MadMMX

hmmm - I think 3000kms for fully synthetic is waaaay to little. Even the semi synthetic can last for 10000k. The fully synthetics usually last for a good 15000kms. Of course the rule of the thumb is to change either on km's or every 6 - 9 months. On the european newer cars fully synthetic is good for 25000 kms on the petrols and 15000 kms on the diesels. Cheers,

Yeah I remember once I had to pay some duty for a part that came through the GPO - there were 7 different taxes including vat and something called pal and numerous other ones which also included stamp duty !!! Still I think most of the panchi.... boys are able to keep significant margins as well

Yeah changed my engine mounts last week at the agent. Brought the two genuine bmw mounts down from my friend in UK for Rs. 8.5k (with postage !!). Mind you the agents wanted 20K +++ for the parts. They charged my bloody Rs. 7k to fit it but didn't take too long on the job. 6 k for oil and 3.5k for the service which is only required once a year or once in 25000kms so not bad on the whole. The genuine filter also cost Rs 900 from UK. !! Agent charges 2.5k. My uncles Toyota Tercel mounts cost Rs 18.5k mind you from Toyota Lanka. And those were solid rubber and metal. The BM ones are oil filled !!! Man are we Sri Lankan's getting ripped off on part prices or what. !! Cheers,

@VVti You can search EBay for a BMW cable called an EDIABAS. Not very expensive about 20 dollars with shipping from China. The you can run it with the BMW EDIABAS software itself. Have tried different versions of software and you find that the BMW one is actually the best. Works with a surprising no of models. The cable actually comes with an adapter for the M54 type older circular connector and the newer OBD2 connector and works with both types. Its actually surprising how useful this is. The BM's tend to go into open loop mode (no engine check light on as these are not serious issues) and drop performance slightly until the error is cleared. Then when you do clear them you get a good zing of performance back. If you want to see the thing in action pm me. Will pass on details. You can download the software or get a copy from me. Its down loadable off the net. Lots of user groups for BM actually. There is also a working version which actually allows you to run the BMW DIS software directly off a laptop with this same cable - ie the same software they run in Prestiege. Needs a little work installing it though and havn't had the time to complete that. Cheers,

Yeah actually the BM's are not hard to maintain. Have had them for the past 5 years - E46 diesel and then E46 318i petrol (facelift). The newer cars have a much higher service interval - ie the 318i facelift service interval is 25k kms. On the previous diesel it was 14k kms. Do a bunch of stuff myself and as long as you have the service dvds (TIS / WDS ETK ...) they are not difficult to maintain. Also useful to have the OBD2 cable. Hook it up to the laptop and there is no guesswork with diagnostics. The car's multiple computers are pretty accurate in detecting the little niggles. Prefer to do the service at the agent since its not all that expensive - as the interval is long and get most of my parts direct from uk. And the keeping the service record in good shape adds value later. The torque wrench is useful but beware its difficult to get them into most places when doing maintenance - better to have a flexible head 1/2 inch drive. Just my 2 cents.

Hi Guys, Whats a good place here that will do a good ultrasonic injector clean ? I'm gonna be taking out my fuel injectors (petrol) soon to replace me PCV valve (routine replacement) and since I will need to remove the injectors as well, I guess I may as well get them cleaned. Already have all the replacement o-rings in hand. There is a place that advertises ultrasonic cleaning called asnu lanka or something but haven't heard much else about them. Anyone have experience with them or anyone else who does ultrasonic cleaning ? Cheers, MadMMx

Hmm Try out the Phillps Infra wireless headphones - pretty decent though not 5.1 and they come with rechargeables. Also on the car games try out grid - the graphics are awesome but its impossible to play without a controller. Installation on PC is 2 dvd's !!

Has anyone played 'Grid' its 2 DVD's but the graphics are awesome !! You need a fairly high end vga card to run it though - pretty tough game though.

Look for the TIS DVD and that will help you out with the more basic stuff that doesn't require the diagnostics. The BMW DVD's are really great. Cheers,

I wonder if anyone is looking for a BMW E39 5 Series Ipod Interface in Sri Lanka. Cheers, Madmmx

Great video man. Makes one happy to be driving an E46 Cheers,

Guys, there is a common problem with the nissans - wingroads fb15's and n16's where the spot on the calipers where the caliper pins go through tends to wear quickly. Have seen this happen on my bro's wingroad and a*w say its a common problem. What they do at the lathe work is not filing down but essentially filling up the caliper pin mount with brass and thickening it. Its not really a fault of the caliper and the caliper certainly doesn't require replacing. Have seen it done like once in two years on a wingroad. No ill effects - no requiring replacing of calipers ..etc. Talk to the agent or anyone who works with nissans of this era and they should be able to give you more info. The dok dok sound exactly describes this issue. Cheers,

Yeah the US / Can frequencies if I remember right only jump in odd no's. Think it was 89.1 .3 .5 ..etc Installed a Panasonic headunit for a friend who had brought it from the states only to have to break the bad news to him. You will be able to catch a few stations but not many. Anyway on the plus side the CD / MP3 will work without an issue and they would give you much better playback quality than the tuner.

