A bit last minute but slenderman's car needed attention and was duly booked in for some TLC, turns out that the car hadn't been in his hands for a while.
So with an MOT on the agenda that was what was tackled first, but before that a lift to the trainstation and a quick drive of the car revealed a couple of things:
Firstly within 50 yards I could feel the front tension struts were worn(demostrated with a couple of light taps on the foot brake-watching the steering wheel shudder in the process)and secondly though not immediatly obvious I'd noticed that the gearbox wasn't shall we say on top form(more of which later) But first that MOT
passed thank god with some advisory's, namily these
scored lipped and corroded discs(rears worse than the fronts)notice on the rears the double deep scoring on the disc(deep groving).
Corrosion was more severe on the inner surface than the outer surface, perhaps some of this was down to not being used
but as they met the required MOT criteria and I'd sampled them on the road and they seemed to work perfectly OK, best left as an advisory note that all brakes will need to be changed in the future with the rears coming up first.
Tension struts again were advised as I'd sampled on the road they were a little weak but not seriously so a point for future work as they will in time start to show their hand will get worse and will require changing. Another noteworthy item was the fact that like many BMW's rear brake pipes had just started to corrode as well.
But on the MOT you have a chance to glance over stuff and that gearbox issue I felt on the drive came to light as I thought it would namily this
another leaky sump. Thought it was slow to react and held on to 3rd gear too long with lack luster feel whe pulling off in 2nd, my thoughts were a fluid leak and this confirmed what I thought and TBH when you see this its well worth addressing.
So as the car was booked in for an oil service, vehicle inspection and a brake fluid service, with the knowlwdge that the gear box sump was leaking I called slenderman to inform him that the MOT was all OK but apart from the highlighted service issues the gearbox was leaking and the best course of action was the normal course of action a gearbox service. And that's the course of action taken.
So the car was transfered from the MOT bay to one of the workshop ramps for the service requested to be under taken.
Vish who was looking after the car dug out he service book and noted that there were a few issues re the history, 3 services done in the book(its a 2007 car)and nothing showing re pollen, air filter hadn't ben done for sometime and being the suspicious type I asked for the top covers and rear panel, where the pollen filter is situated to be removed for a look
as the service history stated this was due in 2014 you know the answer, so add one pollen filter. The service book also revealed no spark plug service had been undertaken.
We carried out the required pre work diagnostic(as we do on all services) and noticed for future reference that the car has or is showing the early signs of a hydro fault(codes 5DF0/F1 were stored though not current or present)therefore I was obliged to inform slenderman that this was indeed a lurking issue and gave the options and advised that this is a commonish known issue with only one cure a repalcement. As it was a 325i sadly the repalcement is BMW's £168+VAT option, but there are ways to ease the pain, namily refurbishment.
As stated earlier, the diagnostic and service book showed no spark plug service had been recorded we opted to take a look
and took one plug out for a look. Seen worse
but one was quite oily at least 2 were shall we say
to remove, had they been changed before
. I think so but couldn't be sure they were however tired and these too were added to the service agenda as they'd never been recorded in the vehicles documented history or via diagnosctic as a service carried out.
Air filter I felt was worth a look too despite what I saw in the book
this photo was after a fair amount of debris had been removed again on history I understand 2012 was its last change. So add one air filter.
Now with covers removed a better look at that gearbox
leak noted from the usual area rear off side sump section and the sleeve. So removed the sump
drained the oil
drained the pot had 4.4 litres meaning on paper we'd lost about 2 litres over time. Nothing unusual but with this loss the gearbox hasn't been working as effectivally as it could of been.
New sump on
6.4 litres of fluid added all engine and gear box adaptaions sorted test driven and handed over at 5.45 pm we had a car that was fitter, fully serviced and again fighting fit for the future. As these cars get older its key to service them and look forward otherwise big bills and unavoidable costs could be lurking