keltik

Throttle body adapter plate on the front of the manifold was the culprit. Not a common area to leak it seems. Problem is definitely fixed! Took me a week to find out as the alternator died for the 2nd time right after I fixed this.

Problem came back so gather round kids and learn about how i finally fixed it for reals; Codes for misfire all cylinders and adaptions maximum enrichment reached. VW MAF sensor reads about 5% richer than the BMW one, this can be seen in that my long term fuel trims are 95% compared to %103 with the BMW sensor in there. For a short time, this extra fuel due to the maf sensor change caused the car to run a bit richer which allowed it to compensate for the lean condition and make the problem appear to go away.....until the overall fuel trims adjusted and brought everything back to square one. So it had to be a vacuum leak. I spent a couple of mornings getting rowdy with the brake clean and finally found the culprit, this f**ker right here! So $50 worth of seals from Coombes later, I've taken it for a good long drive and here are the fuel trim numbers before and after; As we can see, the long term trim has taken out the error from the wrong maf sensor and the short term trims are close enough to spot on. After a few cold starts to verify success, i'll do my happy dance.

Finally resolved. Got INPA running on my laptop, plugged in and checked out the important things: Fuel long term trims were quite high. When running cold / warming up, the ECU was having to dump in quite a large enrichment correction and was running out of adjustment triggering my check engine light. When hot, the ECU was able to compensate. There must be a point when the warmup enrichment has tapered off and the ECU has less room to compensate, causing the problem to only show up at a narrow temperature range. So i checked for vacuum leaks, thought about replacing the CSC valve thing on the back of the manifold....but that looked hard. I eventually kept a good watch on all of the parameters in INPA as the car warmed up a few times and noticed intake air temp was wrong at low air flows. It was showing 40degrees C on a cold engine that hadnt been run that day! Off idle, the air temp would drop to something like 24 but thats still a big jump from the 15 outside. Idle air requirements didnt seem to vary much with A/C or power steering loads...so that was odd. Took a chance and replaced the airflow meter. Didnt want to pay the big tax for a BMW or Range Rover one so ended up slamming in the Volkswagen one. Works great! The internet was right, its a brilliant low cost alternative. $170 compared to $800 for a BMW one or $500ish for a Range Rover one. The car is now running awesome, it drives better even tho i didnt notice anything wrong with the performance. Shifts are smoother and pulling away from intersections is crisper. Idle quality is still only a 9/10 but I'm very picky. Perhaps there is something else going wrong but I'll keep an eye on things and see how we go for now.

Well i still have no answers. Got a 20pin cable on the way from Chong-Kongapore. Will see what live data i can get with that. Might try snag the wideband 02 this week and see what it says. Heres a video, you will need headphones or good speakers to pick up on the engine note. I tried EQ'ing it to make it more obvious but my software just isnt set up for that. So dont bother if all you have is laptop tincan speakers. https://youtu.be/zS6v5l5n7pQ

Yup. Missfire cylinder 1,2,3,6 and maybe 8 came up on the scan tool. Either way it was most of them. Wasnt confined to one bank. I think there was also a fuel trim lean code but couldnt quite read it before the technician I stole had to run away and do some real paid work. This afternoon, I kept an eye on the trims while it warmed up and noticed both banks crept towards 20% enrichen, then one bank wavered around between 18-20% and the other bank reported 0% trim....which is interesting (maybe the DME discarding that sensors data due to implausible values?). Revved it up and both trims got back to around 0 then back to idle started creeping richer. Will monitor the problem more and try to record more solid data on when the problem occurs. Might get the wideband o2 on it if I can summon up the effort to rig it up.

