How various silicon products solved all my problems...

[ZetaTre]

Hello all,

I used to post a lot more on forums but that work thingy is getting in my way lately. Nonetheless whenever I have a problem, I know the community out there has either already solved it or will have an idea on how to. Here's a couple of cents. All the "problems" I've had with our X3 are just the common things and solving them turned a good car into a great one.

1) I was getting the "check fuel cap" light more often than not after fill ups: I've learned is common and the "solution" is to update the ECU. Well, that's cheating: the light turns on because the fuel system is not as shut as it should be. The ECU retuning simply (I'm speculating here, but I think I'm safe...) increases the threshold. What worked for me is some "Syl-Glide" lube (it's simply a silicon based lubricant) from NAPA: I removed the green seal from the fuel cap, coat it with syl-glide and reinstalled it. The light hasn't turned on ever since. The reason is quite simple: the gasoline fumes are solvent and removed/dry out the seal that tend to shrink and won't proved as good as a seal as it used. So before spending big bucks in replacing EVAP systems, fuel caps or getting expensive reflashing, try my trick.

2) The other thing that benefited from some lube was the sunroof: we all know how it gets stuck. Well I spend two hrs lubing it all up and now it moves like butter. At a minimum coat the plastic slides that drive the glass up and down. You won't be disappointed!!!

3) The other thing was the noisy seals around the doors that crick and crock when going over imperfections or bumps. The solution here was some einszett Gummi Pflege (Amazon has it). As a Z3 owner I took the habit of lubing the seals once or twice a year. I did the same to the X3 the other day and BOOOOOOM - it's now as quiet as it can get!!!

Happy motoring guys!!!