gjm

I like to think that careful maintenance and not abusing the car has paid dividends - costs have been pretty reasonable - but we may just be lucky. We've gone through some tyres along the way, and mpg has dropped although that may be testament to the change in use - instead of one long run from Clevedon into Hamilton and back each day, it's now doing two trips up and down the Bombay Hills, and significantly more stop-start work. I think we're into some CABs very soon, and I'm keeping an eye on the shocks. However, we're not overloading or towing so it's getting a fairly easy life, if one involving a significant number of kms. Anyone got experience of polyurethane bushes on an E46? The CABs are a known regular requirement so extending their life sounds like a good idea. I think in the past that the entire arm has been replaced, rather than just the bushes and having done this work on other cars, I entirely understand why.

Ours is a UK import car. Mileage varies, from 600+ miles to a tank, down to 500++. That's based on 60 or so litres - I figured 10 miles per litre can't be bad. (Around 16km per litre, 6-ish litres per 100km, a little better on a long run.) I have the biggest pile of history with the car you can imagine. This includes some work done in the UK, the import papers, and lots more. There's documentation describing an issue with swirl flaps and removal, but no mention of blocking or plugging. I've not pulled the manifold to check - it's on the cards. If you're keen, a hybrid turbo, decat exhaust and a remap/ecu swap will see upwards of 190bhp. See also my thread - Life with a high mileage car.

The 320d had seen a slight drop off in economy, and also a marked increase in time taken to get to operating temperature. These engines, like the M47TUD20 in the 320d, have two thermostats - one is the more-or-less conventional item in the cooling system, and the second is associated with the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system. The EGR thermostat appears to be the one to most commonly give up, is generally the simplest to replace, and is also the cheapest. As good a place to start as any, then. A little internet searching turned up the video below. 3 minutes, huh? Can't be too bad! So it didn't take 3 minutes. The video doesn't show R&R of the plastic engine covers for a start, but they have to be taken off for just about anything. Some differences (from the video procedure) experienced: The screw holding the vacuum pipe in place on my car has a torx head The hose on the right hand side of the EGR thermostat is held by a fancy clip, not a jubilee-type one. There's an engine lifting bracket behind the EGR thermostat The hose connecting the vacuum pipe leads into a solid pipe, which will not lift out of the way as shown I followed the same process with the necessary changes for my car. When it came to removing the two 10mm bolts to release the thermostat, I had to use a 1/4" drive 10mm socket, a UJ coupling and a short extension. This is awkward but not impossible to get into position - the biggest challenge is not rounding the head of the bolt when removing or refitting. Something I don't think the video shows is replacement of the yellow o-ring that fits on to the thermostat. I smeared the tiniest amount of Hylomar around the shoulder this sits on to before refitting. OK, so it's not a 3-minute job. End-to-end, including finding the right tools, it took perhaps 30 minutes. As with so many tasks of this nature, it'd probably be quicker if doing it again. Result? Well, the engine comes up to temperature much faster (again). Can't yet comment on the economy, and maybe it was psychological, but I felt the car was generally running better post-swap than before. Nothing tangible, nothing serious, just seemed a little smoother. I may have imagined it. I bought the parts from Coombes Johnson in Hamilton and cost was about $100. You can find them cheaper online, but I was in a bit of a hurry to get it sorted. Ordered Thursday, collected Friday, fitted Sunday. Edited to correct the engine designation.

Today I replaced the EGR thermostat. There's a vid on Youtube showing how it's done and describes a 3-minute procedure. It took me about half an hour... I'll do a maintenance thingy about why a bit later.

A friend back in the UK has (had?) a LS7 in an MX-5. He reckoned that if he was going to use an LSx, he may as well do the job properly. I often wondered why there aren't more multi-rotor MX-5s about. Seems (to me, in my ignorance about the RX-7 and so on) a natural conversion.

Traction Control... So long as it's working 90% of the time it'd be OK.

Aside from some of the monster engines fitted into cars that really weren't practical - The Beast and it's 27 litre Merlin lump, Charlie Broomfield's Rover SD1 with a similar engine from a tank (Meteor), those other aircraft engine swaps - what would be an ultimate swap? I present exhibit 1: a Honda S2000. Not your first choice perhaps for an engine swap. Nice little car, speedy revvy little 2 litre engine, nicely balanced, handles well... What would you swap in there? A Skyline motor, perhaps? A 4-litre Lexus lump? Nah. How about an 8.3 litre V10? It's for sale on Craigslist in the US for $27k. Lots for an S2000 maybe, but you're unlikely to find another like this. Kinda brings to mind that twin-turbo E30 V12, doesn't it?

Dunno about that specifically, but make it a bookable offence to drive in the outside lane at 90 when there's nothing in the left lane. Enforce those 'Keep left unless passing' instructions.

It's on a few roads. Waikato Expressway is one that has been mentioned.

