, so surely if he put brake fluid in by mistake or something it would've crapped out by now? haha. Also my brother thought it looked a bit gritty and also rubbed a bit on his fingers and it didn't feel very oily. I'm going to try and get the guy to take it in for a inspection... don't know auckland though, where should he take it that's close to Titirangi?

Hey, Looking at purchasing this if it goes to auction: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=400040972 And failing that I'll go for this: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=375742369 But would really like someone to go check it out and give it a test drive for me. Couple of dozen? Or Couple of bottles of wine if you're that way inclined? My brother's up in auck at the moment, but is really strapped for time, so I think if someone wanted to check out the 2001 at turner's before saturday auction that would be sweet. Need to figure out how I'm going to bid but that's just mere details. Cheers!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/...n-400040972.htm ??? http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/...n-375742369.htm ??? Who wants to check out some cars up in auck for me for a few dozen? These two are the two I'm seriously looking at. Is the mileage on the 2003 anything to worry about? Would be flying up and driving down to christchurch if I win one.

I've been looking at getting a wagon also for work, just become self employed! Was thinking this although I'm guessing it's going to go up a bit near the end. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/...n-400389462.htm Going to be carrying tools and stuff around in it. Want something modern, nice looking and reliable, not overly uneconomical, but not overly boring and gutless. Any advice what to stay away from etc? What to look out for? etc?

Got the AFM out. Is it normal for an old one to look like this? Looks pretty gross. Just making sure it's not a sign of something worse that's gone wrong.

Ok I've taken that thing out and sprayed the inside with carb cleaner. Haven't got any cotton buds to get inside it but will do that too. There was no screw in that piece, but looking at the following piece which it is attached to that does have a screw, I figured that I should take a look at this too and on the inside it's got quite a bit of crud. Is this the screw that controls my idle speed? Or just cold start speed? What can I clean this with? Don't have heaps of carb cleaner left...

OK so is this my ICV?

Hmmm, my heater stopped working a couple of weeks before hand... could that have something to do with it? It was after I changed the temp (which I hardly ever do, just leave it on hot) to full cold, and then it never got hot again after that so I assumed it was just the twisty knob thing.

This is going to sound really blond, but is it possible I don't have a ICV? I've seen lots of pics of newer e30's with them, but can't seem to find one (in the same spots) on mine. And I think somewhere I read you can get rid of them out of your car and they're only for use with A/C? None the less, I think I'll stop off at an autoshop this afternoon and pick me up some carb cleaner and give the air intake a clean.

Any cool people out there in chch have a spare AFM? haha. Or do you think Eurorec would let me return one if it didn't fix it?

I jiggled heaps of hoses, but wasn't rough. I've had the air intake boot replaced about 2 years ago. One thing I thought that might've done it was I had to push really hard on the screws of the circuit board to get them to twist, and the whole AFM bowed under the pressure. I mean it didn't move lots, but it did move. Can't really think of anything else.

Ok. Crap. Monday morning, I went to drive to school, everything's good then once the car has warmed up and idle drops to normal speed, instead of idling when I put my foot on the clutch or put her into neutral, it just stalls. I can start it up straight away again, and hold it just above idle with my foot on the accelerator and then away I go. But next set of lights, it stalls again. On my way home from school that day, again the same thing, worked fine until the engine warmed up and idling revs dropped and it starts stalling. As I was moving along, I put it in second gear and took my foot off the accelerator, and it slows down like it normally would, but when the revs dropped to where it would normally idle and continue to move forward, the revs kept dropping until it stalled again. So in my infinite wisdom, I decided to open the AFM cover up and move the little circuit board over so that the contacts would be on a fresh bit of graphite, put it back together with some new screws and now it won't start at all. All the contacts on that board look to be contacting, but I don't have a multimeter on me to test anything. I did notice that a hose sort of looks cracked. Not sure if it's a vacuum one or not. This is a picture (not of my car) of the thing the hose attaches to. Looking at it from the picture's point of view, it is the hose on the far side. I have also opened up the cover underneath the backseat and jiggled the connector and everything feels nice and tight fitting there. Taken the fuel pump relay out and listened to the noise things make, and I can hear the fuel pump wizzing when I turn the key to ON.

I've just encountered a similar problem. My e30 will stall when you engage the clutch or if you put the car into neutral. Seems like it doesn't stall until it's warmed up though. Also if I have the car in a low gear (eg 2nd) and let it slow down without the brakes on, it will not get to the idle revs and continue to move forward it just keeps slowing and stalls. I heard somewhere about a small piece graphite contact that wears out, I think it had something to do with the AFM? On the right track? EDIT: Although I should mention it always starts straight away again, in fact I often just perform a rolling start.

Argh! After mucking around with fuel related items, I notice the distributor cap is totally loose on one side! Open it up and it's ruined. So... where's the best place to get a new one? Don't need it any big hurry. Is there any big things to watch out for when replacing it? Apart from the obvious get the leads in the correct order.

An extra 5L has made no difference. I pulled the fuel something or rather relay and shorted pins 30 and 87, and that didn't make any difference either. Although it does look like someone's opened the relay up and then broken the case and taped it back together.

Ok, I'll go get some more fuel in the morning and let you know how things go! Cheers.

So I get in the car this morning to go and get a coffee, and started it like usual, it fired up like usual, I started rolling and got about 1 meter and then it died. Figured it was just early and I stalled it, started it again and before I had a chance to move the clutch, it died again. Would turn over after that but not fire up at all. I assumed (since I had been driving around with petrol light on for 2 days and had parked it on a slight slope) that I was out of petrol, but after giving it 5L, it's still not starting. Now it: On first try, it's fire up for maybe 2 seconds if that and die. On second try, it'll fire up for about half a second, and then die. After that it only cranks. If you leave it for around half an hour, it will repeat. I can hear the fuel pump doing it's thing. I've also tried holding the throttle wide open and cranking it for about 8-10 seconds, maybe 3-4 times, but it hasn't made any difference. I've tried pulled the spark plug out but can't manage it with my fingers (is that normal?). I'm pulling on the boot, but I just can't get it out. You just pull right? No twisting or something silly? Can I use some pliers on it?

I've just changed my setup Before: 2x Rockford Fosgate 10" Power subs in a small sealed box driven by 1500watts sitting behind the backseat and pointing towards the front without ski hole punched out. Rear speakers had also been removed. After: 1x rockford from above screwed into 20mm mdf which is screwed to the panel behind the back seats (IB setup). Ski hole now punched out. Haven't put the back seats in yet... I hate it sooooooooo much now. But it's all my own fault really. The sub I'm using says not to use it in IB setups, (even though the xmax on it is pretty high). And I haven't sealed off around the edges of the mdf the sub's sitting in, or the rear speaker holes. But I'm going to go back to a sealed sub. The reason I changed was to have more space... but I was stupid enough to just make my original sub box without measuring the distance between the wheels in the boot so it has to sit further back. So the next will be more like the one Ari posted (hopefully)

I just took it off again and using a longer screwdriver this time played round with seating it in the right place, and now it seems to be right as rain! I can't believe it would be something that stupid, but maybe it was not on tight before and some jolts from driving moved it slightly so it would start playing up... but I'm not sure how it would then right itself again. But oh well. Thanks all! I've learnt a bit from this so it hasnt been a complete waste of time.