vyking56

I pulled the motor out, smacked it around, used some harsh language and it fired up when I put power to it again... so the brushes must be pretty worn. It's back in the car and working for now.

Do you have new ones, or second hand ones? Let me know a price if you would, I'd better grab another for when this one packs up. I've asked Ray for a price also, but it would probably be better with a new one for a spare.

Aha! The motor I thought was for the windscreen wipers is actually the one for the headlamp washers.

I've put a 12v source to the windscreen washer motor and it does nothing. The other motor I had from the concentrate bottle seems to be stuffed too - so off I go to find a replacement.

Seems like a common fault from what I've been reading on bimmerfest.com. Unfortunately I couldn't find any solutions published anywhere!

Fuses 2 & 4 are fine, I've swapped them out to make sure and there's still no difference.

I've tested the voltage going to the washer pump and there's nothing when you pull the wiper stalk. Interesting enough there seems to be 4.44v going constantly to the second headlight washer motor which makes me think the control unit is stuffed. The washer concentrate pump (which I completely removed a few months ago because it was leaking) gets 12v when you pull the stalk - so that's working fine.

So... anyone have any idea's what's wrong or what I need to replace? I'm REALLY hoping it's not a wiring fault! I've thought about wiring the washer concentrate pump plug to the windscreen pump just to give it something for the interim.

Thanks all!

Gareth

^ That man deserves a DB

PM sent also. Hopefully I'm not too late?

Aha! I never would have thought of going in that way. Thanks very much

I can't work out for the life of me how to get to the bulbs. Do you take the complete fog light out, or is there a way to get to the back of them? If so how? From underneath or is it possible to reach down from the engine bay? It's got me stumped!

My car is a 1999 - so it has the squarish lights... if that makes any difference. Also does anyone know what type of bulb they take?

Many thanks

Gareth

How much did it cost you?

I emailed them lastnight and got this price.

"The cost to repair the speedo cluster console would be approx $420 + gst. Replacement of pixels (if repair not possible) is approx $525 + gst.

Hope this helps you"

That's sending them the speedo cluster. Just over $500 - not sure if it's something I'll be doing any time soon, but it is on my to-do list.

I just take them the complete rim. Did that with one of my rears a fortnight ago. I figure that set of tyres I bought off them about 6 years ago gives me free repairs for life

Very many thanks for posting that guide about how to 'gracefully' remove the console. I want to get mine fixed but wasn't sure how to take it out. Dont think I'm going to attempt the repair myself though!

Kind of looks like a Commodore wagon on axel stands in the second pic

I've had several experiences with S&S - none of which were overly great.

Had one stone chip "fixed" by S&S... but the car failed one month later at WOF time because it was a crap repair. Put in another windscreen claim and got Novus to replace the entire screen because it was deemed "unfixable".

Had numerous screens replaced by S&S Petone (Wellington) and the car generally looked worse after they had worked on it then before due to damage and bad fitment of the surrounding trim and/or scratches to the paint.

Had a chip filled in on the wife's Corolla about a month ago by a mobile S&S guy. The repair is still quite noticable both inside and outside of the car.

In my experiences - Novus good, S&S bad. And that's three different S&S branches. I find they just dont seem to be as careful as they could be and tend to rush everything.

I spoke to a very helpful man on the phone yesterday at Amsterdam Motors in Lower Hutt. I was making an appointement to get the car in because it's mid-range power problem seems to be getting worse.

I mentioned some very helpful people on the interwebs have suggested either blocked cats or an AFM problem and I wanted a proper diagnosis. He ran through the symptoms with me again on the phone and said to try unplugging the AFM and go for a drive. This weirded me out a little, because if you do this to a Subaru it will throw a MAJOR strop. So, just taken it for a spin down the road and OH MY! It now revs & accelerates like I guess it should. The difference is absolutely amazing and I can now see why people have been telling me it shouldn't get over-taken by Corolla's when I've got my foot up it.

It's still going in on Monday for a trans flush and for them to take another look over it - but in the interim, is there any harm in driving it with the AFM disconnected? I presume it uses a map sensor and the AFM for minor Air/Fuel ratio adjustments?

Is the AFM servicable in any way, or is it a throw away / $1000 replacement item?

*Glenn* - you were completely 100% on the money!

Gavin at EuroItalian one of our forum sponsors. Delivered to your door next day for half the price BMW want for them.

