MyE28.com

ElJeepo, in celebration of his recent 250,000 mile achievement,
was awarded with fresh oil, along new oil and air filters.

Brought the e23 home for the first time in a few months. I had it at a buddy's house since i've got no space here and it's a safer neighborhood. But now that my garage has enough space to fit, I brought it back (at least for a week or so) to prepare to replace the fan clutch and thermostat. Maybe mess around with some other things while it's here. But damn did I miss seeing it next to the e28...

Installed a new brake cable on my bike.

That's a road rash special if I ever saw one...

It barely left and my Son called about his daughters Escape, check engine light was on. Code of P1305, misfire cylinder 5. I'm thinking coil pack or something more, turned out I think, to just be old spark plugs. I'm guessing original at 205K. Yep, they were pretty worn. Since I was looking for now to just figure out what was going on and make it run well, I just did the 3 easy plugs, not the 3 on the back side you have to take the intake off to get to. Valve cover gasket is leaking too at least on that side. Needs more attention, but for now it's running well. He took it for a test drive and said he knew it was right before he got a block away.

No wonder the Granddaughter says it gets lousy mileage.

Spent way too much of today changing the front struts on my wife's Lexus, and didn't even get the job done. One of the nuts was totally seized on one of the lower strut bolts, and no amount of torque, heat, or impact wrenches could make that bish move. I could get the bolt to spin in the hole, but that nut would not move. At one point I put a combination wrench on one side and a heavy 1/2" Craftsman ratchet with a pipe extension on the other, and bent that wrench into a nice crescent moon shape. Next step is to find a replacement bolt & nut so I can cut that SOB off.

And on the side I actually did get done, that spring... That flippin' spring... It took four spring compressors to squeeze it down far enough to tear the strut down. And then it took three tries to get all the asymmetrical parts lined up properly. What a PITA.

I will never again complain about doing struts on my old BMWs. Never.

Took my E21 on a 40 mile outing just to get out of the house and circulate the fluids. Car has no torque to speak of, but the M10 engine likes to rev.

Took off the fan and fan clutch on my e23. Compared it to my new one, and...I got the wrong one. Idiot. Got the spin on when I have the bolt on. More cooling system work tomorrow.

I drove the wife's Lexus out of town in the dark for the first time in a while on Sunday, and discovered that the high-beams didn't work. No idea how long it's been like that since I hadn't used them in that vehicle since, oh, about Labor Day. Pulled the lamps out to check them when we got home & they were both toast. 65W halogens. Not exactly cheap; ended up paying about $23 each for replacements, and installed them last night. Had to make a Costco run later, and thought to test them as I was approaching the house; my neighbor called me soon after to complain.

Those puppies are bright! The old ones seemed like they worked fine, but they must've been pretty weak; the difference with this new set is startling.

Removed fan, fan clutch, thermostat + housing, water pump on the e23. I also bought the wrong water pump, so it will stay disassembled until I get the correct style. At least I didn't completely waste my money, I can use the parts on my e28 instead.

Also the e39 has developed a nasty fuel/electrical related problem. I may have the master tech look at this one. No space at home, and it's been raining this week.

Searching for the cause of vibration in the exhaust system at idle in my 318ti, discovered that one of the drop links on the rear sway bar had somehow slipped off the upper mount on the chassis. This seems to have put the exhaust pipe just south of the catalytic converter in contact with the cars frame, causing the vibration in the cabin. I had to take the drop link entirely off the car to get it back on. Vibration almost entirely gone. Will keep an eye on the link for awhile. John

Davintosh, thanks for the C.S Lewis quotation; just saw it. John

Moved the E23 into the garage to finish up work on the HVAC system and found an inch of water in the left rear footwell!!! That'll teach me to leave a car out in the Houston weather without a car cover. I guess 2" of rain water will find a way in. Feel free to point me to a good "water intrusion" thread.

Bought new tabs for SAABrina. So sexy I fell asleep to it. Well I guess it IS sexier than an expensive traffic ticket or a potential impound.

I lost a bet to my son, so I had to detail his car today.

After a good polish I used GTechniq Crystal Serum Light (CSL). I'm really loving that stuff.

