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Yet another issue that was discovered on the car was that there were signs of oil leaking from the bottom of the vanos solenoid cover. This is a clear indicator that the solenoid seals are beyond their useful life. The other issue I noticed was that one of the bolt heads was missing from the cover, so that needed to be addressed. They are common for breaking over time, so I made sure to have some replacements on hand. I ordered a whole vanos rebuild kit, including new M5 seals ( as per a very useful guide) but decided as I was limited on time, and the vanos appeared to be working OK now it was plugged in, I didn't want to take the time to rebuild the whole thing yet. It also didn't help that my fan clutch tool hasn't arrived, so I couldn't remove the fan to access the vanos unit. The solenoid seals are the most common point of failure anyway, and with mine leaking, it's a fairly easy thing to replace. First is to remove the solenoid cover. Its held on by 4 screws, with either a hex head (if original bolts) or torx (if replaced). The broken off bolt was still there, just with no head. I used some vice grips to slowly turn it until i could spin it out The cover was missing one half of the gasket, and had evidence of the bottom solenoid moving in the housing (the black circle on the cover is from the solenoid pressing against it). The bottom of the cover was caked in old oil The solenoids popped out easily, and as expected the seals were flat. The gauze filters were still fitted (usually removed when serviced), although most of the gauze was missing, like the last lot I serviced. Using a small screwdriver I broke off all the brown plastic for the filter, and removed it. I also used a scalpel to cut off the old seals. The old seals were hard as plastic, well overdue for replacement As with my last guide I used a 9v battery and brake cleaner to clean out the solenoids. They were surprisingly clean though, with nothing gross coming out of them like the ones I did on my old M3. Both give a nice solid click when powered. The new seals were fitted, and you can clearly see the improved shape of the M5 seals Everything was thoroughly cleaned, and the solenoids refitted to the vanos unit New gaskets were fitted to the cover, along with a thin smear of sealant to keep them in place The cover was then refitted, with one new bolt (I can't fit my Torx driver in the space with the fan fitted). I will fit all new bolts, and join the solder points on the solenoids, when I remove it all to refresh the vanos later. I noticed when I had the valve cover off that the intake cam sensor had a very big air gap. I know from INPA that it appears to read OK, but I wanted to look further into this. It turns out, looking at the sensor, the previous owner had pinched and hulk smashed the O-Ring on the sensor so it was sitting out quite a bit. The screw was finger tight too. Yeah it shouldn't look like this It turns out you can order these seals separately, but I didn't know I needed them so dug through my viton O-Ring kit and found one that fit well. The one in the photo was too big, but I did eventually find one that sealed well The sensor now sits flush with the head. It probably isn't making any difference, but it bothered me as it was. One last test needed to be done before I could go give it a try, and that was to fire up the old beast and run the DIS vanos leak test. This test is used to see if the vanos solenoids can keep the cam at a certain degree over a certain period of time or if the seals leak, resulting the cam angle slipping. There is some allowance for variation, up to about 5 degrees off target over 10 seconds if I recall correctly. I didn't test beforehand, I should have but I forgot, but after the seals my solenoids can hold the cam at about 3-5 degrees off target for as long as you want. That's pretty good in my books, for a vanos unit that has done almost 300,000km and never been rebuilt. I'll be interested to see if there is as much variation after rebuilding the vanos unit. So, after all this work, there was only one thing left to do. Hoon. The car runs and drives very well, with plenty of power. It feels much more like my old one, pushing you into your seat when you put your foot down. There are still some issues, like the misfire at idle, but overall it's significantly better than when I got it. Not to mention, it looks better! Loving the Style 24s and new Pirelli Dragon Sport tires.
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Don't worry guys, this is the last post today; Just playing catch up. I had my suspicions that the aux fan wasn't working, and I wanted make sure before it caused issues. The temp gauge has been pretty stable, but in all the time I have driven the car I haven't heard the aux fan running, which seemed odd. The aux fan sits in front of the radiator, and is an electric supplement to the main viscous engine fan. You can just make it out behind the grilles in this photo. Its big. The aux fan is two-speed, with it turning on low speed at a certain temperature and if the temp still doesn't come down it will crank up to high speed. At high speed its moving a ton of air, but is very loud. On the E36 the easiest way to test the fan (other than INPA, which didn't turn it on) is to jump the connector for the temp sensor on the driver's side of the radiator. Disconnect it from the sensor, turn the ignition to ON, and using something metal, bridge two of the terminals. The ground is the bottom pin of the three (looking at the connector head on, with the notch at the top, ground is on the bottom), and the other two pins are the speeds. One should activate low speed when shorted to ground, and the other high speed when shorted to ground. Low speed High speed Now, if your car, like mine, does nothing when you bridge these, the first port of call should be fuses. There will be two fuses for the fan. Check the lid of the fuse box to identify which ones they are, and see if they are blown. One of mine was, it was the smaller of the two, so I popped in a replacement and tested again. This time I had both high and low speeds. Success. If you still don't have anything from the fan, turn the ignition off and check the plug for the fan (in the bottom of the fan on my car), and check to see if the fan even physically spins by hand (make sure ignition is OFF first!). You'll need to do more troubleshooting of our own if you still don't have any luck, as there are relays that can be tested too. I haven't been able to test the temp sensor turns it on automatically yet as I haven't been able to get the coolant hot enough (my viscous fan is over cooling at the moment; replacement soon), but I'll keep an ear out for it.
