JaseNZ

Just wanted to say a big thanks Glenn. Put the car up on the weekend and adjusted things up. Very handy hint in just removing one wheel nut to get to the adjuster, Worked like a charm. Getting to the adjusters on the handbrake was a pain no room to move them, Ended up removing center console surround that is around the lever to do adjusting. Just took it back to vinz and the left side is now a little more than the right side where as before there was nothing on the left. Everything is now within spec and i have a new warrant

Yeah i thought of that, Going to jack the car up to get a hight distance that i can lift to then check the stands base hight.

Just went and gave them a ring (only just got time) $88 for a set with a 3 tonne rating and with screw top, Ment to be higher than the pin ones. So will get a set of those as they are something that will always come in handy. Note: Cheers for the edit Ollie i was in a hurry when i posted it.

Anybody know the round about price for a set of axle stands, Would a set from super cheap be ok ???

Thanks for taking the time to write all that out Glenn, Will be doing it this weekend. Will let you know how i get on.

I just uploaded this for you hope it helps. 1996 BMW 318is-c - 320i - 325i-c - 328i-c Electrical Troubleshooting Manual The size is about 11 meg its a zip file, Unzips to a pdf file.

Cheers Glenn there's no rush mate.

Thanks for that Glenn, Do you mean the Cable at the leaver end ??. Does the cable split in two with adjustment to each wheel ??

If its not one thing its another at the moment. Took my car in for a wof and everything passed except the rear hand brake. Few weeks ago i did the rotors and pads and everything seemed ok. Now i find if you pull on the hand brake it grabs hard on the right hand side. This arvo i pulled both wheels off and adjusted the drum pads up so they were equal to what i thought was the same both sides. Ie tighted them up until i could feel the friction of the inner pads by turning them by hand then loosing them off 1/2 turn. Apply hand brake and both unable to turn by hand. But put wheels back on and slow drive forward and pull hand brake on and you feel right hand side rear of car drop down as hand brake works but nothing on left hand side. Anybody got anything that i should maybe be looking at. Edit. Also he said there is a bit of play on the left hand side front. Bearings seem ok, When he had it up i climbed over the rail so i could have a look and from what i could see and he agreed it apeared to be the following. (pic i found not my actual car) This is the outer ball joint correct. ?? , Would it be an easy job for me to replace myself. What sort of price for parts.

Being the age i am i grew up with ac/dc rocking out in the back of my first car a mk 1 escort, Oh yeah if you turned the lights on it would cut out and it had one huge holley carb that never done anything it just looked cool. Motorhead, Pink floyd and even yes the original B52's with rock lobster (before they sort of became famous). Ahhh yes they were the days. I have seen ac/dc twice once in aussie and once in welly. Welly was pretty shitty as it pissed down with rain and there were pissed people everywhere and man what a riot after the concert. From memory if you took your ticket stub from the concert to the Auckland one you could get in for free with it, I was to broke to get up there. My personal opinion is Bon Scott was a way better singer than Brian ever will be and they sort of started heading mainstream with Black in Black and Brian on the scene. Anyway i was arsing around utube and i came accross this, Made me laugh. Its a piss take of dirty deeds done dirt cheap. >>Clicky<< And this is the original with Bon Scott - 1976 >>Second Clicky<<

Seen this this morning, Not to bad looking, could go for a resonable price. >>Clicky<< On a side note that picture of the front head lights are those standard under-brows on the headlights ??. I like the look of them as opposed the eyebrows.

This may be out of left field but I had this exact same thing happen to me about 4 months ago. I felt a very slight shudder at idle was like this for about a week. Long story short driving home all sorts of sounds all of a sudden as water pump bearing gave way. Not saying this is your problem but something worth checking, A good yank around on the fan and you will notice any major play.

Its only a 5 min job to change the bulb, Philips screw at the bottom of the switch panel, Whole lot including vent just pops out, Unscrew main light cable, Pull out plastic bulb holder, replace bulb and reverse for putting it all back in again. Thanks for that info Glenn will do

Cheers for that info Glenn i have sent an email off to them to get a few prices. Time to start saving again i guess

I am looking at doing this myself shortly and have been rather surprised by prices. Bmw quoted me $83 each for the mounts and they are just standard and don't have the brace plate. Like me though if you are only going to use your car on the street i can't really see the point in the brace. I had a look on ebay and they have some ex aussie for $90 au (for a set). Out of intrest i asked bmw the price of some new shocks. Because mine is m-spec and hence sports suspension they quoted $412 each, Yeah right like i would pay that. Have not had a chance to price up the shocks yet. This link will show you the procedure of swapping them out. http://www.bmwedia.com/wiki/Replacing_Rear...k_Mounts_on_E36 BNT quoted me $40 for new dust covers and bump stops for a set.

Yup went and checked that out and yup bulb is blown, Will do what Glen mentioned and rewire for better brake lights. On a major plus side while looking around the net on the subject i noticed a post about the illumination of the main light switch, Upon taking it out sure enough there is a bulb in there that was blown also, So replaced that and hey presto my main light switch lights up, Never even knew there was a bulb in there until today.

Hahahaha good write up. Nope i have no intention of using them at all if they are there. I am like you hate being behind somebody that has them on. I was more curious as to why it would be all wired up.

I am wondering whats the go with my 323i and rear fog lights. Next to my main switch where the controls are for the fog lights is obviously the push switch for the front fogs but i also have the switch for the rear fog lights. The switch is there for it and its all wired up but i don't think i have rear fogs. Where the hell would they be on the back if i did have them. Pushing the button in the symbol for the rear fogs come up on the cluster but i can see nothing turn on anywhere. Anyone have any clues to this or am i missing something somewhere.

eurolights (traders name), on trademe do them in either standard plastic or carbon fibre. The plastic ones are about $60 from memory plus p&h don't know the price of there carbon fibre ones. Ask them a question about it on one of there auctions.

mine had those same sort of problems but was an easy and cheap fix to most of them. $60 per door card to make them better than before you can even choose your material type and colour. Cracked outer door seals cost me $40 off of ebay for the set of 4 and took me maybe 30 mins to replace them all. Mine is at 180k now but is in mint condition. It may not cost you as much to bring up an e36 to a standard you want. Just my opinion.

Thanks for that Glenn will have a look around next week and think i will make that my next project.

Thanks for that Glenn, I am slowly going around the car bringing it things up to a nice new standard. Would you have any idea how much it would cost to do what you mentioned and is it something i could easily do myself ??

Don't know how different yours would be to mine, I had a similer problem with what started as a strange noise. Then all of a sudden that strange noise turned into a rather very larger sound as the pump bearing gave way and in doing so threw the belts off and destroy all my fan fins and a few other bits and pieces. If you can get old of your fan give a good check by pulling up and or sideays on it and you will soon tell if the bearings are on the way out.

Finally got the time to swap out my rotors and pads yesterday. To be honest i was a little scared as the most i have done is the pads before. Took the car to work which has a full workshop so had access to all tools i needed. End story short 3 hours and had the whole lot done. Just have to bed them in now. Couple of months time i am going to do the front as well . Some pics to show the old and new. Fist pic is the old pads and rotor, second is it all pulled apart and last one is everything installed except for the anti rattle clip which took me 30 mins to find in the end as it flew off into the abyss for a little while. On a side note can you buy the plastic coverings over the is it gas strut comming down you can see in the pic on both sides they are broken right through (the plastic sleeve).

When i had mine done (in chch though), I took the card off and he did the whole lot, This included replacing the sagging cloth with some decent stuff, Charged me $60 per card so i thought it was cheap and got him to do all 4 doors for me.