Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

Top Dog

vintagevrs wrote: »

Interesting reg, bit confused it's on a 318 though. It was hardly a coincidence when bought new.

I'd imagine there were a few 325i owners less than impressed

But is it really any more confusing than BMW badging anyway where a 2.0 is a 318?

Carpentry

wotzgoingon wrote: »

3246?

325i ?

keano25

nogoodnamesleft.. is that a 535d?

nogoodnamesleft

keano25 wrote: »

nogoodnamesleft.. is that a 535d?

I wish, its the 520d but its the LCI version so its the B47 engine (same one thats fitted to the new G30 5 series). The engine bay is massive though persumably lower production cost for the different engine variants that were available on the F10.

wotzgoingon

Carpentry wrote: »

325i ?

I realized that after I posted. There is a 3.2 e46 with the cc I posted.

keano25

nogoodnamesleft wrote: »

I wish,

Ya going for the 535d myself next.. fingers crossed. Have had 3 520d's now..

Alanstrainor

Thinking of buying this as a replacement jack. The 2 I have now are absolute cheapies, bought for peanuts so I'm looking for something more substantial and easier to use:

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

This will be used in the driveway, and stored in the garage which opens out into the drive. Mine drawback is the weight of the thing which is 30kg+. But I suppose if I want a sturdy jack, it's going to weigh a tonne, that's unavoidable. And sure it's on wheels.

wotzgoingon

The two trolley jacks I have at the minute are cheapies also that do not lift high enough. I used a piece of timber a few times to gain extra height until one day it slipped and nearly destroyed my side skirt. I just gave the side skirt a wack and the clips re-engaged but if you know where to look it is not 100% right.

Interslice

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Thinking of buying this as a replacement jack. The 2 I have now are absolute cheapies, bought for peanuts so I'm looking for something more substantial and easier to use:

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

This will be used in the driveway, and stored in the garage which opens out into the drive. Mine drawback is the weight of the thing which is 30kg+. But I suppose if I want a sturdy jack, it's going to weigh a tonne, that's unavoidable. And sure it's on wheels.

Must do the same at some stage. The lidl special i have neither gets in low nor goes high.

Alanstrainor

Interslice wrote: »

Must do the same at some stage. The lidl special i have neither gets in low nor goes high.

Yep. My lidl special still works, about 6 years after I bought it. But I have the same problem, not low enough, not high enough. I think I'll do it then. I've been doing a lot of jobs of late so having an easy/quick jack that is stable is worth the 144 quid (minus 10%).

Truckermal

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Yep. My lidl special still works, about 6 years after I bought it. But I have the same problem, not low enough, not high enough. I think I'll do it then. I've been doing a lot of jobs of late so having an easy/quick jack that is stable is worth the 144 quid (minus 10%).

I've a spare space saver from the GS if you want it BTW..

Alanstrainor

Truckermal wrote: »

I've a spare space saver from the GS if you want it BTW..

Cheers man! Mine does have a space saver in the boot, so all good there. (Might actually take a closer look at it though!)

Truckermal

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Cheers man! Mine does have a space saver in the boot, so all good there. (Might actually take a closer look at it though!)

I bought a full size wheel for mine and it fitted in the well I couldn't stand the thought of that awful yellow wheel on should I have got a puncture...

cletus

Today I

- replaced front and rear discs and pads
- replaced front fog light bulb
- replaced jubilee clip around nearside CV boot
- repaired headlamp lugs with an epoxy thing I picked up in the motor factors

All on the wife's Grand Scenic

Alanstrainor

In the last couple of weeks (week and a half ish) I've done a few bits and bobs to the new is250.

Oil and filter change: Oil came out of it thick as tar, not impressed. I was suspicious of this when I was looking at the oil on the dip stick, but it was worse than I thought when I emptied it. I reckon I'll do another oil and filter change in a few months as a way of flushing it.

Intake pipe upgrade: There's an air pipe from the airbox to the throttle body and on new gs models there's a 'sound creator' air pipe installed. This is a modified intake pipe with what I can only describe as a horn pointing towards the cabin. There's a diaphragm inside that opens over 3,000rpm and blasts lovely intake noise into the cabin. It's amazing, the noise makes it sound like something way bigger and faster than it is. All of this came from a random ebay find, these parts are almost impossible to get so it was a really lucky one. And an OEM Lexus part too.

Rear brake pads: The rear pads were almost worn to the metal. So this was the first job I did. Not too bad, although I did make a mess of the fitting kit when removing the pads on the first side. So had to order a new metal retaining clip which was annoying.

NEXT UP:

1. Idler pulley and belt replacement. There's a bit of noise from the aux belts. Ordered a new idler pulley and belt, so I'll pull off the old belt and see what's what with the rest of the pulleys and change the idler while I'm there.

2. PCV: Super easy valve to change on these engines, no reason for changing it really. It's cheap and easily done so why not.

3. Spark plugs. Who knows if these have ever been done, so I've ordered 6 to pop in. Quite an annoying job to do, as access is limited. So quite a lot has to come off the top of the engine to get access.