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Feb 13, 2019 11:23:38 GMT
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I seem to remember thinking this would be special if done to your "previous standards" lol- yup, I was right !! Very interesting the work on the vanos, particularly the way you show it isn't a "dark art", Keep going, Nigel
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BMW E39 525i Sport BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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Feb 13, 2019 23:06:15 GMT
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Love your threads, great photos and detail. Really good work on the car, thanks for taking the time to post!
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Feb 15, 2019 13:15:18 GMT
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hey kelvenator
Great looking e36 there
i love them in 2doorcoupe like yours
I am from SA and there is a guy here with a white m3 german spec and a 328 green like yours but his is a hard top cabrio. I love the stance of the hard top ( Both have the m3 motorsport rims on like yours). Love them to bits but for some reason i feel that they best suited for a E30 as if it was actually made for a e30.
any how
a few things
1) i think i know something about the m3. If u are having the 3.0 version of the engine in urs that was produced in a 2 version and we also had a later 4 door version that was a 3.2 engine 6 speed box.( I'm not sure if this was the same for europe? but we don't even want to think or speek about the detuned USA models.lol.
2) I love the vader seats and u can give them to me for free ill pay for shipping. wink wink.
3) Your sound . ICE Power is a SA name brand audio company . not sure how u got them over there in NZ? unless it was shipped over with the doner M3. do u guys have audio brands like ice power and pioneer there?
4) Lenso . Mags that i think are world renound by now , but different areas of the world have different designs. I must say its a good quality mag manufacturer on the cheap. the splits and originals of names like enkai, BBS etc it proberbly won't beat. but they have nice designs and i quite like the 20s maybe not in that size or on the e36 , but they will be nice for bigger cars or bakkies.
keep up the good work
Regards
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hey kelvenator Great looking e36 there i love them in 2doorcoupe like yours I am from SA and there is a guy here with a white m3 german spec and a 328 green like yours but his is a hard top cabrio. I love the stance of the hard top ( Both have the m3 motorsport rims on like yours). Love them to bits but for some reason i feel that they best suited for a E30 as if it was actually made for a e30. any how a few things 1) i think i know something about the m3. If u are having the 3.0 version of the engine in urs that was produced in a 2 version and we also had a later 4 door version that was a 3.2 engine 6 speed box.( I'm not sure if this was the same for europe? but we don't even want to think or speek about the detuned USA models.lol. 2) I love the vader seats and u can give them to me for free ill pay for shipping. wink wink. 3) Your sound . ICE Power is a SA name brand audio company . not sure how u got them over there in NZ? unless it was shipped over with the doner M3. do u guys have audio brands like ice power and pioneer there? 4) Lenso . Mags that i think are world renound by now , but different areas of the world have different designs. I must say its a good quality mag manufacturer on the cheap. the splits and originals of names like enkai, BBS etc it proberbly won't beat. but they have nice designs and i quite like the 20s maybe not in that size or on the e36 , but they will be nice for bigger cars or bakkies. keep up the good work Regards Thanks, it is bit of a labour of love this car. The Boston Green paint was one of the things that really drew me to it. Looks stunning in the light. White euro M3s are really rare, good to know there are still some around. In regards to your points, 1. Yes its the 3.0 engine, but the later version that wasnt detuned. It doesnt have any emissions gear though, so no cats, o2 sensors or air pump. When its running, it pulls like a freight train. 2. The vader seats kinda grow on me, and considering the legal issues ill have fitting Recaro seats to the car here, I'm more likely to just leave them in the car. good try though 3. I did some googling and came to the conclusion it was an SA brand. It did all come over in the donor M3 from SA, which is the reason its here. It is not available for sale in NZ. Pioneer is though, along with most other big mainstream brands. 4. Lenso is a fairly common brand here too, but known more as a lower end "cheap" brand that you'd pick up at your local low cost tyre fitters. I like the 20s, its a shame they are a direct rip-off of the Work wheels, and they do not suit an E36 at all. I think they would look great on a 5 or 7 series.