Must say that the manual HRV is a rock solid reliable vehicle. Used one previously for 3 years from unregistered and the only repair I ever did on it was replacing one side rear brake washers. The pickup was great and the best thing was the ground clearance. Took it all over SL without any issues. Changed the manual transmission fluid to mobile fully synthetic when I got it and mind you this was quite economical since the gearbox only takes 1.8 ltrs of fluid. This was guranteed for 50000kms. Only used Mobil 1 on the vehicle. Noticed that its on sale now on the forum used by a guy from HS*C he he Cheers, MadMMx

Anyway further to my previous post here's the honda service manual sections for the multimatic transmission for the 01 civic upwards. http://autoban.com.ru:8080/manual/i45Dcontents.htm Makes for interesting reading. Unfortunately don't have a honda anymore. Cheers, MadMMx

Jeez - all this is a bit scary. Didn't realise that the rs multimatic was prone to failure. Hasn't someone been able to get down the service manual and also look up the recommended service procedure ..etc ? I mean apart from the fluid change since it is a belt I'm sure there must other parts that wear out as well. Hasn't Stafxxxxd been able to refer this ? Had the service manual cd for my HRV ages ago though it was a 2wd manual and I must say it was pretty comprehensive on the service and repair procedures. Cheers, Madmmx

Yeah thats so true. The service department guys also give such vague answers.... And the buggers have the cheek to send out the new bm mag with the 1 on the cover. Saw Ajmals red one parked in their garage when I went for service. Just for the heck of it asked the service fellow for a quote to replace my shock bumpers which and his answer was like 20k for two of these 1.5k a piece parts. Fitted them myself on my older E46 total cost was about 3k. Honestly I wonder what world they live in. It would seem that they don't need the normal customers when the SL Gov keeps buying X5's and 7 series and just servicing them is more than sufficient to keep their repair people happy. But on that topic honestly you wonder - You read the BM TIS technical CD - every nut and bolt on the car has a torque specified ...etc but didn't really see the colour of a torque wrench at the agent. !! MadMMx

Hi Faz, You will need the 3 meter dash + the front wiring harness to get the dash upto speed. You may also need the centre switch panel where the light switch etc is plugged + the steering column stalks depending on the model your mini currently runs. Have done this myself previously email me on [email protected] if you want further details. Also have a lot of surplus spares that were leftover when I restored mine - including a 3 meter dash + harness. Let me know if you're interested. Cheers, Druvi

Er actually guys there are freeware versions for OBD-2 that run on linux available. However getting your hands on the DB 16 connector required to plug into the Jap OBD socket is difficult. When I had my HXXda earlier tried hunting for the connector in Singapore but couldn't find it. The other option would be to use pin probes to plug into the obd socket but this is not advisable in case the contacts touch and short something out. The other option would be to buy a pre-made cable but once again bear in mind that the jap cars use a particular type of socket, the euro's use a totally different socket, even of the basic obd2 protocol is the same. There are also some nifty software + cable packages that plug into your pocket pc's (HP Ipaqs...etc) for about Rs. 25 k which also function on the move. Not difficult to find them on the net. Cheers, MadMMx.

Actually the first two cars were bought about the time they were introduced here I think. The reg would have been jn XXXX . The tiptronic one was ke.... still not all that great. The fuel consumption was apparently 6-8ish on the manuals. Heard the tiptronic was worse. Have friends who use the jap domestic model without any issues so I would wonder whether the problems were with the brand new ones. Cheers, MadMMx.

Hi guys, Just a word of advice. The company I work for has about 5 brandnew 3's bought from the agent. The first 4 were manuals and busted their suspension very quickly along with engine mounts - which were replaced under warrenty. The last one was a tiptronic and that busted its engine mounts after about 6k km's. Seems to be something weird with the brand new ones. The company disposed of the first two due to this fairly high unreliability. Not really something you would expect from a brand new car. Cheers, MadMMx.

Hi, There are auto versions but me thinks they are a little rare here due to the additional cost of the box. There was one 320I that I saw for sale in Bamba but that was an olderish one, think it was early english no's. as for the 3 litres ..etc would guess that most of those came on the 5 series - quite a few e39's.. etc and also a few e39 530d's - which is supposed to be an excellent engine - power and economy wise. Cheers, MadMMx.

Er.. Hola, If this were the case how exactly would one go about applying for these permits ? I mean who actually does issue them ?? Cheers MadMmx

Hi Guys, You woule be better off checking if the engine on the 2002 is a n42 or the older m series. The N42 is actually a 2 litre engine which was a marked improvement over the older m series engine of the older 318i. Much better economy - gives a solid 8 in the worst of colombo's traffic and is a pleasure to drive. Actually don't think there are any fwd models - there are awd's but haven't seen any of them in SL. Also the 318i service interval is also pretty decent. Requires a service every 25k over the diesel's 14k kms which is actually pretty decent. The 320d is certainly a more economical car to run but be careful when looking at the higher milage ones - the older ones may have slightly worn turbos and a certain M***** doesn't like doing stuff like cleaning / replacing injectors cause he says in many cases one would need to pull the head off to get the injectors out. The 320d is also a little more heavy on the a/c compressors etc (apparently the earlier original compressors failed quite a bit) and the older ones may have been modified and fitted with jap compressors - apparently this is not something to be too worried as long as the job's been done right. On a car that has done 50k you would need to check out the lower arm bushes on the front suspension which would be indicated by a bit of noise coming from the front when driving, but it's not too expensive to fit - generally in the range of 12-13k. Don't really know of any other joints that service the jags other than the agents and I hear parts are pretty pricey and the agent usually doesn't stock a lot of bits. My previous boss had a s type and he had whacked the front in traffic and it took over two months for the agent to get him down a new bonnet. Pretty poor service if you ask me on that. Also don't think there are a lotta alternate sources for parts either, unless you have a pal in uk or dubai who can send it down to you. Anyway thats my 2 cents worth. Cheers, MadMMx.

A neater and more visually acceptable option would be the 3M paint protection film which is being offered here now.. A lot of the Jap and Singapore recon imports already have this applied to the paint round the wheel wells and mud guards.