Eagle

Tried a couple more diff's since the last post but results were similar to the above. Im current running a 3.15 ratio from a 325i which provides a little more pep with no real noticeable downsides (unless you care about 0-100 times as it taps out at around 98kph in 2nd gear). I think ill end up taking it to KBM at some point and get him to check it out, decide whats in the best condition and maybe swap the helical over if it checks out. 

I had a weird surge at low rpm when the engine was cold so decided to check the fuel system first. I discovered it was loosing pressure fairly quickly after shutdown(10mins it would be at 20psi) so decided to replace it with another VDO unit(after checking the fpr and injectors). Pressure now holds ~47 psi for at least 15mins and surge is gone too. Unfortunately the pump is much louder than the original VDO one, you can hear it whining as you step out of the vehicle or have the idle down at idle. Guess ill have to live with it for the time being and monitor it. 

Decided to try the CMP solid steering coupler. I hate the look of chrome plated bolts and nylock nuts and like OE look so OE bolts and new locknuts instead (did need a little extra filling to fit). Painted it in high temp silver paint to match. I had to disassemble it because i forgot to mark it and the BMW parts diagram showed the wrong clocking of the 2 halves. Wasnt expecting a massive improvement given i had new OE unit but its certainly reduced the vagueness and it feels much more like my E36 now. I did strip, clean and re-grease the steering rack too but upset the pinion seal in the process and created a leak. Ive ordered a used unit LPSR in Australia this time. They double the price($600) but at least they are inspected and tested, much better than wasting my time\money traveling around gambling. Ordered a seal kit from them too so i can repair my old for backup.

Sump gasket started leaking more than i like that was changed out. Sump had no sludge as expected and just typical carbon staining. Was going to check the oil pump and nut but ran out of time, my poor man engine support was taking up lots of floor area making it hard to move around. Its a very rare failure for a normal car as far as im concerned.

With all this cold foggy weather about i decided to try a DMSO engine flush based on a E46 fanatic thread - here. Can't say i remember reading about DMSO flushes but its supposedly a common procedure Russian etc. Ive never really accurately monitored my oil consumption, but it does use some when you are on the Waikato autobahn with higher rpm and vacuum conditions. I didnt notice the oil carboned up\got dirty very quickly when i did an oil change awhile back. I know the vehicles history and have had the valve cover and sump off so no real sludge to worry about. Id say most used M54 engines could benefit from this treatment if nothing more than a preventive measure in helping oil rings out.  

Lots of variations of this procedure but I did it slightly different due to time constraints and circumstances. I used 20W-50 because it was the cheapest i could get, but i agree with another poster that DMSO doesn't noticeably thin the oil so any cheap 10W-40 or 15W-40 is likely fine. Its hard to avoid inhaling some of the nasty vapors when draining oil on the ground especially the first drain, you could probably use a respirator if you were concerned.  Fans coming off and on at various stages but coolant temp never went over 95 degrees. Having a refreshed cooling system is piece of mind and doing it in winter helps, i just periodically checked on it every 10mins. 

My Engine was already filled with fairly fresh oil and filter after sump gasket so wasn't going to waste it. It was quite darkened given id only done about 10km on it. 

• Drove car for ~15mins to warm up oil. Drained ~1L of oil and mixed with 400ml to DMSO and re-added to oil
• Idled for 50mins. Drained oil and replaced filter. Re-fill with 6.5L 20W-50.
• Idled for another 50mins. Increased revs to 1500rpm for a couple of mins every 10mins.
• Drained oil and replaced filter. Filled with 5W-40 and idled car for 5mins.
• The following day drove 20mins on the highway mostly in the 2.5-3k rpm range. Drained oil and replaced filter. Filled with 5W-40
• Drove same route as above with a some town driving, approx 20km. Inspected oil and filter (Minor carbon particles present in both) 

Light wouldn't penetrate the first jar it was so black with carbon. Filter is black with dissolved carbon and moderate carbon particles.

The second had much better looking oil with the filter being less black and noticeably less particles.

3
3rd and 4th were much the same with pretty clean oil and filter with some minor carbon particles still being caught

Oil now looks like new and i expect it to stay much cleaner with the filter catching the bulk of the remainder particles. No leaks and will monitor consumption from now on to get an idea. I'll do the second stage cylinder clean at next oil change - here 

Not uncommon with random aftermarket wheels so they are right to a degree, all different designs and measurements so unless you have them its hard without fitting to know whats going to work. You'd want to know wheel width, diameter and offset before try anything. If its hitting on the caliper due to the wheel being too small\odd barrel profile or an offset\backspacing issue bring it too close is going to help you identify the issue.   

BMW wheels have accurate offset measurements and all similar design profiles, basically standardized for the brand. Very unlikely it would be an issue in a standard vehicle using offsets and width in the allowable range. 

Had 3 come into work within 1 month with a failed injector.

Appears to be but did have misfire and codes before the new plugs? No wiring disturbed? I probably would of done compression check while the plugs are out

I swear all Tesla drivers ive come across cant drive for sh*t in every aspect of operating a vehicle. Maybe its Hamilton thing but i somehow doubt it.

35 minutes ago, Driftit said:

They state this process takes 3 business days.  DHL told me it has been taking them a lot longer.

Added 3 or 4 days to delivery when i did mine a few years ago so probably about right.

14 hours ago, Palazzo said:

No room either way. Full disclosure, it’s a rowing machine. Tried vice grips. Think the best way is to cut a slot in like Neil suggested. Where do you buy a multi tool?

If you can cut a slot in it then you should be able to cut it most of the head off easy with the right tool. A dremel type tool or die grinder would work best using carbide bits but a cutting disc can work to grind down small stuff. 