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Progress on the BMW is slow. Unfortunately I fix one thing, and in the process find something else that is broken and needs more parts ordered. The idle was still rough and it bothered me. It's not like I don't enjoy the sound of a nice lumpy cam, but the car shouldn't idle like that, so something was wrong. I ran through the diagnostics in the BMW diagnostic software, DIS, and the only thing that came back as "unusual" was the idle valve reading (0 kg/h) According to this, the idle valve is shut, and not passing any air, yet it is still idling. It should be between 8 and 18 kg/h, not zero. As it states, if the reading is below 10, check for unmetered air. Unmetered air is any air that enters the intake after the airflow meter, so it's not measured by the airflow meter. This is usually caused by loose hose clamps, cracks in hoses/pipes, or a failure in the Crank Case Ventilation system (CCV). I had previously cleaned and checked the idle valve, so I knew that moved freely, and I could get the idle valve reading to change by opening and closing the throttle, so obviously the valve operates, it's just not "needed" at idle. The obvious points in the intake to look at are the intake piping and elbow between the airflow meter and the plenum. The elbow especially is prone to cracking, but after a thorough check my intake piping and elbow were fine. So the next thing was to remove the whole intake again, replace all the CCV parts/hoses, vacuum lines and O-Rings and see if that fixes it. I noticed last time I had the intake off that the CCV was looking rather ugly, with a coating of old oil on it. I did check and tighten the hoses, but that obviously didn't make a difference. You can see it tucked behind the idle valve It's a bit grotty. Ignore the buggered knock sensor in the background. It's not throwing a code, but is on the list of things to replace once I sort the idle issue. I pulled the idle valve and CCV out I had ordered a bunch of parts for this job, so set about replacing the ICV piping and CCV. On the bench the CCV was looking pretty average All the hoses had gone very soft, but none of them had cracks or holes in them. This big top hose in particular felt like it was made of jelly in one bend Here is the new CCV oil separator with the new hoses. I replaced all of them, including the hose to the sump (not in the photo) Both hoses on the idle valve had also softened a bit, but were in useable shape. Unfortunately I missed ordering the hose on the left in the photo, so had to reuse the one on there, but it was in good condition anyway. One of the hoses has this weird metal plug in it. Not sure what it's normally for, maybe something emissions related? When I fit the replacement hose, I put a small clamp on that plug too, just to be sure it wasn't leaking Everything under here was original, as shown by the date stamps The other thing I needed to replace, to see if it helps the idle, are the o-rings on the inlet trumpets. The old ones were flat, and as hard as plastic I found it very hard to find information on these o-rings, so had to order from BMW instead of using generic ones of the correct size. So, here are the sizes for future reference. 52mm OD 2mm thick The profile difference new to old is quite different. The old ones were so hard one snapped like plastic when I removed it Much better. I slathered them in rubber grease to help installation. No photo of it, but the Fuel Pressure Regulator vacuum hose got replaced too. That is in one heck of a nasty place to get to! It wasn't cracked, but was hard and would've failed eventually. Since the intake was all apart, one thing I wanted to try was to smoke test the throttles/vacuum manifold and see if there were any leaks post throttle. Since the previous owner had these off the head, I had my suspicions that maybe there was a leak there. There was certainly some precedence for them doing it wrong... I read on another forum about smoke testing using a small container (jar in this case), some incense, and hose. Light the incense (I used cones as they are smaller and fit better in the jar), blow it out so it smokes, pop it in the jar, wait for it to fill the jar with smoke and then with one hose leading to the intake, blow into the other hose. This blows the smoke into the intake, and if it finds a way out, it'll be obvious where it's leaking from I ran it into the brake booster hose. This connects to the vacuum manifold which then connects post throttles I can confirm there are no leaks post throttles now, which is good. I haven't tested with the plenum and intake piping in place yet, but I'll do that next time I have the MAF (airflow meter) out. If it's all sealed, there should be zero smoke escaping. With the intake off I took this chance to replace the starter motor, since it hides under the intake, and was intermittently not starting the car. I will have another post on that job though. It was not fun. After replacing the starter motor I refitted the CCV assembly, ICV, and then the intake assembly with the new o-rings. It was looking like an engine again, finally. One last thing to replace was the fan clutch. The one on the car was locking when cold, causing the engine to run cooler than desired, and making a hell of a racket. I finally gave in and purchased a proper 32mm fan clutch spanner off Trademe. This made the job too easy, and I now wonder why I never got one earlier. The old clutch had a date stamp in 2011, so obviously it had been replaced, but didn't last long. It seemed to be a decent OEM brand; Horton, which is apparently a Sachs original unit. My replacement I picked carefully. There are a lot of knock off clutches around which don't operate correctly, so after much research I went with the tried and true Hella/BEHR unit. This is widely regarded as one of the best ones to buy. It also has the proper bimetallic strip on the front, unlike the knock offs which usually have a spiral. It wasn't cheap, so it better be good! So after all that work, what are the results? Good news, the fan clutch works perfectly. Bad news, the idle is still lumpy. Strangely, the car runs and drives like a bat outta hell, and pulls very hard, but it just wont idle smoothly. I need to run the DIS test again to see if the idle valve is working properly or not now, and I also need to smoke test the whole intake. At this point though I have decided that I'm just going to drive and enjoy the car, without worrying too much about the idle. I want to check the valve clearances in the future, as I doubt they have been done, but I'll leave that for future Me to sort out.
