[Courtathor]

Managed to replace the pesky selector shaft seal on the gearbox. Thought "whilst I was in there" refreshing the shift linkage it was a good idea. Turns out it was a bit oilier than expected. Not 100% sure it's this seal, but thought I could quickly swap it out. 3 hours and a lot of right angled pick action later.....

 

[waldorf]

Today new ignition coils. One was dead suddenly, and one did not
look very healthy. Ordered Bosch this time, hopefully they last longer than Delphi, 2 ½ year is too short.
Bosch was the initial oem supplier, I think the changes to other suppliers was only a price matter and not a quality thing.

 

[Courtathor]

Managed to replace the clutch line with a braided one which is longer than the OEM as it removes the CDV as well. Bleeding this was an absolute pain as I struggled to get the new line in and lost a lot of fluid. Pressure bleeder worked well for flushing through the line (make sure the reservoir is above max as the clutch partition is very high), but really the best way to do it is to disconnect the slave cylinder, rotate it so the bleed nipple is at the top, then pressure bleed it. After that you need to remove the pressure bleeder, and manually compress the slave whilst opening the bleeder to remove the remaining air from there..

Changed out the OEM hard line too, as for some reason it had quite a lot of corrosion building up under the surface. It isn't rubbing on anything, but I guess it's just years of salty roads taking their toll.

Also replaced the gearbox oil (again) as I wasn't happy with the Castrol 75W that I put in almost two years ago. Swapped that out to Motul DCTF oil, which seems to work really well so far. No more 1-2 notch/crunch when cold, and silky smooth when hot too.

With this plus the linkage rebuild above, it's changing gear so much better than before. Unfortunately coming from an MX5 it's still not as good as that, but for a BMW it feels really nice.

 

[incredirog]

brand spanking new fuel filler pot fitted today, and I’ve made a huge parts list for the summer when I refurb the rear subframe

 

[waldorf]

Did a flush on the power steering of the X1. It behaved strange when cornering, the counterforce in the steering wheel increased or decreased every now and then for a very short period of time (hard to explain the feeling). So first option was to refresh the fluid. I did this 120000 km ago also, so it was refreshed during my ownership. It is an easy job, buy 2 liters of CHF11 S (Fluid C of Eurol in my case), start the engine, let it idle, take a big syringe, suck out the oil from the reservoir, leave the level about 5mm above the white disc inside the reservoir, fill it with fresh oil, rotate the wheels from one end to the other, suck out the oil, put in new, rotate the steering wheel again, continue until you have used the 2 liters of oil. after about 1.5 liters the oil came out clear and looking new.
After this the steering behavior was back to normal again So I am happy that I do not need the replace the whole steering rack.

 

[pem10]

For the first time in months it had a wash and a layer of wax

 

[N/A]

Restored the headlight lenses. 600 - 3000 grit on a drill then Meg's Ultimate Compound.
Tried starting at 1000 first but no, that wasn't cutting it.
Satisfying though.

Pre:

Post:

Going to attempt to ppf cover them, another day.

 

[Nyxeris]

Can't go anywhere thanks to the 'rona so I nicked @pem10's idea and gave the car a tart up.

 

[waldorf]

I noticed a loud rumble after about 10-15 mins drive, after a few minutes it disappeared again. I thought it was the tarmac, but the afternoon it was the same noise at a different road, also after 10-15 mins. At home I touched the wheels, left-rear was hotter than the others. For some reason the brake was dragging, cleaned it, greased it, and looks fine again.
.Never expected this behavior caused by the brakes.
It also explains the increase of fuel consumption the last weeks.

 

[nivens]

I noticed a loud rumble after about 10-15 mins drive, after a few minutes it disappeared again. I thought it was the tarmac, but the afternoon it was the same noise at a different road, also after 10-15 mins. At home I felt the wheels, left-rear was hotter than the others. For some reason the brake was dragging, cleaned it, greased it, and looks fine again.
.Never expected this behavior caused by the brakes.
It also explains the increase of fuel consumption the last weeks.

