B3 3.2 Touring its suddenly getting old

[B7]

Result. At least you know where it's going.

[Demlotcrew]

Blimey Rob will buy anything!

[Simon13]

what f**k's that supposed to mean?

[Kos]

It's always nice when you sell them close to home or some one you know will be a good caring owner

[Simon13]

well i bought it back a couple of months ago



Been driven alot and not cleaned much, milege upto 217,000 now so thats 30,000 i've put on her now. Alot for me

Anyhow its been leaking coolant and i keep getting the low level warning..........





bloody crack in the plastic housing, i fitted this in 2011 when i rebuilt the head. Not good





New ali housing from Euros for £11 plus VAT





A new level sensor i've had for way too long to be sure




All on, and a week later and no leaks i can see now



The a few days later it was off the Henrys unit on a rainy day




Its been knocking on the front for some time now and i've known its been the front shocks past their best, so i've bit the bullet and bought 2 new ones






Alpina spec bilstein B8's no less





It was full of rusty water this side!


Ne discs/pads on the front, went for solid 3.0 M3 discs this time as i don't have the cash for the floating evo ones it had.

the rears are on their way/gone also but it will have to wait a bit. Aircon is still broken plus a few other jobs that old cars always need want.

I can't think of anything to replace it with so thats why its back.

I had a thought today that some later e46 18inch rims might suit it? Like the B3s facelift cars had

[capri_rob]

Nice work si

Those plastic stat housings are utter cack - Dan had to do the job twice when he did the one on my E46 as the first one had a hairline split that only showed up when it was hot

[Blitz]

Them shocks were fucked. I'd keep the standard wheels on.

[Simon13]

must be on its 3rd set of shocks now!

[DanThe]

Its not very often you see a shagged B8!

[Kos]

Keep it on 17's

The ride on 18's will be nasty

[bss325i]

Deffo keep it on 17's!

[Simon13]

I've binned off the bigger wheels idea

Another month and another fun job, when i changed the engine mounts last summer i encountered a minor problem the subframe was cracked where the engine mount sits!

It had clearly been like it for a while as the cracks where rusty and removing the mount left a large hole........ like this




Great. A "tempory bodge" ensued which to its credit lasted about 8 months! I forgot the car was like it at times when driving a little hard







A small plate, i can only take credit for making it, it was Henrys idea! i didn't think it would stay on long enough to go rusty but babies slow things down!






Here is my replacement which is off my old 328 touring i broke up years ago, for some bizare reason i kept this and the rack off it





This and a jack held it all up nicely, so a saftey improvement. I'm sure if the MOT man knew it was there he wouldn't pass it! Wasn't that bad a job really, refit is the reverse of removal if only it was ever that easy


I need rear shocks now as the handling has gone distinctly viscious, theres no gas in the A/C system so i suspect thats why it stopped working a while back, theres a hole probably in the condensor

[bss325i]

I'd forgotten what my brace looks like!

[Simon13]

All done, maybe i'll bring it on friday along with riv nut thing. Hows the engine stand?

[bss325i]

Still got an engine on it. Hows my engine stand?

More to the point, how have you ended up with mine and I've ended up with yours?!

[Simon13]

No yours is free with no engine on it. I'll stick it in the boot and we can swap on friday?


So i've had a chance to play why doesn't the air con work game today and i remember it was making a hissing noise from the pollen filter area




Suspicious! i used this infra red light thing my missus uses for her nails it shines a treat!








A bit of a pain to remove but i think i've found my victim. Would i be right in assuming its the expansion valve not the matrix part itself? Handy that steve put the dye in when he gassed it up a couple of years ago

[bss325i]

You really need to get a good look at the evaporator as they can leak.

Any dye on the drains under the car?

[Simon13]

I've not looked and to be fair it was a while ago the air con shit itself maybe July i think.

Changing the evaporator is a heater matrix out job, i can't see any better to check if it is goosed to be honest

[bss325i]

Check the drains under the car. If the the evaporator is leaking gas/dye it will come out through the drains. The drains are for the condensation that builds up on the chilled evaporator so if there is a leak, it will come out there.

I had to replace a leaking evaporator on an F10 530d after other people had gassed it three times without finding the leak!

[Simon13]

i guess its easy enough to check the drains but its pissing it down now! Even in wet weather water won't be getting up the top of the trans tunnel to wash it away.

