[vilord]

Are you having the mirror flippy problem? I followed this guy's video and drilled and lubricated my mirrors. they still flip out sometimes but a little more silicone lube and a few taps and they come back around every time

[Dirtleg]

Originally Posted by vilord

Are you having the mirror flippy problem? I followed this guy's video and drilled and lubricated my mirrors. they still flip out sometimes but a little more silicone lube and a few taps and they come back around every time

No I'm not having the mirror flippy problem. Previous owner may have.

Now that I have new mirrors to install I popped the cover off the existing drivers side and noticed the white wire has already been cut.

My issue is the mirrors have no detent action and can flop backwards and forwards with very little resistance. As if the gearing is gone. Once I install the new to me mirrors I'll dig in and see what's actually happening with the old ones.

[vilord]

Ah, yeah sounds like the previous owner disabled the motors but didn't get the pins engaged first. Recommend hooking the white wire back up and seeing what they do

[oVeRdOsE.]

So I had a very ROUGH idle this summer after doing the cover gasket. Found out it was both vanos solenoid jammed, totally a non related issue.

Anyway, parked the car for an other 2-3 months.

Get it out if its storage today, engine was running good, but with a lifter tic tic.

After 2km idle was rough againm stalled engine.... Stopped to the gas station, pour some Royal Purple injector cleaner , and engine flush.

Did a 1 km ride at WOT, annnddddd fixed ! Idle fine, no stalling issue and no lifter noise.


so yeah , a stored vehicle will do funny stuff. BTW I had liqui moly oil in it.

Doing a oil change right now.

[Efthreeoh]

New steering shafts... Hummer... RUST BUCKET!

[vilord]

Swapped out the cruise control stalk to the active cruise one.
I tried swapping the whole SZL with all the stalks and the steering angle sensor to the one from my old car but kept getting DSC/SZL/steering angle errors... maybe incompatible program versions or something, not sure. Opened up the SZL that came with the car and swapped the stalk instead, no more errors and now I can set the ACC distance. Woot!

[Twix]

335 brake upgrade. Pedal is a little mushy for my liking still after 3 bleeds.

Don’t look at the disaster winter wheels or rusty hubs lol

[Dirtleg]

Originally Posted by vilord

Ah, yeah sounds like the previous owner disabled the motors but didn't get the pins engaged first. Recommend hooking the white wire back up and seeing what they do

After watching the video you posted about the mirrors, and pondering for a moment, I had decided to do that before swapping anything. I will look at it tomorrow morning.

As for this evening, I finally had time to swap out the wiper motor assembly with the one I got at the junkyard for $20. Took about an hour and a half including remounting the wiper blades. I work fairly slow so I would consider this an easy job.

We drove the car today in the rain this morning, well my son did, (just has his permit at the moment) to meet his mother so he could see her this weekend. The wipers were all sorts of wonky. Once they started they may just stay on or when they stopped it was in a random place on the windshield. I have already swapped out the original blue relay with a new green one and that didn't change anything.

I am happy to report with the new assembly in place everything acts like it should. Flip the stalk down for mist it does a single wipe and stops exactly in the same place every time. Before it might go 5-10 times and stop with the blades vertical or wherever. Glad I didn't have to swap the BCM as well.

In truth I am surprised just changing the motor assembly fixed it. I had read about the position sensor going bad on these and thought, what if? Well that appears to have been the issue.

[colorado.e9x]

@vilord could you measure the ID of the ACC lower grille trim? I'm going to need to make my own for my M3 style bumper.

Also thanks for the info about the stalk, hopefully I don't have the same issue. But if do, now I know the cause and the fix

[Skoidat69]

Found out the shifter sector rod valve thing broke in my transmission at Costco today... I lost reverse so I have park like a jackass until I can get parts to have it fixed.. $0.50 plastic piece that should have been metal..

[SchonE91]

Today should be the last day of what started out as a coolant leak repair on my wife’s 2007 165k mile E91… work started three weeks ago when the low level coolant warning light came on and the head tank was found empty with coolant dripping from the rear of the belly pan.

Upon inspection, the water pump area showed signs of leakage so a water pump, thermostat and hose were ordered… drained the coolant and proceeded to remove the the pump/thermostat to find the hose clamps oriented in all the wrong ways to access the clamp screws… accessing the top pump mounting bolt was no fun either, but eventually got everything out after getting better access by removing the fan/shroud and down the slippery slope of more problems to fix on a 15 year old car.

Removing the fan shroud meant repositioning the radiator/head tank hose… which broke the brittle plastic nipple hose connection at the Tee… which meant removing the original top radiator hose… which wouldn’t budge regardless of the repetitive wiggling or prying to loosen the quick connect from the top radiator connection… which fatigued the connection to the point of failure requiring a new radiator… since the upper hose was disconnected, it was time to replace the oil filter housing gasket, so removed the original thermostat/housing hose to access the lower E10 bolt … which revealed that the plastic connector at the housing failed (and possible the source of the original leak)… and since everything else was apart, it was time to replace the valve cover gasket (and what a fun job that was!)… Anyway, the wife loves the car and it will be finished today.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by SchonE91

Today should be the last day of what started out as a coolant leak repair on my wife’s 2007 165k mile E91… work started three weeks ago when the low level coolant warning light came on and the head tank was found empty with coolant dripping from the rear of the belly pan.

