MyE28.com

Not really "my other car" but I went truck shopping over the weekend. I've decided new pickups are stupid and I don't want one. They're all too big but with beds too small and too high to be useful. Pass on all that nonsense, think I'll shift to shopping for something old enough to not be stupid in both dimensions and price. Maybe I'll just buy another S10. I've had one for 18 years, and if not for the rust I'd keep it.

whole heartily agree modern trucks have gotten retarded; all designed to haul 35' 15k trailers. I am 6' need a step ladder to get in or be able to reach into the bed. '11 RAM 2500. Oh, and I don't need 6.7L CTD to haul a 3klb camper. If I can do 90mph without trying, with 3k payload, up to the Eisenhower tunnel...that's too much engine (i.e. wasted money on fuel, empty or loaded). Wish they'd offer two engine sizes, one for tow'ers and one for haul'ers.

Bought an e34 95 525i 5 speed with 130k. A little faded, but a real solid base for a new daily. Might start a thread for it.

The E39 Touring is getting CCV replaced, Coolant pipes under the manifold and (possibly) Power Steering hoses today...

My '96 Toyota Avalon with 320K miles was throwing a code P0401 ("insufficient exhaust gas recirculation flow"). I cleaned out the carbon buildup where the EGR valve is attached to the intake manifold and now no more codes. Evidently it's a common problem on cars with EGR systems, and has to be done every 100K miles or so. A shop typically just replaces the $200 EGR valve so I saved myself $300-$400 (parts and labor) doing a one hour job.

I've learned all I want to know about EGR systems. Now onto the next 100K!

Not quite a car, but related. I got my little utility trailer out for it's annual or semi annual use. No trailer lights, after I've put much into them, replacing the stock ear types with some ultra thin LED ones that are actually much brighter. And rewiring it, twice. Just like old BMWs it was a bad ground. At least it was the first thing I looked at though.

fixed the power antenna for the Stinky Lincoln. Old sticky grease jamming up the works, nothing all that exciting. I replaced the mast and overhauled the motor end of it when I got the car but there must have been a bit lingering up at the top where the mast goes through the top support bushing. It ran in the heat but now that the temperature has dropped some it was just sticky enough to not work.

I solved a seemingly-intractable rattle/flutter in the steering column of my '94 Camry (automatic w/ 5S-FE 4-cylinder -- this is relevant) and I am disproportionately pleased with the result!

Gen 3 Camrys with the 4-cylinder and automatic have a well-deserved reputation for vibrating like crazy at idle. Just go 100 rpm off-idle and it's gone, but otherwise you've got vibration. No issues for folks who have 5-speed manuals, as unloading at idle eliminates the vibration. The motor and transmission mounts are good, and I'd upgraded to a Gen 4 upper mount. Still no good. Apparently, I'd lined the steering column covers with Dynamat years ago (before the head gasket went bad and the car sat for years), which I discovered once I pulled them off. Interestingly, Toyota has a tuned weight surrounding the column and attached via rubber struts.

The noise would go away at the extremes of column tilt, so I figured those positions were making something either rest or pull away from something else, and I figured the culprit was the rotating face of the clock spring. So, I pulled the steering wheel and laid a 1/2"x9" strip of Dynamat around the clock spring housing and a semi-circle of Dynamat from the ~1 o'clock to ~11 o'clock position on the rotating face of the clock spring. I buttoned it all up and went for a test drive -- the rattle/flutter was gone!

It sure seems weird to not hear that noise!

The s4 got its pre storage oil change and the subaru got its wheels swapped over to some wrapped in blizzaks

made an attempt at fixing the cold temperature fan lockout on the Conti. The climate control has a switch in the engine that is closed under 100F. When closed, the fan doesn't come on so it doesn't blow cold air at you when its in heat mode. The fan always ran. Cleaned the connections on the switch and the ohm meter read closed when cold, and the ground was good. Hooked it back up and I had no fan when cold. Unfortunately it doesn't come on when hot either, so the switch is bad, just in the opposite way I thought it was. The "fix" will be to unplug it since I don't drive it in the winter and frankly don't care if that function actually works.

