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Crazy Dave

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Posts posted by Crazy Dave

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Steve, Welcome to the group. I read your post on the radio but it would seem that you reside in Wellington so not easy for me to recode it for you. Not sure who in Wellington can do that.

    Good luck with what looks like a great car.

    Hi all, purchased a 2002 735i E65 this week and drove it back from Auckland to Wellington. I am a previous owner of a 528i E39 so have had an appreciation for Bavaria for some time now and this new one is the end result of me telling my company where to shove the SV6 Commodore they wanted me to drive and asking for a car allowance instead.

    Everything I read prior to purchase tells me that this car is probably going to test me in terms of patience and finances, but that I will also enjoy every minute I spend driving it - and after all - isn't that the only thing that matters!?

    First impressions are really good - I love the power the V8 delivers as soon as asked and the comfort the E65 offers. An absolute joy to drive.

    No doubt as time goes on I'll be looking for advice from those of you who are mechanically minded or experienced across a range of issues and will also look to contribute as things happen or I gain experience.

    Cheers and thanks for having me - Steve.

    Posted Image

  4. Posted · Report reply

    So when is there power on the washer heaters? What switches them on? Now that it is winter here in Christchurch, I would be interested to know?

    The original tubing does get brittle, but I found that clear plastic tubing from the Mitre10 garden section, with the ends heated in boiling water fits really well.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Hi all,

    The outer plastic cover on my left hand side wing mirror popped off and shattered 😞 so I'm after a new one. The wing mirror is fine so I don't really want a whole one if possible, silver would be ideal.

    Please let me know if you have one for sale.

    Thanks

    Q

    If you end up having to acquire the whole mirror, mine is starting to de laminate and so I am just after the glass.

    However I need one with the electrical dimming and heating connectors.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Is this a good option for people that dont care for the auto levelling and just want the lights to stay fixed? Or will they keep going out of adjustment, like usual?

    Well it did NOT seem like a good idea at the time.

    Initially in the morning the beams would be pointing up in the tree tops and the next they would be pointing 2 metres in front of the car.

    Identified the broken adjusters as the problem and when you grab the back of the lamp units they wobble up and down.

    I thought that if I disconnected the leveling motors then the lamps would still move around when ever I went over a bump and the beams would be all over the place.

    However they seem very stable and it has gone through 3 warrants now with no issues.

    The downside is that it is giving me no incentive to get on and fix them.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Hey Guys,

    My headlight adjusters on my 2002 E39 530i are broken which is stopping me from passing a warrant.

    Does anyone have any fixes or know anywhere I can take my car to get this sorted?

    Had a look on youtube and the fixes are mostly for US E39's which are a little different to mine so not sure if those fixes will apply to my car.

    Any help is appreciated :-)

    Mine have been broken for a while - never got around to buying the crappy little replacement plastic rods that break.

    I just disconnected the headlight leveling motors, set the beams up and it passes a warrant every time. (I don't drive at night much)

    I did take one lamp unit out once and tried to separate the lens from the rest of the lamp. Gave up in the end and went away to think about it. ..................... Am still thinking about it.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Hi All

    I was just about to add the speed camera database to a recent map disc, but as another forum member pointed out, my database is quite old with some of the cameras no longer in the reported positions.

    Anyone know of a recent reliable database?

    The AA website seems to have a reasonable list but I need it in a CSV or some sort of downloadable file.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Something I have is one of these

    http://www.carcameradirect.com/?no1selling-carcam

    My one has front and rear facing cameras and records while the the car electronics are awake, however in light of events like this I might just wire it permanently on. It records to SD card in HD and overwrites the oldest recordings.

    An example of it use is here when someone went through a stop sign in front of me

    http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=vb....5713&type=2

    Now with a big capacity SD card and wired permanently on you have a small chance of catching external events. Of course not much help if they break in and see the camera.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    I then ordered one of these Gadgets

    Car Kracker

    Apparently the Car Kracker can be used as a Music Interface in place of the CD changer too, but I have yet to get this to function. Also you can use it with Navcoder and also recode dash buttons etc.

    Hey Greg, Am interested in knowing how you get on with the Car Kracker. It seems that you take out the 6CD changer and put this unit in its place. It then (from a music point of view) allows you to play MP3s of an SD card or select an AUX audio Input when you select CD on the front panel. I see it wasn't designed to work with the 16:9 screen but just wondering how it works with it.

    I know your car is set up in a very similar way to mine - Bluetooth, Digital TV, reverse cam etc so I will be interested to hear about the audio side of this wee unit.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    I have one of these kits - Got it because the dye had worn where the seat belt rubs - seems to do a pretty good job. Must give the rest of the seats a good clean sometime.

    I happened to be passing through Timaru the other day and stopped at Subway for lunch and parked opposite Pelle. Would have gone in for a chat but it was Sunday

  15. Posted · Report reply

    Welcome, Wanna see pics of both cars

    I was working in Little Rock AR last week and shopping in Tractor Supply Company (for kiwis, thats a Mitre 10 Mega for the rural Agricultural sector) and got chatting with a girl who worked there who had a 328 (from memory). I told her about the wealth of info available on this forum so hopefully we might see her and a few other Americans on the forum in the future. What stuns me is the cheap price of BMWs in the US.

