[fleet]

TL/DR: look at the picture, if you know then you know.


lol. Almost 700 pages since my last post in this thread. Long story short: after rescuing a clean title 130k mile e91 from an iaai(dot)com auction in 2017, figuring out how to install inpa and all of the other BMW Geek software, tearing down the motor and ordering a ton of parts, I let it sit in the garage for a year and a half. Sick of looking at it, I got back to it throwing a whole bunch of general maintenance parts at it (all the usual suspects, vcg, ofhg, plugs, coil packs, multiple sensors, etc...etc...etc. I was thrilled when it actually started, and put it on the road. Less than 1k miles later, I started intermittently losing coolant, occasionally having huge dumps of coolant and big steam clouds. Undaunted, I started replacing hoses. And kept replacing hoses until I had done them all. Oh, while all that was going on I started getting the red "steering wheel locked" symbol. An unfortunate accident with my laptop that had the BMW software happened, and I was unable to install the software suite on any newer laptops.

Fed up with the devil posessed piece of German machinery I parked it in 2019, and it sat for the next 3 years. Once a year I'd get the jump box out, start it up, and move it around the property to a new resting spot.

As luck would have it, a distant family member (Toyota/Honda certified Master Mechanic, retired after 35 years of turning wrenches) was in the area for a month this summer, and was bored. One thing led to another, and the day he pulled into my driveway to help me I had the hood up, and was using a leafblower to get all the leaves and crap from the engine bay. He later told me that when he pulled in to see that he figured the car was in club "never run again"

We cleaned it up, and it fired up easily. After going over the coolant system, and again finding no problems we started test-driving it, and couldn't get it to leak a drop. Between multiple trips around the block (all of it dirty, on old tags and plates) we added 35 miles to the odometer. Bummed I let the car sit for so long, but happy it seemed to be ok, I got new plates/tags and set out to go see my relative.

And...5 miles from their place I got the yellow "low coolant" light. I nursed it the rest of the way, and popped the hood when I parked. By the time I got out and went around to lift the hood there was a small lake of coolant running out from under it. After a few more "going over everything" and refilling and test driving, we finally narrowed the leak to the radiator bung. He was adamant that the leak was because the HG had an internal leak, I was equally adamant that it was a problem with the cooling system and the HG was fine. Desperate to find the solution (and for it NOT to involve either replacing the HG, or swapping in another long block) I started reading every single e90 thread that had "coolant system" and "leak" in the title. Which brings us up to today, and this post. If "a picture is worth a thousand words" here is my picture:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/attac...1&d=1695266852

Yup, for lack of better knowledge, I ordered a radiator bung/drain piece for a manual transmission car and sadly mine ain't. It's an auto. It was only after reading here that I found there were two different types. I looked back to see what I ordered back in 2018, and saw the "for manual cars only". I'm glad I never delete emails. Sorry about the long winded post above, if I hadn't read about them being transmission specific, I probably would have dumped the car for salvage prices or at least well below market.

I ran out of time tonight, but hopefully by the weekedn I'll be able to top off the coolant, and add some "anti shudder" transmission additive. The tranny was fine when I parked it a couple years ago, during test drives this summer it shuddered pretty noticably between 1750-2500 ish if I was just accellerating normally. I found the TSB here about the additive. Hope it works.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Despite my efforts to keep this post brief, I failed. But baby I'm back (hopefully)

[Serf27]

E90 blower motor stopped working!
I dove in head first(literally) with a spare motor to replace the bad one.

I saw the ground cable was very brittle and had exposed wires. I wiggled it and the motor started working. I wiggled it more and the exposed ground wires sprayed against the exposed 12v wires!

No fuse or anything. The wires sit there, waiting until their insulation has become so brittle, it cracks off and sets your car on fire.
Crazy that people drive around like this.

The ground wire was so brittle, I was able to rip it off its pin and I just wrapped tape around both wires.
Going to get it done Monday, under the recall.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Serf27

You go to the junkyard here and there?
Just take a switch apart and get the piece that’s needed.

I meant the Eurozone button that has the rear fog symbol on it.
That would be sweet to have for less than $40!
I wish there was an option to just get the $5 button!!!

[Serf27]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

I meant the Eurozone button that has the rear fog symbol on it.
That would be sweet to have for less than $40!
I wish there was an option to just get the $5 button!!!