I have transplanted a 528e battery and cables into the Rat my '94 Ranger 4x4. . Previously I have re-purposed nuts and bolts. too. Far as I can tell, the wrassen frassen fuel pump died. Symptoms are : no fuel, carb cleaner in the intake instantly starts engine , but dies in a few seconds. The bed has to be pushed back to service the intank pump and stuff. Haz ground and end to end continuity from the relay socket to the tank top. The relay is a regular mini relay with an 87a and an 87b 5 blades on the relay. metered out stuff jumped 12 volts to pump, no noise, nothing. Luckily, I had had the bed off when I fixed the rotten frame rail. Once I shifted the bed , I now have access to the wiring plug. I plan to to insert an E 28 main pump into the fuel line between the tank outlet and the filter . If this works, great !. If not, there's always plan B.

probably not going to suck through the dead pump. Just pop the plate off the tank and put a proper fuel pump in there. You'll spend less time dicking with it. OE was probably a Bosch pump, so might be the same as an in-tank BMW pump anyway. Change the filler neck seal too, if its typical Ford its the same one they used on everything for 40 years. Should be under 10 bucks.

My 20 y/o daughter saved up money from her part-time job driving a bus, and recently asked me to find her a good used car. She goes to school 400 miles away and my goal was to find her something safe, reliable, and not too fast. I succeeded on 2 out of those 3 counts.

I added some $$$ to the fund and bought a very nice black 2009 Toyota Venza for $9500. For those of who who aren't familiar with them, the Venza was considered a crossover vehicle, based on the Camry. It was produced from 2009-2015. I really can't figure out why they dropped it; I see quite a few here in CA and there seems to be almost a cult-like following among current owners. It has a 5-star crash rating and, being Camry-based, has a reputation for great reliability. They came in either a 2.7 liter 4 cylinder or a 3.5 liter V6. I bought the V6.

It's a little quicker than I'd prefer her to have, but the V6 is a terrific engine; it was also used in the same-era Lexus ES350/RX350, among others. With DOHC, 24 valve, 268HP/246TQ and a 6-speed automatic, it's very responsive. The Venza is also a sporty car; it has a firm ride and wears 20" wheels with 50-series tires. For a crossover, it handles pretty well. The JBL-based stereo is a nice addition.

Right now I'm in the process of base-lining the maintenance: tranny/coolant/brake fluid flushes, oil/filter, air filter, cabin filter (the old one was filthy), etc. She'll be home from school next week and once she starts driving it, I probably won't get her to stop long enough to do anything else. The reality is, I wouldn't mind keeping this one for myself so I have to keep reminding myself that it's HER car!

Finally sold my e39 on Sunday! I was done with it; I had severed my emotional ties to it after the thermostat debacle. Went to a younger guy and it will be his "first manual" to go along with his FR-S. Have fun.

With that money, I bought a '95 Mitsubishi Mighty Max today. Desperately needed a hauler/garbage run truck. Probably needs another 1000 in parts but I think I can make it run pretty good after some time. Good news is, it passed smog first try(my e34 took 4 tries).

found that my block heater wasn't working. Cord was unplugged at the block end. Fixed that. Last week I put a power steering pump on it. Got tired of the leak. Attempted to rebuild the original first, somehow failed in that. No idea why, but it won't pump. Took it apart, verified I had everything right according to the manual, no dice.

Score! Bought a fuel pump for the E36, just because, since it has ~225K on it now. Listed as Bosch on Amazon, hoped I'd at least get a made in China Bosch, not just a counterfeit, but the well worn box says Bosch, Made in Germany! Looks like a nice NOS score.

Then on to E39 blues. Replacing the ribbon cable for what, the 3rd or 4th or 5th time now, I managed to lose a screw that holds it together. The display that fails. So I ended up destroying an E39 cluster at P and P for 2 little tiny screws. I felt bad, but not bad enough not to do it. At least there were several other clusters for harvesting. One, lone E28. An Eta. Sniff, sniff. E39 530s were the most interesting cars there.

Replaced the Final Stage Unit for the blower in my E46. This is a common problem in these cars. It serves the same purpose as the blower resistors in the E28, but it's fancy and electronic, which means when it fails (which is often) it can do so in a way that drains the battery when the car is off. You have to be something of a contortionist to replace it.

RonW wrote:Replaced the Final Stage Unit for the blower in my E46. You have to be something of a contortionist to replace it.

E39 FSR isn't much fun either, but the floorboard is a bit larger!

