The BMW UUC Digest Volume 1 : Issue 48 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? Re: intermittent shimmy (even) with new tires? Re: intermittent shimmy (even) with new tires? Re: old springs? BMW Bicycle Lift Question (partially OT) Ok, it wasn't a zebra (I think) Admin: Change in list configuration. Latest Experience Getting the Radio Code from the Dealer <FS> E30 M3 Evo 16" wheels
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2003 23:48:43 -0500 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Scott & Charlotte Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Bora Akyol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "UUC Digest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Oxygenated gasoline reduces emissions only in pre 3 way catalyst (1981) cars. It was introduced for that purpose only. Gary Derian > > All 76 stations have ethanol gas. > > The funny thing is that we (as in state of CA) can actually meet the > emissions requirements > without any oxygenates in the gasoline. > > But Federal Government insists on the oxygenates to the severe pressure > from the Midwestern corn farmers. Ethanol is made from corn. > Oxygenated gas actually results in more green house gas emissions due > to the lower fuel economy with oxygenates. > > Bora ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 18:39:21 -0800 From: "Scott & Charlotte Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Bora Akyol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "UUC Digest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Interesting, but for those cars, how much does it really reduce emissions? I still feel that most of the state-run smog programs are intended to help politicians get votes from environmental groups more than they are to actually reduce smog. Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Scott & Charlotte Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bora Akyol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "UUC Digest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2003 8:48 PM Subject: Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? > Oxygenated gasoline reduces emissions only in pre 3 way catalyst (1981) > cars. It was introduced for that purpose only. > > Gary Derian > > > > All 76 stations have ethanol gas. > > > > The funny thing is that we (as in state of CA) can actually meet the > > emissions requirements > > without any oxygenates in the gasoline. > > > > But Federal Government insists on the oxygenates to the severe pressure > > from the Midwestern corn farmers. Ethanol is made from corn. > > Oxygenated gas actually results in more green house gas emissions due > > to the lower fuel economy with oxygenates. > > > > Bora > > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 22:38:46 -0500 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Does Shell Gas contain ethanol? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Studies have shown that it does. Remember those old cars for the most part are tuned to run lean and the catalysts can only oxidize. Adding oxygenates to the fuel makes them run leaner and improves the catalyst action. Any post 1981vehicle (1980 for CA) which all have a 3 way cat merely uses more fuel to remain at stochiometric. Gary Derian > > Interesting, but for those cars, how much does it really reduce emissions? > I still feel that most of the state-run smog programs are intended to help > politicians get votes from environmental groups more than they are to > actually reduce smog. > > Scott > > > > Oxygenated gasoline reduces emissions only in pre 3 way catalyst (1981) > > cars. It was introduced for that purpose only. > > > > Gary Derian ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 10:14:05 -0500 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "David" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Herman Chan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: intermittent shimmy (even) with new tires? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Exactly, the hard and soft spots cause a radial force variation that cannot be balanced out. Except the side to side variation is usually balance, but a lumpy tire, with lumps in the sidewall can do the same thing. In order to have properly match mounted tires, I have to do it myself. 99% of tire jockeys put the tire mark at the valve stem. That only works for new steel rims. Gary Derian > > > Also I have found out of round tires, tires that have stiff and soft areas, > etc. See if you can borrow a set of known good wheels/tires and see if it > goes away. > > David > > > Sounds like a dynamic imbalance. The front tires try to shake side to side. > When they are in phase, they add together and you feel it. When the shakes > are opposite, they cancel in the steering rack and you don't feel it. > > One thing I always do when fitting new tires is to measure the wheel runout, > then mount the tires so the harmonic mark is at the low spot of the wheel > runout. > > Gary Derian > > > > > I just had a set of new BS RE750 tires installed on my E36 coupe, but > > something doesn't seem right. > > > > Despite repeated attempts at rebalancing by two different shops (in > > the same chain), they can't seem to get rid of a slight shimmy in the > > steering wheel at highway speeds, particularly in the 65-75 sweet > > spot. Slower or faster is no problem, and I think I've isolated it > > to one pair of tires by rotating front to back. This shop doesn't > > use the GSP9700 balancing machines, so they can't take road force > > measurements. > > > > All front suspension parts, aside from tie rods, are relatively > > fresh. There weren't any problems with the old tires that were just > > replaced; the only variable that has changed is the tires. > > > > What I can't figure out is why the shimmy seems to come and go. It > > may be fine on one stretch of road, but throw in a few turns, and it > > comes back strongest in mid bend, the goes away again, maybe as the > > phase of the wheels change. Or perhaps old tie rods are amplifying a > > slight balance problem? How much vibration is officially/typically > > acceptable anyway? > > > > Any suggestions? I can probably make use of the 30 day satisfaction > > guarantee, but I'm otherwise happy with the tires so far. > > > > Herman > > __________________________________________________________________________ > > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > > > > > __________________________________________________________________________ > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > > __________________________________________________________________________ > In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. > > UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate > Short Shifter - accept no substitutes! > 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 21:15:18 -0800 From: Herman Chan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, David <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: intermittent shimmy (even) with new tires? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At 8:17 PM -0500 12/4/03, David wrote: > > Also I have found out of round tires, tires that have stiff and soft >areas, > > etc. See if you can borrow a set of known good wheels/tires and see if it > > goes away. At 10:14 AM -0500 12/7/03, Gary Derian responded: >Exactly, the hard and soft spots cause a radial force variation that cannot >be balanced out. Except the side to side variation is usually balance, but >a lumpy tire, with lumps in the sidewall can do the same thing. > >In order to have properly match mounted tires, I have to do it myself. 99% >of tire jockeys put the tire mark at the valve stem. That only works for >new steel rims. This had been a headache, but yet another opportunity to learn more about another subject than I ever cared to prior to this experience. Thanks to Karl, Mario, Gary, Kit, David and Robert for their input. At this point, since the pair of tires in question have been through four(!) balance/weight configurations, I'm going to assume it's not a balance problem but rather a force variation problem. After all, a cube can be spun balanced, but it still won't give a very good ride. The tire shop has offered to replace the pair of tires, and I'm going to ask that they match mount the new tires according to the yellow dot (lightest spot), after determining the wheels' heavy spots by spinning the bare wheels on their balancer instead of automatically matching the yellow dot to the the valve stem. My understanding is that some tires have a red dot to mark the maximum force spot/high spot, and that these marks take priority over the yellow dots, but these Bridgestones have only the yellow marking. The only thing I don't know with regard to either dot is whether they apply to both 'sides' of the tire, since they markings are only applied to one sidewall; so what to do with a unidirectional tire? If the problem persists after following this procedure with the new tires, then at least I'll know that it's probably a runout problem, so then I can have measurements taken by somebody with the proper equipment and take action as needed. An advanced machine such as the Hunter 9700 could have taken much of the guesswork out of this whole process; they are expensive, but this shop lacks even a simple dial gauge to take runout measurements. I guess for their business, the cost of excess guesswork labor on problem jobs is less than the cost of investing in modern equipment that can quickly diagnose problems. They could also have taken greater care in match mounting the tires in the first place, but as Gary points out, the only way to ensure that a job is done properly these days is to do it yourself. To their credit, the shop folks have been very gracious and accommodating during this process, but I wish I could have avoided this entire saga in the first place. Herman ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 09:53:25 -0500 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "David A. Leonard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: old springs? Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> You are correct, if the springs have not sagged, use them. Gary Derian > Hi Gary, > > I am just replacing a set of Bilstein struts, hopefully under > warranty. The car has 255k miles, the struts 150k, so we'll see how good > the 'lifetime warranty' is. They just don't damp like they usta, though > they don't leak. > > > The tech there suggested replacing the springs, as they could be worn out. > > My thought was that as long as the ride height was not sagging, and was > where I wanted it, the springs don't lose their spring rate, and don't > wear out. > > Am I correct? Do springs wear out? > > I'd like to figure this out before I pull the struts apart. > > Thanks, David > > 88 735i > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 13:43:16 -0700 From: "Murray Wilks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: BMW Bicycle Lift Question (partially OT) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I have the bicycle lift/rack that BMW sells retail. It mounts on the standard BMW Profil roof rack. I note that the same lift system is sold by Volvo, VW and Honda, (i.e it can be mounted on their roof racks) but can't find any mention of this lift system for Mercedes anywhere on the web... My question is: "does anyone familiar with this product know whethere there is a method of mounting this bicycle lift onto a Mercedes roof rack?" Sorry if this is somewhat OT... Murray '97 318i _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcomm&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 18:41:03 -0500 (EST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (bmw list) Subject: Ok, it wasn't a zebra (I think) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> In my on going saga of my '87 325i that likes to stall on occasion I have finally been able to brave the weather (snow, lots of snow) and the flu (ick) and run some better tests. Symptom: Car stumbles and dies as if it ran out of gas. On attempted restart it will sometimes catch once, but otherwise it just cranks and cranks. If you leave it alone for a while it will start right up. Then it runs fine until next time. One time when this happened, I was able to induce another almost start by cycling the ignition key from off to run several times and then going for a start. After I let it roll down the hill and into a parking lot it started right up. Idea number 1-- Crusty relays: I replaced the main and fuel pump relays as they were, um, really nasty looking. They were relatively cheap and ruled out that data point. No change e.g it did it again with new bits. Idea number 2-- The pumps are running right? I bypassed the fuel pump relay and could hear the pump(s?) running. I pulled the rear seat and thought I could hear the transfer pump running too. I did note some corrosion