Oh.
I got a dremel for that and tried my best to copy that symbol.
Doesn’t look oem but light does pass through where I shaved it. LOL

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by fleet

TL/DR: look at the picture, if you know then you know.


lol. Almost 700 pages since my last post in this thread. Long story short: after rescuing a clean title 130k mile e91 from an iaai(dot)com auction in 2017, figuring out how to install inpa and all of the other BMW Geek software, tearing down the motor and ordering a ton of parts, I let it sit in the garage for a year and a half. Sick of looking at it, I got back to it throwing a whole bunch of general maintenance parts at it (all the usual suspects, vcg, ofhg, plugs, coil packs, multiple sensors, etc...etc...etc. I was thrilled when it actually started, and put it on the road. Less than 1k miles later, I started intermittently losing coolant, occasionally having huge dumps of coolant and big steam clouds. Undaunted, I started replacing hoses. And kept replacing hoses until I had done them all. Oh, while all that was going on I started getting the red "steering wheel locked" symbol. An unfortunate accident with my laptop that had the BMW software happened, and I was unable to install the software suite on any newer laptops.

Fed up with the devil posessed piece of German machinery I parked it in 2019, and it sat for the next 3 years. Once a year I'd get the jump box out, start it up, and move it around the property to a new resting spot.

As luck would have it, a distant family member (Toyota/Honda certified Master Mechanic, retired after 35 years of turning wrenches) was in the area for a month this summer, and was bored. One thing led to another, and the day he pulled into my driveway to help me I had the hood up, and was using a leafblower to get all the leaves and crap from the engine bay. He later told me that when he pulled in to see that he figured the car was in club "never run again"

We cleaned it up, and it fired up easily. After going over the coolant system, and again finding no problems we started test-driving it, and couldn't get it to leak a drop. Between multiple trips around the block (all of it dirty, on old tags and plates) we added 35 miles to the odometer. Bummed I let the car sit for so long, but happy it seemed to be ok, I got new plates/tags and set out to go see my relative.

And...5 miles from their place I got the yellow "low coolant" light. I nursed it the rest of the way, and popped the hood when I parked. By the time I got out and went around to lift the hood there was a small lake of coolant running out from under it. After a few more "going over everything" and refilling and test driving, we finally narrowed the leak to the radiator bung. He was adamant that the leak was because the HG had an internal leak, I was equally adamant that it was a problem with the cooling system and the HG was fine. Desperate to find the solution (and for it NOT to involve either replacing the HG, or swapping in another long block) I started reading every single e90 thread that had "coolant system" and "leak" in the title. Which brings us up to today, and this post. If "a picture is worth a thousand words" here is my picture:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/attac...1&d=1695266852

Yup, for lack of better knowledge, I ordered a radiator bung/drain piece for a manual transmission car and sadly mine ain't. It's an auto. It was only after reading here that I found there were two different types. I looked back to see what I ordered back in 2018, and saw the "for manual cars only". I'm glad I never delete emails. Sorry about the long winded post above, if I hadn't read about them being transmission specific, I probably would have dumped the car for salvage prices or at least well below market.

I ran out of time tonight, but hopefully by the weekedn I'll be able to top off the coolant, and add some "anti shudder" transmission additive. The tranny was fine when I parked it a couple years ago, during test drives this summer it shuddered pretty noticably between 1750-2500 ish if I was just accellerating normally. I found the TSB here about the additive. Hope it works.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Despite my efforts to keep this post brief, I failed. But baby I'm back (hopefully)

Mozel tov! Hapy New Car Day (sort of)!

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Serf27

Oh.
I got a dremel for that and tried my best to copy that symbol.
Doesn’t look oem but light does pass through where I shaved it. LOL

I'd probably get it looking like this

[lordnikon]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

I wish someone sourced the button part by itself. I've thought about buying the whole unit, but just kinda' a bit of work and coin for what you get.

Business idea:
1. Sourcing just the updated widget and button.
2.
3. Profit!

haha I thought about that at first but found a cheap used unit on eBay

[bmw335ie90]

Replaced the leaking valve cover with a new one.

[oVeRdOsE.]

''while I'm there'', engine is out so slap a turbo on it

[colorado.e9x]

•Spirited drive to Telluride
•FRM II retrofit
•Rear fog mod
•LED license plate and interior lights
•Cleaned up my new-to-me interior. It was in worse shape than I realized, hopefully whenever I dye it some of the wear spots will blend in. Still need the front seats and a sport wheel, hopefully sooner than later

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

•Spirited drive to Telluride
•FRM II retrofit
•Rear fog mod
•LED license plate and interior lights
•Cleaned up my new-to-me interior. It was in worse shape than I realized, hopefully whenever I dye it some of the wear spots will blend in. Still need the front seats and a sport wheel, hopefully sooner than later

I have a sport wheel if you need one. No extra airbag though, and the leather could probably be rewrapped.

