Spinner99

First of all - I'm not a mechanic, but it looks good to me!

I've done the valve stem seals in my E61 550 and the alternator bracket but not the coolant transfer pipe. If you end up wanting to do that work yourself I'm in the 04 and have a Valve Stem Seal tool kit similar to the AGA one I'd consider renting out. I think the worst part of doing the alternator bracket was actually getting the alternator itself out and in again If you need a hand with either I don't mind popping over for a couple of hours on the weekend either.

I didn't get around to it last weekend but I checked all the bolts on the valve cover today. I found the two 10mm hex ones I could get to to be nice and solid. It seemed like too much work to remove the valvetronic motor to check the middle one so I'm just going to assume that ones good too. I found all the outer bolts to be loose and tightened them all up. Unfortunately Murphy paid me a visit and one bolt snapped on me , however the old gods and the new gods must have been visiting also as it somehow hadn't snapped through completely and i managed to just back it out in one piece! It was a lower bolt by the exhaust so I've "borrowed" one from the upper (intake) side which is less likely to leak everywhere until I can get a new set of bolts in it.

Dear Santa I've been a good boy this year and I'd really like a Quickjack for Christmas... I did some measurements on the E61 and the distance between the jackpads is too much for a 5000TL I think The 5000TL has a maximum lift point spread of 152cm but I measured the E61 at 163 CM from the forward point of the front jackpad to the rear point of the rear jackpad. I might put a caveat that Spinner Jr was at the other end complaining he couldn't find the jackpad so maybe the measurements are off so I might just double check them just in case. Anyway - the 5000TLX looks like the model I really want for reaching the jackpads plus lift height, but it doesn't look like Costco sell that one The other option is to get the extensions for the 5000TL which would make it the same length as the 5000TLX, but the extensions are $427 USD on quickjacks US site, I'm not sure we can get them here either? And even if we can they make the base unit on the ground taller and ground clearance may become an issue. I think it comes up to 76mm 90mm ish.

Haha I've always thought RTV was cheating, but if it works why not i guess? I don't know why but I've always thought the metal valve cover gasket was a bit strange, I think I've always thought those kind of gaskets should be rubber not metal. I guess you could say the same about the sump gasket too though. Did you put the RTV on both side of the gasket? e.g. bottom to top = head -> RTV -> valve cover gasket -> RTV -> valve cover ? I'm asking as it looks to me like it's leaking between the gasket and the cover, but that could just be deceptive as it's a lot harder to tell if it's also leaking from between the gasket and the head. Thank you

That is a great question and something I hadn't thought of! I have to admit I've only looked at the bolts on the lower side of the valve cover because that's where the oil leak is showing. I'll do a full check on the weekend and let you know what I find. Thank you.

Hello Surprise, I have an oil leak. This is regarding my 2006 130i with the N52 with the metal valve cover and aluminium bolts I was chasing down a burning smell on the weekend and found my valve cover gasket is leaking. I discovered it leaking a few months ago and at the time thought some of the valve cover bolts were loose and I re torqued them thinking silly me I forgot to do the +90 degrees on one or two, so I was a little surprised to see the oil leak and discover the bolts were loose again. For the record I originally replaced the valve cover gasket about 10k & 2.5 years ago so I feel like it's still newish. When I checked the bolts on the weekend using the torque wrench I found most of them to be at 7Nm (the torque spec is 7Nm + 90 degrees which seems to be around 10Nm). I’ve done a google and either my googling skills suck or this isn’t a common issue so I’m looking for some thoughts on whether I’m on the right track? Torquing the aluminium bolts again gives me the heebies (single use n all) so I’m wondering if my best course of action is to get a new set of bolts and maybe use some blue Loctite this time? I’ve had a read up of blue Loctite vs red and red sounds like it’s a bit too much? I’m seeing things like the need to use a blowtorch to break the bond on red Loctite if I ever want to get the valve cover off again 😊 I’m also wondering about if I need to replace the valve cover gasket too? I don’t think I need to replace the gasket as I’m thinking its just a lack of clamping that’s causing the leak and in theory the gasket should be fine? It’s a metal gasket rather than a rubber one. Any thoughts appreciated before I get stuck in to it. Thanks

An update from me - the initialisation of the light & rain sensor made my auto wipers much better thank you @M3AN ! I gave them a test on Saturday when it was lightly raining in the 04 and they were much more responsive to moisture on the windscreen. In the past I've had to bump the wipe stick down to get the car to wipe the windscreen sometimes as it's taking far too long, but on Saturday it was Johnny on the spot. I *think* the auto headlights are working better (not on as much during the day) - but I might take a bit more convincing. I noticed that after adding those options to the BC menu they also appear in the iDrive in the "Light" menu (the same one with the triple turn signal setting and the home lights setting). Its called "Auto Light Control" and the options are "Slow, Normal and Sensitive" which isn't quite what I expected and I've wondered if this setting is more about how quickly the lights turn on/off when transitioning from lighter to darker places rather than the lux level required to turn the lights on or off? e.g. maybe if the lux gets below xxx it waits a few seconds longer on "Slow" than "Normal" before turning the lights on? Today I was sitting in traffic about 3:45pm and the lights were on. They had been off for most of my drive. It was overcast but not raining and not what I would consider anywhere near dusk. I changed the setting to "Slow" while waiting for the traffic lights to change but the headlights didn't turn off, but did a few minutes later. Will see how it goes.

