MadMMX

Anyway you really can't be too care ful with Euro Boxes. Referring to a manual E46 Self Adjusting gearbox on a BMW E46. I recently had some maintenance to do and gave to car in to the agents (P**T**E). Gave the a brand new BMW genuine part clutch kit that I got from England. Was very surprised when they called me to say that they were having problems fitting it. Went over - happened to have another genuine clutch plate handy as well - got fed this bullshit story by the mechanic and the Workshop Manager about how sometimes BMW part numbered products for the UK are slightly different to the Asian varients ..etc. They couldn't fit the second plate as well to the existing Pressure plate and advised me to buy their original kit for some 100K + price. Thanked them for their effort - they actually charged me 9000 bucks not to fit it !! and said no thanks to their kit (thay had acually fitted it on the car to demonstrate that it worked !!) got them to fit my old clutch back and said I'd get it sorted out with a replacement from UK. (Brought from a main dealer there) After consutation with my friend got down the self adjusting fitting kit + the centering tool and found that not only had the agent disarmed the sac assembly but also jammed the SAC springs as well. Reset it with the tools I got down and took the car to a friend in dehiwela who does race Subaru's and got him to hoist it up and pull the box off - had the BMW procedure and dismantled the whole thing with them. Fitted the new kit according to the BMW instructions and it all came together like clockwork. Absolutely no issues and the clutch is like silk now. Can only figure that the agent was trying to stiff me into buying a clutch kit from them !!! Made a written complaint as they hadn't assembled my car back right either - their were bolts & clips missing !! but wasted half a day getting a couple of replacement bolts put back !! They didn't have some of the clips that they had lost as they claimed not to have stock of them !! Got those down from my friend in UK for a few pounds and re-fitted everything back. Car is fine now. I can't believe some lame ass mechanic / technician trid to take me for a royal ride and stiff me for some heavy dough !!! I don't know if he was just incompetent or was a crook !! Mind you thus far I've never had any issues with the agents !! Bottom line - try your utmost not to leave your vehicle their unattended !!! Mind you the good thing about BMW is that every little nut and washer has a part no and can be ordered for peanuts if you have access to a dealer. !!!! Cheers, MadMMx

Actually the correct thing to do would be to use paint stripper (remover to clean off the old paint) Fill up any dinks or damage with conventional filler and then sprey it over with Etch primer which would ensure that your paint bonds onto the rims and then paint over to the desired colour and then laquer it. Cheers,

Actually what is the BMW model ? For the E46's and E39's upwards you have to order the replacement key from the company. Otherwise you can't start your car with it. The key is ordered matching the serial no of the car. Its pre-cut to suit your locks and apparently costs around 25k. There are other options but I'm not aware of a key programmer in Sri Lanka. You need to take a dump of your EWS, and then get down a second hand key and a new key chip - soldier the chip into the key and program it. These chips can only be programmed once - messy process. Good Luck.

What is the vehicle ? Brand ?

Guys, Bare in mind that the 328i is BMW's new cracker of a petrol engine with a twin scroll turbo 200+ bhp and does 16+ on economy !!! The tax is for a 4 cylinder 2000 cc engine !!! Hows that for a tax break Cheers,

hmm mixed opinions on the puncture kit - the std euro kit is a bottle of gunk that can be used only once and the compressor. On the BMW forums they reckon the best way to use the gunk is to jack the car and pump the stuff in. Problem is that most cars don't come with a jack anymore - hence the 2nd hand ones going for quire a bit on ebay. Personally like the idea of carrying a compressor as you can pump up the tire a bit to run to a tire kade or maybe you can get the tubeless patch kit - which is exactly what the tire fellows use to seal up a puncture. Just my 2 cents. Cheers, MadMMx

Yeah totally disappointing with the options - however the diesel engine is a beast. The other good thing is that some options can be retrofitted - ie front & rear pdc - but retrofitting the digital climate control system will be a bit of a pig - but is doable. Cheers, MadMMx

Hmm you think there may be a fault in the control unit for the ac ? The bm's use a control unit called the ihka - autoaircon control unit that takes in input from a no of sensors - outside air temp / inside air temp . etc etc and controls the whole thing. They have been known to go faulty on the odd occasion according to the forums. No chance you can get ur car plugged into a diags to check that angle out ? Cheers,

Actually the big problem with the e90 is coding in new options. You are limited to NCSExpert as the older DIS will generally not work so well. They have a new coding tool called Ista-p which prestige has just imported. Also the internal data buses in the car are fiber optic. Have read about several successful iDrive conversions but its a lot of work + a lot of parts. Generally the display, navi computer + iDrive cic are about 1000 pounds. Accessorizing the E90 is pretty painful in comparison to the E46 which was very easy to do. However me thinks that putting in the park distance control ..etc doesn't appear to be too difficult. Cheers,

