E30 Zone

The car has just been in for its centre propshaft bearing to be replaced. Lots of disturbance to the heat shields, and exhaust area. Its come back with a pulsing white noise sound on the radio, especially in medium wave, at the same beat as the wheels go around. Its definitely not the engine or plug...

Thanks Brian

It must be clogged up then, as I didnt know how to use it for all this time. Should be nice and easy to solve !

Unlike most jobs.

Dave

No, its there. I went out at lunch and had a play. 6 years I've owned the thing and didnt know ! I pressed it and drained my big washer tank in about 20 seconds of continuous operation. My small washer tank doesnt seem to work at all. What is the small tank for ? is it on all acrs or just 325 SE s ?...

Where is the intensive wash button then?

Is that what the second tank is in the engine bay, full of blue stuff that never seems to get used? I had assumed that it was screen additive and added automatically, except it never seems to empty.

As usual, should have RTFM

So if I bought a 320 (which I am thinking of, as, like Rachel Stevens, it has a good body) and wanted to slot my 325 engine into it, I could leave the 320 battery in the front?

Ok Ta,

This might be the one occasion where a child of five could really do it !

The dash light behind my foglight switches has gone When I drop the under-dash panel I can see up into the area with the main light switch. The foglight switch unit just pushes out, with the two switches mounted on it. then i can see the dash light holder. I can get my angled needlenose pliers onto ...

If your machinist doesn't know, trust me, he doesn't have the experience to do it ! The simplest answer is the absolute minimum, such that a flat, shiny surface is created. I gave mine to the excellent Hurley's in Bath and they pressure tested it, and took 0.007" (0.2 mm) off. It was already flat, b...

My gearbox too is really stiff on first starting up on a cold day. I can't get second at all, only third. After a couple of minutes it frees off and it's fine. I changed the gearbox oil a few months ago, using good quality SAE 80 gear oil. I think that might have something to do with it, as I'm sure...

Lots of stuff on head gaskets on the forum here. Try doing a search. I'd say a garage will charge from Ãƒ”šÃ‚£500-Ãƒ”šÃ‚£600 to do the job. You should always change the cambelt at the same time, which might add another Ãƒ”šÃ‚£100. But the garage would just do what you've asked, nothing more. If you ...

It's in Technical Articles

You need to change the PAS fluid. It's absorbed water from the air. Do it now before the seals rot away. There was a link on here somewhere to a good article telling how to do it.

If I find it I'll post it

Can I add my two penn'orth? Because the studs are steel and the head is alloy, you get corrosion on the thread interface. The heat of the engine accelerates this process, so most old engines are going to have studs which stick. I think e30s also have thread locking compound on the studs? You stand m...

The symptoms sound like a coil, but usually with a failed coil, it won't start again until it's all cooled down. You turn it over and over and it just won't go. then after an hour it'll start, but after a few minutes it cuts out again. Even if you hold a plug to the block, there will be a spark, bec...

Someone might have put a 6 cylinder instrument panel into your 4 cylinder car. ( i put a 4 cylinder into my 325 and the revs went up a lot. Not sure if this will affect your speedo though) They might do this to get a working SI board. What you could do is find a relacement panel. But keep the SI boa...

If its running rich and you are getting clattering noises, I guess it could be that you are only firing on 4-5 cylinders. You have probably checked that your leads are all on the right cylinders? Did you use new plugs? it 'd be easy to take them out and check if any are blacked up. What about leads....

What engine is it? Presumably an M20 325 if you've done the head. My M20 took a few runs before the cooling system settled down, even after very careful and repeated bleeding, so I'd say that was normal. If your idle was normal before taking it apart, it's not likely to be the AFM or say the fuel pr...

Well, first things to check are the things that can be solved cheaply. Check fuel filter has been changed recently. I don't think you can take them apart to see the filter itself. Check that the fuel pump is delivering fluid. (Pull off a fuel line and crank the engine, with a mate holding the fuel l...

I don't know, but until someone gives the right answer, try 0.030"(0.75mm) That should be enough to get you going.