If vice grips cant hold it then id just cut the nut off

Looks higher than my E36 with Eibachs. They did lower mine more than i expected compared to the same ones on the 330ci

I think id try another place. The inspector cant see what the previous inspector actually failed on if they check, just what category it was.

15 hours ago, balancerider said:

I really don’t think there is a better immediate metric for ‘how well has this car been looked after

I'm sure someone has in the past, but you know how the average car dealer rolls when spending money.

4 hours ago, Palazzo said:

Headway tyres

Never heard of them until today. All the other parts they have replaced are likely the cheapest they could find going by those.

2 hours ago, MD13 said:

Does mean I will need to sell the e39 though...

I'll buy it it's cheap enough 

1 hour ago, Karter16 said:

 Bry5on

Full on build. Yeah my E46 does have a slight on center numbness to it even with all new bits. Im not sure why they used a rubber disc when most other BMW didnt have one, my E39 had better on center precision. With all this talk I may have to try i think before my upcoming alignment. I had a look at this steering column bush because i replaced my entire assembly with low k M3 one (play in upper bush which isnt practically replaceable from what i could tell). I dont recognize the updated black part that he has replaced though. He did the shaft at the same time though so im sure that was most of it.

I also noticed he switched back to rubber RTAB's and is using poly subframe bushings. I do agree with him on them being harsh over sharp edges and for a daily wagon it make more sense if roads are also poor. Handling benefits though i rate them at the top for the money.

1 hour ago, Karter16 said:

Xtrons

What the navigation like?. Probably not an issue now but some of the older android units seem to take ages to connect to satellites.

Do you have OE reverse sensors and\or camera setup on it? 

14 hours ago, Harper said:

Next up is getting it WOF'd, we'll see if it passes without a cert. 

Are you planning to go to a certain place? 

7 hours ago, Danch said:

I saw this listing you may be interested in: BMW E46 Compact AC Schnitzer Exhaust https://www.trademe.co.nz/4739981637

Single inlet probably not worth the hassle

Yeah im guessing the cost is in the u-joints + RHD tax. Luckily they seem fairly reliable.

2 hours ago, Karter16 said:

The rubber was not broken or degraded in any way, but was soft, so the solid coupler has made a massive difference

Unlikely to happen but it would be interesting to do a back to back comparison between new rubber and solid. I put a whole new joint in mine due to milage, and as you say the old rubber was much softer than fresh one. Mounting hardware is a bit tacky for a BMW imo. 

Final Touch Hamilton - Never used them personally but i know a few people over the years who have had work done, only positive things to say .

Appears to have done a bit of a refresh on it which far ahead than what most re-selllers do.

8 hours ago, Harper said:

Agree. Jealous of the green coupe my dad's been tinkering on. Not fast but plenty of fun to drive, cheap on gas, would be a great first car.

I must say though, getting into an E36 feels like a pretty old car these days even compared to an E46 which feels a lot more modern and safe inside. 

Yeah safety im sure E46 is way ahead. E36 is more old BMW ethos for sure, but has plenty of advantages over the E46 while still having comparable handling and power.   

48 minutes ago, gjm said:

Get an E46 with the M43 engine.

Kinda the opposite issue, way to slow\heavy imo. Parents manual one struggled to keep up with traffic and my auto was even worse with failed DISA diaphragms. E36 318is would be ideal you got 10k to drop and didnt want a 1.9 Z3 or 318ti.

No msport suspension but LSD optioned. 

19 hours ago, Danch said:

Thanks guys, my car's only done 130k so I'm guessing the flywheel is in reasonable condition. However, it looks like there is no stock of 130i DMF in NZ so I think I might just order it, just in case DMF happens to be worn. If the flywheel is in good condition, I will just put the flywheel up for sale. 

Put in a single mass in and you wont have to worry about it.

10 hours ago, Harper said:

Yeah I think it's fairly characteristic of most DMF bmws. My M3 still does it even after replacing the DMF. Interestingly my 330 compact doesn't though. 

Mine started becoming noticeable in the cabin when i put M3 flywheel\clutch in, before that you didnt hear anything unless you were underneath the car.  

Sounds like a faulty cluster to me or the temperature sender side of the coolant sensor is playing up in turn causing the gauge to act abnormal. Sensor is easy to test by checking the resistance with multimeter at various temperatures,  but otherwise as above with a scan tool or use a infrared thermostat to take readings around the coolant sensor. Id also scan the whole car for any fault codes at the same time.

Never overheating a BMW while looking at it so im not sure, but i would expect it to read the temperature regardless. Sounds like some sort of electrical fault with cluster, maybe the sensor itself or something else.

If you have access to any scan tool with live data you should be able see if its reading properly on that. If it is then probably a cluster fault im guessing.

EDIT: Im assuming you have bled the system?

1 hour ago, Danch said:

To all manual 130i owners: do you hear a slight rattle for 1 second when you turn off the engine? Just like when you try to take off in first gear with not enough throttle? I have spoken to a few mechanics and some people say it's a sign of dual mass flywheel failing but some are saying it's normal? 

If it goes away when you put the clutch in while turning off the car i wouldnt worry about it, most vehicles with a dual mass flywheel have it to varying degrees. You would experience much worse symptoms in the unlikely event the dual mass really starts to fail before a clutch replacement.

8 hours ago, Vass said:

@Eagle😏

Haha yeah ive seen it. Would be fun but too much powerful for this country i think. A normal C55 for 1\4 of the price is plenty powerful for me. Just saw a C32 on facebook go for ~6k, you get decent power out of them with mods.