[uucdigest] Wednesday, July 4 2001 Volume 03 : Number 3969 _________________________________________________________________ | | Search the ARCHIVES: | http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] | | Visit Richard Nott's Ultimate BMW Database: | http://www.gis.nsw.gov.au/staff/rnott/bmw/bmw.html | | For all available Digest commands including unsubscribe/subscribe, | visit the BMW UUC Digest page: http://www.uucdigest.com | | Send SUBMISSIONS to [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Complaints? Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you must. | Technical Problems? Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |__________________________________________________________________ In this BMW UUC Digest: [uuc] Euro Ellipsoids For Sale ["Chris Marino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] [uuc] WTB 95 m3 stock springs and airbox [Jason Briedis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]] [uuc] re: <e30> obc light replacement ["Brett Anderson" <brett@koalamotor] Re: [uuc] <E36> 1995 M3 Water Pump Catastrophe [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] [uuc] BMW X5 Lease, was 3.0 or 4.4? ["Andrew Leong" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Re: [uuc] <e30> obc light replacement ["Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Re: [uuc] <E30> Half shaft separation ["Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Re: [uuc] 87 535is auto flush ["Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] Re: [uuc] E36 AC problem and transmission noise ["Gary Derian" <gderian@a] [uuc] M6 photos and comment solicitation [Tom Walrod <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] Re: [uuc] Tarted-up m6 ["James Moran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 08:49:30 -0700 From: "Chris Marino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Euro Ellipsoids For Sale Best of both worlds: Complete left and right headlight set with Euro (low beam) ellipsoids and US high beams. From my 89 M3 but will fit all E30 from 83-92. $285 + shipping or will trade for cash plus parts needed: Euro (M3) airbox, center arm rest, gauge cluster...PICTURES AVAILABLE. Chris 89 M3 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jul 2001 08:51:41 MST From: Jason Briedis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] WTB 95 m3 stock springs and airbox I am looking for some stock 95 m3 parts: Stock Springs front and rear. Stock Airbox. Stock 17x7.5 rims all 4 in good condition/ Email me privately with parts and prices. I am in Arizona so they will probably need to be shipped. - -Jason ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:09:32 -0400 From: "Brett Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] re: <e30> obc light replacement > > From: John Bolhuis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: [uuc] Re: <e30> obc light replacement You can do one of the following; A. Go through 17 steps and a lot of fiddly, uneeded work, like John says, or B. Go to http://www.koalamotorsport.com/tech/E30.backlight.html , yes, I know it's a poor description, I wrote it about 5 years ago, and perform 11 of the steps John lists, including all the beer and fun ones. There is no need to move the dash plate more than 1.5 inches or so, there's no need to undo the heater controls, just snip the plastic out of your way and pull the light bar out. - --------------------------- Now offering BMW special tool rental and pay per incident tech help. - --------------------------- Brett Anderson www.koalamotorsport.com Home of the E30 M3 CD-ROM repair manual > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:21:14 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [uuc] <E36> 1995 M3 Water Pump Catastrophe I hate to be the bearer of bad news but BMW continues to use the plastic impeller pump. Pull out a pump from a '97/'98 328i/528i and you'll see it's still plastic. Has anyone ever seen a metal impeller pump come out of a first time replacement? Here's the best news, I was reading BMW 2001 Fast Facts book. It describes all of the 2001 BMW's features. Under the E46 M3 section, it says the cars uses a high tech water pump with a plastic impeller. As far as replacement parts is concerned for the E36. Besides the radiator, replace the water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing and gaskets. Stephen '94 530iT '02 Cooper S waiting list ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:40:39 -0400 From: "Andrew Leong" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] BMW X5 Lease, was 3.0 or 4.4? Chris: Where are you located? The lease terms you provided seem high. Here is something pulled from this past Sunday's paper. Keep in mind this is an advertised special (been running for several weeks already) and that a customer may be able to negotiate a better deal. X5 with a 4.4 Liter engine: $659 per month for a 36 month lease. This is based on a MSRP of $52,520.00 and a security deposit of $700.00 (REFundable). Cap cost reduction is $3K. This is for 10K miles per year. I'm not sure how much $$ to increase to 15K per year, but when I leased my car, the jump from 10K to 12K was less than $13. per month (I seem to recall another jump of $30 to 15K miles per year). The purchase at end of lease is $32,562.00. Ad lists the car as having: Moonroof, Activity package, privacy glass & auto dimming mirror. Even loaded 540 Tourings with premium packages can be leased at under $600 per month with only $3K cap cost. I haven't had chance to do the hard numbers & calculations (total payments, etc.), but I think your dealer is being a bit aggressive with you. Good luck in your quest, Regards, Drew Chris Marino wrote: > I'm leaning towards a three year lease on a 3.0 X5-loaded. Below are the terms > and conditions I've gotten so far. > > $585/month for 36 months, 15,000 mles/year with $9k down and a $22k purchase > buy-out with .10 cents/mile overage. