My midlife crisis purchase; E86 BMW Z4 Coupe
Discussion
Gallons Per Mile said:
If a litre of oil leaked out of your sump gasket every 1500 miles you'd have a very slippery drive and a well corrosion protected underside. Spilling a litre of oil makes a huge mess so I'd be inclined to think it's being burnt!
I think it’s a combination of both, but you’re probably right that more is being burnt than leaking.
Given the high-ish usage I think the CCV system and gasket manifolds sat in the garage for the 330i will get diverted to this in the coming weeks.
Gallons Per Mile said:
If a litre of oil leaked out of your sump gasket every 1500 miles you'd have a very slippery drive and a well corrosion protected underside. Spilling a litre of oil makes a huge mess so I'd be inclined to think it's being burnt!
When I had a leak from the sump of my 125i it was getting through a litre every 700 miles or so, which is evidenced by the many splodges I still have on the drive 18 months later. We'd only just moved into the house and the previous owner had repaved the driveway, so I was as popular with the wife as you'd expect. Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
bodhi said:
When I had a leak from the sump of my 125i it was getting through a litre every 700 miles or so, which is evidenced by the many splodges I still have on the drive 18 months later. We'd only just moved into the house and the previous owner had repaved the driveway, so I was as popular with the wife as you'd expect.
Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
Mines definitely weeping from the gasket because you can see where it starts!Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
I did clean up the belly pan when I did the suspension and there is evidence of oil migrating from the sump towards the rear of the car however as GPM pointed out, it’s not a litres worth.
There are no drips on the drive even if it stands for a day or two.
Court_S said:
Mines definitely weeping from the gasket because you can see where it starts!
I did clean up the belly pan when I did the suspension and there is evidence of oil migrating from the sump towards the rear of the car however as GPM pointed out, it’s not a litres worth.
There are no drips on the drive even if it stands for a day or two.
After my experience I would say that is a result I did clean up the belly pan when I did the suspension and there is evidence of oil migrating from the sump towards the rear of the car however as GPM pointed out, it’s not a litres worth.
There are no drips on the drive even if it stands for a day or two.
Court_S said:
Looking through the history of the car, there didn’t seem to be many ticks for pollen filter changes, so when popping to ECP for a bearing puller I decided to grab a new one.
Upon removing the old one, I was bloody glad I did too…..
Even more leaves and other crap fell out after poking around in the opening.
Old and new
The old filter was a genuine BMW one dated March 2007. It looks like the last company to service the car a few years ago who ticked the box were telling porkie pies.
That is mad to see how long that has been in there Sam for sure. Upon removing the old one, I was bloody glad I did too…..
Even more leaves and other crap fell out after poking around in the opening.
Old and new
The old filter was a genuine BMW one dated March 2007. It looks like the last company to service the car a few years ago who ticked the box were telling porkie pies.
bodhi said:
When I had a leak from the sump of my 125i it was getting through a litre every 700 miles or so, which is evidenced by the many splodges I still have on the drive 18 months later. We'd only just moved into the house and the previous owner had repaved the driveway, so I was as popular with the wife as you'd expect.
Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
Yay! Sort of, I suppose... Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
I'm wondering if/how much oil my new-to-me E46 is using. I bet the breather system on that is in dire need of being changed too but time will tell.Gallons Per Mile said:
bodhi said:
When I had a leak from the sump of my 125i it was getting through a litre every 700 miles or so, which is evidenced by the many splodges I still have on the drive 18 months later. We'd only just moved into the house and the previous owner had repaved the driveway, so I was as popular with the wife as you'd expect.
Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
Yay! Sort of, I suppose... Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
I'm wondering if/how much oil my new-to-me E46 is using. I bet the breather system on that is in dire need of being changed too but time will tell.bodhi said:
Gallons Per Mile said:
If a litre of oil leaked out of your sump gasket every 1500 miles you'd have a very slippery drive and a well corrosion protected underside. Spilling a litre of oil makes a huge mess so I'd be inclined to think it's being burnt!