Upon inspection, the water pump area showed signs of leakage so a water pump, thermostat and hose were ordered… drained the coolant and proceeded to remove the the pump/thermostat to find the hose clamps oriented in all the wrong ways to access the clamp screws… accessing the top pump mounting bolt was no fun either, but eventually got everything out after getting better access by removing the fan/shroud and down the slippery slope of more problems to fix on a 15 year old car.

Removing the fan shroud meant repositioning the radiator/head tank hose… which broke the brittle plastic nipple hose connection at the Tee… which meant removing the original top radiator hose… which wouldn’t budge regardless of the repetitive wiggling or prying to loosen the quick connect from the top radiator connection… which fatigued the connection to the point of failure requiring a new radiator… since the upper hose was disconnected, it was time to replace the oil filter housing gasket, so removed the original thermostat/housing hose to access the lower E10 bolt … which revealed that the plastic connector at the housing failed (and possible the source of the original leak)… and since everything else was apart, it was time to replace the valve cover gasket (and what a fun job that was!)… Anyway, the wife loves the car and it will be finished today.

[Dirtleg]

Originally Posted by SchonE91

Today should be the last day of what started out as a coolant leak repair on my wife’s 2007 165k mile E91… work started three weeks ago when the low level coolant warning light came on and the head tank was found empty with coolant dripping from the rear of the belly pan.

Upon inspection, the water pump area showed signs of leakage so a water pump, thermostat and hose were ordered… drained the coolant and proceeded to remove the the pump/thermostat to find the hose clamps oriented in all the wrong ways to access the clamp screws… accessing the top pump mounting bolt was no fun either, but eventually got everything out after getting better access by removing the fan/shroud and down the slippery slope of more problems to fix on a 15 year old car.

Removing the fan shroud meant repositioning the radiator/head tank hose… which broke the brittle plastic nipple hose connection at the Tee… which meant removing the original top radiator hose… which wouldn’t budge regardless of the repetitive wiggling or prying to loosen the quick connect from the top radiator connection… which fatigued the connection to the point of failure requiring a new radiator… since the upper hose was disconnected, it was time to replace the oil filter housing gasket, so removed the original thermostat/housing hose to access the lower E10 bolt … which revealed that the plastic connector at the housing failed (and possible the source of the original leak)… and since everything else was apart, it was time to replace the valve cover gasket (and what a fun job that was!)… Anyway, the wife loves the car and it will be finished today.

That's quite a bit of "while you're in there".
Sure you don't want to replace the CCV before you sign off on it?

[SchonE91]

Originally Posted by Dirtleg

That's quite a bit of "while you're in there".
Sure you don't want to replace the CCV before you sign off on it?

Maybe after I deal with the TCM transmission gear oil wear error code that just popped up.

My wife had the car dealer or shop serviced before we married five years ago, so this bimmer is still new to me. It’s been quite a shock to the system dealing with what should be simple maintenance like the valve cover gasket and battery replacement (What do you mean the battery needs to be registered???).

I much prefer working on my ‘73 “E10”. Now this is how to replace a valve cover gasket…

[Dirtleg]

Originally Posted by SchonE91

Maybe after I deal with the TCM transmission gear oil wear error code that just popped up.

My wife had the car dealer or shop serviced before we married five years ago, so this bimmer is still new to me. It’s been quite a shock to the system dealing with what should be simple maintenance like the valve cover gasket and battery replacement (What do you mean the battery needs to be registered???).

I much prefer working on my ‘73 “E10”. Now this is how to replace a valve cover gasket…

I hear ya. All my previous BMW's were sporting the M30. The first thing this car needed when acquired was a VCG. It's an 06' so aluminum, broken, bolts. The one at the firewall on the passenger side was fun to get out since it broke below the head surface. So many things to remove just to get in there.

I too had scope creep. Still do. So far it's the left rear wheel sensor, drivers door lock actuator, majority of the cooling system except the WP and heater hoses and expansion tank at this point. Oil filter housing gasket, Alternator, VCG, CCV, drivers headlight and AHS module, and wiper motor assembly. Also just received the parts I need to do the CCC to CIC swap since the CCC wasn't working anyway. Oh I forgot I have rear wheel bearings to install and am thinking I need to swap the driveshaft center bearing. Of course that means it's guibo time. I may be able to fix the mirrors but have replacements if not.

I am sure once all this is done it'll be time for suspension work.

Your post just cracked me up because I truly understand how easy it is to get sucked into every last thing.

[SchonE91]

Originally Posted by Dirtleg

I hear ya. All my previous BMW's were sporting the M30. The first thing this car needed when acquired was a VCG. It's an 06' so aluminum, broken, bolts. The one at the firewall on the passenger side was fun to get out since it broke below the head surface. So many things to remove just to get in there.