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 11:02:46 -0400 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] <e30> obc light replacement When I did mine, I removed two mounting screws from the right side of the OBC, I could then move it enough to remove the light bar behind the display. No hacking necessary. I used needle nose pliers to remove the screws. Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > John: > > Care to detail the procedure? I'd like to do this on > my 88 iS. I know there is a kind of 'fence' there > when you take loose the console. Are you suggesting > you cut through this? > > Is the exact wavelenght 509 nM? I'll have to check > for that very carefully when I get my LEDs! > > Thanks! > > Neil Deshpande > http://www.neilwerke.com > > *** > > John Bolhuis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Before attacking my burnt out lights in my OBC, I > searched for solutions with Google. The best, and > most direct were of course from Brett A. > Hack-hack-hacking at the black plastic there with wire > nippers was something that I probably wouldn't have > thought to do on my own. > > I had a couple red LEDs soldered in there in place of > the light bulbs in just a few minutes. Results? Just > peachy. The LEDs are dimmable with the dash control, > which was better than I expected. And as my friend > was fond of saying, "LEDs have no intrinsic failure > mechanism!" > > The exact wavelength of light projected may be a few > nm off from standard, but if you're riding in my car > and you mention that, I'll probably leave you by the > side of the road to hitchhike for a ride in a "real" BMW. > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail > http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 11:08:59 -0400 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] <E30> Half shaft separation When perfectly tight, there is no tendency to loosen on one side, but if loose, the wobble action of a wheel will quickly unscrew the lug bolts on the left side, and keep them on, on the right side.. Chryslers up to 1970 had left hand threads on the left side wheels. Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > KC: > > Due to the handedness of the bolt and the rotation of > the shaft being differently related on the two sides > the driver's side will have a greater tendency to come > off than the passenger side. Unless you drive > primarily in reverse, that is, in which case the other > side will come off instead! Use Loctite or, if you're > like Bob Goppold, safety wire the bolt heads. > > Someone mentioned that some Chrysler car actually had > left handed-bolts on the driver's side to prevent > this. > > Some strange vibration, KC? You call that a theory! > LOL! > > Neil Deshpande > http://www.neilwerke.com > > P.S. I like your quoted sound effects, BTW! > > *** > > "K.C. Boyce" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > A curious thing happened to me last night. Driving > down the road, I heard a loud "clunk", followed by the > sound of something dragging underneath my car. I > pulled off to the side of the road, but didn't > initially find anything dragging. > > Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the driver's > side half shaft had completely separated from the > differential output flange. All of the bolts appeared > to be there (and they were, as I discovered today). > > Now, the weird thing is that everything was in good > condition. The bolts hadn't sheared at all, nor did > anything look amiss. I bolted it all up today, and it > seems to be in good working order. > > Does anyone have any theories as to why this happened? > I replaced my diff. about a year ago, but I torqued > all the bolts to spec (Geoff Patterson can back me up > on this, right, Geoff?). Additionally, the > passenger side half shaft is as snug as ever. > > The closest I can come to figuring it, there was some > sort of strange vibration that caused all the bolts to > slowly back out. But whence came this vibration? > > I'll entertain any theories y'all might have, > realistic or otherwise... > :-) > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail > http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 11:13:05 -0400 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] 87 535is auto flush My opinion is synthetic trans fluid is not worth the money. Use regular ATF and change it often, say every year. The filter does not need to be changed every time, just every 60K miles or so. Therefore the trans oil change is fast and easy. Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Joe asked: > > >I wanna flush my transmission (1987 535is automatic) with synthetic so it's > >all synthetic in it. > > > >How many qts do I need to do it? > > > >Joe > > Joe - looked it up on the TIS for the '89 535iA (different body > but the same ZF trans..) > > Capacity dry fill: 8.8 litres > Capacity oil change: 3.0 litres > > You get considerably less than 1/2 changed without full disassembly > and draining.. > > You'll have to do the litres to quarts yourself.. :-) > > Don Eilenberger, Spring Lk Hts, NJ JMP#1 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > NJ Shore BMW Riders web page: http://www.njsbmwr.org/ > Moderator BMW E39 Enthusiast Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bmwe39 > ==================================================================== > "Parking lots are not an appropriate place.." > ==================================================================== > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 11:15:17 -0400 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] E36 AC problem and transmission noise If stops cooling means no air flow, even though the fan is running, the evaporator is icing up. Try using recirc to minimize moisture load on the evaporator. The real fix is to replace the expansion valve. Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Group: > > My 92 E36 (M50) has some intermittent problems I'd like to get fixed, and I'm > coming up on the expiration of my extended warranty. I've talked to the > dealer about them before, but Murphy's law prevails here (anything you > complain to a repairman about that's intermittent will not occur during the > evaluation). > > 1st problem is my AC sometimes during long highway drives (usually only > happens after about an hour or so) starts blowing what appears to be a fog > from the air vents and then stops cooling completely. If I turn off the AC > and wait about 10 or 15 minutes and then turn it back on again, sometimes > it's fine, other times it works OK for about 10 more minutes, then starts > with the fog again. The dealer had a hunch it is a bad switch (can't > remember the exact part) but won't fix it unless they can duplicate the > problem. > > 2nd problem is the slushbox tranny makes a "chattering" noise. The dealer > hasn't been able to duplicate this noise either. My independent mechanic has > found where it's coming from by the old "screwdriver to the ear as a > stethoscope" trick. He thinks it's a pump starving for fluid, but isn't > sure. He won't work on it under the extended warranty as he's by himself and > doesn't have time to spend hours on the phone with the bureaucrats at the > warranty company trying to justify replacing a part. > > The second one concerns me more than the first, but both could be expensive > and that's why I need to take full advantage of the warranty before > expiration. Both the tranny and the AC are covered by the warranty. > > Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. > > TIA > > Phil > 92 E36/M50 > Approaching 75K miles which is end of warranty ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 10:32:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Walrod <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] M6 photos and comment solicitation OK, here's a bunch of shots I took of an '87 635M car. Damned hussy! Dressed in red - shameless siren! Talk me out of owning this car - or make me feel bad for not owning it. Whole car shots are more to the end of the series... Thanks http://home.earthlink.net/~skyouell/bimmer/ == Oregon Tom "-Warranty void if item fails for any reason whatsoever-" _____________________________________________________________ Free email, web pages, news, entertainment, weather and MORE! Check out -------------------------------> http://wowmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 14:03:38 -0400 From: "James Moran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Tarted-up m6 Tom, If you think "German Camaro" when you see an M6 you don't want one. If you think "Iron fist in a velvet glove" you're a candidate. The European specification ones (M635CSi vs. the US spec. M6) have 30 more horespower (stock) and less weight than the US M6. The issues for the car are the same as for your 533i since they are based on the same chassis. Here is my standard "what to look out for buying an M6" post. >From about 7/83 on, the 6 Series shares many of its parts with the E28 5 Series and US specification M6's share the same engine as US specification '88 M5's, so lots of information for the 5 Series is applicable to the 6'er. There are two mailing lists, complete with archives, that I can point you to: Mformation, for M88/S38 powered cars (M5, M6, M635CSi, M1): http://www.bimmers.com/m5m6 The Big Coupe Groupe for 6 Series cars: http://web2.airmail.net/grills/b_c_g_FAQ/b_c_g_FAQ.html Now, on with the details: Remember these cars are somewhat exotic, so they have somewhat higher maintenance costs and the M specific parts can be quite expensive (like $200+ for plug wires), but they aren't