Very, very common. The people working in these places get paid peanuts, and eventually the temptation of a bit of fun obviously gets too much. A fried had his mint condition Porsche 928SE written off by Heathrow Valet Parking. He had an almighty battle getting them to pay up, too. Only tip I can come up with - take a car you don't like to drive to the airport. Or hire a car instead.

I opted for a Dexron VI in the E46, and in our Merc, using this. Overkill for the Merc, and Dexron III May be suitable for your E36.

I was coming to the conclusion that for family comfortable motoring, there is little to choose (other than rear legroom). It just seems odd that the 5-series seems so much more popular. The E38 728i isn't a bad car, and on a run is actually quite economical. Good ones are more pricey - a E32 735i goes for $5-6k, an E38 728i is about 50% more - but that could simply be due to them being newer. Or just that I've not seen enough examples to get accurate figures. There's a 728iM (quoted as an M, but I thought those models had different seats) for sale in Hamilton for $9k, but it's been on TradeMe for 3.5 months. Working on the V8 was the only real concern I had about them.

Same engine, different size car. Assuming predominantly highway driving, and not looking for overly sporty handling, is there all that much to choose between the two? The 5-series seems to be the much more popular car... I've debated (with myself) the I6 vs V8 argument, but keep coming down on the side of the 6-cylinder engine. I really quite like the E38 too (just call me Transporter) but they seem to be a fairly rare beast over here. Just thinking out loud at the moment.

All I can say with confidence is that it'll be better than going from Manukau to Auckland. If you're going to be there before 07.30, it'll probably be OK.

I knew there was something different, but (without having checked) thought the sedan and touring bars were the same, but the coupe one was different. I'll keep looking for a touring bar, or modify/design/make one from the E36 one I have here.

I found the TM guy when looking for a 'bar for our Touring. I thought they were the same (sedan and touring) but he assures me that's not the case. Whatever. Didn't seem too fussed about selling the 'bar on it's own when I'd asked.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/bmw/gear-boxes/auction-774881770.htm I've no connection to the trader.

Got tied up with doing a whole load of stuff over the weekend and missed this. :-( Did see some nice-looking cars on trailers heading south at one point, though.

Tried that, although I have so far only lifted one side at a time. Time to get the whole front in the air.

No pulling that I recall, just the steering wheel juddering: juddering probably describes the feeling better than vibrating. It does it above about 70km/h, does it for a few minutes, then stops. All fine before and after. Disconcerting. And very puzzling. And I want to fix it!

I'll recheck the tyres, but I agree - I'd expect something more consistent if that was the issue.

Actually, very, very intermittent. A few weeks ago we were driving (quite gently) when the steering began to vibrate quite badly. It was a sudden onset - no deterioration or similar. Just a sudden significant vibration, bad enough that it felt almost like th front of the car was shaking. Slowing to around 50km/h meant the vibration appeared to go away. Above that it came on, and while the severity doesn't vary significantly with speed, it is bad enough that I wouldn't try to 'drive through it'. We stopped, I got out and checked wheel nuts (a similar previous experience, years ago, could be traced to a loose wheel) lifted and spun tyres, shook the wheels... No obvious issue. Back on the road, problem persisted and then... It was gone. Completely. Back to normal smooth as silk driving. I assumed I'd picked up a stone or something and while I did think about it, didn't worry unduly. ... Several thousand kms later... ... Yesterday, it happened again. It is quite a violent vibration. The steering wheel visibly moves, and you can feel it through the seats. Reduce speed, drive gently... And it was gone a few minutes later. OK - note to self: this needs more investigation. Write off next weekend. But this morning it happened again. (So the investigation is more urgent!) However, it has been impossible, so far, to replicate the issue. It 'just happens', then 'just stops'. If it happens again, we're going to try the IT 'reboot it' solution - stop, switch off car, remove key from ignition, restart car - just to check that doesn't resolve the problem. Thoughts so far: a misshapen tyre (although I'd expect a much more persistent issue if that was the case), CBA bushings (again, I wouldn't expect the vibration to seemingly turn on and off, and these were done a couple of years ago), or sticking brake caliper (most reasonable and likely-seeming candidate at the moment). Any thoughts? Recommendations for somewhere that will do caliper refurb?

$8250 sounds (to me) like a lot if it's not in at leat good condition. Give Bellars a call. See what they have to say - looks like they've seen it fairly recently.

I don't know if this is Jon's sort of thing, but JKSE in Newtown have a very good reputation.

SnapOn and BluePoint are pretty much the same thing, but with a significant price difference. Heard good things about Koken, but haven't used any. Stahlwille spanners are the absolute business (imho), but you may need to buy in from Germany to get decent prices. They are typically slimmer than most, but so well made they are less likely to cause problems. I have a couple of sets of 'Halfords Professional' spanners which are really nice to use. Very similar to early Kamasa kit. (Halfords are like a UK version of Repco.)