Cold start after not being used for a week. Backed it out of the garage and left the car idling when I went to shut the garage door. Walking back to the car I could hear a very obvious and continuous chirping. Seemed to be coming from the front of the engine. The noise disappeared pretty quickly after I started driving and didn't hear it again for the rest of the day. Car has less than 100K kilometers on the clock and not showing any trouble lights. 

This noise sounds more like a dry bearing rather than a belt slipping, so if someone could give a heads up on the most likely culprit (idler pulley perhaps) it would be much appreciated.

Cheers...

As I recall, the last time I fitted one of the standard size plates to a Jappa I just bent the last 10mm or so at each end around pretty much at right angles. Sat flat and looked OK. Never had any problem with it at WOF time. 

Cheers...

How much would it cost to drop a good used engine into the car ? BM World could ballpark that for you.

BMW are just playing games with estimates and margins. Ask if they will pay $6000 towards the cost of fitting a used engine and I think that their generosity will evaporate !!!

Somehow or other I don't see chatGPT coming up with this kind of solution to a problem. So still room for a bit of human ingenuity

1 hour ago, Jun said:

Yes agree, but I do keep it idle for 1-2 mins.

The recommendation against extended idling for warmup is pretty much universal and has been for many years. Way back adding a lot of extra fuel when starting a cold engine was standard procedure. Modern ECU's have a lot more tricks at their disposal for reducing the amount of fuel at startup... electronic idle control valves, drive by wire throttles and ignition control as you mention. One of the driving forces for these improvements is avoid damaging the catalysts. So a couple minutes idling while you clean the ice off the windscreen and kiss the wife is not going tp kill your engine. But letting the engine idle for 15-20 minutes so the car is warm and cosy to get into by the time you leave the house is not good practice.

The oil temperature is more important than the water temperature, to the extent that the 335i has an oil temperature gauge rather than a water temperature gauge on the dash. Water temperature hits "normal" long before the oil is warm enough to provide the correct viscosity and flow to the bearings. That is the reason why no-one should ever beat on a cold engine, and this is especially true for BMW's. Not saying that you would ever do that... it's just part of the bigger picture about treating your engine nice so it lasts  

By the way.... seems some people don't know the difference between smoke and steam. Fortunate you didn't get a busted window !!!!

Cheers...

On 2/11/2023 at 10:08 PM, Jun said:

Date: 3/12/2022 - Going home time, not sure what time but it was about 2:00 pm

Event was winding down, I started the car to warm it up....

Lifted from another forum...

Quote

 

I have heard in the past to warm up the M5 e60 when you start up the vehicle. After research I found the following from the owners manual: "Do not allow the engine to warm up by leaving it running while the vehicle remains stationary. Instead, begin to drive immediately at a moderate engine speed."

 

Generally speaking, letting your car idle to warm it up is one of the worst ways to treat your engine. At idle the engine does not generate enough heat... much better to start it and drive away conservatively without using high rpm's. The engine will warm up much sooner and the risk of bore wash is reduced. 

Cheers....

The author/s of the first of the two articles referenced above seem intent only in espousing the wonderful imported concept of "induced demand". The second article takes a rather more thoughtful approach, and within the opening paragraph mentions several relevant factors affecting the apparent phenomena. 

Just jumping on the "Nature abhors a vacuum" wagon and damning all new roading as bad, is unhelpful. There are many factors that need to be considered, not the least of which would be the movement to remote working for many office employees. Conditions that exist in other more populous and mobile countries cannot simply be interpolated and assumed to apply to conditions in NZ. 

I have recently made several trips out of Wellington using the new Transmission Gully expressway as far as Levin and further. There is absolutely no doubt that the money was well spent. And why ? Because the new route bypasses all the small towns and the congestion they caused. Plus a great deal of the local traffic between those towns has now been removed from SH1. 

This same "miracle" improvement could easily be implemented in the Wairarapa, but apparently there are not enough important people living there. So cheap out and don't solve the problem as lifestylers and urban refugees boost the local commuting population. A road tunnel has been mooted for 50 years or more, but never seriously considered even when the machinery has been sitting idle in NZ. Thus the Rimutakas will continue to be a commuter nightmare in perpetuity.  

