adro 1084 Report post Posted March 8 Stretched it’s legs over to the Wairarapa today. She really sings all the way to redline. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted March 9 230xxxkm New headunit Xtrons IA8246BLHS after consulting with @Karter16 I pulled the trigger on an Xtrons unit. I went for a lower spec as I only intend on running CarPlay and a reverse camera so not sure I need 8gigs of ram…but let’s see. Not sure what the difference is between the IA8246BLHS vs IA8246BLH but it was cheaper so I rolled with it. Landed in a few days and at the same time so did the HVAC relocation bracket from @Vass (along with a couple of other goodies, thanks!) Pretty sweet install, but a bit of a jungle of loom back there, have fabric wrapped the loose connectors for now but will be back into connect up reverse camera and route the USB’s through the Center console maybe. Also as Karter pointed out I need to file down the top of the bracket which is currently making it look a little squeezed. car came with an FM transmitter which worked ok but I found my self trying to change songs etc while I was driving which is naughty. Now I’m left with an adhesive circle which I fear will rip the gray painted dash off if I try remove it so might just leave it, the steering wheel hides it from the drives position anyway. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karter16 416 Report post Posted March 11 Looking good! Nice thing about that IA unit as well is that you get the icons on the buttons instead of text in a font that doesn’t quite match BMW’s!!! Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted March 13 (edited) after seeing the ‘no signal’ everytime I went into reverse I felt motivated to get this reverse camera in. Quite a bit more involved that I would have liked but overall just fiddly. Few learnings, even if the ad says it’s HD, if it’s going through an RCA you can guarantee its actually only going to be 720p. I got the number plate light and camera and it’s quite fiddly to put together, if I were to do it again I would opt for a camera that screws into the trim, and save mucking round tapping into the number plate lights. I had to do quite a bit of dremelling to get my camera to fit. my camera points down to much. I can live with it as I have a rear window to look out but I would like it tilted up a bit more. the cool thing was the RCA had a little positive pig tail on it which connected straight to the head unit so didn’t have to tap into the reverse lights. I did have to cut the RCA plug off though in order to feed it through the elephant trunk and then attach it again. I routed the USB‘s under the cup holders, it didn't really fit, but once the phone cable is attached it can pop out the coin bit quite nicely. I went through the elephant trunk and taped it to the existing loom running down the outside of the window, then in through the grommet at the bottom (tell me your car is a central Otago car without telling me it’s a central Otago car) a lot of gravel dust to clean up here. Once that was all working and made into a bit of loom with some soft tape I replaced the battery ground cable that I broke ages ago. still working on getting the splash screen working, at the moment the unit won’t recognise the files on my usb stick. Other than that, it’s working awesome. I suspect the encroachment on the number plate might be an issue at some point, I think the plate will just have to be lowered though. quick clean and jobs a goodin. Edited March 13 by adro 8 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted March 19 230,6xxkm oil+filter change with Penrite HP5 5W40. had a bit of an inspection underneath. All pretty good apart from these power steering line mounts are fully perished…bit odd but will get some new ones. car seems louder than I remember, wonder if I have an exhaust leak somewhere. Maybe an inspection when I get round to doing some rear end stuff. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karter16 416 Report post Posted March 19 38 minutes ago, adro said: All pretty good apart from these power steering line mounts are fully perished…bit odd but will get some new ones. Mine were the same when I replaced the power steering hose. My theory is that because those hoses always leak that the power steering fluid makes the rubber degrade. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted March 19 Ah yeah that makes sense. Quite expensive little bushings it turns out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vass 867 Report post Posted March 19 Yeah they bloody are. I had to dig through a few cars at Pick-A-Part to scavenge up a few decent ones. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1678 Report post Posted March 19 You could try urethane sealant to re-bond them eg Sikaflex, 3M products etc. Not that cheap either but maybe cheaper than the bushings?. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Harper 559 Report post Posted March 19 (edited) Both my E46s have the power steering lines cable tied together and have been for years. Who needs bushings. Edited March 19 by Harper 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted May 9 (edited) 231495km Few things ticked off the list this week. Power Steering pump replaced with a LUK second hand one. New sender hose, managed to snap the plastic clip on the radiator return hose trying to get the cable tie off the reservoir end, turns out the reservoir end was welded onto the reservoir anyway so will swap reservoir out for new one when this new hose arrives in a week. Interesting BMW wanted $850 for this hose.....