I too had scope creep. Still do. So far it's the left rear wheel sensor, drivers door lock actuator, majority of the cooling system except the WP and heater hoses and expansion tank at this point. Oil filter housing gasket, Alternator, VCG, CCV, drivers headlight and AHS module, and wiper motor assembly. Also just received the parts I need to do the CCC to CIC swap since the CCC wasn't working anyway. Oh I forgot I have rear wheel bearings to install and am thinking I need to swap the driveshaft center bearing. Of course that means it's guibo time. I may be able to fix the mirrors but have replacements if not.

I am sure once all this is done it'll be time for suspension work.

Your post just cracked me up because I truly understand how easy it is to get sucked into every last thing.

Trust me, I wasn’t looking for more work or trouble, but there was a period where everything I touched either needed replacing or mangling beyond repair to remove… there is nothing easy to get to on this car. If it weren’t for the 1/4 drive E10 socket bit with integral U-Joint, I’d have thrown in the towel.

[vilord]

I used to complain when working on my E91 that everything was hard to get to.

After working on my wife's Maxima (need to replace the alternator? Time to pull the radiator, then just sneak it by the valve cov--- and the valve cover breaks...), my housemate's Mazda CX-5 (need to replace a power steering belt? guess what, there's no tensioner, it's stretch-fit, and there is 1/2 inch between the pulleys and the vehicle body, so good luck!), and my GMC Sierra diesel (need to replace the starter? Gotta lift the body off the frame!), working on my BMW is a dream.

colorado.e9x I'll see if I can find the ACC trim when I'm next at my storage garage. I went to measure it this morning and apparently I was being pretty lazy, or couldn't find it, or it was broken, or something when I installed the sensor...

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by vilord

I used to complain when working on my E91 that everything was hard to get to.

After working on my wife's Maxima (need to replace the alternator? Time to pull the radiator, then just sneak it by the valve cov--- and the valve cover breaks...), my housemate's Mazda CX-5 (need to replace a power steering belt? guess what, there's no tensioner, it's stretch-fit, and there is 1/2 inch between the pulleys and the vehicle body, so good luck!), and my GMC Sierra diesel (need to replace the starter? Gotta lift the body off the frame!), working on my BMW is a dream.

Agreed, and I still think BMWs are a joy to work on compared to many 'Merican and Japanese cars. To change the fuel pump in my Mazda3, the entire fuel tank needed to be dropped! But even the the simple things like oil filter changes are a pain with a downward facing filter. PIA and a mess everywhere to change the oil. But at least the oil pan gasket doesn't leak!!! The valve cover and 2/3 of the engine mounts were easy though.

[compressionignition]

Originally Posted by malachi347

stealership just quoted me better part of $600 to replace my rear driver window regulator... Got the parts from the dealer / how much? Any tips / tricks needed or was it completely straightforward? 15 minutes, really?

Super easy process, remove trim along armrest panel carefully with a plastic or non marring pry tool. Remove outer trim of grab handle, good time to replace if it's all sticky and deteriorating. Remove three torx screws. Carefully pop door panel off it's clips and pull away but not off just yet. Disconnect harness for light on bottom of door panel. Push white plastic connector of door handle cable away from the door panel by applying pressure to the inside where the cable goes in. Set door panel aside. Unplug door lock actuator and remove vapor barrier. Position window so you can see through the mounting point of the glass and push the tab to pop the glass out. Manually lift window to its highest position and secure in place. Remove insulation with two Phillips screws. Unplug harness from window motor. Remove 10mm nuts securing regulator. If replacing only the regulator, transfer motor to new regulator. Reinstall regulator and plug in, lower window into guide and make sure it pops into place. Install foam insulation piece and tighten two screws. Install vapor barrier making sure to push the sealant back together so it doesn't leak water. A roller works nicely. Plug in lock actuator. Reconnect door panel light and nose the door latch cable back into its home making sure to keep the handle in its closed position and snap it into place. Pop upper clips of panel back into door shell making sure to guide the lock rod into its home, wiggle the panel until all the plastic clips are started in their respective holes. Pop all clips back in, install door panel screws, pop grab handle back into place and reinstall trim. If the clear plastic inserts came out with the studs of the trim pull them off and reinstall into panel before popping trim back in. Some cars will need ISTA or similarly capable software to reinitialize the windows anti trap after install so auto upgrade and down will work.

[cehrl7]

Just passed 81,000 miles today on my 2011 335i.

[colorado.e9x]

@vilord hey if it works it works lol. For now I'm going to stick with my initial guesstimate of 2.5in ID. Whenever you do go to your storage garage though, the information would be much appreciated! As I've done previously with a DIY ram air inlet on my old bumper, I'll be glueing a black plastic countertop grommet to the grille. Works as a great trim piece. I'm hoping my lower trim on the M3 bumper will be further away from the sensor than that so the "tunnel" of the grommet can go right up against it

[Wolf 335]

Originally Posted by Twix

335 brake upgrade. Pedal is a little mushy for my liking still after 3 bleeds.

Don’t look at the disaster winter wheels or rusty hubs lol

Just hit that hub/axle bolt with a drill wire brush , followed by some Fluid Film spray.

It will look and stay pretty.