John in VA wrote:

RonW wrote:Replaced the Final Stage Unit for the blower in my E46. You have to be something of a contortionist to replace it.

E39 FSR isn't much fun either, but the floorboard is a bit larger!

Funny you guys are bringing this up, I just did the E36 last week. Easy 15 minute job. My ass. Not the job from hell, but no 15 minutes either. I think my E28 subframe bushings took less time. Actually I was almost disappointment in them, I was expecting a major fight and it was just work.

Ordered some parts and manuals. Found an NOS AC compressor and a couple of the less commonly seen OE manuals for reasonable prices. I don't mind hoarding literature, sooner or later it comes in handy.

Been working on my red s50 powered e30 since work has been 10/10 dead.

Installed:
e30 m3 front suspension with ground control coilovers and koni struts, race camber plates, sway bar links
new pads/rotors
new control arms, tie rods, bushes
powder coated and rebuilt calipers
all new power steering hoses (since i was there)

Also figured it was a good time to install the e30 m3 cluster and the oil temp sender, oil pressure sender, water temp sender and a volt meter gauge. Stuff I've wanted to do for the better part of a decade but never made time for. Will be likely finishing that up today.

Just completed 3,000 miles of back roads running on our new 2019 Audi RS 3 Sedan 7-speed, which we bought at the end of January 2020 and really enjoying having another German car in our garage since our E28 has been long gone to its current owner in Atlanta.

The Audi RS 3 didn't replace our 2015 Golf R, but it did replace our 2017 VW Tiguan SUV which was really a poor choice on my part. Love the Audi RS 3 and its very potent performance, on all the back roads we ran for 25 years in our E28.
-Rod

A couple of months back the alpinweiß X5 was totaled and we found a new one. Cabin fever has led to baselining the new 2012 35d(79k miles):

New vacuum hose all around with all solenoids. All hoses were extra crispy.
new filters (engine, cabin, recirc,)
Intake manifold gaskets and intake manifold CBU cleaning
Glow plugs and module
Mann Provent install to prevent some of the CBU
Charge hoses cleaned and new seals applied
intercooler inside washed and cleaned of oil
water pump, thermostat, transmission thermostat, water connection at block replaced- found it weeping when the intake manifold was removed.
fluidampr and alternator pulley installed
new drive belts
brake fluid flushed/changed

Pending:

oil change due in 500 miles
Transmission kit - fluid, filter, and mechatronic seals
3.15 differential change(front and rear) and the transfer case fluid change.

Parts had been slowly collecting for the old X5 but as stated that one was totaled so the new one is getting the benefit.

fiddled with the throttle valve cable adjustment. Ford AOD is pretty much like the 4HP22, uses a cable connected to the throttle linkage to control pressure and shift points. Not sure how much is wear, how much is crap factory adjustment, and how much is cable stretch but after a lot of years it shifts early and mushy. Overdrive at 32 mph with a very sloppy engagement and its real sluggish to downshift. I'm now at full pressure at full throttle. Overdrive comes in at 40 and actually engages rather than taking a full second to finally get there and when I apply throttle it kicks down a gear. Trans has 233k well maintained miles, but its still a lot. Also swapped the air intake tube from the "non-HO" engine. 75mm end to end. The HO one has a choke point down to about 40mm, and it has a 60mm throttle body. Its meant to make the engine quieter at full throttle but audibly its very little difference. I'd rather have the airflow, it can't possibly hurt engine performance.

A few possible springles today but otherwise simply cloudy. Will make some runs on W VA backroads in our Audi RS 3, now with 3500 miles on it since late January purchase.

Still very impressed with this vehicle and very happy with our purchase, driving these country back road runs that we spent 33 years driving in our 1983 BMW E28, that I put so much work into over those years. But this RS 3 certainly puts much bigger grins on this old face.

Truly a great machine and certainly happy with it so far. Big difference in its 7-speed DSG, versus our 2015 Golf R 6-speed DSG, in that it shifts much faster than the Golf R and is much quieter in doing so. Significant improvements in the VW/Audi DSG over the years are certainly evident. And the RS 3 massive brakes certainly deliver much greater stopping power then the R, but the R is still a keeper of course. Too bad I can no longer work on these vehicles like I did on the BMW. No documentation and very different mechanicals involved on these vehicles, versus our ealier E28. Plus simply getting to old to 'wrech' on these machines.
-Rod