gjm

So, it's a 27 year old car. What does it need? To be used, very little. To be right... Well, the list is not quite endless, but there are many things to be attended to. When we picked it up the service indicator wasn't showing. It came on soon after, but being so far from home and suitable tools meant squashing my oil change OCD and living with the indicator on the dash. The Friday morning in Wellington saw us at chez Andy @_ethrty-Andy_ who despite having a busy morning preparing parts for transport to Taupo, somehow found time to change the oil for us (I was hopelessly incorrectly dressed for under-car crawling). What came out was black - definitely time for a change. Sadly, that well-known mechanic Edward Gorillahands had fitted the oil filter and it proved impossible to change that too. Still, clean oil and an old filter is better than old oil and an old filter. The drive to Taupo via Mana, Palmy and Waiouru wasn't as much fun as the South Island trip had been. Rain. Lots of it... (The weather in the previous 4 days had been beautiful, brilliant sunshine!) What I did notice was that there seemed to be a lack of get-up-and-go: this is a 2.5 litre six - surely it should pull up hills better? OK, it's an automatic, but all the same... Suggestion is that the fuel filter could be blocked (see here) and I just happened to have a genuine BMW filter in the garage (saved from many years ago when we had an E30 320i ) so that was raised towards the top of the to-do list. Once home, another oil change. Removing the filter was a mission... Damn - that had been put on tight! The oil that came out this time wasn't quite as bad, but still pretty black. We'll give it a couple thousand kms and do it again. Power steering felt a bit... Off. Change the fluid in there, too... Once again pretty yuck - a silver-grey colour fluid was replaced by some that is red. On to less maintenance-related items: The rear seat has a split in the top: The drivers seat has the usual outside bolster wear: There's numoerous minor scratches, but most significantly, the passenger door is a different colour: The PO advised that a HiLux had backed into the door, and he'd replaced it with one which was "the same colour"... Close, but not quite. The car is 'Dolphin', and (I'm fairly sure) the door is 'Delphin Grau'. Translation aside, the name and intent is the same but the colours are slightly different. That'll be stripped back and sorted. The rear part of the roof has been replaced (and the rear screen is crystal clear) but doesn't quite meet the front part of the roof. There's no leak, but the two parts don't meet as seamlessly as they should. The clips fastening the rear hood to the roof are secured by aluminium rivets. these are weak and if you over-adjust the clips the rivets break. (Yeah - guess how I know?) I have replaced these with cut-down 4mm pan head bolts, secured with nylock nuts. Modifications? There will be very, very few. I have a set of Eibach springs for an E30 325i coupe that will probably be fitted, but as much for aesthetics as anything else. The front does sit quite high, and it'd be nice to gain a better 'wheel in arch' fit. At the moment it's a little on tip-toes. (Can I get different thicknesses of spring pads? I'll have to check.)

Turns out we have a fairly high-spec car. Being ex-SA it's harder to decode the VIN for options, but things we know: Air conditioning Leather seats 13 button OBC Cruise Control LSD Front foglights Reading some Baur history suggests this is unusual - because of the high cost of having Baur convert a coupe, many were pretty low spec and had cloth seats (for example).

The SA cars are genuine Baurs. ?

Some of y'all will know, others will have seen, but our recent trip to the South Island was to collect a car for Mrs M. A mid-1990 ex-South Africa Baur 325i. We'd had it checked over by a friend in Dunedin and while certainly not perfect, it was substantially a good car, so we flew down and were met at a very sunny Dunedin Airport by the seller. My chance to drive and check over, find a few more things that need sorting, pay some money and start our trip towards home. First stop - Oamaru. On the way up I noticed a quite pronounced shake through the steering wheel, and Beaurepairs in Oamaru found one wheel was 50g (!) out of balance. That'll do it. They also noticed that while we had a matching set of tyres in terms of manufacturer and model, the fronts were a different profile to the rears. While in Oamaru I checked the toolkit: There's something you don't see every day. From Oamaru to Lake Brunner via some scenic roads: And an overnight stop at Moana. Awesome place to stop. Not cheap, but great hospitality, location, food, wine... Aldamere Lodge. After that, it all gets to be a bit of a blur. Lake Brunner to east of Picton via Greymouth, stopping in Greymouth to replace the front tyres with some that were the correct size. Made a noticeable difference. North up the coast towards Westport, stopping at Pancake Rocks, then across south of Nelson to Waikawa Bay where we stayed at the Buccaneer Lodge. Cheap, cheerful, and would go back. Nice scenery for dinner, too. The following day we had a quick tour 'round some wineries and got the boat to Wellington where we stayed with friends, before joining Andy and the southern convoy heading for Taupo and the E30 Megameet.