on one of the transfer pump blades. I cleaned that up. Assuming that the pumps were good, I began to entertain more exotic problems. C191 comes to mind. I don't have that problem because my car (build date 1/87) doesn't have a C191. Figures... add that to my list of wiring and other equipment strangeness on this car. Start cobbling together a fuel pressure tester... Today after the snow let up I decided to go try something else. I started the car and pulled the plug on the transfer pump. No change. Kept right on running. Darn. Turn off car, bypass fuel pump, go listen to transfer pump. Unplug, plug, unplug, plug, I don't hear any change in the sound... check for 12v at pump. Got it. Must be a bad pump. Take resistance measurement, 50 ohms. Wait a minute, 50 ohms would give a draw of 250ma. Seems kind of low for a pump. But this is all academic. Is it running? So I drag out a 12v battery, pull the plug on the transfer pump and run it off my extra battery. It goes, but there is no way that you could ever hear it over the other pump or a running engine. Gee, look it pulls about 100ma... neat. Then it stopped. Must have a bad connection. Nope, stopped. No draw, nothing. Try reversing polarity, nope, nothing... try the right way again. Still nothing. Maybe it is back pressure. Go start car. Turn it off. Try the test again. Now it runs and stops again and starts again, and the current shoots up to 250 ma and it stops. Then starts again and the current drops back to 100ma. Sounds like I have a very weak/dead pump. Does anyone know what kind of pump is in there? Are these positive displacement (like the oil pump) or some sort of impeller (windshield washer pump)? Conjecture: The transfer pump is a small positive displacement pump. In a simple non-powered state (bad wire or bad motor) the main pump is able to create sufficient suction so as to drive the free wheeling PD mechanisim and still have fuel flow. In a mechanical failure of the motor or PD mechanisim leading to a locked state, the main pump can not drag fuel through the pump and the fuel pressure will fall, leading to a stalled engine. The engine will not then restart until the jammed mechanisim is cleared either through a) mechanical vibration (the big whack theory) or b) the pressure bleeds off enough for gravity to shift the mechanisim enough to clear it. It appears from the fluctuations in the current draw and the corresponding functioning/nonfunctioning of the pump that this may be the case. This also accounts for the seemingly odd condition of a bad transfer pump causing stalling without affecting normal driving. -- Joe -- Joseph M. Krzeszewski Network Operations [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jack of All Trades, Master of None... Yet ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 23:21:43 -0500 From: UUC Admin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Admin: Change in list configuration. Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> All, I've altered the list configuration to default the Reply-To field to [EMAIL PROTECTED] as opposed to the original sender. A few members have indicated that they feel we are missing out on valuable list traffic due to this setting. Based upon the greatly reduced posting volume since that change occurred, I'm inclined to agree. Nothing is ever set in stone, and if this new setting does not work out, we can always change it back. Give the list a few days to settle into the new config, and then let me know if you see the change as a positive one. Regards, Michael K Donohue System Administrator UUC Digest http://www.uucdigest.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 22:45:59 -0800 From: "Scott & Charlotte Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "E30 Yahoo Group" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "UUC Digest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Latest Experience Getting the Radio Code from the Dealer Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I went Saturday morning to Concord (CA) BMW to order a valet key and get the radio code for our recently acquired '91 325iA. I have the factory radio tool for the security screws. Once I was sitting in the dealer's parking lot, I started to remove the radio. The tool did not easily engage the screw on the right side of the radio. It was still working until the screw bound up. Then, as I continued to turn the tool, it ground off a fair amount of the brass screw head. So now I'm searching for a replacement screw, which is part of the mounting assembly on the side of the radio. Anyway, once the radio was out, I took it in to the parts department, along with our ownership certificate. I told the parts guy that I wanted to order a valet key and also get the radio code. First he told me that I'd have to put the radio back in the car and drive around to the service entrance to get the code. I politely told him just how silly this was, since I had already done the work to remove the radio, and had proof that I owned the car. For the key, he took a copy of the ownership certificate and also my driver's license. I guess they don't want to give a key to just anyone, which is good. Once that transaction was done, he said he would give me the code without having to go around to the service department. That was very nice of him, and I thanked him for helping me out. I don't think he would have been as accommodating if I didn't order the valet key first. The radio now works, but the used antenna I bought is goofy. There is a delay between powering the radio on or off, and the antenna going up and down. I've seen a typical 5 second delay before going up, and as much as a 20 second delay before going down. This is not particularly consistent either. Very strange behavior. The antenna in my '90 325i goes up or down within a second of powering up or down. Scott Miller GGC BMW CCA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 02:00:08 -0500 From: ben keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: <FS> E30 M3 Evo 16" wheels Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> these are the rather rare factory E30 M3-specific 16" x 7.5" BBS design wheels, with 27mm offset. excellent condition, with center caps. pics & more details at this page : http://members.roadfly.com/m_ben/E30_evo_16s/evo-16-inch.htm $725 obo + actual shipping from 48220 zip. email me with any questions/offers. Ben ------------------------------ End of [bmwuucdigest] digest(11 messages) **********