Botched backing into a guest/unfamiliar driveway this morning. It was BC (before coffee) and a challenging driveway...should have had a spotter. Perhaps strongest railing ever, supporting some 3,000lbs

Chasing a hard start problem on the e38. One out of every two or two out of every three engine starts takes 7-10 seconds of cranking. Not temperature or time-sitting dependent. Engine does not fail to start however. Problem predates the previous owner who had the car since 2014 and never solved it, despite sorting the car pretty thoroughly during his ownership -- he checked fuel pressure and replaced the fuel pump which did not resolve the problem. In discussing the issue before purchase he also at my suggestion replaced the coolant temp sensor with a used unit and strangely, that seemed to resolve the problem (three weeks without recurrence), but it has since returned. I replaced the CTS again with a new unit because it was cheap and easy, but no dice. The weird periodicity of it has me stumped. Any M60-knowledgeable folks on the board, I'd welcome suggestions/pointers to other diagnostic routes.

Installed new thermostat, thermostat housing + cover, and water pump on the e23. I would have been done today, but the new thermostat housing has an extra hole in it probably meant for a sensor that this older M30 doesn't have. I will run to the hardware store tomorrow and get something that fits to plug it up. With any luck, this will fix my overheating issue, or else it's the fan clutch next. I would have bought one, but the only one I could find was around 270 bucks and I don't want to spend that much if I don't need it yet.

Also on the e39 I ripped out the crankshaft and camshaft sensors. Took it to NAPA and the parts will be here tomorrow morning. fingers crossed that this will help.

Finished installing the cooling system parts on the e23. Got a "drain plug" from NAPA (10 bucks!!) and works great. No leaks from the components, so that's good. Started it up and the alternator belt wasn't over the crankshaft pulley correctly, so it almost shredded the PS belt. So I decided to cut the AC belt since it doesn't work Anyway and remove the rest of the PS belt. New belts are ordered and on the way. They were old anyway. Other than that, it now idles great without going past the halfway point, so no fan clutch needed for now. Once the PS belt is on, I'll test drive and work towards replacing the VC gasket. I should also replace the coolant sensors.

On the e39, I installed the new crank and cam sensors and put it back together. Still runs like crap, but at least it will start reliably again. I will test the MAF sensor at work tomorrow. Could also be the ICV...

funfunfer wrote:Moved the E23 into the garage to finish up work on the HVAC system and found an inch of water in the left rear footwell!!! That'll teach me to leave a car out in the Houston weather without a car cover. I guess 2" of rain water will find a way in. Feel free to point me to a good "water intrusion" thread.

How's the sunroof alignment? I've found on several 80s BMWs that if the sunroof sits too low at the closed stopping point, it will leak. Oddly while washing the car or the like no problems at all, but overnight in a good rain? Look out. Typically they're low, a quarter inch or so. The seal, which isn't a full seal, keeps it dry if it doesn't have to cope with too much. Seems like the sunroof drainage system should keep the water out, but not in my experience. I mean you pour it in and it comes out, what's not to work? But it doesn't work that way.

I've got the E39 on jack stands in the garage pulling the drive shaft (swapping with David M and his totaled 540i- in fact I am picking up the whole car minus the trans, rear diff, wheels and a few other bits on Sunday). Having just put the drive shaft back into the E28, I am enjoying seeing the differences. Obviously an in-line 6 and a V8 will have different exhaust, but the drive shaft bolts and access are much beefier than that of the E28. So far it is a much easier process as I have already replaced some of the bolts under there within the last 4 years.

A couple days ago the e39 crapped out on me on the way to work. Towed it to work and we found out that the fuel pump was basically done. I paid for the master tech to do it. My savings were more than double what I paid

Installed a pair of sports seats that I found in a salvage yard in Dallas, into my 1998 318ti, base model. Fun car to drive and pretty simple to maintain. My son and his wife are moving from Boston to Columbus, Ohio, this summer, and they will need two cars there. I'm going to give the car to them with pleasure.

Fixed the dimmer knob on the rearview mirror in my 325Ci.

The knob, commonly referred to as the "clown nose" in E46 circles, is twisted rather than flipped like any other dimmer you've ever used.

It's held in place by an over-center spring, which fatigued and finally broke. I'm sure it cost pennies to make, but of course you can't buy it separately, and a new mirror costs $200, so I fixed it by making a new spring out of one of those super-cheap split ring key rings like the dealer puts on your keys when you leave your car for service.

E23 cooling system repair is officially finished. Replaced the belts, took it on a long test drive with plenty of stop and go, and temperature is fine, and no leaks. I will reward it with a long overdue car wash and valve cover gasket tomorrow.