When I had a leak from the sump of my 125i it was getting through a litre every 700 miles or so, which is evidenced by the many splodges I still have on the drive 18 months later. We'd only just moved into the house and the previous owner had repaved the driveway, so I was as popular with the wife as you'd expect. Difference is though mine wasn't the gasket that was leaking, but the sump itself has corroded and was leaking oil. Not a particularly common issue apparently, meaning the sump was only available from BMW.
I was even less popular after the bill to fix it....
Now it's fixed I'm back over 1000 miles per litre again, so result!
He struggled to find a replacement but eventually got hold of an aluminium one.
MDifficult said:
It’s so funny how many services fail to do the cabin filter when it’s normally the easiest possible job on the list!
I can almost understand skipping the last two spark plugs because they’re under the skuttle and b
d to do, but skipping the cabin filter?
Makes no sense
I know. It took me minutes to do it, I think I spent more time hoovering the crap off the carpets than it did to change the filter.I can almost understand skipping the last two spark plugs because they’re under the skuttle and b
d to do, but skipping the cabin filter? Makes no sense
Court_S said:
Let’s face it, it’s not a BMW if it’s not getting through some oil one way or another.
Makes it easy to stick to the service intervals on the dash though - 18k between oil changes is fine when they've had 5 litres of new oil in the meantime A rolling oil change I believe they call it
Managed to tick off a couple of jobs this evening after work.
First up was new wipers. Someone had tried to fit aero blades but the clamp was massive and very ugly. The passenger side didn’t touch the screen in the car corner. The new traditional J hook jobbies look much better but the end of the passenger side still isn’t in contact with the screen so I need to try and work out why.
After that I set about the front discs and pads, but first up I wanted to change the passenger side front wheel bearing so I could use a disc retaining screw. I’d previously noticed that the dust shield was held on with zip ties so whilst the bearing was off it seemed like a good idea to replace that.
Passenger side wheel off and the pad retaining clip removed.
The stripped / rusty disc retaining screw. I did try and run a tap through it but it made zero difference.
Dust seal removed to gain access to the 46mm nut.
The bulk of the bearing pulled off by hand, just leaving the race behind.
There was enough of a lip to get my bearing puller on it.
The race came off with very little effort with the bearing puller.
The rear dust seal / cup was absolutely shagged though. It was rusted through, so no chance of reusing it like many seemed to in the vids I watched. I had to use a small screwdriver and basically pry it apart.
The top fixing for the dust shield was rusted in and took some persuasion to come out.
New dust shield fitted with new fixings (Amazon specials if I’m honest).
Now it was time to fit the new FAG bearing. The rear cup / seal was a st to get seated but I got there.
It wasn’t a particularly hard DIY. Getting the new bearing on was the hardest part really. The end bolt is supposed to be torqued to 260NM but my torque wrench only goes up to 210NM so I did that plus a bit with the breaker bar. The old one came off surprisingly easy to be honest.
Next up was new discs and pads. The front discs and pads were new but someone had fitted NAPA disc and pads and they were ste. Not much bite and really rusty.
ATE power discs fitted (they were an extra £8 when I ordered them so I thought why not). ATE ceramic pads and wear sensor were also fitted. The ceramic pads are my go to with good note and little dust. The one on the 330i seem particularly sharp so I’m hoping this will be good.
It was then time to move onto the drivers side.
I think this bearing has been replaced become the cap has clearly been removed at some point.
The driver side dust shield has previously been fixed with washers.
New disc and pad fitted.
On the drivers side there was some weird build up on the edge of the pad.
I’ll take it for a quick spin tomorrow to start the bedding in process and will hopefully get time to do the rears which are pretty crusty.
First up was new wipers. Someone had tried to fit aero blades but the clamp was massive and very ugly. The passenger side didn’t touch the screen in the car corner. The new traditional J hook jobbies look much better but the end of the passenger side still isn’t in contact with the screen so I need to try and work out why.