Always keen to deal with a sponsor! Many thanks, PM sent

Had a good browse through autohausaz.com also. Good price on the replacement MAF if you were in the market for one that is.

Repco look at you blankly and BNT have to source them from BMW.

Anyone know of a place you can buy them from for a reasonable price?

Thanks!

Gareth

Take the above as a warning sign of no maintenance and go over the rest of the car with a fine tooth comb

A properly maintained car never gets to a state where the plugs are shot - they get religiously replaced well (years) before they get to that point. I have never suffered clogged plugs unless I have air-fuel mixture problems (which I did have on an old VW).

I was very surprised by the garage's findings, especially given the FULL service history it has from Japan (I have these documents) and the $1000 service bill from BMW Wellington the previous owner forked out for less then 10,000km ago - so it annoys me that the basic's were never checked and it even got to a state where it was running rough.

I'll start another thread for the cabin filters, but YES they in a bit of state! The cheapest I've found replacements is for about $150 for the pair.

Broken things to-date is the windscreen washer cleaner / concentrate bottle and pump, rear cup holders and the dash pixel's. Besides that, everything else seems to be in good working order - so it's getting there. I did get it for an absolute steal, so it's a work in progress for now!

Handbrake is another. It's available for both Windows & Mac - pretty easy to use too, you give it a video file and select from a pre-determined output file type... ie iPhone.

Relisted thanks to a time waster. Secure those mats today!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=251931360

It has an absolute truck-load more off the bottom end and through the middle of the rev range... but still feels flat to me above 4500. I guess the ECU is still a little traumatised and has the ignition backed off.

It actually surprised me this morning taking off from a set of lights, I gave it the same amount of throttle I've been giving it since I've owned it and it forgot it was an 1800kg tank and shot off like a bloody rocket! Should be interesting to see the fuel usage now, the inner-nerd in me religiously tracks the fuel consumption of both our cars with an application on my iPhone.

From what I've read it's approx 10:1 compression - so what sort of fuel do fellow 540 drivers use? I've been trying to stay away from BP98 and Mobil/Gull E10 (purely because of availability) and have been running Shell V-Power.

~~~DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS~~~

Turns out that #6 coil was garked and all 8 plugs were completely shot. I've not picked it up yet, but the garage is claiming it has a truck load MORE power now. I guess the CEL's were caused by the mis-fire it had developed because they were happening almost every time I stuck my foot up it.

Yay

The owners manual calls the fluid "life-time" - but I'm thinking the BMW definition of life-time differs from mine!

My 10 year old 540 has 113,000km on the clock. Is it likely to need its transmission fluid flushed and replaced? I understand it's not a simple procedure so don't want to bother if it's not needed. Car is going in to a garage on Monday for some bits and pieces so it would be a good time to get it changed... if it needs it.

This thread brings up an interesting point. What's that second can for on the end of the standard set up? I assume it is to quieten the exhaust?

It's incredibly dense and heavy so its only real function I guess is a silencer.

Your performance issues are caused by a fault with the engine - get that fixed!

You may have clogged catalytic converters, this will rob a lot of power and cause O2 problems with the engine

If one is clogged, replace both at the same time.

A scan will reveal the cause

My 540i would leave everything for dust and would attack any hill at >100kmph with power to spare

So forget modifying the exhaust - fix the problem with the engine first.

Thanks Jochen, I've found the car nice and torquey... but very flat past 3500RPM. Once the new car appeal wore off I was left kind of underwhelmed and looking at ways to improve it. From what people are saying it's clearly been down on power since I bought it.

Booked in for a diagnostic and engine oil / trans fluid change on Monday, so will go from there.

Thanks very much everyone for your input, it's very much appreciated. I'll post up the results from the diagnostic scan when I have them.

One week on and I'm still hooked. I have to listen to it for atleast 10 minutes straight each day with headphones

I've concluded the population can be divided into two categories. Those that love it and become addicted... and those that watch it with a blank expression and say "I dont get it".

Dont get me wrong, it will definately do much more than 60k, but at the time I had my foot all of the way up it and it was busy ringing out one of its many gears and very much out of its efficiency range while the falcon was heading for the distance. I probably tend to exagerate about its "sluggishness" coming from a rapid turbo 4WD - but the CEL's have confirmed for me anyway something is not as it should be. I'm really hoping it's running reduced ignition!