E90 M3 - V8 saloon
Discussion
About time for another update. That was a swift 8 months 
What's happened since September then? A few bits and pieces actually. I was STILL chasing a slight vibration in the drive train and decided to rule out drive shafts too by having them refurbed:
That didn't make the slightest bit of difference either but at least I now know they're definitely ok, along with the diff and prop shaft. The gearbox whine isn't that bad, but of course I'm tuned in to it so I notice it. It's not likely to be the source of a vibration in itself. The last option on my list was the flywheel, seeing as I had no history of it or the clutch being changed. Even if it had been changed before, at 156k miles it would probably want a new one anyway. These cars have self adjusting clutches which take in to account the wear on the friction plates (there are two), so that the biting point is always roughly the middle of the pedal as per a new clutch. That means you don't really notice the wear unless it's properly dead. Mine felt fine, but I decided it was good preventative maintenance anyway to have a new clutch/flywheel combo. I didn't want to get the 'box out on the floor of my garage as it's a bit awkward to do without a ramp so I sent it off to a mate who runs a garage. He confirmed the old clutch was nearly finished and the flywheel was completely dead. YES! We found the source of vibration at long last. He also said the gearbox was serviceable but did have a bit of wear so we left it as it was for now. A test drive confirmed all was well, so I now have a very sorted car. It was in good company at the garage:
Fast forward a bit and my windscreen washer jets stopped working. The headlight washers were fine though. I bought a replacement windscreen washer pump and set about changing it. We've been here before when I changed the bottle right at the start of my ownership:
Pump swapped and everything buttoned back up:
Another small thing that had started to bug was the fact that the handbrake wasn't very good any more. A quick strip down revealed the problem straight away:
The lever that the handbrake cable pulls on to actuate the brake shoes was seized and very rusty. This was soon sorted with a replacement. I did both sides, just in case you were wondering!
The only outstanding bit of maintenance to do is flush the brake fluid as it's been just over two years since I last did it and the dash is shouting at me to sort it out. I'm making an effort to actually use this car a bit more as it did hardly any miles between its last couple of MOT's. I've just realised I'm not far off the next MOT and I've done under 2,000 miles this year...
What's happened since September then? A few bits and pieces actually. I was STILL chasing a slight vibration in the drive train and decided to rule out drive shafts too by having them refurbed:
That didn't make the slightest bit of difference either but at least I now know they're definitely ok, along with the diff and prop shaft. The gearbox whine isn't that bad, but of course I'm tuned in to it so I notice it. It's not likely to be the source of a vibration in itself. The last option on my list was the flywheel, seeing as I had no history of it or the clutch being changed. Even if it had been changed before, at 156k miles it would probably want a new one anyway. These cars have self adjusting clutches which take in to account the wear on the friction plates (there are two), so that the biting point is always roughly the middle of the pedal as per a new clutch. That means you don't really notice the wear unless it's properly dead. Mine felt fine, but I decided it was good preventative maintenance anyway to have a new clutch/flywheel combo. I didn't want to get the 'box out on the floor of my garage as it's a bit awkward to do without a ramp so I sent it off to a mate who runs a garage. He confirmed the old clutch was nearly finished and the flywheel was completely dead. YES! We found the source of vibration at long last. He also said the gearbox was serviceable but did have a bit of wear so we left it as it was for now. A test drive confirmed all was well, so I now have a very sorted car. It was in good company at the garage:
Fast forward a bit and my windscreen washer jets stopped working. The headlight washers were fine though. I bought a replacement windscreen washer pump and set about changing it. We've been here before when I changed the bottle right at the start of my ownership:
Pump swapped and everything buttoned back up:
Another small thing that had started to bug was the fact that the handbrake wasn't very good any more. A quick strip down revealed the problem straight away:
The lever that the handbrake cable pulls on to actuate the brake shoes was seized and very rusty. This was soon sorted with a replacement. I did both sides, just in case you were wondering!
The only outstanding bit of maintenance to do is flush the brake fluid as it's been just over two years since I last did it and the dash is shouting at me to sort it out. I'm making an effort to actually use this car a bit more as it did hardly any miles between its last couple of MOT's. I've just realised I'm not far off the next MOT and I've done under 2,000 miles this year...
Well, I've decided that it's time to sell. I've had almost four years of excellent service from one of the best sounding engines ever. If I had sufficient storage space I'd probably just park it in a corner for a while, but I don't. I'm not using it loads as it's a spare car really, so lets see if anyone else wants to use it some more 
Click HERE to see the ad hosted on this very site.
Click HERE to see the ad hosted on this very site.
Gallons Per Mile said:
Well, I've decided that it's time to sell. I've had almost four years of excellent service from one of the best sounding engines ever. If I had sufficient storage space I'd probably just park it in a corner for a while, but I don't. I'm not using it loads as it's a spare car really, so lets see if anyone else wants to use it some more
Click HERE to see the ad hosted on this very site.
Ah; hadn't clicked that was you on Cutters palClick HERE to see the ad hosted on this very site.
GLWTS; it's a stunning looking car
That is lovely- if I could man-maths my way into one of these (believe me, I've tried) then I'd probably be getting in touch with you! Sparkling Graphite is one of my favourite colours from this era of BMW, love the little pop of purple it has in the sun.