After that I set about the front discs and pads, but first up I wanted to change the passenger side front wheel bearing so I could use a disc retaining screw. I’d previously noticed that the dust shield was held on with zip ties so whilst the bearing was off it seemed like a good idea to replace that.
Passenger side wheel off and the pad retaining clip removed.
The stripped / rusty disc retaining screw. I did try and run a tap through it but it made zero difference.
Dust seal removed to gain access to the 46mm nut.
The bulk of the bearing pulled off by hand, just leaving the race behind.
There was enough of a lip to get my bearing puller on it.
The race came off with very little effort with the bearing puller.
The rear dust seal / cup was absolutely shagged though. It was rusted through, so no chance of reusing it like many seemed to in the vids I watched. I had to use a small screwdriver and basically pry it apart.
The top fixing for the dust shield was rusted in and took some persuasion to come out.
New dust shield fitted with new fixings (Amazon specials if I’m honest).
Now it was time to fit the new FAG bearing. The rear cup / seal was a s
t to get seated but I got there. It wasn’t a particularly hard DIY. Getting the new bearing on was the hardest part really. The end bolt is supposed to be torqued to 260NM but my torque wrench only goes up to 210NM so I did that plus a bit with the breaker bar. The old one came off surprisingly easy to be honest.
Next up was new discs and pads. The front discs and pads were new but someone had fitted NAPA disc and pads and they were s
te. Not much bite and really rusty. ATE power discs fitted (they were an extra £8 when I ordered them so I thought why not). ATE ceramic pads and wear sensor were also fitted. The ceramic pads are my go to with good note and little dust. The one on the 330i seem particularly sharp so I’m hoping this will be good.
It was then time to move onto the drivers side.
I think this bearing has been replaced become the cap has clearly been removed at some point.
The driver side dust shield has previously been fixed with washers.
New disc and pad fitted.
On the drivers side there was some weird build up on the edge of the pad.
I’ll take it for a quick spin tomorrow to start the bedding in process and will hopefully get time to do the rears which are pretty crusty.
Court_S said:
Managed to tick off a couple of jobs this evening after work.
First up was new wipers. Someone had tried to fit aero blades but the clamp was massive and very ugly. The passenger side didn’t touch the screen in the car corner. The new traditional J hook jobbies look much better but the end of the passenger side still isn’t in contact with the screen so I need to try and work out why.
Some more impressive fettling there Sam. First up was new wipers. Someone had tried to fit aero blades but the clamp was massive and very ugly. The passenger side didn’t touch the screen in the car corner. The new traditional J hook jobbies look much better but the end of the passenger side still isn’t in contact with the screen so I need to try and work out why.
I'm on my 3rd Z4 Coupe so have had all sorts of wiper blades on them, but haven't had one yet that had the end sitting flush to the screen on the passenger side!
Maybe fitting a shorter blade might help the aesthetics?
Mr Tidy said:
Some more impressive fettling there Sam.
I'm on my 3rd Z4 Coupe so have had all sorts of wiper blades on them, but haven't had one yet that had the end sitting flush to the screen on the passenger side!
Maybe fitting a shorter blade might help the aesthetics?
Thanks. It wasn’t anywhere near as hard as I was expecting it to be (made easier by buying stuff like a bearing puller).I'm on my 3rd Z4 Coupe so have had all sorts of wiper blades on them, but haven't had one yet that had the end sitting flush to the screen on the passenger side!
Maybe fitting a shorter blade might help the aesthetics?
I’ll put the wipers down as one of those Z4 quirks! These sit closer and look much less ugly than the ones previously fitted.
Haha, I remember putting some of those ATE discs on my E30 twenty odd years ago, I do like the pattern on them.
Got to love working on UK cars, the inevitable wrestling with rust is always "fun". A couple of things I'd recommend are an induction heater, if you've got the tool/toy budget for one - they're really great for heating up specific fasteners without blasting a flame at the surrounding area like a blowtorch, and at the other end of the price scale, the American PB Blaster penetrating oil is really good stuff, one of the best I've used.
Also Irwin Bolt-Grip extracting sockets or similar for chewed up heads.
I've learnt that just having the lineup of war-of-attrition tooling on hand to threaten the car with seems to make jobs go easier in the first place!
Got to love working on UK cars, the inevitable wrestling with rust is always "fun". A couple of things I'd recommend are an induction heater, if you've got the tool/toy budget for one - they're really great for heating up specific fasteners without blasting a flame at the surrounding area like a blowtorch, and at the other end of the price scale, the American PB Blaster penetrating oil is really good stuff, one of the best I've used.
Also Irwin Bolt-Grip extracting sockets or similar for chewed up heads.
I've learnt that just having the lineup of war-of-attrition tooling on hand to threaten the car with seems to make jobs go easier in the first place!
Court_S said:
The new traditional J hook jobbies look much better but the end of the passenger side still isn’t in contact with the screen so I need to try and work out why.
I've had this on loads of cars, I just don't worry about it any more as long as the wipers are giving a clear sweep on the majority of the screen.Edited by InitialDave on Wednesday 15th May 22:55
InitialDave said:
Haha, I remember putting some of those ATE discs on my E30 twenty odd years ago, I do like the pattern on them.
Got to love working on UK cars, the inevitable wrestling with rust is always "fun". A couple of things I'd recommend are an induction heater, if you've got the tool/toy budget for one - they're really great for heating up specific fasteners without blasting a flame at the surrounding area like a blowtorch, and at the other end of the price scale, the American PB Blaster penetrating oil is really good stuff, one of the best I've used.
Also Irwin Bolt-Grip extracting sockets or similar for chewed up heads.
I've learnt that just having the lineup of war-of-attrition tooling on hand to threaten the car with seems to make jobs go easier in the first place!
I only bought the power discs because they were barely any more than a standard disc that particular day on AUTODOC. I figured why not. Got to love working on UK cars, the inevitable wrestling with rust is always "fun". A couple of things I'd recommend are an induction heater, if you've got the tool/toy budget for one - they're really great for heating up specific fasteners without blasting a flame at the surrounding area like a blowtorch, and at the other end of the price scale, the American PB Blaster penetrating oil is really good stuff, one of the best I've used.
Also Irwin Bolt-Grip extracting sockets or similar for chewed up heads.
I've learnt that just having the lineup of war-of-attrition tooling on hand to threaten the car with seems to make jobs go easier in the first place!
Court_S said:
The new traditional J hook jobbies look much better but the end of the passenger side still isn’t in contact with the screen so I need to try and work out why.
I've had this on loads of cars, I just don't worry about it any more as long as the wipers are giving a clear sweep on the majority of the screen.Edited by InitialDave on Wednesday 15th May 22:55
This car spent some time on the Welsh coast which won’t have helped the crustiness. So far I’ve managed to get everything undone (eventually) without having the need for heat. I’ll look into that heater though.
It’s always the way that when you’re ready for the worst it’s generally an easy job.
The wipers work, it just bugs me that the end isn’t sitting on the screen as it should. I don’t know why, it just is.
Gallons Per Mile said:
That should keep the brakes nice for a while. Good job!
PS If you haven't changed the brake fluid yet then that will make a huge difference to the feel compared to old fluid.
Cheers. PS If you haven't changed the brake fluid yet then that will make a huge difference to the feel compared to old fluid.
Edited by Gallons Per Mile on Thursday 16th May 04:48
The fluid was done in March when it had the oil changed and the top gaskets done. It looks nice and clean but I might donor again if the brakes still feel a bit crap once bedded in.
Will that wire brush off/can it be treated or is it time for a replacement part?
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