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Feb 26, 2019 10:39:50 GMT
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Ugh, What a terrible place to hide a starter motor. I had to do it though, mine was getting worse and worse. Yet another issue I wasn't made aware of when I obtained the car, was that it has an intermittent starting issue, where the starter motor will whirr into life, but not engage the flywheel. This only seems to happen when the engine is hot, and usually it takes a couple of tries and then the solenoid will throw the bendix correctly, and start the engine. BMW loves to hide critical items, in terrible places. The starter is a good example of this. As something that shouldn't need to be replaced often, of course it's going to be hard to get at, and the bolts super tight/seized. Here it is, hiding at the back of the engine, under where the intake would be "Oh, that's not so bad" I hear you say. Well, here are the two retaining bolts. Oh come on. Why do they have to face the back of the car?! What isn't that obvious, is that they are up against the fire wall, so you would need a very specifically angled spanner, of a certain length, to get to them. A straight spanner does not work (I tried. Even purchased a lovely new set of E-Torx spanners for the job. Sigh). This is what is needed A 1/2" ratchet, six extensions, an adaptor, a wobbly, and an E10 E-Torx socket. Don't try to use a 10mm 12 sided socket on them, or you will be in a world of pain when you strip them. The main thing that was useful here, is that most of the extensions I used were of the wobbly ended variety, which means they can operate at a slight angle instead of being dead straight. Without this, it would've been much harder. First step is to disconnect the battery, lest you short the starter motor terminals and either run yourself over, or burn the car to the ground. Now you need to slide under the car, and undo the bolts holding the transmission mount brace on. I didn't need to support the transmission, the engine stopped it dropping too far, but you will need a small jack to lower it slowly and raise it back up again once done. Also keep in mind that the fan on the front of the engine might get mighty friendly with the radiator; mine was already removed, but keep an eye on that, or remove it. With the engine and trans tilted back, and the help of your lovely assistant in the engine bay (using handy dandy step ladder), guide massive undoing rod of power up from under the car, onto the bolts and then using your muscles in the limited space, crank that ratchet and crack them bolts. Be damn sure to have your helper make sure the socket doesn't slip off the bolts though! My bolts were well seized, and took all my muscles and then some to crack them. Before removing the bolts, it'd be a good idea to undo the wiring on the solenoid, as this can be tight. Once they are cracked you can undo them 1/16th of a turn at a time with your fingertips until they finally come out. You will probably swear a lot at this part. The starter should be free to come out once they have been removed. There is a dowel at the top that the motor sits on, apparently this can seize, but mine was OK. Employ some percussive persuasion if it doesn't want to play ball. Once mine was out, I stripped it down to see the dirt packed, rusty mess that it was, and straight into the bin it went. Now, replacements are damn expensive. A genuine, remanufactured one is about $200NZD plus shipping from your preferred overseas supplier (and they aint light), a brand new one, is about $1100NZD plus shipping. It's also M3 and Z3M specific. Being the tight I am (or more like, being sick of pouring money into this car), I went with a different alternative. A seller on Trademe, RareElectrical, out of the US of A, sells a lot of starter motors and associated bits. One of their starters that was listed, matches the part number for my starter, and states it will suit an M3 3.0. Its only $157 including shipping. Cheaper than a second-hand one even. I know it's not genuine, it's a knockoff, but the seller has good feedback, so it can't be all bad. I took a punt and ordered one. It arrived quick smart, and it looks the part A quick side by side with the old one shows the solenoid is clocked slightly differently on the new one. This is one thing I had been made aware of, is that a BMW M52 starter (from a 328i for example) will fit and work, but the inlet plenum will contact the solenoid. Well, guess that's that, this is an M52 starter. No matter, I can make it work. Installation is the reverse, except I did the bolts up from the top with a 10mm ratchet. I said a prayer to the car gods, and I managed to not damage the bolts. I would highly recommend copper grease on the bolts, and dowel, before installation, just in case you need to remove it in future. And the wiring goes on OK. You can see how far upwards the new solenoid is when compared to the photos of the old one above. I insulated the main terminal with insulation tape, just as a precaution, but ideally what I have seen done is to ziptie a small flap of rubber over the top of the solenoid. The plenum does come very close to the solenoid, so I used some washers under the mounts on the plenum, to space it up slightly. It gives me about 3-4mm space now, using two washers on each mount. This is enough to easily clear the terminals and not pinch the wires. Before I put everything back together, I reconnected the battery. No sparks, no smoke and no flames. It's a win so far. Turn the key, the starter turns and the engine starts up. Obviously without the intake on I shut it off quickly, but now I know the new starter worked, so back on went the intake. With it all reassembled, still no sparks, smoke or flames. The new starter sounds very good, it spins so much smoother and quicker than the old one, and with repeated testing, hot or cold, it starts every time the ignition barrel lets it. Great success, now I just need to fix the ignition barrel.