More to the point if it is goosed then thats a mission to change it!

[Demlotcrew]

Sharing is caring awwwwww.

Ps, you can't see infrared with the naked eye. It's Ultra Violet you are thinking of.

[Simon13]

Its developed it bit of a running fault the last week where the idle has become rough/hunts and cuts out.

With a general jerkyness/loss of power when cruising on part/light throttle. It seems to clear if you go full throttle but even this seems a bit blunted from normal

I was thinking maybe MAF or could i get it plugged in see if there is a fault code being stored maybe

[DanThe]

Could be one of many things, get a scanner on it first to give a better clue, has the idle speed increased or dropped?

[Simon13]

stayed similar to be before but is rough its always idled at about 600 rpm since i converted it to manual.

Seems to be more when its up to temp it starts rather than from cold

[bss325i]

Have you disconnected the MAF to see how it runs?

Most likely culprits if there are no air leaks are the MAF, a blocked Cylcone valve or a failing camshaft sensor.

If you have no joy with a plug in by next week let me know and i'll bring the laptop to the meet.

[Simon13]

i changed the cyclone valve the other week for one off the e46 B3 hmmmm. It runs even worse if you disconnect the MAF.

I've changed the cyclone valve a few times as i've had idle probs in the past which had cured it but always with second hand ones of old cars ive had.

[bss325i]

A new E36 one is only about £40 but get a plug in first before spending any money.

[Demlotcrew]

Doesn't the vehicle order need to be updated if its been converted to manual?

[Simon13]

I knew the rear shocks were shagged on this as the handling had been bouncy and viscious with overtsteer when cornering if you hit a bump. I didn't have the money to change the rears at the same time as the fronts



Hilarious, i've never had that before the shock just had a long wee of some sort of fluid



Don't think it would of passed the mot next month!





New B8 suspenders all round and a huge improvement, its still not as fun as the e46 B3 but a good tram to pedal again

[Andyboy]

Jesus, have you been selling your Bum for money?

If so, how much?

[Simon13]

keep on rollin mofos

Um, passed MOT with no advisorys which i honestly think is a first for me! Shes now been welded for the first time on all 4 jacking points. None of the structural stuff was rotton so just plating around the lifting areas.

2 new michelin pilot sport boots for the rear and all is well on the e36.


I have got a rough idle, which seems to be worse when its warm, i've changed the idle control valve and the cyclone valve for known good spares but it persists. I can't see an air leak so could it be an iffy cam sensor or MAF? It feels like the performance is a bit flat at the moment but the economy is as normal. Its defo not quite 100% but its hard to notice when you drive it everyday if you get me

It will barely idle with the MAF unplugged i know this from experience, but it uses an S50 MAF but a standard M52 cam sensor, i guess at this milege its sensible items to replace?

[dusty23]

Any luck with this. Took the m3 out today which has been sat up for a while and I have a similar predicerment. Idle is fine but it's jerky at low throttle input, fine if you give it some.

[Simon13]

Right this un even idle is bugging me alot,

I tried a MAF from a spare car from Petes stash and its got the engine feeling like it should. its keen to rev, all the low end torque is back. And the economy has come up a touch. Its great but i still get this rough idle shite. I've since bought a secondhand MAF and the car felt the same as with Petes but still this rough/hunting idle.

So i feel like i know the MAF change has cured the odd driving and flat performance

I bought a new Meyle cam sensor on ebay to try and tbh now it feels like it did before a bit flat. So a backwards step. I guess you should buy genuine sensors but meyle suspenion stuff is good from my use of it. I'm going to swap the old sensor back in after two days driving with this one

Should i invest in a new cyclone valve? It runs nice from cold idles perfect, then when its warm ie coolant to temp the revs start to fluctuate hunt at idle with it cutting out occasionally. When the idle settles when the engine is warm its rough. ICV?

Are these any good on ebay to help me along my way?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Diagnosti ... 4aa9eeb7a3

[Simon13]

So earlier i went out and it felt punchy and like it was when its good. Stopped at the garage, coolant and oil were to temp and still ok.

When i got back in the car 5 mins later it was flat again like a 320 no torque. Could my knock sensors being dying? Or maybe my MAF i bought is dodgey

I guess a fault code reader would possibly help here

[Andyboy]

Are you still running the auto loom and ECU?