Hey guys. My 540 gets its lumpy idle on at 65*c coolant temp. Plugged an ODB tool in and discovered at almost exactly that temp every time, the idle will start sounding more like a cammed up LS and the fuel trims for both banks go straight to max (+20%). Still runs great under load and the problem only really shows when idling. Soon as coolant temp hits 75*c it goes back to a smooth idle. Its been a constant problem since ive had the car. Never really worried about it until this morning when it ran like a bag of dicks and set the CEL. Will pull the codes this afternoon, but until then - would anyone like to guess what my problem is? I'm willing to bet the codes will just be "Missfire ALL THE CYLINDERS!". If I had to guess (and i do), I'd say that this thing has a fuel pressure problem. Do these have a multi-speed fuel pump? I reckon its set to drop pump speed down to low at a certain engine temp but fuel pressure is falling off too much which is why the trims are going up to max rich...until the engine warms up enough to run on the leaner setting.

Sorry to disappoint chaps, have listed on trademe $1 reserve. Looking to get into a DRZ400SM and extra funds are required. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=853101376

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm......nah, but if you had a HX40 in your shed

Bought this because it looked cool. No regrets so far. Now to figure out what to do with it. Needs an electric mirror switch, some rusty doors sorted out and an ignition tune-up set. Anyone with leads on doors or seats should get in touch.

Following this up....trans noise is still gone, everything is still working. Serviced it and found it to be a real pleasure to work on. Did a rocker cover gasket and it was beautifully engineered except for the crappy flakey covers. A+ BMW. Well done. Would trade again. P.S When removing the ignition/injector modules....i saw the videos online saying you had to undo each of the little metal clips on the injector plugs. That looked impossibly hard and wouldve taken aaaaages. I then found another single post from a wrecker somewhere saying to just yank it off with brute force. Took one helluva yank, but all the clips broke free nicely and the job was done on 10 seconds instead of an hour.

Thanks, anyone wanna see me make a new one involving a 540? On a related note: Question for Mr BMW. WHY NO LSD!?!

Nope no hatch there for me. Not even a perforated section or even a visible stamped place where it would be. I also didnt want the armrest down. My car has the TV tuner in one lump behind the left seat and something else in a lump behind the right seat. If the current idea wasnt going to do the job, my next move was to relocate or remove those boxes and install a pair of 10 inch woofers in there through the panel with the face behind the seat foam. Would be fully hidden from inside the car AND from in the boot. Would look totally sweet. The Volvo C70 cabrio is set up like that and has a switch in the center console to disable the subs so your back seat passengers dont end up with collapsed lungs. But luckily, no need. Its working great!

Holesaw muffler mod done. A+. Perfect level of subtle rumble and absolutely silent when cruising. Sounds 99 times more chur when doing "stationary full load cooling system tests". New Taiwan spec cup holders are here, front and rear. Yup A+ again. Taiwan stuff is immensely better than the OEM design. Still f**king useless at holding drinks tho. Fitted a small sub in the boot and discovered the remarkable acoustic insulation in these cars. Cant hear it at all. So popped a few plugs out in the rear shelf (i think the factory woofer goes through them) and redesigned the foam a bit so the boot vents through to the cabin much better. Tiny barely noticeable increase in road noise with the stereo off but now all the doof-doofs come through the vents at the base of the back window. A+ again. Also in taking the rear shelf apart, i managed to fix the roller blind. Some compliance center muppet had put it back together backwards so the extendy bit was stuck inside the parcel shelf trim. None of the bolts were done up and a dozen fasteners were missing too. So a middle fingered salute to you, you lazy prick. Next job, fix some oil leaks and do the bloody rocker cover gaskets.

Silence is golden, ATF is red. Trans noise is gone! HUZZAH! Old fluid looked a bit sad but not majorly depressed. Cant see any obvious signs of air leakage....but the old filter was a bit manky. TLDR: I MENDED IT. Next job, valve cover gasket. Previous owner did one side and just gave me the bits to do the other. Slam some new plugs in while its apart ...... ? .....profit.

