What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by tmat1977

i have a lag in throttle response wondering what it could be ? could it be a need of a computer tune like alpha n tune i seen some bmw owners do regain there Horse power numbers? can i do with pa soft bmw scanner to code it?

Assuming you're talking about a problem with your car vs. a desire for an upgrade ...

I once had a stuck idle air control valve (IACV) on my 6-cylinder E53 that had a similar effect. No codes or anything, just terrible lag when starting out. Easy to remove the IACV and do a gently rock / shake test to see if it is stuck or not.

In my case, it was stuck because I had removed it while doing major engine work, and I cleaned out the IACV. But it seems I mostly loosened all the gunk rather than removing it, since it must have frozen solid, locking the valve in place. Solution, once I isolated the problem was just to do a much more thorough cleaning and it is still good.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by Effduration

Yeah, that might have been my problem. Unlike the other three M54 heads I have, all of which have been through the machine shop. This head I bought from a guy who bought it off ebay from a reputable, frequent, seller of m54 heads- I had the Ebay receipt. It had clearly been machined and I did check it for flatness along with a cursory visual check for cracks...

My hope is that I will be able to see the problem when I pull the head, and that the problem is in the head and not the block..At least I know where to look - cyl 6 area.

Yes, my condolences too. I'm now about 2 years and 6k miles since my head gasket job on my 2001. Sounds like you and I did very similar things. VANOS rebuild, TimeSerts, etc.

I know cylinder #6 is a little tough to work on, just being so far back in there, so doing the TimeSerting and torquing, etc. are just a little harder to do with less clearance above the block.

On the careful head inspection, even the YouTube star 50skid almost got burned by a cracked head in his M54 HG video series. Easy to miss, especially if it was maybe such a small crack that it did not leak for 5k miles.

Hopefully things go well on the recovery.

[Purplecty]

Removed the awfully thin plastidip(what a pain when it's sprayed thin) on the trunk emblem frame and also plan to remove it from the rest of the badges...

[StephenVA]

Ooooh, plasticdip coverings. Why that was such a trend I have no idea.

[Purplecty]

Originally Posted by StephenVA

Ooooh, plasticdip coverings. Why that was such a trend I have no idea.

It doesn't look bad when done right, but this piece was already showing spots of the chrome through. I prefer the original chrome badge look...

[Purplecty]

Goo gone is the winner for thin or old plasti dip removal! Doused the badges with it and waited until I can easily scratch it off with a finger nail. I feel it looks much better!

[crystalworks]

Looks great! Do you not like black badges or they were just done so poorly it looked bad?

[Purplecty]

I dont mind black badges but the plastidip looked very faded and it was very thin. I would actually prefer gloss black badges and grilles. At this point, I figured I can retain the factory look along with the new DINAN badge I will mount at some point without the need to redip everything...

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Purplecty

I dont mind black badges but the plastidip looked very faded and it was very thin. I would actually prefer gloss black badges and grilles. At this point, I figured I can retain the factory look along with the new DINAN badge I will mount at some point without the need to redip everything...

I'm in the same boat. Prefer gloss black badges but I have had no luck finding a black option. BMW did not start doing OE black badging until the F chassis vehicles.

I am using plastidip and their "glossifier." Comes close to looking like OE gloss black badging but it's not perfect. Doesn't trip my OCD... so good enough.

[Happy]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

I'm in the same boat. Prefer gloss black badges but I have had no luck finding a black option. BMW did not start doing OE black badging until the F chassis vehicles.

I am using plastidip and their "glossifier." Comes close to looking like OE gloss black badging but it's not perfect. Doesn't trip my OCD... so good enough.

Yeah, the black looks good. What’s your opinion on those carbon fiber looking roundels, either color blue or black?