Changed the fuel filter on Mrs M's car. What a PITA! You can see it, but you can't reach it. It's under the brake fluid reservoir, and the PS reservoir. From underneath, there's only room for one hand, making it difficult to undo Jubilee clips. Having backed off all the clips, and slid them out of the way, then comes the remove the hoses challenge. Top one came off because I could get one hand to the filter, hold the hose and push the filter with two fingers. (It is a one-handed exercise because of space.) The bottom connection is another matter as it's more difficult to get a grip on anything. Having fiddled things around, I was able to work the filter out of the bottom of the car (at which point petrol is pouring out of the filter). Get hold of the hose and "Come on!" "No!" "Come on!" "No!" "Come ON!" "No!" "COME ON!" "NO!... Oh, all right. Have a face full of petrol. " <sigh> Unusually, it's easier to put everything back together than to take apart.

I was close!

I think it is on Bimmerforums (or similar). There's highlights on here but that's all I've found in the past.

This was an awesome build back when it was completed. Great to hear the new owner will sort it (again).

Same place on a Touring (although I've not had cause to change it).

Fingers crossed.

Flushed the coolant on the Mercedes 190E... Then found I have a electrical 'leak' somewhere as the otherwise brand new Bosch battery was as flat as a very flat thing. No idea at the moment if a light was left on, or if it is a bad earth somewhere. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Use your cars - don't leave them int he garage getting dusty!

Sooo close... I have a chip for a M20B20... <sigh>

Valeo. I've read in several places that they're good. There's a thread here: https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=958649

@qube has rims and tyres for sale... I've not looked at the posts because I suspect I'd want to buy them! And I don't need more rims. No... No, I don't.

I don't debate the 'built not bought' thing. Each to their own... But today I saw someone saying they'd drive to meet anyone who could help them change their wheels.

Just some garage tidying. And got the 190E running for the first time in far too long. Started 2nd turn... But needs the cooling system flushing. And had a visit from a very nice gent from darn sarf, with his 330Ci.

The 3.0 H6 Outback is a great car. Massively overpriced when compared with a Legacy wagon, though.

Let me see... Changed engine oil and filter on car 1. Removed LED tail lights and replaced with stock 10W bulbs - fixes 'Check' 'Brake Lights' issue. Fixed high level brake light. Replaced fuel filter to see if it sorts sluggish acceleration - not tested yet, but all sorts of yuck came out of the filter. Changed engine oil and filter on car 2. Fixed ABS / Speed sensor issue on same car. (Actually - I'm not sure how I fixed this. It was there, I jacked it up, and now it's gone. ) Changed engine oil and filter on car 3. Tomorrow I see if Repco in Hamilton still have an oil disposal bin...

Ours does, too. I'm a fan. Of both the Str.Ts, and the Yellows. I prefer them to Bilstein B8s.

Brand new WoF, months of rego, near new tyres, excellent interior, running faultlessly. Driving so well I'm actually questioning the sanity of selling... C'mon. Someone must need a reliable and cheap runaround!

Pull it apart, or (a la E46) remove it completely because it is impossible to sort with the dash in situ?

Had the LCA rear bushes replaced, and WoF'd the 318i. See here.

Given the ABS and traction control lights are illuminated, is it more likely that the issue is with an ABS sensor on the rear (driven) axle?

Not yet... This was the culmination of yesterday's efforts, and almost dark when I finished. And I'm at work today.

Changed the wheels on Miss M's 318Ti. And now the ABS and traction control lights shine brightly on the dash. I suppose it proves those bulbs work... I must have knocked an ABS sensor when sorting the wheels, unless anyone can think of anything else that it could be?