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Feb 26, 2019 13:30:55 GMT
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way to go, man!
you know, on my e91 in my avatar, I had to go through the exact same process, same little jobs, same oil leaks, same Vanos servicing, fan fuses, starter, intake gaskets.....these cars sure do evolve, but at a Darwinian pace! I'm amazed at the similarities.
nice work!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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One last thing I needed to fix, so that the car would reliably start, was the ignition barrel. Sometimes it would free spin, and wouldn't start the car. I had encountered the issue a couple of times, including once on the drive home after taking ownership of the car, when I stopped to take some photos. That was a "oh god, what have I gotten into?!" moment. You turn the key and instead of turning the ignition switch, it just free spins in the barrel. It will turn over and over without doing a single thing. Generally if you turn it back to where you started, take the key out and try again, it worked. Problem is, it can get worse. It'll either get to a point it will never start, or it will fail to turn off and the car will remain running. With the starter now fixed, this was next on the list of things that would stop the car starting. I was reminded of this when during testing of the starter yesterday, the key decided to free spin. Initially I had the great idea of removing the barrel so I could install a screw into the housing To remove the barrel you first remove the EWS transponder ring with a flat blade screwdriver. Carefully lever and pop it off. Then remove the rubber o-ring behind the ring. The theory on the next part is to use a straightened bobby pin or paperclip, and to insert it into this little hole, when the key is inserted and turned to the first "radio" position, and the barrel is meant to pop out I tried and tried but couldn't get the damn thing to work, so in the end, I chose to leave the barrel installed. Instead, I grabbed a drill and whacked a hole in the bottom of the housing. I know from much research that where the hole is would go straight into a recess in the barrel. When a screw is inserted, it would lock the barrel and stop it from spinning. I started with a 3mm bit, and stepped up to 4mm for the final hole. The aluminium is quite soft, so easy to drill, and a coarse threaded screw will thread in easily without needing to be tapped. And in went the random screw I found in my collection I probably should've used one with a smaller head, but it just fits. Now test that the barrel no longer spins freely. Thankfully one of the keys that came with the car doesn't seem to work, and would cause the barrel to spin every time. With the screw installed, I cannot spin the barrel anymore. The key still doesn't work. Reinstall the o-ring and the antenna. This should completely cover the new screw With that taken care of, I could finally reinstall the lower trim that had been out of the car since December, finally making it look like a respectable car again. Now, *touch wood* I should have a car that starts every time, not when the starter or ignition feels like it.
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Very interesting on the "spinning" issue, I've had the same issue sporadically on my E46 since I've owned it, Like you I replaced the starter with little / no effect, So thanks for that, I'll look into copying your mod, Nigel
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BMW E39 525i Sport BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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Feb 27, 2019 10:50:02 GMT
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Its a super common issue on the E36s, and wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't worked the issue out on the 46 too. It'd pay to just check there are no differences in the barrel before you go drilling.
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Feb 27, 2019 10:59:26 GMT
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Will do thanks, Nigel
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BMW E39 525i Sport BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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Been using and enjoying the car a few times recently. Trying hard to crack the 300,000km mark, which is about 300km away now. Its been good but some minor issues are cropping up. Turns out my heater (on the drivers side at least) is stuck on, so the cruise I took the other day, in the hot sun, meant it got pretty toasty inside. Guess like my last M3, the heater valve on this one has probably had it. My standard 3.0 M3 steering rack is rubbish. They're known for being slow and feel dead (and its a 3.0 M3 specific rack, good work BMW), and thats exactly what mine is. Slow, lots of turns lock to lock, and feels almost completely dead on center. Will keep an eye out for a purple tag E46, or Z3 rack, which is almost a direct swap and much better speed and feel. The latest fairly major issue though is that I have once again been hit my the common "BRAKE LIGHT CIRCUIT - SEE OWNERS MANUAL" Check warning, indicating my brake light switch is on the way out, and when tested, I indeed had no brake lights at all. Lovely. Ill grab a new one of those shortly, so I can keep enjoying the car without being rear ended. I really need to clean the car, I havent touched it since it was driven down from Auckland by the previous owner. I feel bad.