And to top it off I just bought the new jack. It's amazing, hard to believe just how high it lifts compared to the old ones. And seems much sturdier and easier to use. Should make it easier for me to actually do these jobs.

Alanstrainor

Annddddd aux belt changed with idler pulley. Old belt looked old enough so good to swap that out. Old pulley was actually perfectly fine. But swapped out regardless. It does run nice and sweet now. I do have to remind myself that it's a V6 and not a lovely balanced I6 that I'm used to.

And the new jack was amazing. Lifted the car effortlessly and the process was much quicker and easier than before. No more will I be unwilling to do jobs based on the time it'll take me to get it in the air.

job seeker

I always thought this was a neat job!

I started by taking off the black panel



Removing wheel arch trim and front bumper: Pull wheel arch trim (carefully) towards you.

Remove phillips head screw located under the wheel arch trim, which hold on the bumper just below the wing and pull bumper forward!




Perspex boy is held in with two 10mm bolts and four push-release clips!



Old and new



reinstall the black plastic!


by Ah here! Do not talk bull!, on Flickr

And done!

Install of the new grille is literally the previous steps in reverse!


I was hoping to get it washed as well, but it rained all day unfortunately!

Alanstrainor

job seeker wrote: »

I always thought this was a neat job!

I started by taking off the black panel

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48660748028_7879d0441d.jpg

Removing wheel arch trim and front bumper: Pull wheel arch trip (carefully) towards you.

Remove phillips head screw located under the wheel arch trim, which hold on the bumper just below the wing and pull bumper forward!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48660692758_4a7a1c7c31.jpg


Perspex boy is held in with two 10mm bolts and four push-release clips!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48661180142_0ab92b1b88.jpg

Old and new

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48661384047_c6333929a7.jpg

reinstall the black plastic!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48661179727_8419fd1414.jpg
by Ah here! Do not talk bull!, on Flickr

And done!

Install of the new grille is literally the previous steps in reverse!


I was hoping to get it washed as well, but it rained all day unfortunately!

Now that is a lovely update, looks much better.

job seeker

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Now that is a lovely update, looks much better.

Cheers Alan! Not near as advanced as a lot of the work that goes on here, but any excuse for a spot of photography! :pac:

Alanstrainor

job seeker wrote: »

Cheers Alan! Not near as advanced as a lot of the work that goes on here, but any excuse for a spot of photography! :pac:

Ha! But so many of the jobs on here are about as difficult as all the messing about getting that grill replaced.

Interslice

Thought that is250 was an inline 6 aswell. Interesting! You should idle it for 5 minutes with this in the oil and drain it out. Pulls out all the build up stuck to the internals.

Alanstrainor

Interslice wrote: »

Thought that is250 was an inline 6 aswell. Interesting! You should idle it for 5 minutes with this in the oil and drain it out. Pulls out all the build up stuck to the internals.

I've always been a bit wary of these products to be honest. As far as I can tell there's nothing wrong with the engine so I'd rather not go too hard at it to fix a non problem. It's more that I'm very picky, and in my time with the e46 the oil has always been very fresh, so seeing oil in that condition come out was a bit of shock. I couple more changes and it should be grand I reckon.

I'm going through that phase of doing any jobs I can think of at the minute, there's a bit of a rattle over bumps, I have some suspicion over the rear top mount on the drivers side. Might do some investigating this evening.

cletus

You know what they say, if it ain’t broke, fix it ‘till it is...

dodzy

Off with the old....



And on with the new....




Next....swap out the chrome kidney grills for matt black.

Alanstrainor

Where did you get the plates? Need to do mine as well. I think Eire plates is who I used years back.

Truckermal

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Where did you get the plates? Need to do mine as well. I think Eire plates is who I used years back.

Eire plates are still there!

wotzgoingon

Those engine flush/cleaners can clean gunk that was helping the engine prevent leaks, especially on old engines or so I read anyway. I also heard it from that lunatic Scotty Kilmer.

dodzy

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Where did you get the plates? Need to do mine as well. I think Eire plates is who I used years back.

Parts for cars, Blanchardstown. On my doorstep so handier than online. As trucker says, eireplates still around.

Interslice

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Those engine flush/cleaners can clean gunk that was helping the engine prevent leaks, especially on old engines or so I read anyway. I also heard it from that lunatic Scotty Kilmer.

I used it on a 30 year old engine. No leaks since. If there is gunk sealing your engine there is usually a slow leak there. Id rather it out than in anway.

colm_mcm

job seeker wrote: »

I always thought this was a neat job!

I started by taking off the black panel



Removing wheel arch trim and front bumper: Pull wheel arch trim (carefully) towards you.

Remove phillips head screw located under the wheel arch trim, which hold on the bumper just below the wing and pull bumper forward!




Perspex boy is held in with two 10mm bolts and four push-release clips!



Old and new



reinstall the black plastic!


by Ah here! Do not talk bull!, on Flickr

And done!

Install of the new grille is literally the previous steps in reverse!


I was hoping to get it washed as well, but it rained all day unfortunately!

Great mod, really freshens them up. Might as well get the facelift rear indicators while you’re at it!

That car has turned out great.