KwS

I need a cert for the whole car at some stage, but i don't want to have to remove the whole airbag system, swap the dash over to a non-airbag one, and have ugly labels everywhere. Easier to just retain the airbag setup.

Yeah I used Lux flakes on my last M3 wheel and it turned out well. Lux flakes cant bring back missing leather though!

I don't know about you, but I don't like using gross worn out steering wheels, and the wheel on the M328i was beyond terrible. Unfortunately the replacement didn't go as planned. When I got the car I thought something was weird about the steering wheel. It had a gross rubbery feeling, and it actually turns out that the previous owner has removed the leather and this is the padding that is normally under the leather. It wasn't nice to hold, and was kinda squidgy and moved on the wheel. Ugh. I thought I had won the lottery when a MINT condition, almost new three spoke wheel came up on Trademe. It was from an E46 but looked physically identical (more on that later). I purchased it and marveled at how nice the leather was. So much grain! Due to the airbag the first step to removing the wheel is to disconnect the battery. First, move your boot trim, disconnect the LED strip and move your massive capacitor. Wait, not everyone's boot has these? And then disconnect the negative battery terminal. Check on the battery which is which, as not everyone has enough common sense to use the proper wiring colours... And then go make a coffee, wait for it to cool down, drink it, and then it should be safe to mess with the airbag. I don't know if the waiting time is important, but everyone else says to wait, and hell, I don't fancy an airbag to the arm or face during removal. The airbag is held to the wheel with two T30 torx screws, one in the back of each side spoke. You can see them either side of the circular center below. Once you undo these the airbag can be lifted out. It is hooked into the wheel at the bottom, so you need to pull the top forward and out to remove. On the back of the airbag there is an orange connector, this just pulls straight off, away from the airbag. There is also a small spade terminal to remove. There is a large 16MM bolt in the middle of the wheel holding it to the column. Undo this a few turns, but don't take it completely off (it'll stop you taking a wheel to the face), and wiggle/pull the wheel off the spline). Make sure the wheel is dead straight, remove the bolt completely and mark the shaft to indicate center. Before you remove the wheel though, remove the lower steering wheel shroud, and disconnect the two connectors coming from the steering wheel slip ring. DO NOT try to remove the grey connector from the back of the slip ring. It isn't a connector. Now you can remove the wheel. This is where it went wrong though. I needed to swap the clock spring/slip ring from the back of the old wheel to the new one. Unfortunately this is where I learnt that there is one massive different between an E36 version of the wheel, and an E46 one. On the E36, the slip ring screws to the back of the wheel with three little screws It also comes through the back of the wheel at about 1-2 o'clock The E46 wheel, although looking identical otherwise, has no mounting for the slip ring, as on the E46 the slip ring is mounted to the column, not the wheel You can also notice that the wiring is designed to come through dead at the top They are the same, but different enough that you can't easily use an E46 wheel on an E36. Apparently you can machine the back of the wheel to fit the slip ring, but that takes some precision work. You can't use the E46 slip ring or airbag, as they are two stage and have different wiring (not to mention mount to the column). So my gorgeous mint condition wheel is useless to me. I have found a cheap replacement to my wheel on Facebook, so should have that at some point. It has all its leather, but has aged/worn. I'll probably buy a stitch on leather cover for it, but anything has to be better than the leather-less wheel. It's a real shame I have a passengers airbag in this car, otherwise I would just bin the airbag wheel and go with a nice Momo or something. It's too obvious that the car should have an airbag wheel, when it still has the passengers airbag (unlike my old M3 with had only the drivers airbag, no passenger).

Looks like a lovely car, and certainly something a bit different. I dont think it'll have too much trouble selling for around the asking price. inb4 Q&A on tardme turns into a "SMG IS NOT MANUEL!!!111" argument. ?

You'd be really hard pressed to get one with less miles for under 20k I want you in know what the service history is like and if Vanos has been done.

Thanks but Not an e36 wheel, it's the same as my E46 wheel that I can't use.

Mint condition wheel, little to no wear. Leather still has all its grain and feels very nice. Purchased to replace the wheel on my car (which has had the leather torn off), which looks identical, but being and E36 this wheel wont work due to differences in clock springs on E46. Pretty disappointed i cant use it. Will let it go for what it owes me, $120. Pickup Upper Hutt, or can post at buyers cost.

After a replacement wheel for my car. Must be in good condition with minimal wear, no rips etc. Either this style, Which i already have so wouldn't need the airbag, only wheel and slip ring if available. or the later style Which i would need wheel, airbag and slip ring. Must be from an E36.

Probably just easier to buy direct from Beisan. Shipping is fast.

I removed the 20s and on went the OEM M3 Style 24 17x7.5" wheels They need new tires all around, as 245 cheapies on the back and 215 semi slicks on the front is a bit weird looking ( and the tread is low all around). Will be going OEM 235/40 all around.

One thing the car has been suffering from since i got it is lots of play in the pedals. It turns out the bushes on the clutch pedal were stuffed, so new ones are on their way, but worse than that, the whole pedal box moved a lot when pressing a pedal. If you pushed the brake pedal, even by hand with the engine off, you could watch as the master cylinder tilted up a couple of cm. Pressing one pedal also moved the other pedal, it was all over the show. It looks like the reason for the pedal box moving is that when the car was manual converted by the previous owner, they didn't fit number 4 in the diagram, so the pedal box isn't braced. Sigh. Just went out and got an M8x25 bolt, loosened off the other 4, and installed the new bolt. Tightened it all up, and now almost no movement in the pedal box or master cylinder. Huge difference. Just another lazy cockup the previous owner did. As an aside, i managed to get the remote locking working too. I replaced the batteries in the key, and used this video to program it.

Agreed. The filthy engine bay, falling off trim and dents show a rather unloved car. Something looks off about the tires too, wrong width?

Its a 15-20k car. The market has risen a lot for E36s, and they are selling for around those prices. Look at their other listings though for even bigger laughs.

Inb4 occupancy sensor >_<

Its hard to match the down low punch of a good diesel too.

And Semi-slicks on the front. Will be getting a set of decent tires all around.

Ugh, no matter how cheap it is, a single cam 318i auto..... ugh. No one should hate themselves that much.

Ok ok, so i get it now, you bought a car that had KNOWN issues, and then you think its because you drove it with no coolant that it failed? No, its probably something to do with the ORIGINAL fault.... ? Could've dropped a valve or anything.

Keep in mind that with most, if not all, temp sensors that drive the gauges, they require LIQUID to read anything. If there is no liquid passing the sensor, they will tend to read cold.

It must be a coincidence, surely. Unless you took 10 minutes to cover that 1km, i cant imagine it got that hot. You need to do some diagnosing to find out if it has spark and fuel or not. IIRC they have a diagnostic connector under the bonnet that you can bridge a couple of pins and it will trigger the CEL to flash codes.

MHD IS an app, downloaded on Android. You then buy and change maps via that App. It is locked to your car AND android play account though, so make sure if you want to sell it with the car in future or something, or link it to an unused account or one you make for the car specifically. Have a look at the MHD website, lots of info on it there.

Wait, is it actually a 325ti as per the badging, or is someone having a laugh? E: carjam says its a legit 325ti. Good score!

Who has been scanning it? If it's a proper BMW scanner it should pull old/shadow codes for when the CEL was lit. Those engines are notorious for oil consumption and smoking, so keep that in mind, but I'd also be looking at the crank case ventilation system if it hasn't been done. First step, get it scanned properly.