KwS

Also want to get these https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-stereos/other/listing-1909110894.htm?rsqid=30d0745b84f74af6821a77ecedaa0b42 https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-stereos/wiring-kits/listing-1907107545.htm?rsqid=30d0745b84f74af6821a77ecedaa0b42 https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-stereos/wiring-kits/listing-1907112745.htm?rsqid=7deb80ac6a264335997a4b50cd9e4997 And then its basically plug and play

Looks like you could remove just the one, but the rest of the system (including lights and airbags) must still be functional. You'd need to trick the system into thinking the drivers airbag was still there. You also need to change the seat belt to one that doesn't have a pre-tensioner. In theory if you were going to all that effort, you could just change the dash, remove the drivers airbag, remove the airbag light, and claim it never had airbags in the first place. Either way, a replacement E36 airbag wheel in en route.

Yet another issue I wasn't aware of until I had taken ownership of the car and driven away, was that the Airbag warning light was staying on too long, indicating an issue. I'm not sure how or why it wasn't lit on the test drive, maybe we had the car running long enough before I got in to drive it for the light to go away, but it was indicating there was an issue every other time I turned the key. The light would come on with the ignition, as it should, flash, but then stay lit for a good few minutes, before going out. A lit Airbag light is a WOF fail, but for some reason the light does go out, it just takes ages. Anyway, I fired up my old diagnostic laptop, launched INPA and checked for codes in the Airbag system. I had three. Two were related to voltage (low battery) and one was for "Sitzbelegungserkennung Beifahrer". Ah yup, that old chestnut. Translated to English, it means "Seat occupancy recognition front passenger". The occupancy sensor issue is a well known one in the E36 community. It is basically an electrical mat inside the base of the passenger seat, which detects when weight is in the seat and tells the SRS system there is someone sitting there, and in the event of an accident to fire the passenger airbag. If it doesn't detect weight, it thinks no one is there, and wont fire the airbag. The problem is that the mat can get worn or damaged over time, just from regular movement and pressure. Apparently kneeling on the seat base can damage them too (much more concentrated pressure). Once the mat fails, it will trigger the Airbag light and throw an error code. The official way to fix it is to disassemble the seat, remove the old mat and fit a replacement. This is an excessive amount of work for little gain. The unofficial way to do it, is to bypass the mat with a couple of resistors and a diode, which tricks the SRS system into thinking there is always someone in the seat, and to always fire the airbag in an accident. Some people DIY this with really ugly results, but a far tidier way to do it is to buy a proper bypass plug off the likes of eBay. Mine cost about $11 plus shipping from a German seller, a hell of a lot cheaper than the $60+ they are asking for the exact same thing on Trademe. Installation is easy. Disconnect the battery. Wait for a few minutes, then remove the four nuts/bolts that hold down the seat, and tilt it back to access the underside. This is where I discovered my occupancy sensor control unit under the seat wasn't even plugged in... The wires were just floating around on the floor That plug should be in the white socket on the bottom of this unit Regardless, I chose to bypass the mat anyway. It was probably why it had been disconnected, in some misguided attempt to "fix" it. Twist the unit sideways to release it from the seat base, unplug the black connector on the side, plug the bypass into the socket, and reattach the box to the seat base. Done. Easy. Reinstall the seat, reconnect the battery, turn the ignition on and marvel at how the Airbag light is still lit. I don't know if it's the same on all cars, but mine needed the codes to be cleared. I plugged my laptop back in, fired up my freshly updated (and now in English) INPA, and checked for codes. Sure enough there was one for the occupancy sensor. I cleared this, cycled the ignition, the light went straight out. I checked codes again, and nothing. The live data from the system also shows that the "pressure sensor" is OK. Great success. One more thing ticked off the list.

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.