hideously expensive to own. However, compared to the average Honda, or even newer BMW, they are admittedly more expensive (like 24 valves to check for clearance in an Inspection II). One area to check is insurance rates. These can be steep. Some specifics: 1. Front end shimmy. Endemic to E28 5 Series cars and post '83 E24 6 Series cars, the usual culprit is the brake thrust arm bushings. But then you know about this. 2. Rear self-leveling - The US M6 came with rear hydraulic self-leveling suspension. While I haven't had a problem (knock wood), others have. The shocks, control unit, and pump are very expensive. However, the usual problem with a bad system is the accumulators. They run about $150 each. Another common fix is to convert to standard 635CSi shocks and springs. Many people do this as a performance upgrade as well. If you don't worship the altar of originality, the conversion could be seen as adding value to the car. 3. A/C - The US M6 came with dual-zone air conditioning. People have had various problems with the rear expansion valve or evaporator. One fix is to isolate the rear system and just rely on the front. A/C parts are NOT cheap. 4. TRX Tires (Tyres) - These cars came with special metric sized Michelin TRX tires. You can only purchase TRX tires to fit the stock wheels. These tires are old technology and expensive ($190+ each) and increasingly rare. Many people have converted to standard inch size wheels. Again, an upgrade may be worth more than stock. Michelin recently released the TRX GT, which comes in metric sizes and has a more modern tread compound and design. However, I still prefer the variety available in standard size tires 5. Rear Subframe Bushings - Also a common malady for E28 and post-'83 E24 cars, the rear subframe mounting bushings wear out resulting in a slight "weaving" when cornering hard. When up on the lift, prying under the subframe near these mounting bushings should result in a stiff, springy feel. If the subframe just lifts, they are likely worn. 6. Steering Box Mount - There is a hat-shaped mount on the front subframe that supports the inboard end of the steering box and counters its torque. This can tear away resulting in funny steering (the wheel is cocked one way after turning to the left, then cocked the other way when turning to the right). Not the easiest fix (involves supporting the engine while the subframe is out being fixed), but it can be done by an experienced DIYer. 7. Head Rests Inoperable - Commonly broken, a very simple fix. Adding a short piece of wire hangar to the actuator motor drive ensures the drive cable doesn't slip out of position. 8. Other - The car is 10 years old. Rubber seals start to harden and crack (the intake boots on the throttle body and between the AFM and the plenum result in air leaks and rough idle), rubber bushings wear out (sloppy gear shifter, motor mounts), the leather seats get worn, relays stick (the main and fuel pump relay should probably be replaced), stuff wears out (fuel transfer pump, (in-tank) resulting in a stutter coming out of turns on hard acceleration) etc. Rust? Quite possibly; check rocker panels, inner fenders, shock towers, front fenders. I hope this hasn't scared you off these cars. Mine has been very reliable (knock wood) and I love it. Jim Moran '88 M6 - -----Original Message----- From: Tom Walrod <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sorry for the subject, but chrome on the interior door frames? rear seat air conditioning? only two doors? What was BMW thinking? > >OK, now that you are cranked up, could some of you enlighten me as to the true virtues and damnable faults of '87 635M cars? I'm seeing separate intake runners and a more distinct header system than on my not-so-faithfull 533i - the car squats lower on it's premium grade (ahem) TRXs so I suspect some suspension differences - or is it just that the car is carrying a bunch more weight? (5-600#?) Enlighten me folks - performance and comfort comments, common $$$$ mileages, fuel economy, anything you feel driven to say would be appreciated. > >Many thanks >(in the small pleasures department: got some pork posole to go for breakfast tomorrow from a vendor down in our park tonight - mmmm - reminds me of New Mexico!) > >== >Oregon Tom > >"-Warranty void if item fails for any reason whatsoever-" ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #3969 *************************** ________________________________________ | Please visit these UUC-approved BMW parts vendors/service providers: | (listed alphabetically) | Camptown Automotive - http://www.camptownauto.com | Circle Tire Co. (used & classic BMW parts) e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Detailwerks Chicago Inc. "Chicago's Premier Automotive Appearance | Center" . http://www.detailwerkschicago.com |==================================================== | Koala MotorSport . BMW technical information, special tool sales/rental | http://www.koalamotorsport.com |==================================================== | Taylor BMW - http://www.taylorbmw.com - Doc Bimmer! | UUC Motorwerks . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com |__________________________________________