Good luck with the sale, looks like whoever buys it will be getting a really good example.
Good luck with the sale, looks like whoever buys it will be getting a really good example.
d_a_n1979 said:
Ah; hadn't clicked that was you on Cutters pal
GLWTS; it's a stunning looking car
Thanks! Didn't realise you were on there either GLWTS; it's a stunning looking car
Sofa said:
That is lovely- if I could man-maths my way into one of these (believe me, I've tried) then I'd probably be getting in touch with you! Sparkling Graphite is one of my favourite colours from this era of BMW, love the little pop of purple it has in the sun.
Good luck with the sale, looks like whoever buys it will be getting a really good example.
You need to try harder with the man-maths in that case!! I don't think you'll find a more sorted car out there unless you want to spend a *lot* more. The mileage on mine is what holds the price back, which is absurd as I'll be willing to bet it's in better condition than many more expensive examples. Good luck with the sale, looks like whoever buys it will be getting a really good example.
Gallons Per Mile said:
Well, I've decided that it's time to sell. I've had almost four years of excellent service from one of the best sounding engines ever. If I had sufficient storage space I'd probably just park it in a corner for a while, but I don't. I'm not using it loads as it's a spare car really, so lets see if anyone else wants to use it some more
Click HERE to see the ad hosted on this very site.
GLWTS and thanks for sharing the last 4 years (Click HERE to see the ad hosted on this very site.
has it really been that long) of ownership warts and all
Gallons Per Mile said:
d_a_n1979 said:
Ah; hadn't clicked that was you on Cutters pal
GLWTS; it's a stunning looking car
Thanks! Didn't realise you were on there either GLWTS; it's a stunning looking car
Sofa said:
That is lovely- if I could man-maths my way into one of these (believe me, I've tried) then I'd probably be getting in touch with you! Sparkling Graphite is one of my favourite colours from this era of BMW, love the little pop of purple it has in the sun.
Good luck with the sale, looks like whoever buys it will be getting a really good example.
You need to try harder with the man-maths in that case!! I don't think you'll find a more sorted car out there unless you want to spend a *lot* more. The mileage on mine is what holds the price back, which is absurd as I'll be willing to bet it's in better condition than many more expensive examples. Good luck with the sale, looks like whoever buys it will be getting a really good example.
Gallons Per Mile said:
Thanks very much! @Court S your car is always extremely clean! I've been following your thread
@bolidemichael Surely you of all people can make the man maths work to get this bought. It would suit your high speed runs to Glasgow extremely well...
Thanks; my clean car has landed me in trouble with a noise complaint from the council from one of my neighbours! @bolidemichael Surely you of all people can make the man maths work to get this bought. It would suit your high speed runs to Glasgow extremely well...
Gallons Per Mile said:
@bolidemichael Surely you of all people can make the man maths work to get this bought. It would suit your high speed runs to Glasgow extremely well...
It wouldn't suit that purpose as well as either the E500 or the FFRR! However, as a great family car... in actualy fact, I think that I'd rather the convertible for local-ish drives.My car hasn't sold yet. I'm not trying particularly hard and I do like driving it so if it stays a spare car I guess that's not really the end of the world, is it! Since the last update it passed the MOT without a single advisory again, and I've stuck two new Continental SportContact 7's on the rear. I actually went for 255/35/19 instead of OEM size of 265/35 as the price difference was quite large and the rolling circumference was only 1% different. My front tyres are Eagle F1's but are showing their age even though they've got over 5mm tread left. I'll replace those before the year is out I expect.
In the mean time, I've done a random 280 mile round trip to meet a friend in a Wetherspoons of all places for an quick evening of catch up and food. I've got a road trip to Germany next week, and then I'll be on show at the PH25 event in August. Hope to see some of you there in person!
In the mean time, I've done a random 280 mile round trip to meet a friend in a Wetherspoons of all places for an quick evening of catch up and food. I've got a road trip to Germany next week, and then I'll be on show at the PH25 event in August. Hope to see some of you there in person!
Gallons Per Mile said:
My car hasn't sold yet. I'm not trying particularly hard and I do like driving it so if it stays a spare car I guess that's not really the end of the world, is it! Since the last update it passed the MOT without a single advisory again, and I've stuck two new Continental SportContact 7's on the rear. I actually went for 255/35/19 instead of OEM size of 265/35 as the price difference was quite large and the rolling circumference was only 1% different. My front tyres are Eagle F1's but are showing their age even though they've got over 5mm tread left. I'll replace those before the year is out I expect.
In the mean time, I've done a random 280 mile round trip to meet a friend in a Wetherspoons of all places for an quick evening of catch up and food. I've got a road trip to Germany next week, and then I'll be on show at the PH25 event in August. Hope to see some of you there in person!
I’ll be at PH25, so it’ll be good to see the car in the flesh.In the mean time, I've done a random 280 mile round trip to meet a friend in a Wetherspoons of all places for an quick evening of catch up and food. I've got a road trip to Germany next week, and then I'll be on show at the PH25 event in August. Hope to see some of you there in person!
Where is it advertised? I still want / need an S65 in my life at some point.
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