Twistee

Latest update, vanos line pressure is perfect. Vanos solenoids failing the test procedure, but not in the typical fashion which means it could be something in the electronics. Was also told the BMW NZ price for replacement solenoids .... $2,400 each, which is simply crazy given the genuine BMW unit from any other reseller is on average US$400. FFS And they don't even stock them in NZ.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/motorsport-american-driving-legend-ken-block-killed-in-tragic-snowmobile-crash/5P7ZLKJEFND55ECOIMU37V6PME/

Big cam idle.

Transporter arrived on time, no dramas. Current watercooler theory (as the car won't be touched until BM Workshop clear their current work) is that the Vanos high pressure line shat itself. If that is the case and the bottom end is open it will be bearing time as well.

Car is booked in for collection at 7am tomorrow by whoever AA / Autosure have chosen for this part of the world. At this point I'm more apprehensive about the transport than the repair. I should at least know if a glitterbomb went off in the sump by the end of tomorrow.

Agreed, thankfully mechanical warranty will help cover costs on this occasion.

Well someone had to say it. What did Santa bring you? I got an early present of Vanos error codes - with any luck Santa's little helpers haven't dumped a bunch of bearing shells in the sump, I'm such a positive person I don't waste time with anything other than the worst case scenario :D

Went for a drive this morning and the car pretty much confirmed my thoughts, P0022 error code "A camshaft position timing over retarded bank 2" etc. So great that I'm one step closer to getting rid of the noise now that codes are starting to appear it seems like a vanos solenoid is having issues. On the plus side it has a mean idle at the moment. Guess I will book it in with BM Workshop, merry Christmas car

Watched some kid and his brother in daddies new Ranger trying to Stevie Wonder their way around the Supercheap carpark this morning. Cameras and sensors on every corner, all the gear an no idea.

According to Aramex I now magically live in an RD zone so they have to offload everything to another courier driver. Same sh*te different name.

@aja540i How many kms did you get out of your current set of bushes before they wore out?

You know you want to...

10w60 supercar 25% off https://www.repco.co.nz/en/oils-fluids/engine-oils-fluids/engine-oil/castrol-edge-10w-60-engine-oil-5l-3412396/p/A1304624?kwSearch=10w-60

Cheers for the offer! Sadly nothing is ever straight forward when it comes to an S85 and after a few days of head scratching and running the car up on the hoist with and without the undertray the source of the noise is no closer to being obvious. On the plus side the A/C is now like having a snow blower on tap, so very happy with that result. Initially the noise was quite loud, to me it sounded like a rattling pump. As these things go the noise completely departed after driving to BM Workshop!! I spent half of Wednesday with the team trying to get it to make the noise, which it eventually did but in a very diminished way which was frustrating. The engine checked out fine other than the intermittent noise and the decision was made to monitor it and see how it progressed over the coming days / weeks, obviously the next morning at home it noise was back it all its glory.....FFS So I have gone through all the nightmare recordings of S85s rattling that I could find on youtube, 99% were completely different sounds other than two or three videos that were clearly the same noise. These were old videos also asking for help in identifying the noise, none had any useful answer - but one video provided some comfort in the owner stating that while they never found the source of the noise they owned the car for many years after posting the video and they had no catastrophic failure as a result of what ever was causing the sound. Right now I think I have narrowed it down to one or more failing vanos solenoids on the drivers head. Having watched a few videos of the solenoids out the car being shaken it is a very distinct noise, and I think one of the reasons it was not easy to pick up is that the undertray is designed to channel air and sound to exit at the rear and side of the engine bay - leading us to that area. I have a stethoscope that I will try out on the solenoids when it starts to make the rattle again and try to confirm my theory. Next time it happens I will grab a video. I thought I had asked for a vanos test, not sure that ever happened in the end. I will be over the moon if it is just the solenoids, which can make a range of noises depending on how they are failing from what I have seen. Certainly some of the hallmarks of failing solenoids ring true, lumpy throttle just off idle, the phantom noise and a lack of low end torque. But I like numbers and without a side by side comparison with a perfect engine to compare it with I could just be imagining things. I was going to use ISTA to do a vanos test, but remembered that I either have the wrong cable or have not done the install correctly as I can do most things but don't have the ability to perform those tests. Right now I have the classic mad rush to Christmas, so probably won't try and experiment with reinstalling ISTA and will just aim for a video and head back to the workshop with a better example of what is going on.

Thought I may as well put together a long ish term thread on the wagon, if nothing else it tracks the consumables. I'll start with the current state of affairs and fill in the past 18 months in the coming days. At present the M5 is having a holiday at BM Workshop, it went in to get the AC serviced and because I had noticed a noise over the past few days coming from the drivers front. So far the diagnosis is a cracked header, but in the rabbits nest of pipes they haven't been able to confirm it visually yet. So after a smoke test on Monday I should know more. Looking online cracked headers don't seem to be a common issue on the s85. In a perfect world now would be the time to go to a set of Infinity headers, but I suspect that would void my warranty.

Near miss by some idiot it an E60, just insane. https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/130623517/police-call-for-information-after-near-miss-captured-on-camera

Climate "activists" flour bombing the Andy Warhol M1 in Italy. Activists dump Andy Warhol car in flour in latest climate protest - National | Globalnews.ca

Waiting for my daughter outside her primary school and an absolute idiot in his 30's on a Yamaha dirt bike, no helmet, gumboots, jeans and a hoody put it on the back wheel and nearly mowed down a bunch of kids while riding down the road, then over the grass - rinse and repeat. Then out of the blue he stopped in the middle of the road and had a long enough conversation with someone he clearly knew for me to get my phone out and capture in glorious 4k him doing the same thing back up the road. If it weren't for the fact that I have a car/plate/driver clear as day in the video and wonderful facials of this muppet coming by I wouldn't bother with trying to give this to the local cops in person. Only problem with that is that thanks to budget cuts they are closed until Monday. The wild west is getting wilder.

Agreed, lost some very expensive items recently and when they did turn up they were unusable.

@jon dee I'm very impressed with your commitment, but I was sold the idea that telcos were super easy to deal with 😁

Watched that this morning waiting for AU staff to come online, sexy AF car, great history, terrifying first start noises!

Waiting for some end buyer reviews, but if this is an good as the rest of the Infinity design gear then it will be something worth saving towards. A Euroconnex product overview here - it's still very new and Infinity have never been that great at marketing so hopefully as these get into the marketplace some actual reviews come to the surface.

34 minutes before an answer, it's great being a priority customer. Don't quite know what is being prioritised other than my blood pressure.

Sitting on hold to the bank, the choice of hold music is NZ music or easy listening - where is the NO music option. Who thinks that a hugely compressed distorted rendition of some sponsored band being played out of a phone speaker is some how going to lower my blood pressure while I wait ? Banks are so out of touch with reality. I'm posting this after 10 minutes of waiting because they are "experiencing higher than normal volumes of being useless".

Heart is still racing after nearly getting gently touched by some old bird in a Skyline. I was waiting outside the local supermarket and noticed a really long queue of traffic behind a old r33 four door that was limping up the road with granny peering out from behind the wheel. Next minute she aims for the park in front of me and just starts the world's slowest turn into the spot which was directly through the front quarter of the M5, while the parking sensors started to go I rapidly grabbed reverse and left some black lines to get out of her way as she continued on and mounted the kerb. FFS! Had I been a minute longer in the shop this would be a different headline about ancient hag seen flying through air into path of oncoming traffic, local man praised as hero for removing menace from the road.