[tcphoto]

Installed the State Farm spyware, let's see if it saves me a little on premiums. The first trip scored well but they clearly don't understand how to drive an E92, they must expect me to drive like Grandpa...

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

My car failed the visual inspection for the smog test yesterday. It didn't even occur to me that the fancy Euro airbox would be an issue. Not for one second! But guess that's a thing in CA. Now I need to swap back in the original one and take it back in... not a biggie, but not something I was planning on.

And now I'm bona fide for another two years!



Not a big deal other than the 20 minutes it takes to swap out and the hassle of going back. Seriously had no idea that this was a thing, but my life is one big cautionary tale!

[Brandoch]

Originally Posted by Shk783

Washed it!

Pictures!

[RealJ22]

Got my racecar to crank. Which is a huge accomplishment.

The previous owner passed away during the build. Specifically the final wiring portion with a push button and harness thinning.

I’ve never been the best at wiring, but this thing has taught me A LOT. Cannot wait to clean it all up and get everything finished in his memory.

upload image

[Dirtleg]

Yesterday was a long day. Sons car. Normally he does the work and I help but he had obligations and I only have this weekend to work on it. So yeah.

Goal; replace oil pan gasket, front suspension arms, tie rods, sway bar links and strut mounts.

No lift yet in my shop. Hopefully this next year. So jackstands and the floor.

First a word of caution. The bolts that hold the "V" shaped steel bracket to the subframe. Do not just grab your impact and undo them. Stripped the nut right out of the clip in the subframe. Had to drill the bolt out.

And my dumb ass did it twice.
https://www.e90post.com/forums/attac...1&d=1695561973

On to the suspension arms. Was easily able to break the tie rod ends loose from the knuckles. But getting the nut all the way off proved impossible on 3 of them. On the third I gave the T30 torx enough force it broke in the tie rod. Great. Glad I have extras. So angle grinder with a cut off wheel for the win here.

It should be stated this is an 06' 325i that started life in Chicago and at 172k miles all suspension arms were original. So crusty. Fortunately the car itself is not rusty at all.

At this point things got easier/smoother except the damn EGR drain pipe to the oil pan fitting. It's a PIA from the top and just as bad from the bottom. Literally almost touching the motor mount. Hate that thing.

Anyway I removed the steering rack from the subframe and just dropped the whole subframe out of the car. Why not at this point.

Took the oil pan off and cleaned everything up. No aluminum bolts broke in the process. Was happy that the leaks at the front and rear of the engine were just the gasket and not the front or rear seals.

Since my shop is 13 miles from my house, and I had been at it for 7 1/2 hours, this is where I wrapped it up for the day. Here is where we sit currently.

Headed back out shortly to finish it up.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

Installed the State Farm spyware, let's see if it saves me a little on premiums. The first trip scored well but they clearly don't understand how to drive an E92, they must expect me to drive like Grandpa...

I used to work in insurance, unless you never drive your car or drive it like a grandpa, your premiums will only go up with those devices.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

I used to work in insurance, unless you never drive your car or drive it like a grandpa, your premiums will only go up with those devices.

The fewer people knowing how I drive, the better!

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

The fewer people knowing how I drive, the better!

the insurance police are looking and lurking....

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

The fewer people knowing how I drive, the better!

They basically just use the devices as justification to increase your premiums. I've never seen them save people money unless it was plugged into a car that never moved 6 months out of the year.

[lowrydr310]

I replaced my low pressure fuel pump. I have some shadow codes for low fuel pressure on the low pressure side of the fuel system, and I smelled gasoline around the right rear wheel wheel when the tank was full. Sure enough there are a few small cracks in the upper fuel pump assembly:





That fixed the fuel leaks, but my low pressure codes remain. I'm still trying to diagnose a faulty sensor or issue with a hose at the regulator or the regulator itself.

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

''while I'm there'', engine is out so slap a turbo on it

How much do the AWD systems hold going ST? The front diff always had such bad rep.



Washed my car a bit into detail, it's been a while since I went over the glass and interior other than whipping down dust with a swiffer duster. Applied some 303 protectant on the dash and center console pieces and cleaned up the seats and steering wheel. Car looks sharp now getting in it. Am I the only one that gets a nice satisfying feeling when getting into a clean car?