Gabe79

The Q&A section is precious too.

There’s a very nice looking ‘91 318 for sale on facebook right now for $3500, or looking for swaps too. BMW NZ parts group.

Haha. Sorry and thanks. Such glorious boxy goodness.

Got pics?

My bad. I thought you needed PDCs proper. Missed the switch part.

This is one item where the Chinese made ones from eBay work just fine and cost a minuscule fraction of the price of even wrecked ones in NZ.

Did not. I was warned off spraying anything into my maf.

Ok, here's what I'd do (and what i did do, for the most part...) If you're savvy with cars and wrenching in general, this will be an hour, or two at most (I did it in four and it was my first time ever doing this) I'd remove everything up to, and including the throttle body (this will include air intake, upper and lower boot, DISA valve, ICV and throttle body itself. Check all hoses, rubber boots, etc for tears and cracking. Clean ICV and throttle body. Inspect CCV (in my case, I bought the CCV kit from FCP Euro and instead of just inspecting it, I went in knowing I'd replace it anyway) Inspect your DISA valve. Having bought the CCV kit up front and taking the bet that since everything else in the car had been neglected anyway... I went full in on the CCV hoses and they pretty much disintegrated in my hands, so good thing I had the parts to replace! My ICV was near stuck, my throttle body was black with grime. I ended up replacing upper and lower boots, throttle body gasket, ICV grommet, and vacuum hose from the fuel filter that goes into the F connector on the upper intake boot. (All of which came with my kit from FCP Euro, minus the $2 hose I bought extra) I still intend to do my VANOS rebuild (and valve cover replacement...) but the urgency is a lot lower now that my idle and random power loss problems are gone. The DISA rebuild kit from FCP Euro is $50 and I'll get it eventually. My gasket is pretty shot, and that should be an easy job anyway.

Insert your registration into carjam and look for that number. Also, insert your vin here http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi same deal, look for that number. Edit: on mine, that seems to be the format for engine number.

Best photoshop skills I’ve seen in awhile.

I’d love to see good info on this topic. Everything on The nzta site about imports suggests the cars need to meet the emissions standards on export from foreign country.

These photos make me want to withdraw my earlier judgement. This isn't so bad at all in these.

It’ll certainly be cheaper to get a new steering wheel, but worse case and you really like the car... you can decommission the airbag and get a lvvt cert for it.

Before replacing any parts, or diving into a vanos rebuild... remove parts up to the throttle body, inspect everything along the way for cracks. Clean ICV and throttle body. Inspect CCV hoses while you’re there. I teplaced my CCV whilst doing this as well. No more rough idle. I will replace the vanos seals when I get back to NZ too, but the CCV difference was enormous and the throttle body and ICV cleaning were clearly necessary in my case.

Few for sale on trademe for reasonable prices...

Sure. I was just quoting from the the link qube posted above: "Models Affected The below BMW vehcicle models are affected by the Airbag recall E46 3 Series (Produced from 1998 – 2005) E39 5 Series (Produced from 1995 – 2003) E53 X5 (Produced from 1999 – 2006) As this is a worldwide safety recall and affects many countries, we are endeavouring to source parts and complete the campaign as quickly as possible. Within the scope of this safety recall, the preferred authorised BMW Dealer will attempt to carry out this work as soon as possible and will contact owners when parts are made available."

That's not three models... That's 3 series of cars... Combine all E46, E39 and X5s and you have a heck of a lot of cars...

There's a red 318ci on facebook in the NZ audi/BMW buy sell group. Saw it today. Might even be a manual. I have to find it again. https://www.facebook.com/groups/317817931701412/permalink/937515209731678/?sale_post_id=937515209731678 Sorry. Automatic. But.. e46, not blue or silver. ?

Thanks. I saw this, it does look nice and the price is good. Someday, when we have no mortgage, I'll buy a car that costs this much (or more!)

What’s the link to trademe on this?

Using the idea that new airbags are profit, worse case you get nothing because yours are fine. ?

If trademe lists it as over a month... it’s been awhile. It’s a bit steeply priced I’d say and no idea of mechanical condition. Would be lovely to have a proper PPI done on this.

Your airbag might fail when you wish it didn’t, or it might go off when you wish it didn’t. The stats are very small all around, but not a risk worth taking. In my case, they checked every single airbag and told me it was all good. I was in and out in an hour-ish. They even cleaned the car for me. Note in your case, maybe ask them not to screw up your lovely paintwork with their machine polishing. ?

That’s really nice.

Lots of us have. Seems there is a range of experiences. Just call your dealership and make an appointment. It was trivial easy for me and many others.