Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

Actually I don't think these were posted before so I'll throw them in here. Might as well let you all see the resurrection of a 17 year old S Class, warts and all!

I can't take credit for this work, way beyond my skill level. It was done by OCD Detailing in Ferbane and the man has some skills. He repaired the hole in the drivers seat and then cleaned and redyed all the leather in including the steering wheel.







Pics of the entire job can be seen on his FB post at the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/ocdferbane/posts/2398640533689605

Truckermal wrote: »

How much for the repair do you mind me asking?

PM sent, don't want to post price as he wasn't sure how good he could get it so may have given me a better deal than he should have for the amount of work he did.

Car is booked into BMW main dealer for the ERG cooler recall in November it was their earliest availability. It looks to be costing BMW on parts and labour just shy of 800GBP alone.

I also got two tyres fitted to the 520d. I went with the Goodyear run flat equivalent instead of the contisport SSR 3s which the car was fitted with when new (these have been revised and the contisport are on SSR 6s now but Continental dont seem to do my tyre size on the revised tyre. The Goodyears are better for noise, grip and wear.

Even though I asked the tyre centre to put the new set on the rear axle to have a matched pair. I had 2 punchures in 18months so the worn tyres are on the front and rear axles, I wanted the matched new pair on the rear and the part worn on the front axle...they didnt do it citing that TPMS system wouldnt like it. I did check and I believe when I reset the TPMS system via idrive the car will be able to detect the and determine the correct wheel to the correct hub on the car.

So Ill have to swap two tyres. Which brings me to the BMW and how axle stand unfriendly it is. Every thing is covered in underbody covers which makes it practically impossible to place axle stands on the sturdy suspension components as everything is hidden under the covers. I have jack pads to jack from the factory jack points on the sills however the axle stands will use these points when working on the car. I have to get a low profile jack and jack from the front jack point which is deep behind the engine sump!

So I am in the market for a decent low profile trolley jack now! Anyone have any experience of the Draper one. Its a bit pricey but I will have to do the rear brakes soon and I suppose it will be an "investment" for this and future cars?

Halfords have a similar one a little cheaper.

https://www.halfords.ie/workshop-tools/garage-workshop/trolley-jacks/halfords-advanced-2-tonne-low-profile-trolley-jack

Yesterday I did something to Ms. jou's car.

Bought second hand, genuine facelift ASX shark fin antenna, luckily enough, the very same colour.

Now, here's old one:



Access is very limited, but possible with a bit of patience.



Old vs new:



Finally, job done:



Note that aliexpress knockoffs are significantly cheaper and even more significantly easier to install, but in return you will get a radio with no signal reception in most cases.

Carbon trim looks the job with the grey leather

Did the 2 pre-cat lambda sensors on the M5

Swapped over the 2 of the wheels on opposite axles on the BMW (as I wanted the matched pair of new tyres on the rear axle). Tyre centre has some story about the TPMS which wouldn't read properly when I requested them to do it when I got the tyres fitted (I dont have a staggered wheel set up like some M sports do either).

The car now has part worn Contisports the on front and new Goodyear on the rear. Reset the idrive and no issues, I also set the pressures on the front and rear axles. Another gripe I have with my local BMW dealer is that they seem to have overtorqued the wheel bolts on the front and not 140Nm as I had to swing off them with a telescopic wheel wrench.

Does anyone else apply grease to the inner faces of the alloys and on the thread anymore?

Was at a VW dealer today so bought a few bits for winter. New wipers as I would say the ones on the car are original and just need to be be changed. Got a 1 litre bottle of oil handy to have in the car incase a top up is needed. I have used the VW screen wash a few times and find it good.

I will fit the wipers tomorrow.

punisher5112 wrote: »

How much

The 3 wipers came to 40, Oil was like 15 and screen wash was around 3 euro. So basically it was all cheaper than Halfords think that oil in halfords is something ridiculous like 25 euro.

punisher5112 wrote: »

Suppose not to bad but would not make sense to buy the bigger bottle of oil?

Well like I leave the small bottle in the car if I ever need it to top up with oil. I am not going to carry around a big bottle with me. Plus I will be getting it serviced at the dealers so shouldn’t use too much oil.

looks much meaner, nice

The screw cover things are letting it down.

punisher5112 wrote: »

On the plates?

Yeah I always stick on.

Ye. The lack of symmetry makes them worse!

3M VHB from ebay.

Few weeks ago I took out blower fan in my E90 as it was first making squeaky noises then stopped fully.
I rotated it few times manually and put it back, it worked for few weeks and failed yesterday again.

Went out and got grease from motor shop.
Took that **** out again (**** because it's really awkward to access and requires to remove glove box, glove box frame, foot well panel, both cup holders and few vents), then you literally need to get in there with your head being in passenger foot well and feet up on roof.

Anyway, took it out, it was barely rotating manually this time, but I got it working but it was making squeaky noise again.

The fan rod itself moves slightly up so I did that and pumped it up with grease, waited a bit and then wiped excess off.

Worked like charm, no more squeaking and works absolutely silently, not sure how much and how long smell of grease will be around but it's minor.


https://i.imgur.com/WI2KgfO.jpg


Final version:
https://i.imgur.com/Rek3apY.jpg


anyone know if smell will go away or is it there to stay? it's barely any smell but I feel it (probably because I know it's there)



P.S - Lesson learned, do it right first time instead of chancing it and then re-doing it

...scanned the car and got 19 faults from 36 modules... :pac:

Ha..good guess...the money pit kind!!:eek:

autodoc.de ?

Fired up the 325CI today, first time in maybe 3 months. It was like returning home after a long holiday sitting into it. So familiar and perfect.

I had removed the battery and charged it up over night in the house. I didn't know what to expect when I turned the key, it was running well when it last ran, so I had my fingers crossed.

Put the battery in, secured it and turned the key. Engine fired immediately, revs climbed and died. Okay, maybe it just needs a couple of tries. Fired again, reved high, firing on all cylinders then coughed and died. ****.

I had been chasing lean codes before I parked it up, and I was worried my fuel pump was the cause, but these symptoms didn't line up in my mind. Fired up immediately and strongly and then die a few seconds later.

Quite on a whim I decided to unplug the MAF, turned the key and she purred like a kitten. Idled perfectly, revved quickly and smoothly and sounded as epic as ever.

I might try some MAF cleaner and start the process of moving it on. The beginning of the end :(:( :o:o :(:(

Is that an aftermarket stereo in the background?