kiwi328i

I took my mothers 320i to an air con place. They did the mandatory checking phase, which amongst other things is a leak test, basically they put a dye in there with a tonne of pressure and see where the dye leaks out, if it does. If you are fine, they can go ahead and just fill it up, the good places check ya hoses and condition of the air con pump etc etc. But beware, I had them look at Mums car and they said it had a leak, lets just say it was inside the cabin, which required the entire dash to come out and the whole system needed to be rebuilt, I pulled the dash apart and it was fine, no dye and after pushin through a tonne of compressed air myself realised nothing was wrong with it at all, well not in regards to leaks. To cut a long story short, I got it filled somewhere else on the cheap and it has been fine ever since. Moral of the story, there are still rip off merchants out there willing to rip you off. Pulling apart the dash off an e36 is time consuming and there are better ways to spend your time, so I was pissed. By the way they were going to have to order parts and take the car for days and all the other bull that legitimised their story oh and quoted 1700 to do it. Oh yeah the greatest line of them all...if there is no gas in there, there MUST be a leak...which is only partially true, there are other reasons why you may not have gas in there. Get a third or fourth opinion, it may cost you, but it may cost you much more if you dont.

My one started playin up around the 138k mark and my mates is already playin up at 89k, so its either Magyver the ZF in, or rebuild the flippin thing. Yeah trans ecu is different, but I will be gettin that soonish, so hopefully fingers crossed its just the wiring, but saying JUST the wiring is a mistake. As far as I can tell, its going to require some creativity lets say if I do go down this route. Unless you have 2 hoists and got a nz new car and a jatco one side by side up in the air, its hard to tell what you can and cannot play with. I may swap out Mums ecu from her 1998 e36 320i, and give that a whirl first, and see what happens, bit I dont like me chances. I like to think when BMW designed the e36 to receive different auto boxes in other parts of the world, it had a simple modular concept in mind. It doesnt help that as far as I can tell, no-one has attempted this yet, or maybe they are not telling.lol.

I have this same problem (like numerous others, with an E36) and I am going to replace it with a ZF Auto (which I have) shortly, but even thats not all painless, I am almost inclined to get a 'good' secondhand jatco and put it in and save for a manual conversion, but unless the car you have is 'unpartable' its probably easier AND cheaper to replace the car. Apparently these Jatco's to fix are not financially viable, to expensive in the first place and are still inherently unreliable.

I voted E60, has to be the U.S version ZF six speed manual. It is fairly unique in having a v10 configuration, that doesnt share its engine with anything else bar the M6. The Manual cause it was from pressure in the U.S, which is one of the more ironic decisions to come from that part of the world. Otherwise the E39 would come in a close second.

Did you find the problem? I dont know if this helps and I hope its working o.k, now, but the newer Pioneer head units have a visible external fuse,...and another internal fuse that can blow and lead to the problems you are experiencing. Just a a thought.

Go the 050's, I have the 050a, got to be careful they put them on correctly. They are a non-directional tyre tread pattern, but they are asymetrical. In short, ensure they follow the rotation sign, I really dont want to tell you how I know this. However the '050' without the a is not asymetrical (I believe) and its pretty cool telling people you have tyres that are o.e on a Ferrari Enzo (well not totally correct, but close enough). Adrenalins replaced the gridIII's. Not really an option on a 330i I would think. Conti's no idea sorry, but I have always gone Bridgeys if possible esp Japanese made ones. The Adrenalins are mostly from Taiwan.

You havent told us what speakers you used, but the back space with the original sound deadning is pretty shallow, some people take that out, or as advised dremel (I used a grinder) to take out as much of the inside ribs of the kick panels as possible. They are a tight fit anyway those flippin things but I wouldnt suggest you muckin around with the outside as its hard to do a good job of those. I managed to fit in a cheap shallow speaker panasonic 6.5, that happenned to have the 5.25 speaker screw locations as well and they were tight. They are not kevlar coned 3kg monsters that need 5inches of backspace, but I have much bigger 6.5's reactors in the parcel shelf and a sub in the boot. To go any bigger would have required a sh*t load more work, but since I aint no head banger I didnt see the justification in trying to squeeze in the reactors. too much work for trivial gain. But thats up to you to decide.

I just did my outer ball joints. If you are doing them yourself, you probably wont want to do anything else. They are painful. My inner ones were passable and as 3pedals puts it dont 'go' in the same way. If you look at the physics of that arm, they dont do bugger all in the big scheme of things, which is why the outers go well before the inners. The big arm bushes were fine on mine, so I didnt bother replacing those, but I might have a fiddle with some poly, when they do and mend them myself. If I had the money and time I would do 'it all'. Depends on your priorities I guess. If you intend on keeping the car for a considerable time, you could do the inners, but then you might as well do the arm bushes too, then you wont have to take them off for ages and ages. But considering you said you dont want to spend the money, then I would say dont.