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Well this is a familiar job, the old brake light switch failure. A few drives ago I noticed the familiar "BRAKE LIGHT CIRCUIT" warning on the Check Control. Initially it was just a random warning that would pop up occasionally, but when checked, the rear lights still worked. Unfortunately this escalated quickly, to the point where when I drove the car to and from work the other weekend, the warning would come up straight away, and sure enough, no brake lights were lit when the pedal was pressed. Eek. Back to the rear fog light when braking trick. I touched on this error on my first E36, where I had the same issue. I replaced the switch a few times on that car due to faulty new parts, but eventually I got a good switch and the warning went away. Replacement is fairly easy, once you know how the retention system works. If you try to fight the retaining clips, you will just make it much harder to get out. This is the switch, in it "ready" state as it would be when installed in the car. The red collar is pressed into the body, and the plunger is short To release the switch retaining clips, you need to extend that red collar by pulling it away from the body. There is one catch though, the plunger will not allow you to pull the collar out far enough, if the switch has been fitted, as the plunger doesn't extend out far enough. The plunger is on a ratcheting system, and needs to be forcefully pulled away from the body. With the plunger extended, the red collar easily slips forward, and will allow the retaining clips to be pushed inwards, allowing the switch to be removed To access the switch, you need to remove the lower knee trim. Its held on with three screws (one under headlight switch in the square recess, one under the dial for cluster brightness, and the other above the clutch pedal) Once that is removed, the switch is mounted above the brake pedal To release the red collar, you need to push the pedal down, extend the plunger, and then slip the red collar out. Only then can you violently wiggle the switch around until it comes out of its bracket. This isn't an easy task to do. The trick is to either have the car engine running, or press the pedal down immediately after shutting the engine off, so that there is vacuum in the booster and the pedal can travel down far enough to allow the plunger to come out. A lot of people get stuck there, you cannot extend the plunger far enough if the pedal cannot be pushed down. I used a screwdriver to lever the plunger out, and then my hand slide the collar forward, whilst holding the pedal down with my other hand. DO NOT release the brake pedal until you have the switch removed, or it will just push the plunger and collar back in thanks to the ratchet. Once the switch is free, you can release the brake pedal and if you haven't already, disconnect the wiring connector. New and old side by side. There was a bit of wear on the end of the plunger, so despite not having a date stamp, I suspect its original. To fit the new switch, ensure the plunger and collar is fully extended, push the brake pedal down (doesn't need to be all the way like removal) and then push the switch into the bracket until it clicks in. Slip the red collar down towards the body so the switch can't come out. Now release the pedal, and you should hear it ratchet the plunger in. Plug the switch in, and test. You shouldn't have any warnings on Check Control now, and the brake lights should work when the key is ON, and pedal is pressed. Reinstall the trim, and away you go. Done.
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Its been a while, for two main reasons, but I'm still here, and for now, so is the BMW. The first reason has been that despite putting some KM on the BMW, it's been pretty reliable and solid. I even ticked over the magical 300,000KM mark the other week. The other reason is that a while back I was offered a car that I basically only have one chance to own in my life. There is a very long story around how I still don't have that car, but basically I have been trying to sell the BMW to get funds and space to buy the other car, but without success. I have had a stupid amount of stupid people wasting my time, which infuriates me, but still no one has fronted up with the cash. This leaves me in a limbo of sorts. I'm reluctant to give up on this other car and keep the BMW, as I likely won't get another chance for one again, but I also can't keep dropping the price and losing my just to push a sale quickly. So since I'm still stuck with the car, I'm also limited on spending money on it, or working on it. There are a few things that I will do to the car IF I keep it, but at this point I still don't know what's happening. In the meantime I have picked up a few things from Pick A Part. They had a coupe with a complete boot carpet, which I picked up so at some point I can rip out the boot install and go back to having a functional boot. I also grabbed a few cosmetic bits that were a bit shabby on my car. All cheap bits that aren't easy to get. One of the most important cosmetic bits I got was a new headlight switch. I hated seeing mine every time I drove the car because it was badly worn/scratched/scuffed. It also didn't light up like it should. You can see how horrible the legend around the dial looks, but even the I/O on the vent above is badly worn. These are super easy to remove, with only one screw on the underside of the dash surround, going up into the switch housing. Remove that, and gently pull the switch forward (I hold it by the dial). Its clipped into place in the top of the vent, but it'll come free with some wiggling. The wiring is fairly short for the foglight switch, so take care not to pull too hard or you can break that switch. The headlight switch wiring connector has a collar that twists around and the plug will come out. The replacement I sourced has a broken switch for the headlights, so when you turn the dial it doesn't click like it should. That's OK, my current one works fine, so I will swap them over. First pull the dial off. It's a press fit There are two things to note when that is removed. First, the light pipe in the back, at about 10-12 o'clock position. This is how the bulb feeds light to the notch on the dial, so it lights up. The other is the large plastic nut. I used a set of large needle nose pliers to turn this and remove it. Once removed, the whole switch will come away from the fascia. This is a really good time to replace the bulb, which is inevitably blown. This can be done with the switch still fitted to the fascia, but it's easier to push the bulb out the front, than to pull it out the back. The bulb is in a large plastic holder. If you push on