    Pity the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

    Hello all,

    I'm living in Bucks county, Pennsylvania not far from Philadelphia. We have a 2000 528I that we bought in 2004. I'm a bit of a car nut and do much of the car work myself. Sometimes it's fun and it's always nice to save money! The car is starting to require more serious repairs now so I hope we can share our experiences.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Andy,

    I may well have one of those at work but unfortunately I am on the plane tomorrow and out of country for 3 weeks. If you still have no luck and can wait until the end of the month, let me know and I will have a search.

    Cheers Dave

    Hi guys,

    I need to borrow a Torx 20 5 start screwdriver with tamper proof (a hole in the middle to the torx). I bought torx set today and only had 6 stars (very careless of me)

    I need to tighten up my MAF sensor so if there are any kind hearted soul in Christchurch who can borrow me one it would be great ;)

    Thanks

  18. Posted · Report reply

    I know my adjusters are broken however I have not got around to replacing them yet. (Really struggled to get the lens off when I tried)

    So at warrant time I unplugged the leveling motors and manually adjusted the beams to what I thought was correct. I took the E39 in and asked if I could check it on the beamsetter before they did the warrant. They agreed to this and they were a bit low so wound them up. The left one reached the end of the adjustment travel and was still very slightly low but the mechanic was OK with that.

    So now I just need to get a set of adjusters and tackle those lenses again.

    Now I assume the bayonet fit bung on the top of lamp with the little lever inside is to change the beams for driving on the left or right. Can someone confirm that or advise otherwise.

    Took the e39 in to get a warrant at Jeff Gray who said my lights were out of alignment so they kindly adjusted them for me (and kindly charged me for it). But now my low beams are almost pointing straight up!! Ok that might be exaggerating a little, but about 100m down the road in front of me it's hitting the tops of trees and the roofs of houses. I always hate those guys that have their low beams flashing up in my eyes so I hate to think that I might now be one of them... is this right?

    The funny thing is the warrant before this they pulled me up on the adjusters being broken so I fixed them and adjusted them to what I thought was about right (pointing down in front of the car as far as I could without it bouncing up when I hit a pothole) and took it back in for a recheck and it passed without them saying anything.

    I tried to get a photo but camera/skill sucks in low light.

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Gidday Tim,

    Ive just arrived back in country and am catching up on all the forum posts.

    I did the ULF fit to mine and have some notes on removing the Jap phone and fitting the ULF. Dont use it much but it pairs to my Blackberry fine. We should catch up again sometime and you can have a look at what I have done.

    Cheers Dave

    Apparently SMS 'might' work, the ULF apparently supports it, but it could just be certain handsets and the Bimmernav people have yet to see it work.

    From my emails with them:

    I'll do some playing around once I get it going.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    I've fixed my sealed lights. Both sides needed doing. Not a hard job, just annoyingly long. Didn't help that my oven was too small to fit the lights in, ended up using my flatmate's hair dryer haha. I'm happy to help you out Dave if you like. Also since you're an engineer, you might want to check this out. I didn't bother fabricating my own, just got a new set from BMParts. He had em in stock too.

    Thanks for the offer of help - Wouldn't a chat to just talk it through - I will PM you

    So I pulled the left hand lamp out this weekend. Stripped it down and into the oven for 10 minutes at 60 degrees. Then a reasonable amount of levering but could not get the lens to part with the main body. I did not want to break anything so I stuck it all back together to await a rethink.

    Hence the reason for a chat :-)

    I did disconnect the adjuster motor drive cables to stop the lamps being driven up and down

  21. Posted · Report reply

    Thank you for that thought it might have been a heating element for the window or like. Do they work on pressure/ resistance i.e hand jammed in between window frame and glass it apply's pressure to hand as it travels up and sensors picks up pressure tells window motor stop and reverse down.

    Stick your hand through the open window and then hit the one touch auto up for that window. (the door needs to be closed) The window should hit your arm and then go back down a little. (Disclaimer: dont blame me if you chop your arm off)

    I did not know the car had this feature until the dealer I bought the car off had to replace the wing mirror. When they put the door card back on the crossed the Tweeter and safety plugs (they both have the same type of plug) The tweeter would not work and the window would not auto up (coz it thought something was jammed in the window)

  22. Posted · Report reply

    Dave, connect to the vanity light supply - lamp above the sunvisor, this is switched, not delay though

    Hi Grant and others, FYI info I set up this unit today using the Vanity/Mirror light supply as suggested. While in there, I checked out some of the other wiring. Both the main interior light module and the Sun roof switch have 15 minute delay logic on them but they are not a power source, just a logic level. In theory a simple FET circuit off one of these logic levels should switch a 12VDC feed on and off.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Just got back in from working in Malaysia for the last fortnight, and bought a CarCam DVR. Nice wee unit that mounts on the windscreen and continuously records from 2 cameras (facing forward and rearward) to an SD card.

    Now rather than having a messy cable down to the cigarette lighter socket, I would rather find a 12 V source up in the rear view mirror, interior lamp area of my 2001 E39 to tap into. Preferably Ignition switched or even better still, operating on the 15 minute go to sleep power.

    I have always struggled with the WDS diagrams and will just have a poke around and see what I can find up there, but just thought someone might know.

    Cheers Dave

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