You might as well order yourself replacement calipers now, cleaning them up never seems to last long once they start sticking

 

[waldorf]

The plunger (is this the correct term?) was easy to push back in by hand. I suspect the guide pins, there was no grease left on them.

 

[nivens]

I don't think the pins get greased from the factory anyway, hopefully it was just some gunk build up on the pins causing it. I had the pistons seize up on mine one by one over the course of a year and it seems to be pretty common as they get older.

 

[Courtathor]

OFHG was leaking and creating quite a bit of mess. I assumed this had been done as there was an invoice for the valve cover gasket and oil cooler gasket in 2018, but judging by the state of the housing gasket I think that one must've been skipped. Original did well I guess to last 14 years and 90k.

Replaced both cooler and housing gaskets with new BMW ones, most of the bolts, added the missing plastic cooler cover (strangely the car had normal torx bolts rather than the ones with the mounts for the cooler cover) and a couple of o-rings whilst I was there. Mickey mouse flange felt absolutely fine with no signs of deterioration like most people experience. Perhaps the quality of the part increased later in the N52's lifecycle.

Also replaced the tensioner and belt as I wasn't 100% if oil had been dripping onto them over time. Was also a good way to learn that the coolant that's in the car is red at the moment .... Another thing to add to the list. Just VCG and a good scrub down left and fingers crossed it'll be leak free for a few weeks

 

[waldorf]

Gave it a wash this morning, lots of salt and dirt on our roads.
Cleaned the air mass sensor with dedicated cleaner. Them f......rs at bmw used a 5 notch torx screw on the sensor so I could not remove it. I used to have special torx plus bits for my volvo, they used these same screws. I think I notice a more direct throttle response, and a smoother drop back to idle speed.

And I did a test drive in a 125i. Very nice ride, 6 pots,

steering was better, more balanced than mine, but a 2008 with 140000 km and in need of some tlc for €17000 is too much!

 

[waldorf]

Some old fart refused to move to his own lane this morning and he smashed my wing mirror. His was broken too, but it looked like he didn’t even realise it. My mirror looked fine only the glass was gone. I think it disappeared in one of the muddy streams aside the road. Didn’t find it.
Luckily I found a used pair of mirrors just 8 km from my home.
Putting on the glass is 2 seconds of work, but then I realised the up/down didn’t work. A small part in the motor was broken, so I put in the left side donor motor (it was the left side). For some reason all directions didn’t correspond with the arrows on the switch 🤔
So I put in the right side motor and it worked fine again. So after all I was glad I bought a set of mirrors.

And I did a test drive in a 2014 F31 with the famous N13 engine. Not a really fast car but fast enough for daily use. So I am now finding the pros and cons of this engine.

 

[CalvinNismo]

And I did a test drive in a 125i.
View attachment 21693

This 125i looks very similar to my partner’s when we got it! €17,000 is definitely strong money though! I really like the N52 in the E88, I think it suits it well.

 

[waldorf]

After 12000 km is was time for fresh oil. Used eurol 5w30 ful synth this time. I like the bosch filters, they supply new o rings with it and a copper washer for the drain plug.
I was not convinced that the air mass sensor was cleaned well the last time so I took it out (with my freshly received 5-star torx bits set) and was able to thouroughly clean it. I used the cleaner on the picture, some say brake cleaner is also fine. The rubber support under the air filter house dropped and disappeared under the engine.... damn! So I needed to take off the lower engine guard (19 screws !! ) to retrieve it. It is now glued in place!

And I did a (short) test drive in a 2017 118i. This has a B38 with 8 speed zf auto box. Handing and steering was very good, impressed with that, but engine and auto box was disappointing. That’s why it was a short test drive.
The 136 bhp is not enough for this car. It feels slow, the engine needs to rev high, it sounds like a disabled persons vehicle, the auto box has a life on its own.... So the B38 is a no-go for me. Maybe a chipped one with manual box is OK-ish, but this three pot also did not convince me, just like the renault, citroen, ford and opel didn’t.