the top of it, it will push out of the back of the switch The bulb is a small "grain of wheat" 286 bulb. Now, I believe the original BMW bulb was 0.3W and about $10 a piece! Madness. In the past I have chosen to use the much brighter 1.2W bulbs readily available on eBay. They do obviously run hotter, but other than a shorter lifespan, there doesn't seem to be any issue running them, but do so at your own peril. I went this route again this time. Now it's time to strip the good switch from the old fascia. With a new bulb fitted, install the tube into the good switch. The end of the tube is keyed to only go in one way, but be careful that the bulb passes clearly through. If the bulb isn't seated correctly, you can smash the bulb inside the light switch.... I found out the hard way. Now install the good switch on the good fascia, reinstall the nut and dial. Plug it into the car (without installing it) and test that everything works as it should. It should light up with the key on. If all is well, reinstall it into the dash and fit the screw. So much better! I couldn't stop there. I had the bulbs out, and I knew one other thing wasn't lighting up in the car; the climate controls. This is another thing I had to fix in the first M3, as that also had neither the headlight switch or climate controls light up when I got it. This is also an easy fix. First pull all four dials off. They are a friction fit. Next remove the two screws (one under the fan speed dial and the other under the vent control dial). Now the fascia can be gently pried forward until it pops off The back of the fascia is pretty cool. It has a series of light pipes to distribute the light from the single little bulb, to all of the areas around the dials that need to light up. The buttons (recirc, AC, demist) are all lit with little LEDs on the back plate. The little bulb lives dead center near the top of the unit. Gently pull it forward and it will come out of its holder. There is some discolouration around mine, and it did have a bigger 1.4W bulb fitted by the previous owner, but no distortion of the plastic or anything. Pop a new bulb in and turn the lights on. Now clip the fascia back on, insert the two screws, refit the four dials and you're done. Bling bling. And with all the other light up stuff The last thing that didn't light up was the ashtray. Turns out the whole bulb holder is missing, but not to fret, I picked up a replacement at Pick A Part today also. A non-smoker package pocket to replace the ashtray. Fixes the light not working, and also gives me somewhere to put my phone. Win. Great success. Now I can see things in the dark. Hopefully soon I will know what's happening with the car. Either it'll go to a new owner, or I will be ripping the boot install out.
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Well, the time has come. I'm keeping the BMW for the foreseeable future, so the only logical next step was to drop some dead weight, and pull out the subs. The decision to keep the BMW wasn't one I took lightly, but I'm not sad or disappointed to be stuck with it. I actually quite like the car. There are a few things that didn't suit me about the car though, and having a bunch of useless weight sitting over the rear axle is one of those things. The boot install looked nice, but it really killed my enjoyment of the car. It sounded bad, and had been hastily thrown into the car. The main issue was that the capacitor on the driver's side wasn't actually secured by anything and was just sitting on top of the battery. This meant that every time I cornered hard (like an M3 should), the damn thing would fall over and go for a scoot along the boot floor, until the power wires restrained it. It was sitting on a block of wood So out it all comes. I'll tell you what, getting the sub box out was a mission. First out comes the floor panel and amp from the spare wheel well. Then the side amp, and capacitor come out. This gives enough room to shoehorn the rest of the trim and the box out of the boot opening. Turns out the box wasn't secured at all and was held in with hopes and dreams. It's a big box, that's for sure. I forgot how big a coupe boot actually is! In goes the carpet from Pick A Part, after a quick vacuum Even though this spare wheel doesn't hold air (buckled and leaks at the bead), I still put it in the boot as it helps to hold the carpet up, and also helps with weight balance. I need to find another wheel at some point. The wheel and tire weigh about the same as the amp that was in there, it was a beast. The previous owner butchered all the standard wiring for the speakers, so unless I want to run a whole lot of new wiring, I'm stuck with running the speaker amp. Thankfully I actually like this one as it looks cool, and doesn't take up too much space. Even the wiring going to this is a mess though. Yes, that is the pair of RCA connectors (usually used as one pair for front, and one pair for rear), split out to fill all four channels, front and rear. I'll rejig the RCA cables that went to the sub amp, and use them for the rear speakers so fronts and rears are split properly. The final result isn't perfect. The carpet needs some fettling to tidy it up, and the battery is the wrong size so the plastic cover on it doesn't quite fit properly, but otherwise, it's now a fully functional boot. Driving the car to work yesterday and the lack of weight is noticeable. It's not major, but it doesn't feel like you're dragging the backside around anymore. I would've pulled a good 20-30kg out. The next steps for the car are in motion. I have a set of BC Gold adjustable coilovers to go in, and a nice Purple Tag E46 steering rack to replace the horrible 3.0 M3 rack, which is the dumpster fire of steering racks. I'll also be rebuilding the vanos, since I already have the parts to do it, just need the time.
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Fixed the speakers today. Since removing the subs and amp I had no power wiring to the speaker amp (piggybacked from sub amp).
Ran new power and ground wires direct to battery, with a fuse in the +12 line, which the original install was missing, just in case.
Turns out the speaker wiring at the amp was all on the curse word too. The front speakers are daisy chained so only use one output on the amp, so what's the other "front speaker" wire? Well, seems its only purpose in life was to make a cracking noise through the speakers.
Without the subs, and having the speakers wired properly, I could finally have a go at tuning the amp. Now I have decent sound without distortion. Not perfect, but good enough. Better than listening to my leather vaders squeak on the leather armrest...
The epic failures of the previous owner still keep haunting me.
