topless

Don't forget to do a rear anti-roll bar... :bounce: (I am assuming your 318 doesn't have one..)

As Graeme says, the mechanic is doing you a favour buy wanting to crack test the head. They do give problems in this area if overheated. They also tend to warp slightly and I have not done a head one one of these motors without giving it a light skim, Head bolts sometimes are torx bolts, you will need the tool to fit them properly. Also, replacing head bolts after an overheat is a good idea. If the gasket has an obvious blow point, you could take the chance and replace the head without leak testing it (but carefully examine it BOTH sides of the head first for any signs of cracks) but don't replace it without a skim. Thermostat is cheap money and may well have contributed or caused the problem in the first place. Overheating damages them.... REPLACE the thermostat.... Corrosion is another thing common if antifreeze has not been used. Carefull check this as it is not always obvious. If you get to the point of doing the job yourself I will post the settings but will need to know what bolts the head ones are as there are different methods for doing up different bolts. IMO, leave this job to an experienced person...

right, brother dear has read all the remarks about auto and it seems there is a change of heart... has found this manual 5 series on TM... any comments as I don't know these cars at all, motor is the M20?? 520

i have an auto box on the back of a M10 motor, not sure if it would suit your car, but you can have it for beer money if you need/can use it. I was going to bin it and keep the motor for a trial M10 turbo job as per Graeme's post the other day. Is still in the car and can be driven. You would need to organise transport though, Paeroa is useless in that department. :puke:

Jazz, I'm sure I'm older than you but will not consider myself ancient until I have to bang my gums together to eat..!!!!

Thanks for the input guys, car needs to be an auto as she-who-needs-to-be-obeyed-at-all-costs doesn't want manual... Also doesn't want huge fuel consumption, current is around the 17/100 in their MPV, being one of the main reasons for getting rid of it. Can't win them all.

The best method to check for a blown head gasket or cracked head is to use either a leak tester or alternatively a compression tester. Either will definitely let you know if you have a problem from the readings. If you don't have access to either, the following will help determine what sort of problem you have. Pull your spark plugs out. If the gasket is blown into the combustion chamber, the offending cylinder/s spark plugs will be clean with the ceramic nice and white and possibly still have water on them. The others will be a normal type of browny colour. If the gasket is blown into the sump area, the filler cap will have a milky mess inside when you remove it. Another way, if you have access to a exhaust analyser and suspect that the water jacket is leaking into the combustion chambers, is to stick the exhaust probe just inside the water bottle filler neck (above the water level). If the gasket is blown into the water jacket, you will measure traces of CO in the cooling system. Just remember that the M20 motor can develop air locks in the cooling system. If for some reason you lose water, you need to bleed it to remove air. A faulty thermostat jamming closed can cause the engine to overheat and pump water out. Just topping it up will often not solve the problem.

My brother is thinking of buying an E34 in either 525 or 535, must be auto, is for his wife. Anybody out there owned one and can give me an idea of fuel consumption around town? That is where it will do 99% of its mileage. His investigations indicate that the fuel consumption for the 535 will be considerably higher than the 525 in town driving, around 17-18 litres/100kms for the 535 and about 14 litres/100km for the 525. My earlier versions of 535 I owned all were much lighter than this but my cars were all manual. I would have expected them to have similar consumptions, with the 535 maybe even lighter than the 525, but with a human driving, not me...

wooops!!! senility takes over... :drugs:

PM bmwsparkle.. she had a set of metric rims with good tyres for sale a short while ago.

I would go for the pre f/l with the M10 (chain driven cam) motor, it is a far better motor than the later cambelt driven M40 motor. (these motors had a nasty habit of breaking cambelts). I have owned a few 318's (wife driven, too slow for me..) and found the car economical and actuall handles well because the motor is light compared to the M20 motor. As with any e30, rust can be an issue so best looked over by someone who is familiar with the e30 rust spots. I'm sure that there are any number of us up here in the Akl region who could look over any car she is interested in.

:thumb:

Man, I nearly choked on my beer... picture flashed through my mind of gus and Andy with matching G-strings..... :drugs:

Had to vote for Zinnober, just realised my cab is Zinnoberrot so has to be the same colour..?? can't not like my colour, can I? But I agree with... as second choice (but probably first..) after all, isn't Henna just a darker shade of pink?

I have just turned into a little green man.... :bowdown: :bowdown:

Grant, just a little off-topic here, but it has to do with your statement about teacher-parents and spelling phobia... just thought you (and others) might appreciate this...

If you talk about actual failures that caused me to get stuck at the side of the road (not general wear and tear like brake pads, cambelts etc), then I have only had a fuel pump fail in one of my 535's and a water pump in one of my e30's. I have owned more bm's than I care to think about and have found them extremely tough and reliable, able to take a lot of abuse, as long as you looked after the servicing side. The biggest costs I have had are directly related to hooning... have owned at least a dozen bm's with lsd and had to replace many, many clutches in the lsd's from doing huge smoking donuts... never mind the tyres....but I have grown up now...

definitely a sign of old fartedness.... ask me.. But I agree with most of what has been said above, I think leave it as it is. The odd person that gets out of hand here definitely gets shut down very quickly, often with very amusing reading, better than any soap.....

Ok, hope these pics help a bit further. The advance can be taken to the point on Andrew's pic or to the point on the throttle body. The retard goes to the other point on the throttle body.

there should be 2 pipes coming from the advance/retard mechanism on the dizzy, one controlling advance and the other the retard. Best I can describe it is the pipe that comes off the outer part of the vacuum unit (facing away from the dizzy) goes to the lhs of the throttle body to a small takeoff pipe to the side/under it. The pipe off the vacuum unit (that faces the dizzy) goes to the other side of the throttle body (rhs) to a similar small pipe takeoff. There are variations to this but this is the one I use most often. If this does not make sense I will try to get some pics up to better explain.

but that goes unsaid !!!

Nice!! :thumb: But agree with Gus...e30s rock your face!

can I add all my bm's k's together????

no problem, just PM me your postal address and i'll copy and send when I get it... free :bounce:

2 manual, 3 auto... 2 in bits.