I have to say if I saw your car on the road I would laugh out loud, for just 2 seconds and then think oh well each to their own. The e36 would have to be one of the hardest to improve cars on the road in my opinion. A straight, uncurbed motorsport maybe hunkered down a bit is sweet as. Aftermarket lights, bumpers, glitzy paint jobs and m3 badges (ha) dont really improve the thing at all. Its bizarre really when you think of it? It is (or was) a kind of business/executive/yuppie/repmobile I supposse, so it doesnt lend itself to customisation in my opinion. Hell even the m3 is bloody restrained considering the performance it welds and it looks much like (dont hate me m3 owners) that 318is coupe on every corner. I think the e36 suits bold straight 'colours' its too small for 2 tone or camo's or stripes (heaven forbid) in my opinion. O.k granted we dont all want silver bimmers and so forth, but trying to improve on it is at everyone's peril. The main point is that you enjoy your car for you.

Inspirational. Especially with the lexus v8 tuning community going hard particularly in this country for some strange reason. They will put that thing in anything. Knowing that there are at least a couple from b.sport in e36's means we have a knowledge base for those who may dabble in it later.Cool.

My Mum has a set of kingstars on her Beemer and they are not good. Good wear though they dont like going down anytime soon. I think there are better options out there. I would rather buy near new performance tyres then buy new crap tyres, its just a different gamble...but if you cannot buy new performance tyres then hey??? I have an old motor tyre test I think where they tested the chinese tyres and they are mud. Avoid if at all possible.

Hey there, Your inbox is full, but I might have a pair of rear lights for a e36 coupe, will get back to you in the next day or so as I have to find them in the attic. I'm out west. Cheers Lionel

Even with crap replicas, you still have to bash the sh*t out of them to crack them. Think of all the rubber and air cushioning those rims. They dont crack for nothing. If its due to dodgey quality control, dodgey materials and dodgey manufacture, then thats something else, and when you buy secondhand there is always that chance. More often than not alloys only need to be visually inspected, but yes it is alot harder to assess with tyres on. I buy secondhand all the time. I am guessing it just needs to be aluminium welded on the inside, should be cheap enough and wont be seen. You cant silicone it up, cause if its a stress fracture it will just get worse, flat tyres at best, catastrophic at worse.

I bought my 328i auto 12 months ago for 5k. I have done the usual maintenance stuff and spent say 7hundy on that. I am considering the manual conversion if I can do it all for around 2k, then the lsd for under that as well, so for under 10k I should have something I really do enjoy driving. 12 Months ago IF you could find a 328i manual coupe, you needed well over that, so I was well out of contention AND I didnt have 10k anyway, thereby super well out of contention for looking at M3's. If I had 20k sure. So, for guys that aint looking at M3's due to funds, looking at 328i Auto's with the intention of doing a manual conversion when the coffers increase is not that bad of an idea I dont think. However the issue between a 328i manual and M3 manual, well yeah I would like to think, if there was only a few grand between them, you would do what you could to bridge the gap, then again for some a 328i manual might be all the car you ever need? I thought about those getrags not being as tough as the ZF's, but yeah, buying and replacing them has got to be better for sure, in anycase it has to be better than the auto you are replacing.

Looks like nothing on earth. Who said Bangle has left, that car is soo flamed out its not even funny. Its got the Aston's mega one77 backside, maser front with the kidneys upside down, but with the correct vertical fins at least with a corvette concept morphed into the entire platform and wallah, you get...whatever this thing is, which I do not know what that is, but it dont look like there is any homage to the M1 in my book. The E36 m3's were begrudgingly compared to Porsche 911's. Then it became fairly normal, cause they really were that good and seemed to offer 'more' for 'less'. The performance was on par if not better in some respects and even though they were really in different classes due to configuration mostly and esp price, in many other ways the buyers for those cars did consider them worthy competitors. The latest 911 is no different and has now really has a 'true' rival in its neighbour in the form of the Audi R8. However, the M3 is again in the picture not as a 'natural' rival but a rival neverthless. Not a perfect rival, but for Bimmer owners, surely we get a kick out of cars that compete above their station into other classes, and the M3 can also fight from performance sedan all the way into the 911/R8 class and if thats a stretch BMW still has the M6 to go.

My 2p I am thinking tyres that 'perform pretty well' on the track are generally (yes yes, very general and eternally argumentative) tyres that perform exceptionally on the road. Thats hard enough, but not impossible and I am sure Jono will give you some tasty options. However at that price point, the task seems pretty daunting. You could have more fun on the track if they 'performed' less well, if you get my drift (excuse the pun). I like the look of those Kumho xs's or the Yoko ad08's, but if you could procure them, that budget is history. I am guessing more funds will have to come with other 'track' related costs anyway and you might as well start with tyres.

In case someone is searching this, or if anyone is curious to know what happenned, I went to Glenn, plugged it into the diagnostic, and it did bring up a couple of codes which looked japanese to me. Something to do with power or something, but Glenn cleared it, I crossed my fingers and what do you know its been cleared. I didnt think I did too much wrong, but I think playing around with the electrical system around the dash, fuses and dash bulbs set this one off. In any case as far as I can see its not a diy to reset the flippin thing, so you have to go to Glenn. Moral of the story, you can only go so far with diy before you are driving into a garage with a BMW. I have done my waterpump, tensioners, plugs, aircon pump and numerous other bits and pieces and who would think, changing a dashlight bulb would have me visting Glenn. Oh yeah, thanks Glenn. Choice bro.