Now don't go tasting fluids, chaps

Gearbox oil is yummy, and old engine oil has that lovely creamy taste reminiscent of walking with the temple maidens through wooded dusky valleys on a hot summer's day.

Power steering fluid will kill you. It hammers the kidneys somethin rotten.

I had the same problem. the Springs would compress abit then stop. When I looked closely, the Sykes Pickavent spring compressor was touching the lip of the cylinder head. I had to file a big arc into the spring compressor to get it to fit. I should have bought one with a longer reach. Check for witn...

You'v e probably already thought of it, but make sure the car is in first or second gear. That will stop the 'spring' in the crankshaft system from absorbing your mallet blows.

Sounds a bit odd. Of course, all the hoses are the same age, so it's natural that they'd start to fail around the same time. It's possible that your tightening up the hoses has disturbed the joints of course, but I expect you've thought of that. Plus you say that you've replaced at least one hose wh...

You cando this moderately easily, it depends how tight the remaining part is. You need a set of stud extractors. These can be cheap, but buy a good make. Drill a hole down the centre of the old stud. The stud extractor may work, or it may snap. You have to be gentle. To try and prevent this, soak it...

Slightly off topic. After reading all this I decided to pay someone to do it. They charged 120 notes to do both rear bushes . Before they were done, the car had a lovely smooth ride, it just felt wayward if I went around a corner fast. Now, the car corners very well, but the straight and level ride ...

Probably the fuel hoses. They are Ãƒ”šÃ‚£6 (ish) per metre from bMW. 2 metres is enough to do the whole car. They are difficult to see, at the side of the engine. You may be able to see them better from under the car, looking up on the left hand side. Probably have to take the engine shield off thou...

Incidentally, I went into that dealership in 1986 with 15 grand in my coat pocket. I was living in Cheadle but had just come back from a contract in Holland. Because I was in jeans and T shirt they ignored me. So I waited patiently by a desk until the hawker deigned to ask me what I wanted, showed h...

Can I suggest that next time you talk to them just say quietly that you've had enough of their half hearted response. Ask for the BMW area manager's name, and complain to them in writing. Send a copy to the dealership and bodyshop. If this works the same way as Toyota, who I used to be with, the are...

Reshelled a Viva Magnum some years ago. The big bits are OK, provided you have mates to help do the donkey work. The main problems are the trim panels and windows usually. You always break clips getting the old stuff off. I needed hundreds of new clips, plus self tappers and their captive plates, lo...

You probably checked but it bears repeating : you have to be very careful to get every trace of the old gasket off. When you think it's off, rub down the block surface with fine 800 wet and dry until the iron shines. Any gasket left on shows up as a black stain. You can do this with the cam belt on,...

Thanks everyone, It helps to have your good wishes. Quaser, it was me who bought the door off you last summer when somebody did this before. It's still in the shed! I'll let you know. I have thought of buying up bits from broken-up cars. There seems to be lots being broken at the moment. Doesn't hel...

It's a white 4 door 325iSE. My pride and joy.

I suppose I could claim and it might be written off. Then maybe they'd let me buy the wreck, as the engine is so smooth and fast.

Some little toe rag has given my car a thump in each major panel. That's the second time this has happened. Considering that the car was only worth a grand or so, it makes me grind me teeth with rage. Just give me a minute with the little git. The body was uterly perfect too, apart from some rust at...

Many apologies,

I think I read odometer as rev counter. It was probably to do with the vast amount of beer coursing through my veins.

Must learn to read these threads more carefully before inserting foot in mouth.

Sorry to disagree, but this is typical of either 1) an SI board with dead batteries, (my experience) 2) dry joints on the circuit boards in the instrument cluster (from reading other threads) These problems are typical of the e30, as you will find if you stick around! They are very cheap to fix, alt...

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Pulsing white noise on radio

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Re: Moving battery from rear to front

Dash Lights behind fogswitches

replaced rear bushes

Envy is a terrible thing