Yeah that's it! it wasn't quite the 15 -25 degrees outside it wanted but hopefully it was close enough

Thank you! I had a play today and did the rain/light sensor initialisation procedure in "Service Functions" - was that what you were thinking of? I should have googled before I asked (my bad) but I also found this page https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=571480 so I've enabled the options in the BC menu to adjust the auto headlight sensitivity but I haven't changed it. It's currently set on 2/3 so I'll turn that down if I find the initialisation hasn't done the trick. Cheers Jon

Hello Does anyone know if it's possible to adjust, re callibrate or whatever the automatic headlight system? It's for my 2006 130i, I feel like the lights come on way too early in the day when in auto mode. e.g. today about 3pm I was driving in the sun and they were off, but once I got into a shadow a hill had created they came on. I've taken a quick look in INPA and I can see the light meter changes it's reading if i stick something over it (paper, hand etc) but I don't really know what spec would be or how to test it more accurately. TIA

I got an email about this this morning. https://www.pelicanparts.com/support/lifetime-replacement-parts.htm It looks like they might be looking to try and close the gap with FCP? I think the return postage would still be prohibitive for us but it's nice they're trying

One year on and I'm dragging this thread up again. The car is running mint and I couldn't be happier that I did the valve stem seals last year. I've just done my annual oil change, the previous one was done just prior to the VSS job. I clocked up 4000k in the year prior to doing the VSS's and off the top of my head I think I had to put somewhere in the 750ml-1000ml range of oil in to keep it topped up over that year. Unfortunately I didn't keep records of those top ups and I'm regretting that now, but I did regularly see the oil level on the i-drive sitting below full. This year I've done 3800km in the car, and I've put exactly 0ml of oil in over that time. It's always been sitting on full on the idrive oil level indicator right to to today when I did the oil change. At my previous warrant it barely passed with comments about the smoke, I think the inspector possibly felt sorry for me. This year, not a mention of any smoke! I'm super stoked there's no more oil consumption, and I no longer have a feeling of dread when the lights turn red and I sit there idling, no more thinking "how big will the cloud behind me be?

Hello I'm looking for a MULF 2 High Basis SVS module so i can add USB to my car. I'm wondering if anyone has one they want to sell? Bonus points if it comes with the blue pigtail It looks like there's lots of revisions over time, these are the possible part numbers that will work with my car (from realoem). 84109229740 (03/01/2010 -) 84109224674 84109223190 84109207360 84109200822 84109187625 84109181391 84109178898 84109172420 84109163229 84109147519 84109149843 The blue pig tail I'm after is 6920072

I managed to order another set of the same hoses I already have so now have a spare set. BMW Part Number = 34306792253 Brand = ATE After my stuff up I'd double check the numbers yourself, but I think they're #11 in this diagram (I meant to order 7). https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=UF92-EUR-06-2006-E87-BMW-130i&diagId=34_1402 . it looks like they fit lots of other models too. $65 for Bimmersport members - that's what they cost me excluding shipping.

fcp parcel arrived today!!! A couple of things I've learned over the last few days 1. FCP will only use UPS now (well that's what they told me anyway) 2. UPS have a contract with Aramex to deliver their stuff in NZ (according to the person I spoke to at UPS). I won't say never, but I think I'll probably go back to Pelican, it's a bit more expensive but they currently let you choose from DHL, FedEx or USPS.

100%, complaint is already underway. I'll never use UPS again. Parcel update, it scanned as arriving in the Aramex Wellington depot this morning, so that took 7 days to get from Auckland to Wellington Do you think I could go down there and pick it up? I've got a mental image of them having such a backlog they wouldn't even be able to find it if I asked them to. By contrast, a package I thought was coming from a NZ company came out of China using DHL. It was picked up on 2 December in China and delivered to my door today. Very happy with that!

Hi There Nah it got put into the too hard basket pretty quickly. I've just wrapped it in some foam wrap and left it in the head liner and forgotten about it Yeah still Japanese maps in my cars too so no idea if changing it would fix that either. Good luck!

Yep it's a VICS Antenna. I went through the same thing as you a while ago...

FCP care package, took 5 days to get from New York to Auckland, who do the genius's at UPS in Auckland decide to give it to to make the last 600km to Wellington? Aramex.

Germany's looking good

Just throwing this one out there in case there's a remote chance it may help. short summary = diesel crank no start with a dodgy sounding crank, relative compression test showed 1 cylinder needing more power from the starter, problem was a stuck open injector flooding and hydrolocking one cylinder.

^^This. Flat/bad batteries can cause all kinds of crazy things to happen that you wouldn't think would be battery related. Hopefully its just that. Did you purchase from a dealer? If so you're covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act and can ask for them to resolve the issue for you and should not replace any parts but just contact them instead. If you purchased privately read on. If it's not the battery maybe a starting point is to google "JBE" or "Junction Box Electronic" symptoms and see if the symptoms of a bad JBE line up with the symptoms you're experiencing or not. I'd also suggest picking one problem that's on the easier side to diagnose and figuring it out. e.g. if you can get to the windscreen wipers and switches for them etc that's probably a lot easier than trying to get to the gearbox wiring. As it happens I have a couple of spare batteries lying around I was about to put up for sale, so if you don't have access to a known good spare I'm happy to let you try one of mine as a test and see if it sorts the issue for you. PM me if you're interested.

Feel free to start a thread with your trouble codes. Do you know what scanner were they using? I don't know but I do see on other forums people suggesting some scanners don't read all specific BMW codes. I'm still happy to plug mine into your car if you want a second opinion.

Bugger. I have a code reader if you need a hand to see if there are any fault codes that might indicate what the issue is. Send me a PM if you want a hand.