Engine noise hasnt been back in a few days so I'm pretty sure i bumped the exhaust getting into a driveway and that unseated one of the front joints, that has now sealed up again. The trans noise got a bit worse so Its in the workshop today getting new fluids thrown at it. For anyone interested, I didnt fancy buying the specific spendy fluid for the 5HP24 - so have put dexron III in it. Nah just kidding! I did all of the googling and just got pissed off with the answers. Then i remembered my dads car ('99 Jag XK8) also has a 5HP24 and he's running ELF MV in it and it drives great! So i've put a heap of that in and we'll see how it goes later tonight. Of course the real test will be tomorrow morning when everything is cold. Fingers crossed.

I have a theory! No idea if its credible but its something to try... What if the pickup tube from the trans filter had a damaged o-ring. My thinking is that the fluid is aerating when cold. That would explain why it sounds exactly like a power steer pump having a hard time and only makes noise at periods of high fluid demand (i.e shifting). When the pan gets hot, i guess either the fluid level rises and covers the leak or the dodgy o-ring expands and stops leaking. Possibly the filter gauze is quite caked up so the hotter less viscous fluid flows better through it. Either way, could be worth dropping the pan and throwing some new fluids and a filter on there. Would be nice to see if there are any lumps of clutch swimming around in the pan. Doesnt look like a hard job, and its probably the cheapest easiest fix to try. So have ordered some bits from BM Workshop and we'll see how it goes.

I have every reason to believe the milage is genuine. Engine was nice n quiet after work today, only made it noise for about 2 mins. By the time i got into the workshop it was gone. I reckon its an exhaust leak. Trans noise here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-j4tuMeUws

On a semi related note, got my euro plates remanufactured. Whaddaya know, Jap vehicles had a different boot lid. Well thats a pain in the ass. Hah! Yup definitely engine related. Changes with rpm and load.

Will post up some video clips of the sounds later today. Until then, heres a little description. Car is running Castrol Edge synthetic oil and has 130,000kms on it. On cold start only, i can hear a nasty clattery rattle which is louder towards the rear underside of the engine. Doesnt sound like VANOS noise to me and completely goes away once everything is warm. Its not the rhythmic tock of a rod knock or shitty lifter, its more like a sharp rattle that doesnt stay a fixed loudness. Sounds more like an exhaust leak over a rattly chain. The 2nd noise i have is transmission related. If youve heard a Mitsi with a poked balance shaft bearing - it sounds exactly like that. A medium pitched bearing whine that only occurs under load as the trans shifts when cold. Is directly related to ATF fluid temp. Goes away soon as its warmed up and you can only hear it on a loaded up shift...so for 2 seconds at a time. The trans one doesnt bother me so much but the engine one has just started in the last 2 days and is concerning. Cant hear it from inside the cabin, but i park in an underground compound so it gets seriously amplified with a window down. Ideas welcome until the video evidence comes in.

Sad news, makes me think twice about my 3rd party insurance. Was actually talking to the guys at Brit-Euro today and bumpers/guards are pretty well priced for the E39. I know aftermarket stuff cant match the quality of genuine, but a new bumper fascia for $300 aint bad. Definitely worth repairing with a bit of time and care to find the parts.

I'd say $1400 is still worth it compared to getting a set of crappy china rims. Will look into this as a christmas present to myself if the timing guides/transmission/torque converter/vanos things dont explode before then.

Thinking about getting my wheels sorted out. The paint is flaking a bit on 2 of them. Anyone in NZ able to reproduce this finish decently? All the local shops suck and i wouldnt trust them to repaint my fridge white. If its going to cost a billion dollars tho, i'll put up with it for a while.

Hmm, keen to see how that sounds. Will put it on my to-do list.

Chur, so the dust thing could be responsible for my heater alternately roasting and then freezing me? Good car so far, great for slamming k's on. Needs a bit of v8 noise next, I'm not digging the scuba tanks

So this is the outside This is the inside This is a mystery button that lights up when you touch it. Located between the bum warmer and do skids buttons And this i think is a button for turning on the pizza oven...but im not sure. And there also seems to be a hole where one would normally find a cup holder. I received a bag of broken bits that I might be able to mash back together....but basically i think its f**ked and need a new one.