[tlow98]

Amsoil. Nice!

[DerekGates]

I freaking love this thread. Your inventory of parts purchased along with a small journals of projects is fun to read.

Wagon looks great!

[BenFenner]

Thanks Derek. I'm glad you appreciate it.
I'll keep it up as long as I own the car, which should be a few decades at least.

I don't have anything coming up in the near future, but something will come up I'm sure. Maybe a rear wiper blade replacement? We'll see.

[BenFenner]

Replace rear wiper blade | Album

The wagon needs things, so the wagon gets things.

I'm really not sure what's next, but there is always something. So look forward to that after I get finished posting my sister's wedding pics to Facebook.


Parts:
$16.47 | OEM (Bosch) 340mm rear wiper blade | 61627198558


Pics:

[BenFenner]

Rolling on the freeway | Album

Katie drove with me to DC to drop the SE-R off with the trivia contest winner.
Sometimes I get some decent rolling shots this way.
This time was not one of those times.


Pics:

[nsjames]

considered color matching those hood eyebrows?

[BenFenner]

Shave the mustache?!

Never!

[BenFenner]

Flat tire on the freeway | Album

We had a slow leak in the driver's side rear tire, so on this trip to the coast we made sure to take the travel air compressor. I really should have taken a look at the tire much earlier to find the cause. I just assumed it was a poorly seated bead, as we've had before, but it was actually a nail/screw in the tread. Had I known that, I'd have had it patched weeks ago.
The drive down to Charleston went well, but on the way back the hardware finally gave way and we were on the side of the road (where I finally spotted the real culprit).

The fix-a-flat we normally carry was used up a few weeks prior on the Coupe when it had a flat tire so we were stranded. I was cursing myself for not restocking the car with fix-a-flat, and for not ordering a tire repair kit yet either. This also finally convinced me we should sign up for some decent road-side assistance program.

We waited for an hour in the humid rain for an expensive tow to the closest tire shop 30 miles up ahead. Once there, we got a cheap, used tire that was too tall just to get us home. The original tire could not be patched, since it had been driven while flat for about 1/4 mile and the inner sidewall was toast. Once home we put on a spare, and ordered a new, matching tire. The tire arrived and was mounted at our normal place.

It wasn't the end of the world, but lessons were learned. I will be ordering some really nice tire repair kits for the cars ASAP. I will make sure we are stocked with fix-a-flat as well. I will get us on a road-side assistance program ASAP. I will investigate any leaking tires in the future ASAP to find the true cause.
I'm basically an adult now, with other people relying on me. I shouldn't continue to just "wing it" anymore when it comes to these things.


Parts:
$66.00 | Used Goodyear Eagle LS2 245/50/18 tire | Billy's Tires Inc.
$190.00 | New Nitto NT555 G2 255/35/18 tire | Online Tires


Service:
~$190.00 | 30-mile tow
~$20.00 | Mount/balance used 18" tire
$23.00 | Mount/balance new 18" tire | Complete Car Care


Pics:

[Tambohamilton]

How much lead!?!?

[BenFenner]

Yah, that giant, used tire took a boat load to balance out. Thankfully it was temporary; for the drive home only.

[BenFenner]

Drive with brother to purchase 2004 Silver BMW E53 in PA | Album

In early April, during the most intense part of the COVID-19 lock-down, my brother and I stole away to Pennsylvania to purchase myself a hectic manual mall crawler.
This gave me the opportunity to take some rolling shots of the wagon while he drove it back. As usual, there are many more pics in the album linked above.


Pics:

[BenFenner]

Re-torque spark plugs, repair cowl holes | Album

With the Nissan engines, I always got away with torquing the spark plugs by hand. It felt obvious when the crush washer had seated, and then reaching ~40 ft·lbs was a snug later.
I used the same technique for the S52 in my Coupe, and eventually it started making rod-knock noises which luckily turned out to be loose spark plugs. This is a common problem on the S52, and many other BMW engines.

Realizing I'd done the same thing when replacing the plugs and coils on the wagon, I made a point to eventually get back and re-torque them properly, with a torque wrench. This task made it to the top of the To-Do list after the wagon exhibited minor signs of the same noises.