Actually you can't retrofit the idrive as the dashboard doesn't have the fitting for the monitor - you will need to change the whole dash as well to retrofit the idrive + display which is a bit of a drag

Sorry same here - was stuck with a project. See you next time. Cheers, MadMMx

Man what a waste of a life and a fine automobile. Car must have been flying to flip over like that. Mind you the 530d engine is a beast. Cheers, MadMMx

Machan, Try Mr. Paint. They quoted 8000 per panel - ie buffer, door or wing when I wanted to touch up / repaint my buffer. Did a fairly decent job of it too - matched to the code and its cured in the booth. Only word of advice - get them to take off the bonnet and paint it - don't attempt to do it while on the car - the thinner will kill the wipers and wreak havoc with the sensors in the car. The color code is on the suspension post inside the bonnet - ie mine is 442 grey green. Cheers, MadMMx

I was actually referring to euro cars. Actually be very careful when getting down second hand compressors. A friend of mine got down a 2nd hand compressor for his E46 from UK and while the surface looked good because the compressor had been kept uncapped for several weeks and not filled up with some ref oil so the inside was totally stuck. Fortunately Sudesh was able to take certain bits from his old compressor and couple it with the clutch and some other bits of the recon one and get it going again. He said the 2nd hand one cost him about 40 pounds from UK whereas BMW wanted 360 pounds for a genuine new one from a dealer there. Not so bad considering that Pre*t*ge wanted over 1 lakh for the compressor but even in Europe ac compressors are pricey. If you're getting down a second hand one from say uk, ask them to fill a little ref oil into it and plug the pipe paths before shipping it. Cheers, MadMMx

Hi sifaan, Sorry to hear that - but sometimes its better to bite the bullet and replace and save yourself from hassle later. Strange that the compressor was Sanden, a lot of the german cars still use only Denso and Calsonic (the bm's use only those as original equipment really) and Behr produce all the condensors, dryers and evaporators. Actually its true that you need the diags to check out the system - the diags in the bmw will tell you the internal pressure, flap positions, motor conditions ..etc and its easy to diagnose with all the information. For all you wanting to pump in the UV dyed refrigerant, the guys name is Sudesh. Phone no is - 0773 595 971. You can call him and get directions to his place - fairly easy to find. Cheers, MadMMx

I do agree it is strange but the BMW TIS also recommends that if the A/C system is leaking over a few days to replace the dryer. Essentially its just a big can of silica gel by the looks of it so it would be correct in that silica can only absorb so much moisture I guess.

Hi Sifaan, Just to add, generally its a good thing to service - ie evacuate and regas the a/c system once a year or once in two years. You would replace the dryer when doing this. The general opinion of the a/c fellows is that at a certain point the silica gel in the dryer gets saturated with the refrigerant oil and becomes non effective over time. Have seen this first hand when I recently serviced the bmw a/c. One good option which I did is re-gas the system with R134 and UV coloured refrigerant oil. That way if there is a leak you need a black led torch and a pair of uv glasses and you can definitively find the leak. Easier than using a sniffer. Found a good chap close to pepiliyana who serviced my BM, replaced the cooler in my bro's BM and now has serviced a no of my friends BMW's. Decent fellow and quite economical and knowledgeable. PM me - can pass on the contact of you want. Got down the Behr dryer quite cheap from the US but the dryer's here are generally 2-3k so not a major cost. Had a look at the one that was pulled from my car and surely it was sorta very oily looking and dripping oil. The BMW TIS (tech cd) also recommends the use of UV refrigerant oil so no issues there and the oil is imported only by a couple of fellows from USA. Total cost for the servicing and gassing was about 5K which also included removing the condenser and giving it a good pressure clean, pulling the compressor out and giving it a good clean and re-oiling, so was very happy with the result. Cheers, MadMMx

Just to add, BMW's are generally in much better condition when they're constantly being used rather than sitting in a garage collecting dust. Generally when their not moving the rubber parts tend to weaken and perish - not to mention becoming victims of rats. For some odd reason rats love to much the wiring harness's in bmw's. Saw a very new facelist diesel at prestige come in once with the entire left and right front engine wiring harnesses chewed through. The car was up for sale the next week. Since prestige didn't actually replace the wire harnesses and rather repaired them I shudder to think what issues may arise for that fellow down the line. And mind you that car was fully loaded !! But in general BMW's need to run constantly and be looked after. Buying a very low milage one may be good on the one hand and terrible on the other when you need to get it going. May have to change out stuff like lower under arm bushings .. oil sealing o-rings ..etc to get it back into good nick. Cheers, MadMMx

