elmarco

Yeah if I remember correctly it worked real good on Hondas, but not on Audis.

And it also seems to have fixed another electrical gremlin I had - the passenger door lock wasn't always popping up on remote unlocking. Seems to be fine now - good news all around Shouldn't complain really - 10 years is pretty good for a service item like a battery.

Sorted. The DICE unit needed to be reset again.... I had followed the procedure once, but doing it a second time seems to have solved it. For those interested, the reset procedure is (copied from Bimmerfest): 1. Disconnect iPod from cable 2. Remove battery cables, negative first 3. Touch battery cable terminals together (away from battery) for +5 seconds, a small spark is normal as this is stored power draining from the system. 4. Allow cables to remain disconnected for about 5-7 minutes 5. Reconnect battery cables onto battery, negative last. 6. Reboot iPod by pressing on MENU and CENTER buttons for +5 seconds and then reconnecting to the DICE cable after the reboot process is completed.

Righto, the 330 finally spat the dummy this morning and I had to replace the battery. It had a pretty good life - it was the original factory one, and had clocked up 10 years of use. I have 2 gripes: a ) I had to pay full retail at Supercheap (I have plenty of battery contacts, but nothing to help on a Sunday morning). Grrrr. b ) More concerningly, now that everything is back up and running, the stereo seems to have lost the CD changer (which is itself connected to a DICE). It was working fine before, but now when I hit the CD button I only get the in-dash CD and it doesn't seem to recognise that there is a CD changer/DICE connected (won't even switch into the correct mode). What gives? And more importantly, how do I fix it?

Took the words out of my mouth....

Bloody French will eat anything!

Pink shirts? Hand your card in. Edit: And shaving your legs when not being a professional cyclist or stripper means hand it in immediately.

What would you recommend then? I am sniffing around for a new one (either 42" plasma or 40" LCD - still undecided) at the moment..... No manual conversion on the cards for me.

And extends to having/owning: - anything coloured pink, lilac or mauve - man bags - handbag dogs with names like "fluffy", "foo foo" or "princess" etc (although I'm not sure of the ruling on a 45kg Rottweiler named "peaches") - haircuts that are named after a person - drinks that have umbrellas in them (unless you are at a beach resort and it is before midday) - potpourri - a back, sack & crack wax - etc, etc, etc

Crack pipe and a gun. Seriously - I could stomach a cool poster for the garage, but that would be as far as I could go and keep my man card.

Just add biscuit brown paint and it has Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels written all over it.

The front of the CD shuttle is easy to get to, but the cables at the back are a bit more difficult... You need to basically remove all of the interior paneling on the left hand side of the boot in order to get to the cables at the rear of the changer. Start by removing the false floor, then the plastic tray at the bottom left hand side (you will probably need to pull the plastic pins out of the plastic cover that sits over the lock) and then gently lever the mounting pins for the panels out with a flat blade screw driver. They designed everything so it fits together and you need to start at one end and work your way in. Be gentle and thorough - it is easy to miss a pin and wonder why it wont disengage easily... It isn't difficult to do, but might take an hour to pull it all out and re-assemble properly. Will be more difficult in the dark as well.

Ross (BM Workshop) told me that the rears in BMW's have about 1.5 degrees of negative (I think) camber and they all wear the inside shoulders. Which is precisely why he recommended using a non-directional tyre on them (so it can be flipped over to get the most life out of the tyre).... Mine were shocking when I first got it - the outside of the rears were fine, but the inside was down to canvas!

If I remember correctly, the round pin main connector is the OG radio. My DICE plugs into the CD changer in the boot - which to be fair is more difficult to get to than the head unit.... Not sure about the BMW system, but the DICE does the job and is not super expensive.

I see his problem - he should be driving on the road.... How stoked would you be if you had shot those photos? I think that's what's called as a career defining moment. Was it just me or are they using different sized tyres on the rear?

Good old Summernats. It was a completely bogan event when I was there - the year before they went on the rampage and towed traffic lights out with chains to express some pent up displeasure. So many australian bogan stereotypes it wasn't funny.... And the burnout competition was pretty special. In a bogan kind of way.

Gucci

Wouldn't expect that that would make it misfire though - the plug should still be earthed even if cross threaded, and if there is spark it should still burn? How far from seating properly is it? At a guess, I would think that inserting a helicoil would be a head off job in case of any debris dropping into the cylinder. Are you sure that plug is the one that isn't firing?

In order of cost: First thing to do is your reflectors aren't dirty or corroded (the shiny surface is aluminium and will corrode if the lamps leak). Then make sure the headlamps are aligned properly (check them on a proper beam setter - not against a wall). Then look at using a quality bulb (like Philips, Hella, or Osram from your local auto sparky - make sure they have an E mark and are low UV - this can damage polycarbonate lenses). Don't use cheap Chinese bulbs like Race Auto as the quality and bulb life can be sketchy and they can emit higher UV. You could also consider the +30% (light output) or +50% versions although they don't last as long. What ever you do make sure the bulb wattage is correct - if you use 70W bulbs you will melt lamp components. And don't touch the glass when you are installing them. If you still need more light for driving out of the city, you could look at additional driving lights (high beams only - you are only allowed 1 pair of low beams). And if you still have trouble, have an eye check.... HID burners in a non-HID headlamp is dangerous and illegal. Don't do it!

Go the M3 wheels. The ACS remind me of LH Toranas and Bridgestone Eagers....

Well it is $0 or near offer...... Someone offer him $5 for it because it is only an M3 replica and see what he says.

How much for the cup holders Brent??

That's fixed it - cheers.

This is really starting to piss me off now. Â I can browse the forums with Firefox no problem, but if I reply or try to add a new topic there is no cursor in the text box and I can't actually type. Â I end up using another browser (Opera in this case). I have deleted cookies etc to no avail. Â Any other suggestions?

Might be worth talking to Ray (HellBM) or Brent (Hartge535 or something similar) - they may be able to do a replacement trans or even a manual conversion for reasonable $$$. Â Just depends how much you want to spend, and how much the other guys are after for the repair....