I'm looking this up just now and seeing BMW calls for anywhere from 18-30 ft·lbs of torque depending on application/engine. However, my old-man memory says Nissan calls for 40 ft·lbs on their aluminum heads, so that's what I went with because it seemed appropriate.

It certainly was a lot more torque than I'd been doing by feel. It worked out quite well on the S52, and I did it on the wagon's N52 as well. They might be over-torqued now, but hopefully not dangerously so. The noises went away, and I'm quite sure I'm in the clear.

From now on I'll be using a torque wrench for installing spark plugs. Maybe I'll back down to 35 ft·lbs or so on the BMWs in the future.

While I was in there, I repaired the cowl mounting holes by super-gluing some metal washers. They had been bugging me for a while.

Pics:

[eljay]

That's a lot of torque on those plugs in aluminum!
The torque spec for spark plugs is 23 Nm (18 ft-lbs).

[tlow98]

I always found with BMW engines and plugs you can feel the crush washer start to engage pretty easily. The start of any real resistance. Then you just go until it stops. Then I give it a bounce on the meat of my palm and good to go.

40lb-ft scares me a little, especially given the size bolt and thread that normally require torque of that amount, but I’m guessing you’ll be ok.

[BenFenner]

I'm with you folks. 40 ft·lbs does seem quite excessive now that I know what spec is called for.
However, I too find it easy to feel when the crush washer is finished, and then give it a snug after that. I'd guess that is around 18 ft·lbs as is called for. However, that caused the minor rod-knock-like noises to develop on this car. It went away immediately after tightening the plugs.

Like I said, maybe 35 ft·lbs or a bit less would be a better option. However I was confident the aluminum heads would be okay since Nissan calls for that torque spec on their SR20 engines.

As always, YMMV.

[BenFenner]

Pics with SUV | Album

I regret not getting enough group pics with my previous cars, so here are some I got of the two, shifty 5-doors.
It's a whole ordeal to get them in the same place for pics, so this won't happen again any time soon.

[BenFenner]

Pics with Coupe and SUV | Album

18 inline cylinders, 9 pedals, 8 driven wheels, 3 German money pits.

[BenFenner]

Highway drive back from Charlotte, NC | Album

My wife and I were picking up the clown shoe from an emergency alternator replacement:
BenFenner's 2000 Black M-Coupe | Pick up from alternator replacement at EuroEnvy

On the drive back I tried to get another decent roller (while also driving). Not sure if I succeeded. Certainly not as good as past photos, but at least these have the new wheels in them. Check the album for a few more, but this is the best one.

[CoralRed]

Glad I stumbled into this thread! You’ve got my twin!! Only differences I see are you’ve got the cold weather and premium packages and I’ve got the logic 7 stereo. I bought mine back in May with 125,000 miles. The plan is to n54 swap it.

Here’s a link to when it sold on BaT back in 2017: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2008-bmw-328-2/

[BenFenner]

Oh wow, that's crazy. I didn't know another manual/RWD white over terra even existed. That interior really does just make it so special.

It's interesting to see the sale price of yours back in 2017. By my estimation these should be much more valuable these days, even with a bunch more miles on them.

I hope you're still enjoying it as much as we are.

Cheers, and sorry for the late reply.

[BenFenner]

Recharge air conditioning refrigerant | Album

The air conditioning on the wagon was blowing cool from one side of the vents but got warmer across them so we took it to get the refrigerant recharged add some dye to it to help find any leaks. Thus begins the A/C saga for the wagon. No pics of the recharge in progress, just dropping the car off early in the morning. I must have lost the receipt, but this will keep happening and I know what it costs from that.


Supplies:
~$100.00 | Air conditioning refrigerant | Midlands Motorworks


Pics:

[BenFenner]

Adjust parking brake | Album

The parking brake could use some adjustment, and so I finally got around to tightening it up.
While I was in there I inspected the rear pad life and noticed we could use some new rear brake pads at the least. Presumably that will be next up.

Pics: