:rofl:

It's almost as bad when they forgot they already put oil in, then do it again.


A college roommate wanted to do his own oil change on his new 1976 Firebird with a 350 V8 and I reminded him that Pontiac V8s used six quarts of oil with the filter change. He called me the next week, extremely proud of completing his first ever oil change, but told me his engine took ten quarts :wow: I said no, no , no, you'll be spinning nothing but oil foam inside the engine. Then he told me not to worry because the first four quarts ran down the driveway before he realized he forgot to put in the drain plug :bustingup


2002 X5 3.0 387,000 miles and many extra quarts of oil
2014 428i 74,0000 miles and no extra quarts of oil


2004 325i sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i sold at 66,000 miles


1970 Firebird Under restoration with 6 quarts of oil ready to go

HA!

I did that once but it took less thank a half quart before I caught it. The dribbling oil sound was the giveaway. Luckily the drain pan was still under there.

This could totally be a new thread here :D

Sure could! I'm guilty for a quart when installing a turbo on my e30. Left the oil drain for the turbo disconnected from the oil pan. :D

The hoses are squishy and the drain pan isn't a frozen puck!


https://i.imgur.com/uzD2JB8.jpg



It's time to get some coolant in Swampy before the freezing temperatures are back.

I gave everything a quick look to see if anything was blatantly cracked or leaking now that it thawed out but everything seemed fine.

Since it wasn't exactly sure how much fluid I drained from the cooling system before it froze I filled it back up with distilled water and was going to give it another cycle BUT

Long story short I borrowed Swampy's intake boot for another prick car so first I wanted to make this slightly better


https://i.imgur.com/Z9mEF9s.jpg


A little bit of glue and this will work just fine until I get another new one.


https://i.imgur.com/ft6SIpX.jpg


Ran the engine enough to get it warmed up a bit and drained about 3.5 L of water out of there.


https://i.imgur.com/UhTNkRG.jpg


Up next, Swampy should be thirsty for about 4 L of this concentrated coolant.


https://i.imgur.com/ykJGpoD.jpg


I ended up getting about 4.2 L of the concentrated coolant in the before it was slightly bubbling out of the bleed hole.


https://i.imgur.com/L6VQAnk.jpg


Ran the engine another 5 min or so and no leaks that I can see so far.


https://i.imgur.com/8QSysl6.jpg

Swampy's engine bay around the radiator area shown in the photos is pretty clean. Well done! :thumbup:

Thank you sir

I changed 2 valve cover gaskets last week and the hose isn't frozen so now everyone has a clean engine bay. I seem to spend enough time under there, might as well tidy up :D

It's been long overdue for an update but unfortunately there isn't much progress to report. If anything we've suffered setbacks.

We last left off with Swampy needing a proper bleed of the brakes and then winter happened one day.


https://i.imgur.com/ihrIeOf.jpg


I see no good reason to hang out in the snow anymore than absolutely necessary so other than charging the battery regularly (because I was too lazy to chase down whatever is draining it in the summer) and letting the engine run here and there I didn't pay much attention. (Also I've been hiding a dark secret I've been dealing with but more on that later)

One of the times I started the engine I noticed some frozen water on the passenger side floor mat. This was about half way through winter and a couple days earlier the wife and I went for a quick drive around the block. I figured it was leftover snow from her boots right?

Just for funsies I picked up the floor mat and guess what?!


https://i.imgur.com/3rtbSYV.jpg



I now have a portable skating rink!!


Well that much snow definitely did not come from her boots so I looked up at the A pillar and what do I see??


https://i.imgur.com/axsjJqd.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/mOkRQfB.jpg


YOU AGAIN HOSE?!?!?! I juuuuuuust sorted all this out no?


My immediate though was the wife must have somehow grabbed the A pillar getting in or out and dislodged the tube, but since it's winter and I'd like to keep sleeping inside I figured it's in my best interest to shut my face and keep my suspicions to myself.


So what to do with a hockey rink in your footwell in freezing weather? NOTHING!!! We wait!

A couple days later it was warmer and I thought maybe things would heat up in the interior enough to maybe soak up some water? As I'm trying to make my way around the car I decide that might as well brush the snow off no? That's when I noticed the ice built up around the cowl and popped the hood.

There was a horrible crunching sound followed by what I thought was breaking glass or something like that.


https://i.imgur.com/P4V82of.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/WllsK7D.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/Lka7MaA.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/Gx0M6UL.jpg



I know it's a little hard to gauge thickness...but what you're looking at is about .5"-1" of SOLID ice that filled any and all gaps, holes, nooks and crannies.


https://i.imgur.com/qF0PpSn.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/tzfxPjS.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/sNbJYJH.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/b7kGb55.jpg


After trying to chip out some of the ice I realized that wasn't really doing much and I'll probably end up smashing my windshield, so I thought leaving the hood open and letting all the sunlight get in there would help melt things.


There was melting all right...but since the hood was up the perfect shape of the hood imprint I had was modified and at the end of the day the hood wouldn't close.


Seeing as I've done nothing but make things worse I decided it wasn't time to start playing cars outside just yet.

On the positive side, I think it's commendable that your gas struts held the hood open. :chilled:

Swampy and Ole’Girl definitely chilled out this year. LoL..

The gas struts have been replaced at some point with aftermarket (they seem very similar to the cheapies on Amazon), however they are juuuust a little shorter than the OEM which in my case puts the hood right about upper forehead level resulting in :banghead:

After several reminders I have now learned how to approach her

I'm used to door seals and windows freezing shut but haven't experienced anything like this before.

I have several vehicles that sit outside all winter and none have turned into icebergs quite like this

My end goal has been to give it the more aggressive off-road treatment along the Fluid Motor Union e53 lines but I didn't want to spend too much money and shortly after Swampy came into my life I bought another e53 so that pretty much took most of whatever was left in the fun budget

Lucky for me while Swampy has been frozen there was a great post started by thstone https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...and-build.html

There's a budget friendly version of a lift kit that was posted which definitely was the price range I'm familiar with :D aaaaaaaand it happened to be on sale aaaaaand it was my birthday last week so needless to say...

Swampy will now be joining the cool kids club


https://i.imgur.com/TMyjVqF.jpg


I decided to go with a 265/70/17 tire. While we wait for the lift kit I'm hoping to find some used tires that look cool. Maybe something a little more along the lines of an aggressive mud tire than the BF KO2 style but I'm pretty flexible depending on the price.

I really like the FMU Dick Cepek Crushers with the skulls but I don't think I could spend that kind of money on tires when there's so many more shitboxes you could buy :D

WOOOT WOOOT!!!!

Mail call!!!!

The ebay "lift kit" is here!


https://i.imgur.com/KwEqdKN.jpg


For anyone interested in took about 30 days to get here to Canada (Ontario). Not too bad coming from Russia.


https://i.imgur.com/2ZeAkkm.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/ywyJKPS.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/LbrwMYn.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/T7N0MIf.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/l3O8c7b.jpg

I haven't done much with Swampy because it looks like whatever has been draining the battery finally sucked all the life out of it.

Even if I charge it up fully overnight it will be flat DEAD by the next day which is super annoying trying to get anything done. By the time I get enough of a charge on the battery it's dark and cold again so "I'll just do it in the morning" and by then it's dead. Rinse and Repeat

Also it seems our early spring has been postponed for the next few weeks because they're calling for snow tonight or tomorrow. :rolleyes:

All we really need is a brake bleed and Swampy is road worthy again. The rear wheel bearing isn't loud enough yet to make me worry :D

Pull the fuses for your nav if you have it, radio, telematic (blue tooth) and dsp if you have it. Those are known to cause parasitic drain. Charge the battery and if it doesn't drain, you've identified possible culprits and you can do the other work you want to do.

No NAV, bluetooth or DSP on this one...but either way yes you're right. I'm just being lazy for some reason

Maybe this lift kit will be enough of a kick in the ass to get going again.

It's hard when it's cold and it doesn't get cold here anything like it does there.

your cold is our drop top weather :D

But seriously I've just been lazy and focused on other non car projects.

time for some long overdue updates:

For any new spectators joining us from this point I'll do a super quick rundown of the story.

- Bought beat down 3.0 because my lowball offer was accepted :dunno:

- Vehicle spent time in Florida and had a couple inches of standing water in the floor because the sunroof drains were pinched = mold and rust

- Grinding noise was heard from the rear of vehicle and during a visual inspection I noticed the brake lines had the consistency of deep fried bacon....mmmmmm bacon

- After replacing bacon brake lines some idiot introduced what appears to be a never ending supply of air into the system while trying to bleed it.

- Brake bleeding procedure failed many times due to the fact there is a parasitic draw that for some reason I refuse to address so every time I try to initiate the bleeding procedure with ISTA there's juuuuuust enough current to cycle the ABS pump for a couple seconds then it starts spazzing out clicking rapidly because there really isn't enough voltage but it will totally fake you out each time just enough to give you hope that today is the day we'll have a solid brake pedal but NO..NO IT ISN'T THE DAY and even though I have a battery charger on it, it's one of these stupid intelligent chargers that doesn't quite seem to get the job done...not so goddam smart now are you charger?!?!?!?

- Winter

- Brand new battery when I bought the car is now as useful as an ashtray on an airplane

- Ordered Russian lift kit...low key hoping that I could use it as an excuse for not getting shit done since it will take months to come from Russia right? 5/6 weeks later lift kit shows up and well....still nothing

- At one point I had to steal the speaker from the passenger side for the Wife's car so that door panel came off, then I stole something from the driver's side, so that door panel came off

- Miscellaneous non essential things were addressed (we'll come back to this)

- Then one day I decided that I wanted to do something...like a real something. We got new belts, pulleys water pump etc, why not replace the OFHG ?(we'll come back to this too)

- Finally decided to give this brake bleeding another try. (we'll come back to this also)

Ok so now we're kind of sort of caught up...but I need to address something real quick and we'll get back to all of this, but for real this time.

Chapter OFHG

I finally decided to get off my ass and do some real work on Swampy. Since the day I brought it home it's been leaking oil proudly as all BMWs tend to do.

I bought an oil pan gasket a while back and was slowly gathering parts to redo axles etc since the boots are torn but seeing as I haven't done jack shit in a year let's be a little more realistic. We're going at the gaskets from the top down so Oil filter housing gasket it is!!

One of the German parts places I use was having some kind of sale and I was going into the big city the next day so I used this opportunity and ordered the OFHG, some coolant and I forget what else for pickup at a location close to my buddy's place. This way I can pick up the stuff the next day and the shipping cost will cover most of my gas back...sweet!! (wait for it...)

The next day I get an email blah blah order delayed was the gist of it so my plan went to shit. Not only do I not have my stuff early but now I have to pick it up next time I'm in the city. Booooo!!!

Not to worry. Since I admitted defeat and I'll be waiting at least a week (or so I thought) before I'm back in the city I might as well order them from Rockauto together with some other stuff. So I bought 3 sets

sidenote:

The original order arrived days later and my buddy picked it up for me. It was 3 months before I finally picked it up from him and this is what I got...

It's been a long day for me and it's time for bed but more to come

Well, that ain't gonna work

Not only did that pass quality control at the manufacturer, everyone else down the line just passed the buck.

As a business owner the first thing I would do is find whoever packed that order and punch them in the mouth.

So would I. Is that genuine BMW or some other brand? What brand?

The odds of me buying anything genuine BMW is slim to none :D At least not unless it was heavily discounted.

This gasket was "Ajusa" brand

Stuff comes out to get at the Oil filter housing


https://i.imgur.com/GuZk43z.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/aeFezvc.jpg


Oil filter housing comes out and everything gets cleaned out as much as possible and then it all goes back together again.


https://i.imgur.com/F6d2ofs.jpg


Found out that Swampy has the 140 Amp alternator. :thumbup:


https://i.imgur.com/9B6TscC.jpg


Now that it's all back together it's getting a fresh filter and oil.

I've been using Liqui Moly for years but recently I've switched to Mobil 1 European Car Formula 0-40W because I can get it on sale every so often at Canadian Tire for 40% off so I usually pick up a few bottles each time and have them in inventory.

Oil filters I like Hengst. At least every single one I've had came with made in Germany stamped on them vs the other "German" brands. I also like to keep them stocked.


https://i.imgur.com/5T2TVAg.jpg


Overall everything went smoothly and we'll just wait and see if it's leaking again right?

Never heard of that brand. For sure I'll never buy it.

Me either and the Middle East is famous for shit brands.
In fact so much so that the stealership charges 26 USD to look up a part number even when you have the number and requests an "example" be brought in....[emoji849][emoji243][emoji90]

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

Ajusa is a spanish company and I don't know if I would call them any more of a shit brand than elring, beck/arnley, etc,.

I might be wrong but my gut feeling is there's very little to no differences in the vast majority of these gaskets. Even the chinese ones.

I bought the Viton OFHG from ECS when I did mine. More expensive, but I'll never have to touch it again.

yeah yeah fancy stuff always in the US.

Ask me how much they want to ship that to me :rolleyes:

Why's that? Taxes? It's not like you're in Australia or New Zealand.

Ugh...don't get me started

Most places that offer free US shipping won't ship to Canada for any less than $20ish dollars if at all. Most are much more expensive.

For example I wanted to get the fancy water pump pulley from ECS and the shipping was $50

Then there's duties and taxes coming across the border which means you need a broker, so you pay brokerage fees.

Everyone but USPS rapes us on the brokerage fees.

FedEX, UPS and DHL charge about $40 for the brokerage service...which is a blatant cash grab.

USPS works together with Canada Post and their fees are much more reasonable.

and let's not forget about the exchange rate.

I don't know how Rockauto does it but they use FedEX and all the costs are included coming across the border so there's no surprises. 3 days and it's at my door :thumbup:

We both know that you can throw a gasket in an envelope and mail it here for a couple dollars but apparently "that's not the way it works sir"

Wow. That's a real drag. No one selling foreign parts IN Canada? Besides the Stealer?

Of course there is. The people I bought the gasket from the first time around :D

I try to support "local" business as much as possible but financially I'm not in a position to be giving away money for feel good reasons. Which I why I'm buying beat down $1000 vehicles and fixing them myself.

Here's another example for you. My last purchase from Rockauto was 2x end links for Swampy and 2x end links for my e46 wagon.

Both sets of end links, taxes, shipping, duties and shipped to my door cost me the same as a single set would here shipped to me from the other regular people I use.

Also I've had a few negative experiences with a couple other online parts sources in Canada that will keep me going back to Rockauto because they're very consistent. Most of the other DIY guys around here also use them regularly. Cheapest and best source of quality parts no questions asked.

and you even get collectible fridge magnets!!

So we have a new OFHG gasket, fresh and filter time to fire up Swampy and....oh right I forgot....a while back I stole the new intake boot from Swampy for the Wife's car. However I did end up getting another one with my last order of oil filters and extra OFHGs.

Sometimes I do things out of sheer curiosity and other times because I'm cheap. This was because of both.

I present to you, reasons NOT to buy a URO intake boot



https://i.imgur.com/50pg2Uk.jpg


URO on the left, BMW on the right


https://i.imgur.com/FkjOniP.jpg


BMW


https://i.imgur.com/1ovNIII.jpg


URO


https://i.imgur.com/ffbUYkq.jpg


As you can see the design is a little more free flowing on the OEM boot. Will that make a drastic difference in performance? :dunno: But there was quite a bit of extra rubber flashing around every opening that I trimmed (read: hacked with an xacto knife) away where you can see my tooling marks.

The REIN boot I originally had on there was just as nice as the factory BMW and the rubber was also slightly more pliable that the UROnyourown

I cleaned up the extra rubber as best I could, put everything back together and fired up the engine ready to check for oil leaks.

Let it run for a few minutes and there wasn't oil gushing from my recent gasket change so that's a good sign.

Test drive time!

Got everything up to operating temp and drove around town for a few minutes and I wasn't leaving a trail of oil behind me so I think we're in the clear.

While driving around town I was quickly reminded what a shitty brake pedal feel Swampy has compared to the Wife's car. Sort of feels like you're stepping on a wet pillow or a sleeping cat.

We'll definitely have to get back to the brake bleeding. If this was a Ford I'd say it's fine but it's not so there's much room for improvement.

Since I've been using Swampy a few times daily putting around town here I figured it was time to cross a few other minor things off the list.

Next up is swapping out my pixel missing button dropping HVAC controls.



https://i.imgur.com/M8JnwJj.jpg


Last time I was at the pic and pull yard I found an HVAC control with no missing buttons out of a e39. I don't know what the screen looks like yet but I guess I'll find out when I throw it in Swampy...or will I??

Seems easy enough right? Slide out the existing controls, unplug a few wires and throw the other one in there right? WRONG!!

I fumbled with one of the connectors on the "new" unit for almost 5 solid minutes without being able to get it in there. Everything looked the way it should, no bent pins nothing. What am I doing wrong here???

Well guess what? It appears as though I just learned that there are at least two part numbers for something that looks exactly the same from the front :rolleyes:


https://i.imgur.com/SgG6ZFR.jpg


The "new" unit is on bottom and the one that was in Swampy is on the top. Can you spot the difference?


https://i.imgur.com/NXeu4m8.jpg


So that was a fail and we're back with the buttons that fall of. :(

The front panels come off easily and you can swap the buttons over. :thumbup:

The display can also be swapped but that is a little more involved.... :rolleyes:

I'm hoping to find another one but they seem to be a hot item at the pic n pulls around here.

Interesting little bit of info that I happened across as I was trying to find out more about the part number on realoem


https://i.imgur.com/Drnocip.jpg



LIES!!!!!

I literally pulled this unit myself from an e39 (I don't remember the exact year) and this part number says "Found on the following vehicles: e53" with no mention of e39.

I clicked a few the superseded part numbers and no mention of the e39.

Also seeing as the black plugs are a different size I can't see how it's possible that it would work. No matter how hard I wanted it to happen...if the plug don't fit you must aquit right?

Here's a few random non essential things that make me happy I poached from some fallen soldiers.


The handle for the trunk floor came broken and it's a real pain in the ass to get the floor up without it.

Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but since I'm unplugging the battery daily so it doesn't drain it's VERY nice to have this handle and not have to claw at the carpet like a wild animal.


https://i.imgur.com/yNghezN.jpg




I was also missing these




https://i.imgur.com/MJHYkOA.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/dRuu4xM.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/8u8AEDK.jpg


Ahhh so useless and yet so nice to have.

It's the little things c-bass. The little things. Especially when they are so easily fitted when compared to "normal" repairs on these tanks. ;)

You guys have Ebay up in the great white north? Would think that HVAC panel would be easy (and cheap) to come by. Nevermind, before submitting the post I Google searched it and looked. Nope, not easy to come by. Or rather, not cheap to come by via Canuckian Ebay. :dunno:

The problem is usually the selection on local ebay is meh. The better alternatives are marketplace and kijiji and the usual going rate is $40 not the $15 pic n pull price that I feel more comfortable paying for a used panel :D

It's really not that big of a deal to find one at the yards closer to the city. Their inventory is literally 10x more than the local place I've been going to.

It was more of a piss off because of course I should find the model that isn't compatible for some reason even though there's rumors online that it should be compatible :dunno:

Driving without a door panel is a real pain in the ass when it comes to getting out, and I've been getting in and out quite a bit putting around town.

Since the plans to have my super duper audio system ready within the next few days aren't going to come together I might as well pop the panel back on right? Not so fast!

I completely forgot that a couple months ago I swapped the driver's door panel from Swampy to the wife's car but when I removed the panel I noticed some bozo tore off the top corner because they must have been scared to unplug the air bag. :rolleyes:

I might be a cheap bastard but I'm not putting a partial vapor barrier on the door after going through all that to dry out the carpet.

a quick check for new inventory online and we're OFF TO THE PIC N PULL!!

This is going to be our donor, a 2002 3.0 that arrived about 10 days earlier.



https://i.imgur.com/kuR9x3X.jpg



Unfortunately the HVAC control and most of the other good stuff was already gone.



https://i.imgur.com/X8RkCfp.jpg



Door panel came off nice and easy and the vapor barrier was in great shape with only a couple minor tears. It took me a while to get it off because that black goop gets pretty hard in the cold weather and I didn't want anything bad to happen to either party.

Some other random items that I need/are always good to have extras of



https://i.imgur.com/shBN1h8.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/1xEi749.jpg



And no I don't need 3 lighters but you never really find them and they're all brand new never been used and rust free so I couldn't just leave them there to rust now could I?

Also...check this out!!



https://i.imgur.com/J0gAcWK.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/q5s52Gh.jpg



OEM BMW hitch that apparently has been at the bottom of the ocean most of it's life. Anyway I know it looks horrible to some of you but it didn't sound too bad when I tapped it with a hammer. I looked it over but couldn't quite figure out where the bolts were. The only thing that sort of resembles a bolt is this.



https://i.imgur.com/huWUci0.jpg



Please don't tell me that used to be a bolt head...

How do these things mount up anyway?

Is this even worth trying to take off?

Don't forget to grab the lower tailgate top trim and the the little 114.00 USD plastic rectangle that covers the tailgate access.... (don't ask[emoji2959])

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

that hitch looks perfect for swampy :D

Ouch....[emoji28]

Looks more like an excuse to buy a sand blaster...[emoji848]

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

Lower tailgate top trim you mean the piece with the red reflectors?

I'm on a constant hunt for the top button but it's always gone or torn.

Word on the street is that you can use the rubber button cover from a Land Rover P/N: FUH000030G

I know right?? Mind you Swampy does have a hitch but it's the Curt model with the metal bar underneath and I'd rather have this one.

You might be surprised to see what a lot of sanding and a little paint can do.

I already have a small sand blaster and air compressor that will definitely do the job.

The hard part will be trying to remove this thing while following the rules of the yard. No fire, no grinding.

8, 11, 12

I have found that the industrial weight stroller and a flat tire seem to destroy these parts (easily)[emoji2959]

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...babcce511e.jpg

Hey c-bass good find! Did that car happen to have rear airbags? I'm desperately in search of a passenger side rear door airbag and ill make it worth you while!

I'm pretty sure it did, all the door panels were on from what I recall.

Worst case scenario I can pull it out of Swampy and can find one later on since I'm definitely not in desperate need.

yeah I could see how that lower plastic trim would get mangled. Matter of fact I'm surprised the wife hasn't mangled it since she uses Black Bastard like a pickup truck.

Most recently it was filled with hay bales :rolleyes:

Oddly enough I don't think I've seen a single X at the yards missing those pieces.

Thank you for the kind offer but don't put yourself out. I have a 4.6 project similar to swamp thing that was in a minor rear bump. Set off the BST and pretensioners. Those are easy to fix but I'm getting a recurring error in the rear passenger bag and I can't get the truck inspected to register until I solve it.

I've been to 3 yard and 7 cars and no luck :(

I'll probably be able to pop into the yard on the weekend to have a look. If I can't find one there you can have Swampy's. It's no big deal

Daylight savings...what a crock of shit

This is me at 5:30pm trying to get a "quick job" out of the way because it was a balmy 8 Celsius the other day.



https://i.imgur.com/80elYdT.jpg



Running back and forth around town for the last week has been accompanied by rhythmic percussion sounds from the front end that sound all too familiar. I'm guessing it's the end links and we'll see how good I am at guessing.

Our friends at Rockauto have the highly regarded "Ultra Power" brand for $5 a side and well...who can resist at those prices??

So end links for everyone!!!



https://i.imgur.com/JeGqUw2.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/uYFvmkL.jpg



Pro tip: e46 end links are interchangeable...e53 sort of, but not really. :doh:



https://i.imgur.com/bcWpL5d.jpg



Good news is that I made great time doing the job the second time around :rolleyes:

While I had the wheel off and was cursing myself for putting the right shoe on the left foot I happened to notice something



https://i.imgur.com/TFIM6NV.jpg



That's the dust shield making contact with the rear of the rotor. No gouges or any uneven wear but it was definitely making a sound when I spun the wheel so that should be one less random noise to track down.

Lessons learned: Look at BOTH parts to make sure they're the same...or in my case not and get some better lighting if I'm going to be working outside.

Just curious...how many of these have you gone through?

You want me to fill a box and send them over? At those prices they could fly in first class and you'd still be saving money!

Gone through 2ea #8's (need a 3rd) and 1ea of #11, #12.

Appreciate the offer but save the money for emergency shipping of me away from the wife when she finds the White Witches receipt books....[emoji28]

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

Unfortunately I did something I thought would never happen and I'm ashamed








I actually paid for a factory BMW speaker :(

and a used one at that! BOOO!



https://i.imgur.com/YLE4EBu.jpg




A few months back the passenger door speaker died in the wife's car (Black Bastard) so I took it out of Swampy since I had plans to redo the audio system anyway.

However I'm not going to deal with any of that until at least the spring and I've been wanting to put the door panels back on but didn't want to do so with the speaker missing.

Personally I think the factory system is pretty shitty and the last thing I wanted to do is spend $20 on a stock speaker but :dunno:

out goes the old torn driver's side vapor barrier



https://i.imgur.com/OlAnrlT.jpg



and in comes the sweet lighting upgrade and "new" vapor barrier



https://i.imgur.com/Zb1I9TV.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/JGItbkk.jpg



Once that was done and the passenger speaker was back in I replaced any broken clips and popped the door panels back on.

Speaking of sweet lighting upgrades, I've been driving around with a burnt out front turn signal bulb.

I know BMW driver's aren't supposed to be using their turn signals but it's a pet peeve of mine and I wanted to swap it out...but as it turns out that's no easy task on the facelift version which apparently requires the front bumper to be removed.

There's internet rumors that you can get the headlight forward far enough to change the bulb without removing the bumper but I'm just going to plan for the bumper to have to come off and if it doesn't then bonus.

and guess what happened...



https://i.imgur.com/jmkapwq.jpg



After removing the mounting bolts for the headlight it would only move forward maybe a couple inches before getting caught on the fender. I screwed around with it for a while and managed to get my fingers behind there to unscrew the bulb housing...only to drop the bulb into the fender which means I had to take off the bumper anyway. :doh:

However even with the bumper loose and moved forward I couldn't get the damn headlight to come out. Seemed like the turn signal part of the light was making contact with the fender somehow.

after a lot of frustration and cursing I finally noticed the flat "finger" tab on the headlight was catching on the inside bend of the fender. What a pain in the ass!!



https://i.imgur.com/lKFQGC7.jpg



Because I have a bunch of different bulbs in inventory I assumed I had a spare but I was either wrong or couldn't find it. End result being I had to go to the parts store in the middle of what I was doing and by the time I got back I lost daylight.

Finally got the turn signal bulb replaced but since the headlight was out anyway I decided it would be a good time to give it a quick restoration because it was looking mighty cloudy.

The driver's side fender is where Swampy was hit before and the light was replaced which makes the other side look even worse than if they were both yellow.



https://i.imgur.com/U6AYits.jpg



Usually I use 600/800 grit then 1200, 2000 and finish with 3000 grit before I cut and polish. This time around I didn't have any 2 or 3k sandpaper so if it doesn't turn out great I can redo it later on.

The lighting for picture taking is terrible inside and it's outside is dark so I'll take a daytime shot tomorrow of the end result.

Didn't come out bad for a quick half ass job



https://i.imgur.com/BpXnIeU.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/qVQ9Zx7.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/bFjQCZ7.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/kdRcgw7.jpg

Just when I thought I was making progress Swampy seems to have a different idea.

I think this is payback for letting her sit for a year.

I've been using Swampy pretty much daily for 3 weeks or so but it's literally 3 maybe 4 miles a day.

The first few days she was running fine. As in no check engine lights fine.

This didn't really surprise me because after addressing the original issues and clearing the codes everything was good during any of the albeit limited driving I did last year.

Well eventually the amber glow of the check engine light returned to keep me warm as the temperatures dropped. Didn't really think much of it until one evening when I was done work I hopped it and it started to run rough and sounded like a small block Chevy.

The misfiring was so bad it barely had power to move forward when I pressed the gas for a few feet and then seemed to run like a "normal" misfiring BMW.

I've had them run rough before but never anything like this.

So I limp it home, hook up the laptop and we get...



https://i.imgur.com/5TbkiWf.png



:rolleyes:


I've seen my share of misfire codes but I don't recall ever seeing a "DME activation" error. Interesting...

So I move the coils over, fire it up, runs fine for a couple minutes and then starts Chevy-ing again.

do another scan, cylinder 3 error is still there, clear the codes and swap out the coil @ cylinder 3.

Fire it up, runs good, no codes and off we go.

Also right around this time I got tired of my routine of disconnecting the battery every night after I parked it to deal with the parasitic draw.

Instead of hooking up a meter, waiting for the computer to go to sleep and then pulling fuses I decided to approach it another way.

What's the least important thing on the list of usual parasitic suspects that might be drawing amperage?

The answer to that question for me is the TCU aka fuse 74.

Parked it for the night with the fuse removed and now we wait...

My truck has thrown weird codes at different times. The last time was when it threw a code for idle control valve mechanical fault. But it also threw a half dozen other codes that were totally unrelated like transfer case no signal. Things that have absolutely nothing to do with the engine or the idle control. Reset all the codes, drove it for a little bit and it threw all the same codes. Pulled the ICV, it was rattling around like it was supposed to, but I shot a ton of cleaner in it and put it back in. Hasn't acted up since.

Been there done that.

I took everything apart and cleaned it out last year. ICV got a bath and I even used it to rule out some other symptoms on the wife's car.

Not to say that it wouldn't possibly be acting up after a year of sitting around.

I won't keep you waiting any longer with the results of pulling fuse 74




Suuuuuuurvey says!!!!!!!!!





Vroooom!!


Swampy started right up after sitting all night :thumbup:


Parasitic draw fixed? Any more battery issues heading my way?? Some of these questions will be answered after work today.

Good news, my TCU had failed causing the parasitic draw on mine too. Remember though, if you discharged the battery too may times, you may have damaged it. You may also have a replacement battery in your future.

The battery that was in there when I bought Swampy was brand new when I started off and now is useless.

The battery in there now is a "this will do for now" type scenario...which isn't working out all that much

"Hey man, your car is rolling down the hill"



https://i.imgur.com/RLwYMjw.jpg



I parked Swampy in the same spot I normally do at the site where I'm working. (you can see the tire marks in the soil)

Put it in park and it felt like it rolled back a foot or two but the driveway on the way up was VERY slippery from all the frozen rain/snow we had so I chalked it up to that.

I pulled up again and this time when I put it in park it stayed.

for a while that is...

Son of a bitch rolled back at least a car length before luckily it stopped before smashing into the neighbor's fence, who just happens to be the neighborhood "Karen".

WTF?!?!?!

Now I'm paranoid about leaving the thing parked.

No unusual transmission behavior

no noises

no weirdness at all

just trying to wander off

Parking brake?

:doh:


It's been so long since I had a working parking brake courtesy of the rusted out backing plates that I totally forgot about that "feature"

Sounds like you have a broken parking pawl in the transmission.

Wouldn't I be able to feel that shifting into park? or rather not feel anything?

Not sure you'd feel it shifting into park, but if it is engaged the vehicle shouldn't roll.

It looks like it just slid down the hill. The angle of that hill looks steep enough that if the parking pin actually broke it would've kept rolling.

:dunno:

I would have like to see it happen so I would know if the wheels were turning or it just slid.

But I agree there's definitely enough angle that it would have plowed right through Karen's fence.

I'm assuming that if the parking pin broke it would basically be the same thing as it being in neutral?

Today's episode of Check Engine Light has been brought to you by misfires in cylinder 6.

Yup, another CEL, sigh

Over the last few weeks I've addressed misfires on 3 separate occasions.

This time around it popped up after almost 2 weeks of driving around warning free.

I smashed on the gas just for fun because I rarely go over 30 mph and BAM orange light.

Currently on day 2 of new coil and dare I say it's running better than ever?

New issues I found:

Windshield washer doesn't work. Checked the fuses and they were all fine so I'll swap out the pump with a spare I have.

Interesting/Annoying thing I've noticed about the new fan clutch. During startup it spins the fan for a short distance before it disengages. The colder it is the longer it takes. This is probably due to the fact that it's an Amazon clutch but after that it seems to work ok. Mind you I haven't driven Swampy far or long at all.

not too smooth sailing so far...

fan clutch has been bugging me for a long time, an OEM Behr unit solved it, thoug it sounds yours might be ok. The colder oil might need a bit longer to get spun out of the viscous clutch at low outside temperatures.

So far it looks like once it's warmed up it behaves like a normal fan clutch but the first few hundred feet it definitely sounds like a giant leaf blower

haha oh yes I know that feeling! Mine used to keep doing that as soon as the engine was up to temperature, and for the first few hundred yards from startup too....

Yay! The windshield washer is working again after I swapped it out with a spare I had and I only spilled half a gallon of fluid while I fumbled trying to get the thing in the hole.

I know it's been a while but all I was trying to do is get a solid victory under my belt before I posted something, but I see now that was selfish of me.

That's not what the people want! We want to watch from a safe distance and laugh to ourselves at the other guy's misfortune knowing full well our turn to wrench is probably lurking around the corner.

So apologies for holding out on everyone...just in case anyone happed to be wondering what happened to Swampy let's get caught up


Spoiler alert...WE RIDE!!



It was a particularly cold week around Christmas last year and just as I happened to be pulling up to the job site I got some check engine lights and heavy misfing. Normally the CEL is a steady fixture on my hooptie fleet but Swampy wasn't part of that club so I was definitely curious what it could be.

(My daily commute at the time was 2-3 miles so barely enough for the car to get warm)

As I was bringing in my tools I noticed dripping coming from under the engine, but not the usual driving through winter weather drips, darker and had a little sheen to it. I'm sure it's nothing, right?

Popped the hood and I'm watching oil drip all over the place from what looks like the top of the valve cover and since there's not much I can do about it right now, I ignore it and get to work.

Off the top of my head I'm thinking maybe the CCV is clogged?? but still not much I can do about it on the spot so after work I go to investigate.

The oil level is well in between the marks on the dip stick... I'm going to start the engine and see what happens.

Starts and idles "fine" so I hurry home and about half way there the misfiring started again.

As I'm watching the oil dripping on the snow covered driveway in the -15 C weather I make an executive decision.

Up to this point Swampy has been a real pain in the ass and with the weather we were having there was no way I'd be doing any outdoor wrenching let alone crawling under the car to investigate so I'm letting her bleed out and sit for the winter.

A couple months go by and as things are starting to thaw out I was walking past Swampy and happened to notice the sunroof drains were bent again. Yay!

Now if anyone remembers Swampy kind of sort of got its name from the fact that it spent a lot of time in Florida and it had gallons of water sloshing around the interior due to bent sunroof drains....well guess what???

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!!

(Apologies for the lack of pictures along the way but some of these steps we've done already, some I forgot to photograph and I got a new phone and computer in the last year so things are a little scattered.)

I straightened out the drains and seeing as how everything was frozen solid still I waved my fist angrily and let it be for now.

Several weeks later when it was warm enough to go through the drying process I took a peek under the carpet and guess who's back? Our friend rust :(

So once again (but a little more half ass) I dried out the carpet, sanded as much rust as I could get to and spray painted everything again.

You know when a certain amount of time goes by and you forget why things were done a certain way? You'll notice the first time around I painted with a brush and this time it was a spray can. Seems like I forgot all about the overspray as it settled over the interior of the car :doh:

Under the hood things didn't look horrible. There were some traces of the oil that was leaking but it wasn't continuously dripping the whole time it was parked which was a pleasant surprise.

Started up the engine and no oil was spewing out which left me scratching my head but whatever. I'll take that as a good sign for now.

Let's try to get this thing moving and see what a couple laps around the block will awaken.

First stop sign I got to quickly reminded me how shitty the brakes are compared to the wife's X5 but I did suck in all kinds of air and wasn't able to get it all bled out so that's not really a surprise.

After a couple laps around the block I return to the driveway and I'm looking under the hood with Swampy running and could smell something and saw a little smoke.

Now I'm not overly concerned about the smoke because oil got everywhere so I figured it was just burning off but the smell wasn't oil. You know the smell...that distinct electrical wiring burning smell.

As I'm looking around I notice a bit larger concentration of smoke coming around the alternator side of the engine and usually it's the exhaust side that does most of the burning in my experience.

Shut swampy down but looking around I couldn't see anything obviously wrong.

I let it sit for a couple hours with the hood open to air things out before I tried it again but when I did, that very distinct electrical wiring smell and faint smoke in the general area of the alternator were back.

I had another alternator on my e46 parts car so I pulled that but the bearing was already squeaking slightly. Since I haven't been to the pic n pull yard in a while let's go see if we can't score a little newer alternator shall we?

Most of the cars at the pic n pull yard live with their hoods open so it doesn't take long before you can see the surface rust building up on things from getting rained on but this alternator I found was basically new. Still shiny!


https://i.imgur.com/UlYDS9g.jpg


SCORE!

Bearing smooth as butter and still had the stickers legible. I'm guessing it might not even be a year old.

While I was there I also came across a set of heated rear seats so I snagged those too. We'll get to those shortly.

After pulling out the old alternator a quick inspection reveals the bearing will barely turn by hand so I'm not sure if the smoke was coming from the heat building up from the bearing, the belt possibly slipping (Although there was no squeaking) or if there was a failure in the electronics. Either way it was pooched.

Almost new alternator installed, quick boot around the neighborhood and no more electrical burning smell :thumbup:

nice to see an update here :D

Might need to go for a long drive (if you dare) to see if the CCV clears out

That's exactly what I did

So much like guntherrex suggested it was time to go for a longer drive and see what all the fuss was about months ago because it seems to be running ok now and we all know that these things rarely heal themselves.

Few slow laps around town to warm up and it's time to get on the faster road.

About a couple miles down the road I was turning around in a parking lot as another vehicle passed me and I thought to myself "Man that guy's brakes smell"

oh wait....

I stick my head out the window and sure enough there's smoke coming from the rear driver's wheel. Wonderful

limping back home we go.


Now this isn't my first seized caliper on a BMW so I usually have a spare kicking around but there's some conflicting information on realoem if the rear calipers of the E83 will fit the E53 and as I was doing some googling I happened across a new rear caliper on Amazon for $50.

That's significantly cheaper than anything else I've seen. The pic n pull yard is $25 and who knows hold old the caliper is so let's see what a $50 caliper looks like shall we?



https://i.imgur.com/hBVsrYD.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/KjtDJQO.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/WtCscfo.jpg



From what I see the machining is on par with other "name brand" aftermarket calipers and I don't feel there's anything sketchy about them so in they go.

Seeing as my last experience working with the brakes resulted with introducing a generous helping of air into the system and having a really hard time barely getting some pedal feel back I'm very apprehensive about taking off the brake line but whacha gonna do right?

During the caliper swap I tried a little bit different method than I usually do with leaving the bleeder screw open on the new caliper while I connect the dripping brake line back on. My theory being that the fluid might help bleed the air out of that caliper as gravity does it thing.

Caliper back on, bleeding procedure with my Motive bleeder / triggering ABS pump with ISTA and test drive time.

I cruised around the neighborhood slowly pumping the brakes repeatedly, checked for any leaks and time to go for another high speed run.

This time around everything seemed to go smooth and we made it back to the driveway without any incident. Yay!

Now as much as I'd like to pretend the whole oil spewing from who knows where incident didn't happen, it did, and there must be a reason for it right?

But Swampy seems to be running fine now, so what gives?

My leading theory was still CCV clogging could have caused things to build pressure...but what do I know.

Checking the oil cap revealed the usual winter mayo build up but the CCV didn't seem to be plugged when I popped the hose however there was a good amount of built up gunk.

Since we got the ball rolling replacing parts I might as well get on the preventative maintenance items, like the valve cover gasket.

As I'm popping out the coils I notice one of them wet with oil and take a look down the hole.

It's not easily visible but that right there is a spark plug hole about 1/4 full of oil :yikes:




https://i.imgur.com/MCEVSO4.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/wvvw2Bz.jpg



I guess that might explain some of the misfiring.

This VCG was the worst one I've encountered yet. The gasket was SOLID plastic and stuck in the valve cover pretty good. Lots of mayo, really heavy varnish staining as well as carbon build up. :(



https://i.imgur.com/ofFQ8Y5.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/BmOg7ko.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/HiBpZlZ.jpg



I spent quite some time trying to clean out the crap from the valve cover but the usual products I use were having a hard time getting the job done so I poured some old gas I had around in there and let it sit for a while. That worked much better but then naturally I didn't take a picture of the after.

Once everything was buttoned up I let that sit overnight so the RTV could cure followed by a good washing/degreasing of the engine bay to hopefully find the rest of the oil leaks we had.

The next few days were spent driving short distances around town to make sure we weren't puking any oil from the spark plugs (or anywhere else) and the aftermarket fan clutch would constantly be in vacuum cleaner mode.

It would disengage for a while and then back on randomly even though it had no business being on and I got tired of that nonsense so I pulled the clutch from a parts car and guess what? It was the same crappy aftermarket brand :doh:

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: stay away from "Topaz" brand fan clutches, they're shit.

Back to driving around short distances for a couple of days before I went for a proper shakedown to visit a friend 10 miles away. I figure if I get stuck half way between home and his place at least I can catch a ride back.

Also, I'm still not very happy about the brakes. The vehicle stops...but not like a BMW should (or the wife's e53). More like an old Ford truck I used to drive.

The minute I pull up to my friend's place I dart under the hood to see if there's oil coming out of anywhere and we're bone dry across the board. That's odd...but I'll take it.

First proper drive after the alternator and brake replacement is a success :thumbup:

Congratulations on the fixes!! [emoji3060]

But if Swampy is anything like the White Witch, she's just read your post and will either make a repeat of the problems or find a way to use the fixes to create a completely new and exciting problem with a high wallet impact... [emoji18]

I wish the White Witch was illiterate. [emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

knock on wood, but looks like progress :D

maybe another brake bleed is in order?

Sometimes I feel it's like patching holes in a screen door.

My reference point for how I want the brakes to feel like at minimum is the wife's X.

When I'm driving her car the first stop sign we come to immediately reminds me of how mediocre Swampy's pedal feel is compared to hers.

I've read at least a couple of posts where people had difficulties bleeding their brakes but everyone managed to get it done so I'm hoping another solid round of ISTA bleeding will get it done.

During my search for an alternator I came across another set of heated rear seats.



https://i.imgur.com/1d9oQ6W.jpg





The first set of heated rear seats I came across ended up (partly) in the wife's car since Swampy wasn't ready for the road but I definitely wanted that option in both vehicles so when I saw another set I quickly snapped them up.


The plan was to start off with wiring up the buttons but I couldn't find any wiring harness in the rear of the console.

A little bit of digging around in the center console vicinity didn't reveal any harness and I started thinking that maybe Swampy didn't come pre-wired for this option.

Doing some googling brought me to a thread where I found out the wire harness can sometimes be tucked under the driver's seat.

Sure enough I pull the seat out and there's the harness. Only problem being is that it looks like this:



https://i.imgur.com/gMbgCW2.jpg



Spending who knows how long submerged in water doesn't seem to agree with wiring and a couple of those holes were almost completely full of the green corrosion. The next step was to try to scrape and clean out all that corrosion out of there.

That proved to be semi successful so the next step was to soak the plug in a solution of vinegar and then baking soda to help eat the corrosion off.

Soaking in the solution(s) seemed to clean the corrosion pretty good but as I was moving the wiring harness around this happened.



https://i.imgur.com/jg38MuE.jpg


oh FFS!!!!

So off to the pic n pull yard I go...again...


Found a donor



https://i.imgur.com/WG50Ikc.jpg



got what I need and a few other random bits and time to solder everything up.



https://i.imgur.com/rvbfhzO.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/zlMxOil.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/l7uLLP7.jpg


You can see how the copper has been contaminated by the corrosion compared to the other wiring harness and that's with me cutting off a generous amount of the old wiring.

Wiring harness fixed, buttons in place, bolted up the backrest part and as I'm flipping it up to get the lower seat portion installed it doesn't want to latch.

Hmmm

A couple more tries and there's definitely something wrong. I thinking it might be slightly misaligned so I loosened the bolts a little and try to flip it again. CLUNK!

WTF?!?!

Now I'm in the trunk and as I'm pulling up on the back rest and sure enough the slot where it latches on is different!



https://i.imgur.com/K7XhiAv.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/ANbcXPE.jpg



Guess what? the pre facelift models have a different rear seat design :doh: Isn't learning fun??

Seeing as these seats aren't going to work in either e53 I own I stole the rear seats back from the wife's and that's the end of that bullshit.

Later on I found out there a few other differences in the rear cargo are like the cover mechanism. This is usually how I find these things out so I'm not surprised at all.

P.S. If there's anyone "local" that needs heated rear seats for a pre facelift e53 you know who to talk to

I'm loving your posts C-bass! Very entertaining :popcorn:

As a new X5 owner here (2004 4.8is) some of the abbreviations you refer to I don't know but I sure appreciate how well you manage to fault find and diagnosis issues that crop up.

How did the Russian "lift kit" work out?

Feel free to ask whenever you see any term you're not yet familiar with.

I haven't installed the lift kit yet but it will happen when the weather gets better and I don't need 4x4

I know what you mean. I sometimes just send my wife out to explain to the [emoji3314] what will happen if the wife loses her shit....

50% success rate [emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Acceptable conversion rate. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Nice work c-bass. Read every post. :thumbup:

Thanks,

For some reason the views counter has been stuck at 22,013 from what I can see and I figured people were over it after a year long pause.

It's good to know that some people are entertained by my posts.

I'm still a few months behind in posts so there's more shenanigans to come as well as Swampy being actively used I'm sure will provide plenty more "content" whether I like it or not.

I don't even pay attention to that message it's been there so long and the other posts I see do increase in view count, but who knows.

Either way It's not that big of a deal. I was just curious if anyone was following along anymore since I basically stopped updating....and I HATE when people do that

I've spent several hours in the last couple weeks trying to find pictures I'm positive I took. Now the only question is where I put them.

In the mean time this is the type of weather we've been getting here


https://i.imgur.com/IKPgIvt.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/l8uEBWD.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/bp1qFd2.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/4UayLUU.jpg


Woke up one day to the car encased in 1/4" of ice.

The next day it was +6 Celcius

Few days after that it was back to frozen and snow

That's happed 3 times in the last couple weeks. Not very typical weather for these parts at this time of year.

Anywho...

After spending a week or so driving swampy around a bit locally the brake feel seemed to improve slightly but it still wasn't great.

BTW just wanted to point out that me saying the brakes in Swampy aren't great doesn't mean it's unable to stop or unsafe in any way. They're just not as responsive as the Wife's X.

I wouldn't be on the road putting other people at risk.

Having said that, I gave her one more round of solo bleeding with ISTA and the pressure bleeder but I didn't see any bubbles. At the very least the fluid is all nice and fresh by now so that's a service item off the list.

a few days later as I was coming back in the evening from a friend's place I was doing about 50mph and out of nowhere a deer jumps 20 feet in front of me and we had our first real world brake test.

I'm happy to say Swampy did a much better job than I was anticipating and the deer skipped off into the darkness. :thumbup:

I'm still going to give the brakes at least another round of bleeding but this time I'll do what ISTA says in the instructions with 2 people and hopefully get a bit faster pedal engagement, but for now "That'll do pig, that'll do"

That weather looks nasty!

What kind of pads are you running? That could have an effect on feel.

I'm not sure of the brand but it's more how the pedal reacts when I step on it.

It's more "spongy" than the wife's X before it starts to grab.

The brake pedal used to go down to the floor after I sucked all the air in so this is a HUGE improvement but I feel there's still something left to purge.

A week or so after all that deer excitement the temperatures dipped significantly and I was about 30 min into an hour long trip when I realized my feet were really cold the windows were fogging up a little bit and the HVAC fan was blowing about 3/4 of the way up.

Hmm...must be because of the cold right? So I turned the heat up and kept driving.

Another 10 minutes goes by and I don't feel any change. I waved my hand in front of the vent but didn't feel any immediate warmth like I normally would. Hmmm...

So I crank the heat to the max temp and there's still not a noticeable change in temp. Hmmm....

I'm thinking heater core or whatever else is more expensive or difficult to deal with, because why not right?

I get to my destination and after letting the car cool down a bit (which didn't take long in those temperatures) I checked the fluid level in the expansion tank.

Well guess what? Empty!

Now you can scroll back a few pages and clearly see that one of the first things I did was put in a new expansion tank. That's what I did because I was SURE that I put a new one in...right?? Maybe?? I know it's been a while but that did happen right??

Wait...I've been driving the whole time with no coolant??

How much, or lack of, coolant are we talking about??

Why didn't the low coolant light come on??

I didn't find the movie Groundhog Day particularly funny, more frustrating to watch, and so is this!

I only had an emergency bottle of the green coolant so I topped up with that just to get an idea of how empty it was. It was half a gallon low :yikes:

Not too far into the way home and we started getting heat. Proper heat too not some half ass warm. HEAT!

For the next couple days I monitored the coolant level and it was in fact going down little by little but I couldn't see any noticeable leak.

A few days later when it warmed up I washed everything down and played the find the coolant leak game hoping it wouldn't turn into the new head gasket game.

I would drive around running errands, grocery shopping whatever and pop the hood when I parked staring intently into the engine compartment like a cat waiting for a mouse to pop out from under a door and eventually was rewarded with the faintest trace of coolant around the top seam. Ain't that a bitch!

Luckily I had another brand spanking new Behr (Made in China) expansion tank and cap.

So once again, here I go doing a coolant flush. It took 7 gallons of distilled water to rinse out the blue and green mix and then I filled it back up with some premium blue stuff.

Here's something new I learned which left me incredibly confused.

As I was swapping out the expansion tank I coulnd't for the life of me find the pigtail for the coolant level sensor. (Some of you might be giggling to yourselves already) I know for a FACT that in the Wife's X there is a low coolant light, which would lead me to believe a pigtail to the sensor right?? WRONG!

After doing a little googling I come to find out that vehicles with the high cluster have a low coolant light but the ones with the low cluster don't? WHAT??

Someone please explain to me...HOW/WHY IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO??? Why would there be no way to know if the coolant is low?? ON A BMW?!?!?!?! HOW DID THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO ANYONE?!?!??!?!

So yeah...I learned that...but also found something interesting and much more useful.

I had left the cap off the expansion tank as I went to turn on the heater control in the highest heat and lowest fan position. As soon as I turned the key in to the ACC position coolant started pissing out from the front.

I quickly realized it was because the AUX water pump was cycling water. Something my pile of e46s don't have.

Hmmm...a quick google search came up with nothing but hear me out people...

Why couldn't I use the AUX pump to cycle water through the coolant system and purging air instead of only doing the standard bleeding procedure that I was used to? Well let's give it a try. I briefly owned an N52 engined vehicle that used the electric water pump to bleed itself so this shouldn't be much different right?

A few tries and some wasted coolant later I seemed to have a properly bled cooling system via the electric AUX pump.

I don't think I'm that clever so did I just not search with the right keywords or did I stumble across a cheat code to bleed an M54 in an E53?

So, brand new expansion tank and cap, filled back up with coolant and off we go.

Place your bets people. Do we find another leak? Yes or no?

it's a bmw... only a matter of time at best :D

Since you are keeping a couple of BMW's on the road, A vacuum coolant filler (used with an air compressor) largely eliminates the need to bleed. You still need to force the the thermostat open by turning the heat up to high...

It's a great tool, and not too expensive...

I've had my eye on one of those tools for a little while now.

After reading many Amazon reviews so far I'm leaning towards the OEMTools 24444 unit.

I think everyone here likes to play the "how much time" game :D

Looks like a good choice…I have the harbor freight Maddox vacuum filler…which is okay, but have had some quality control issues.