$100 delivered via Spareto (1 week). Euro Italia were out of stock. I have made a ghetto fix in the meantime so i can keep using the car...hopefully it holds. Steering is feeling better but could also be placebo....nothing obviously wrong with the old pump which i have a receipt for in 2019 (3rd party no brand). Also replaced the little bushings that had perished that hold the hoses to the rack. 02 Pilot mod Nice and straight forward, didn't break any nipples....have just topped up the oil so will know after the next 2000km if its making any difference. O rings Not sure what this is called but I new i had left over Orings from the pcv overhaul when i first got the car and never new where they went until I saw Jon's post working on @Olafs car realised i had never taken this part off the intake. Most of the old O rings snapped trying to get them off. Expansion tank + Thermostat The one that really didn't want to come out was stamped 2013 so it had obviously been done at some point but still 10 years old so no harm in putting in a newer one. The thermostat below it also snapped in half but thanks to the internet i expected that and had a new one ready to go. I also RTV'd the thermostat housing while it had no coolant in it as it was dripping. It's an FCP one so if it keeps leaking ill do a warranty claim. I also got a cheap DA from super cheap a while back and did a first attempt at cut and polishing...Think I went a bit conservative on the cut, as it still has plenty of scratches but it did go quite shiney. Reverse camera is working out really awesome....esp when people park like this... My rear glass hatch keeps randomly opening. I've replaced the switch before so wondering if it's more likely to be in the loom somewhere. Still have soft brake lines and trailing arm bushings to do but that will have to wait for another time ( @Spinner99 do you still have the bushing tools?) Edited May 9 by adro Typos 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vass 867 Report post Posted May 9 Have read a few posts on here that it could be the switch on the glass itself being faulty/having water leaking into it. Worth checking out. Otherwise it's the dreaded harness repair job. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spinner99 55 Report post Posted May 10 On 5/9/2024 at 2:29 PM, adro said: Still have soft brake lines and trailing arm bushings to do but that will have to wait for another time ( @Spinner99 do you still have the bushing tools?) I certainty do, flick me a PM if you want to borrow them. Regarding the rear glass hatch, it randomly was opening on the E61 (same part as the E46). It was the switch, water had gotten in and it was just doing what it wanted. A new switch from the dealer (and orings etc) sorted it. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted May 17 231xxx Km return hose turned up crazy fast from Spareto. New return hose and reservoir installed. Replaced some rear end bushings. RTABS - Meyle HD Lower control arm to trailing arm bushing - Corteco Upper control arm to trailing arm ball joint - Meyle massive shoutout to @Spinner99 for helping me out in his drive way for what ended up to be quite a few hours last Saturday. will get an alignment next week. also I pulled fuse 58 for the rear hatch glass cause it started being super annoying. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted May 26 231,866km Wheel alignment by Dave Tunley. Rear right (the one i did by myself) was out by ALOT after doing the RTABS. Car is driving very nicely now. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted August 7 233,450 km Checked the oil level this morning after being close enough to 2000km since doing the 02 pilot mod and still had a full sump of oil which is pretty cool. Did a handbrake adjustment, probably could have just tightened the cable but took the wheels off and made sure the shoes were in the right place as it's the first one i've done on this car. Gave the inside of the wheels a clean while they were off but they went from being real dirty to still pretty dirty so didn't take a photo. Gave it a hose down and took a couple shots before kindy pick up. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1678 Report post Posted August 7 Cable rarely needs adjusting in my experience if its set correct to begin. The amount of people tighten the cable up(usually for a WOF) thinking their handbrake performance is adjusted is common. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted August 10 Well that didn’t last long. Chronic misfire on cold start yesterday triggering the cylinder cut. - Scanned. Cyl 3 misfire. Moved coil pack to cyl 1, was still misfiring but was too warm to log a code. - Swapped coil out for a spare. Thought this solved it but think it was just it had warmed up enough as this morning I had a cyl 1 spark duration too short error. - Smoke tested. No obvious leaks Will try again tomorrow. Coils, MAF and fuel pump are potentially all original. Plugs are only 20k old but will start swapping those around. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted August 22 233,7xx km Treats! Swapped out a few more coils and the misfire went away. Setup PIDs in fusionOBD and have logged a few trips. The Long term fuel trims are at 6.5% on both banks which seems kinda high considering + - 3% is spec. When I get the chance I’m hoping to log a motorway cruise and hopefully someone can take a look at my data. Went a head and bought new coils as figured it’s about time I swapped those out for brand new ones, got some extra bits and pieces to make the most of the expensive shipping. Air filter old and new. The new ones got a foam kinda backing on it that the old one didn’t have. Cabin filter wasn’t as gross but that’s replaced now too. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1678 Report post Posted August 23 21 hours ago, adro said: Long term fuel trims are at 6.5% Cant hurt to give the MAF a clean if you havent recently then reset adaptions if you can 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted August 27 234,000 New soft brake lines installed. Went with OEM rubber ATE ones. The old ones weren’t terrible but nice peace of mind for an old car that’s on family duties. New fluid and an old school pedal bleed. no clean undercarriage photos here 😬 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1084 Report post Posted October 24 (edited) 235,xxx km New Phillips D2S xenon bulbs. I replaced both so they hopefully colour match better. Also replaced the rear badge with an OEM I got with the last parts order. Out with the old. The fishing line trick really works wonders New one: Still checking the oil level since doing the 02 pilot mod and it might have burned a smidge it’s not low enough to warrant a top up so very happy. Scored some brand new Meyle HD sway bar links off FB marketplace. The front left boot on the links I pulled out had been damaged i found (maybe from when the garage replaced the leaking shock). Edited November 12 by adro 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
