E30 Zone

Thanks as ever Brian. Out of interest are there any circumstances where ABS component failure (e.g pump) might NOT trigger a warning light?

Cheers,

Tim

I've always wondered about whether the ABS is functioning properly on my 87 325i cabby, even though the warning light behaves as it should. Having just pulled the relays from the top of the pump, the warning light stays on with the engine running when the silver one is removed (which is good news, a...

Two MOTs in my ownership of my chromie cab: today it passed the second, and again with no advisories! And some compliments from the tester too: a 'very solid tidy motor' which apparently puts the garage owner's E36 to shame! Very satisfying: makes my amateurish fumblings well worthwhile! Thanks to a...

You might want to try your fuel pressure regulator 'o' ring: replaced mine recently and it seems to have significantly reduced 'fuel smells'. No guarantees, but for the sake of a couple of quid it's probably worth a go...

Best fiver (for two, just in case) I've spent for a while!

Tim

O ring now replaced: when you put a new one on you realise what a pillock you were for using old ones! Fitted on the nozzle snugly and the FPR pushed onto the rail effortlessly: the old ones flopped around on the nozzle and needed a fair bit of force to get the FPR in place, which tore the ring both...

Thought as much: thanks for the confirmation. Hopefully I'll be out with the hood down enjoying perfect cabby weather with no fuel leakage this time tomorrow!

Thanks for the advice: new o ring to be collected from my local dealer tomorrow! Just to be certain, the ring is fitted to the regulator then pushed into the rail rather than pushing the o ring into the hole in the rail and then fitting the regulator isn't it? Pretty sure it's the former, but want t...

Hi. Having swapped my FPR for another I'm now having difficulty getting it correctly relocated on the fuel rail. My first attempt resulted in a scary fountain of fuel from the o-ring as it must have torn on installation, and my second has also resulted in fuel weeping from this area. Clearly somethi...

Sorry: should say offside camshaft is fouled by the rubber bung if the protruding piece is facing inward, not nearside...

Hello. Just changed the rocker cover gasket and 'half-moons' in an attempt to address an irritating oil leak! Can someone advise whether the ones at the rear at the head should have the half-moon shaped section facing the inside or the outside of the engine? They seem much easier to locate with the ...

Well, after much anticipation my 325 chromie cab went in for its MOT today and sailed through! Admittedly the car has soaked up much of any spare cash I have over the 11 months I've had it, but it's been worth it today! So, another year to deal with the other issues before the worry starts again...

I paid a couple of quid for two 60s today: they are unthreaded where the shock sits, but as you say they will be 5mm shorter.

If I'm going to a scrappy I may as well just re-use the ones already on there (assuming they come off in one piece!).

According to RealOEM the lower bolt that secures the shocks on my prefacelift 325 cab is no longer available. Having tried to source an M12x1.5x65 with no joy, can anyone tell me whether an M12x1.5x60 will do the job? Next size up I can find is an 80, which looks rather long. Any suggestions? Cheers...

Spoke too soon on my pipe fix: it's dribbling water again from the rad end, despite replacing the connecting hose and the clips! How can something SO simple be such a pain to sort?! Guess I'll undo it, shift it a bit and tighten it up again. Again...

Oh dear. Sounds like I got lucky: plastic pipe remained intact I'm pleased to say.

How's your fuel pump? It was a great feeling starting the car up after changing the lift pump and hearing no buzzing from outside! I'm driving around with a new external pump in the car though, just in case!

Is there any need to use any particular type of hose at each end of the plastic pipe running from the rad to the expansion tank on my chromie 325 cab? Having seen what was on there previously (very thin rubber covered with cloth braiding) I assumed not, so just replaced the old porous and cracked jo...

I changed the o-ring on the sender unit today, which I spotted needed doing when I changed the lift pump a few weeks ago. Oddly the gauge has been rock solid since: whether taking the sender out and putting it back in has helped I don't know, but fingers crossed!

Hi. My '87 325i cabriolet has the classic 'wobbly fuel gauge'. Having shorted the pins on the sender connector the fuel light illuminates and the tank reads full. Does this point to a faulty sender, or is it still worth investigating the brass nut behind the gauge? The reading seems to get more erra...

I've done it! Put the new lift pump on tonight, and no more whining!!! It took me about an hour once I plucked up the courage to go for it, but everything came off nice and easily. Now I know what noise I'm listening for if I ever have problems again: it's very obvious when it's working! The old pum...

The car has only done 94k miles, but the second owner who I bought it from hardly used it at all for the last 5 or 6 years he had it. I have to say that given that it's spent a lot of time unused (and had hardly any fuel in it when I drove it home having bought it) I'm a bit concerned about the poss...