Of course, inner city traffic and suburban traffic in the major cities is a different issue, and can be treated as such. With population growth, an abundant supply of cheap vehicles, and the distance between industrial areas and residential areas, it may be possible to make a case for induced demand. But the cure does not lie in stopping improvements to the roading network. 

Cheers... 

2 hours ago, treone said:

Thats pretty impressive!

Hmmm, a 535i GT could be a viable replacement to take over long distance travel duties... 🤣

Yeah... I wasn't expecting anything like that. Part of the reason was that most of the reviews on the internet originate in the US. Their MPG figures are based on the smaller US gallon, and specified driving loops that include a range of driving conditions. Mid twenties seems to be considered pretty good over there. Here my 1500cc runabout averages around 39 MPG on mainly city driving, so I was surprised/impressed that a 3-litre could achieve 35 MPG at highway speeds.

Not complaining given the price of gas 

Went for a round trip drive of 350km in the 335i the other day. Filled up on leaving and out of curiosity filled up again when I returned. Trip was pretty much all flat land with only a couple of top gear motorway hills. Cruised mainly around 110-115km/h... was a nice drive on a fine day

So when I ran the numbers it worked out at 7.96 litres/100km or 35.49 mpg (imp) in the old money !!! Is this a believable number for usage ??

Cheers...

Anyone got one of these lying around that they no longer need and are willing to part with ??

MHD Wireless OBDII Wifi Flash Adapter - Orange for BMW E Chassis 

Cheers... 

42 minutes ago, Palazzo said:

In our garage, they stole and ate the rat bait box, all of the contents and most of the box. 
And then ate through an ice cream container to get at the bird seed, before eating a box of snail bait.

Thankfully haven’t touched the cars.

Damn rats loving a three course meal !!!!!!

Went in my garage the other day looking for a polishing rag... WTF ??? Someone has stolen all my polishing rags !!! Had a look round and found them... rats had grabbed them to make a nest on top of my engine right at the back under the scuttle. Even left a dead one (I'd been poisoning them) in the nest just so I could enjoy the fragrance of rattus norvegicus mortuus for a few days.... blech 

Hmmm.... just been watching a vid about Matt Farah's, Million Mile Lexus. A 1996 Lexus LS400 that has run 1 million miles on the original unopened engine. I think a lot of it is down to the use the car gets... continuous hot running (courier, taxi etc) seems to work. 

Cheers...

1 hour ago, Bandit said:

Staggered or 8 inch square set?

Staggered, but they have been sold and shipped to a new owner. Sorry about that.

Cheers... 

SOLD... SOLD... SOLD    $500 plus shipping ex Wellington. They are not concours but plenty good enough for a daily driver. I've cleaned them and smoothed out some minor curbing as you get with used wheels. Had planned to use them on a build that never happened, and they are a bit "sporty" for my conservative 2008 3-series. So happy to see them go to a good home

Cheers...

On 3/18/2023 at 11:29 PM, Jacko said:

... I want the wheels. 

Got a set available in 335i offsets if you are keen  SOLD !!!!

Cheers...

Grandma's tips and tricks for the busy housewife book says freeze the chewing gum with a block of ice. It will harden and can be broken up and removed. I think that's the same tip she gave my wife when she asked about getting semen out of her hair.

The 335i Msport runs 225/40-18 front and 255/35-18 rear so probably worth looking at that combo while shopping

Cheers...

Junior gangsters learning their trade. A few months home detention will sort them out......

17 hours ago, topnotchrally said:

I wish that the car changes into your valuable possession and that you enjoy it without having to ruin yourself financially. I've already done that, which is why I have to part with this special automobile.

Not often you see this much truth from someone selling a project !!!

Cheers...

Sent it to Auckland for greater reach and getting a mate to try and sell it at a more market friendly price ?

PROVERB:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

POSSIBLE MEANING:

1) People who believe they are doing good can end up doing bad (the law of unintended consequences).

2) There is no value in simply planning to do good if you don't actually do it. 

Sho nuff... but you could have dat blue Z4 wit da wang for $168 per week....

Cheers...

That sounded like a missed change just before the finish line.... possible ???