Just to add my two cents there are a few common niggles in the pre-facelift 320D one of them is squeaky doors - very common due to the cars originally having the matt black door surrounds that can be fixed by replacing these with the chrome ones - example in the add listed here the surrounds have been swapped to chrome. Costs about 25K at M's. The turbo definitely needs looking after and that should be the first thing you check. If the engine indeed sounds like a tractor - without a doubt there is something wrong with it so run a mile! I used a 65- 2000 model for a couple of years and the car was excellent - but check the suspension out - as these cars are now old in years so shocks may need replacing. About 65k for the whole lot including the shocks / bumper stops. .etc ..etc. Not really that different to the pricing of jap car suspension in this case. Lower arm bushes and lower arms need to be checked for play - a simple test drive will tell you immediately if the lower arm bushes need replacing. Generally the arms themselves last much longer but expect to change the bushes every so many years. Check the state of the brake pads and rotors as well. In BMW's its quite common to have to replace both rotors and pads as the rotors themselves are quite thin. Generally avoid surfacing the rotors as they are quite thin and any surfacing will significantly shorten any life left in them. Replacement rotors are about 6k per new. Avoid recon as they may be in worse condition than your own. Check the power windows as the E46's are prone to window regulator failures - listen for creaks though this is not a significant repair replacement regulators are about 12 - 15k. Also check the clutch condition as the 320D is a very high torque engine. Also check the condition of the exhaust as their may be rust. Cheers & Good Luck, MadMMx

Guys, FYI the E39 suspension is far more complex than the e46. In the E46 its just lower arms and rear bushes + the stabilizer bars + stabilizer bushes on the front. The E39 has many more bits from what I hear. Fairly more pricey than the E46 but its a bigger heaver car. Meyle have a very good reputation in the states and Europe - their factory is also in Germany and their parts are uprated over stock BMW parts. Generally all what I've read about them have been quite good. The powerflex bushes are slightly different to the normal poly bushes and while being stiffer are not that harsh and gives a stiffer (albeit described as sporty ) feel to the steering and the front end. The reason being the stock standard bushes are actually oil / gel filled and in time the rubber punctures and causes the oil / gel to leak out eventually totally destroying the bush. The powerflex unlike some actually come in two parts - the middle bit that fits the lower arm actually is separate from the outer bush and the gap is filled with a light coating of silicon grease. In UK they use nothing but these. On our roads generally the stock bushes last 3-4 years depending on the roads you drive. Actually VW think you're quite ok with the meyle ones. Lemforder actually produce some of the oem (or bmw genuine) parts like the tie rods for bmw. However BMW say their QC is more stringent than other manufactures hence the higher price. Actually it will boil down to judgement and how fat or thin your wallet is in the end. Prestige charge about 800k (yes that's 800k LKR) to replace out the whole E39 suspension.For the E39 parts also refer the US sites as the car is very popular there and there are lots of E39 fan clubs in the US. Meyle is quite popular there. Cheers, MadMMx

http://www.thetorquereport.com/2011/05/bmw_3_series_production_ends_t.html

Actually had a look at how you could ramp up a e90. The most difficult option is putting in iDrive. You need to ripout and replace the whole dashboard to fit the monitor in. Thats a bit of a issue as it will probably cancel out the BMW warranty on a new car. Having said that the ipod kit can be installed - unlike the E46 bmw has chosen to put in a 1 line display on the upper console between the two speakers - looks a bit weird though. Having said that you can retro fit idrive but you need the display, idrive controller and replacement navi/dvd module to do so. Talking fairly big bucks - like a thousand pounds but not impossible to do. You will also need a DIS to re-code all these options into it. The replacement dash could be the biggest stumbling block but having removed a E46 dash and seen a E90 dash removed as well - me thinks its not really such a difficult task - just need time and patience to do it carefully without damaging anything. You will need to source a dash probably from UK but they actually aren't that expensive Expect lots of cut fingers though BMW seem to install random razor blades on the dash carrier just to discourage people from pulling them out. The bluetooth however can be retrofitted into the existing cd display. Front and rear PDC is also possible - as is the Rls sensor for the auto rain and lights. Its actually quite fun if you know what you're doing. Cheers, MadMMx

Far as I know there is no 'Correct Pressure' for a particular size of Tyre. Depends on the car in question and the Tyre. Best to refer your Owners Manual or the sticker you would find on the inside of the Drivers Door. (if it's still there) You could also refer the web.

Can everyone see the pics ?? Cheers, MadMMx