Not yet, though it did arrive today. Quicker than some Ebay purchases from this country! Just need to find time to put it on now: was yours a direct fit? No issues? Is your mpg better now? I've got a Bosch external pump to go on if required: suppose my only worry is if the root cause of the pump wea...

Odd: having started the car following the discovery of the squashed vent pipe and freeing it up a bit, I'm sure there has been a reduction in whine from the external fuel pump. Unless it's wishful thinking?!

OK: thanks Brian. So one of these pipes being compressed for a signifcant period wouldn't make any contribution to 'fuel pump over-exertion' and resultant wear then? Worth replacing the hose? If it were holed would it be likely to emit significant fumes or vapour?

Cheers,

Tim

Can someone tell me what the two pipes forward of the in-tank fuel pump/sensor assembly are (car is a pre-facelift 325 cabby with a two-pump fuel system if it helps, but actually these pipes seem present on all fuel systems as far as I can tell)? Both have metal pipework connected by short-ish lengt...

Having asked the question about where to find a new lift pump, this evening I found a new VDO one for £95 posted from a parts vendor in Istanbul of all places! 100% feedback and nearly 1000 happy customers worldwide, so hopefully I've done OK! It did take me quite a while and a lot of research befor...

Can't help with your query I'm afraid, but out of interest where did you get a new lift pump from, and what did you pay for it? My cabby needs one too: a new one would be ideal, but they seem pricy and good used ones seem harder to come across than for the 'single pump' system. Sorry to hijack the t...

Finally got round to doing the above today: no fuel whatsoever emerged from the disconnected fuel pipe at the windscreen end of the fuel rail. There is power to the pump at the two pin plug, so presumably (and predictably) the in-tank pump is knackered. Thanks as ever for the great advice: now need ...

I've taken the plunge and put it all together again: nice to get out yesterday with the roof down for the first time this year!

Thanks as ever for all your comments and advice. Hope your fan nightmare gets sorted soon Schnaarf...!

Tim

Kind of what I was thinking: just don't want to keep lubricating and lubricating for no additional benefit. Just a bit paranoid I guess as I recently replaced a failed fan resistor, which is what prompted me to get the fan out in the first place...

Cheers,

Tim

I tried using the hole with varying thicknesses of paperclip but none were rigid enough. Eventually used an old bracket that I could slot under the clip and pull upwards with pliers. Love the self-tapping screw idea: very ingenious! Still wondering how 'free' is 'freely'! Should the fan spin round a...

I've lubricated my blower fan (and also cleaned and re-greased the wiper motor, pleasingly solving the usual problem on the intermittent setting!). I can get about two turns out of it now when I give it a spin by hand: is this about right? I'd rather be sure before putting it back again, as the clip...

Right: now have the covers off and the fan out. Where am I putting the WD40? Presumably on the spindles at the motor end of each of the fan blades where they enter the motor body? And while I'm here, out of interest what's the resistor below the passenger side fan unit?

Cheers,

Tim

You're probably right: trouble is every time I pluck up the courage to embark on one of these jobs I always feel like I'm going to end up causing some other problem, or that it won't go back together again! I guess the only way to get my confidence is to get on with it: I haven't screwed anything up...

Having removed the cover I can now access the blower fan, which I was thinking may need lubricating having had to replace the fan resistor due to the classic 'only works on 4' problem. However, it seems to spin OK by hand while still in place: I reckon it just about does a full turn. Should it spin ...

Search found 70 matches

Re: ABS

ABS

MOT joy

Re: Whiff of fuel. 325 cab.

Re:

Re:

Re: Fuel Pressure Regulator 'O' ring

Re: Fuel Pressure Regulator 'O' ring

Fuel Pressure Regulator 'O' ring

Half-moons

Passed with no advisories!!!

Re: Rear shocks: bottom bolt

Rear shocks: bottom bolt

Re: Radiator to expansion tank pipe

Re: Radiator to expansion tank pipe

Radiator to expansion tank pipe

Re: Fuel gauge

Fuel gauge

Re: Pipe identification: fuel tank area

Re: Pipe identification: fuel tank area

Re: Pipe identification: fuel tank area

Re: Pipe identification: fuel tank area

Re: Pipe identification: fuel tank area

Pipe identification: fuel tank area

Re: New lift pump => higher consumption ?

Re: New lift pump => higher consumption ?

Re: Fuel pump revisited

Re: How 'freely' should the blower fan spin?

Re: How 'freely' should the blower fan spin?

Re: How 'freely' should the blower fan spin?

How 'freely' should the blower fan spin?

Re: Blower fan

Re: Blower fan

Blower fan