Thanks Braeden. I have read much on this, and I hope it aint that. I have the fully electric, heated leather seats, so I really dont want to be working on them at all. Being what they are, you are lucky to get your feet under them if you are sitting in the back anyway, but who knows. I hope not, but you do lean on them hard I guess when working in the dash area. I guess the diagnostic will let me know, and as soon as I do, I will post the findings, in the hope it may help others. Cheers.

Thanks Glenn, will call you Monday. Cheers. Lionel

Hi, I removed my instrument cluster, as I had a problem with the indicator not working properly, and chased it to the black repeater thingy under the bonnet, not the stalk mechanism or the instrument cluster. I did muck around with some fuses and I did not disconnect the battery. I also checked and replaced some instrument cluster bulbs. However it has made my airbag light come on. It comes on as per usual, then 'blinks' and stays on for about 3 minutes then goes out. It does this perfectly. From what I can gather, my car is 'fine', I do believe I just need to have it reset. Question 1, Can I just have it reset, without having it diagnosed? Question 2, Does it pay to, i.e just reset and not diagnosed? Question 3, legally, as my WOF is coming up soon, the fact that it does go out some 3 minutes after, does this satisfy the WOF requirements? Question 4, Where do you advise I get this reset done? I live in West Auckland, even if I do get the next WOF, I would rather not have to talk to the inspector every time. I could be going around this the wrong way, your thoughts please. Cheers. Lionel

I have just replaced mine. For under a hundred bucks get a new one bang it in and forget. Absolutely worse case scenario, and something I would try to avoid like the plague, is to see if you can clean it out as good as you can, repack it with grease as well as you can, put the noisiest part of the pulley on the unstressed side when bangin it back in and pray. You might get away with it if the noise has just appeared, but if its been squealing like a stuck pig for several months chances are its haddit. But for the money it would be crazy. It is a beemer after all. Doing maintenance on a rangi budget will probably kick you later.

Autopaint in Central Park Drive, Henderson. I think they do $30/can, if you have the paint code and $35/can if they have to colour match.

I just orderd another key from TMM and it was mentioned that from feb 1995 on, the keys have 'chips', so big dollar item, I dont know if that date coincides with with the obII dates but there it is.

Did you buy it? You havent mentioned the maintenance history on the vehicle. At those kays, it may have had the usual suspects replaced? It may not have, and in that case it should bear heavily on your buying decision. Thats the rational thought, the other more realistic one is if you want something bad enough you will want it regardless. I just bought one recently and I am slowly doing the usual suspects as I do with all of my cars. I had a peugeot prior to this and the parts for the 328i are not a world away from those prices. I have also had a toyota, an alas whilst the prices are cheaper...I still end up with a Toyota, however reliable, I would have to spend thousands more to make it a Beemer..If that was at all possible (not). Look at it that way People who own Beemers tend to cherish their vehicles and wane on about them all the time, even creating profiles and talkin about them on forums....much like this one. I find this forum incredibly informative even by international standards and it sure makes BMW ownership a more plausible and favourable proposition. That may do nothing for you but there it is... from me, I cant speak for anyone else. I have not introduced myself on the introduction thingy yet as I want to complete a couple of more things before I post pics. Unfortunately one thing that is daunting about bmw ownership is the unreal quality of some of the vehicles in this country are comparable to anywhere, I will make sure my pics have a beautiful background and the focus is a little blurred with some photchopped 20" foose's or something.lol. Oh yeah, the other things that people dont tend to go on about, If you cant get/afford full insurance I wouldnt bother, these cars can kill you financially, they were also the third most popular stolen car (last year I think, maybe this year), lets just say they are popular.e.g. I replaced a cracked windscreen via insurance recently and it was a relatively painless excercise, I shudder to think of the crap of doing it myself, a mechanic, secondhand or via the stealer to be honest, then theres the downtime and sourcing of parts.blah blah Sounds like I am being negative, sorry, I have owned many cars, my brother is a mechanic and I love messin with them, the bmw is more challenging than most, but its also the most rewarding. As soon as you understand you will never get your money back on any car anyway however you look at it. If you can buy it...get it! Remember though, you are considering buying a BMW. Dont compare the costs to other previously owned cars like subies and hondas etc as its silly really. People who buy beemers, compare them to Audi and Mercs etc etc. I did and it was the number of them on and off the road that convinced me in addition to the quality of the car itself. i.e secondhand parts price and availibility and "culture" which brings information and understanding. Those things save you a tonne of cash. And is why bmw ownership is now envelopes a larger demographic than ever, most people at the bottom end cant afford to maintain them or at the upper end they move into better beemers. Just generalising here, esp as I dont fit either of those