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Ah yes, that time again. It's not my M3 if it doesn't involve rebuilding the Vanos at some point. If anyone has forgotten, I have previously rebuilt the Vanos unit on my old M3, and what a nightmare that was. Lesson learned, don't use cheap tools. Being that this car has 300,000KM on the clock, and the previous owner has no history of the Vanos ever being rebuilt, I felt it was prudent to do it. This made even more sense, since when I first got the car I ordered a full Beisan rebuild kit, as the Vanos was completely dead (turned out it was just a sensor issue), so had a kit sitting around. The previous owner had the Vanos off the head back when they had the head work done, but when I asked, he confirmed that it was not rebuilt at the same time (argh, the hardest part is taking it on and off, why not do it then?!). This gave me some hope that maybe it wouldn't fight me like the last one did.... or on the flip side, there was a chance the previous owner had been kind enough to round off the bolts or something on reassembly. Anyway, with a nice clear day off work, I got stuck in. I won't do much step by step work in this post, as it's covered in my previous rebuild, and also on Beisans website. One reason I had been putting the job off a little bit longer was that the valve cover wasn't leaking, and I really didn't want to pull it off again in case it starts to leak. Oh well, Here goes. Argh, curse word, so much for not leaking. This little curse word never seems to want to seal. It's a new gasket, with a new rubber washer... and it's still leaking. The inside of this engine is bloody amazing for 300,000KM. Its obviously been looked after and well serviced. The previous M3, with 100,000KM less, was almost black on the inside. This is lovely and golden brown. Before you can do anything else you must get the engine up at TDC. This involves having the No.1 cam lobes for intake and exhaust pointing up and towards each other and making sure the crank pulley mark is lined up. I had a hell of a time last time, as the Beisan instructions are incorrect, and the timing mark is hard to find, tucked down behind the crank pulley. Strangely, on this engine there seems to be a critical change. Not only does it have the marks behind the pulley, but it finally also has it stamped into the front of the pulley! Not sure if this was a South African Market difference or just a difference between 1994 and 1995 engines. I still had to use my old iPhone to see it, but it's better than having to try and see it behind the pulley. As expected this little piston nut gave me some anxiety. To undo it, you use a 7mm spanner on the nut and a 4mm 6 sided socket on a ratchet to hold the shaft still. The 4mm hex is well known for just shearing off, and then you're having a bad day. Thankfully although it was tight, mine came off just fine. One part I have been asked about was to give more details on the removal of the oil pump driver when removing the Vanos unit. This is a little disk that sits on the back of the unit. It's circled here My previous unit was so sludged up that the driver disk was stuck to the unit, but in this case it was nice and free. The risk here is that if dropped, it takes a swift one way trip to the bottom of the sump. Turns out, it's easy to keep it in place. Use one hand to hold and pull the Vanos forward, and the other to hold the disk. There is plenty of space around it. The Vanos has been leaking externally leaving a mess down the front of the engine And on the underside of the unit Of course the unit got scrubbed clean, and the engine was given a quick scrub and clean. Removing the cylinder cover on the back of the Vanos unit gave me my first surprise. This is meant to have a seal pressed into it. The seal was sitting on the cylinder, having fallen out of the cover. It was well perished and crumbled when you so much as looked at it Organised chaos Part of the rebuild was to clean and test the solenoids again. I had previously done this when I redid the seals on the solenoids, but I wanted to be more thorough this time around. I got sick of having to try and jam the wires from the battery connector into the solenoid connectors, so quickly rigged up a tester using bits from the garage. Now all I have to do is plug the solenoid into the connector, plug in the 9v battery, and hit the button. Easy. I can use the same tester on injectors too, as long as they use the JPT connector. With the more thorough cleaning and testing the solenoids when from a nice click, to a firm crack every time they were actuated. I don't think it'll make a difference, but at least now I know they are working as good as they can. I also resoldered the solder points on the solenoids, as they were looking a bit old. I also chose to bridge the solder points. I don't know why BMW chose to run it through that little circuit board instead of direct (it literally goes into the outer solder point, across a track on the circuit board, and out to the solenoid via the inner solder points), but this is a common mod to ensure reliability. With the Vanos unit rebuilt, It was time to do the rattle fix on the splined shaft This one wasn't anywhere near as bad as the old M3s one, but good to take any play out of it. Reassembly was the reverse of disassembly. So, what's the story now? Well, the seals take a few hundred KM to bed in properly, but already the car has perked up down low and has noticeably more punch off the line. Up top is about the same, but it's quicker to get there. It's proper rapid. The idle issue has not changed. This is really disappointing; I was hoping it would be the solution to everyone that is having the same idle issue, but sadly not. Back to the drawing board on that issue. Since the WOF runs out at the start of next month I have decided to pull the car off the road shortly. I have a set of BC Gold coilovers and a purple tag steering rack to go in, along with some other bits coming from the States (thermostat, reinforcement plates etc). Once I get back from holiday, I'll book it in for a Cert, and see what happens there.
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May 22, 2019 13:10:34 GMT
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wow, very thorough work there..dedication.
thanks for sharing your toils. keep at it..the car is lovely!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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