The 2014 Alpina D3 Touring with *almost* moon mileage

[Waitey]

My coolant does vanish though every now and again.

I've got a new header tank and cap to go on it, as I can't see a leak anywhere else in the system, and that wing does look damp sometimes.

[Percy.]

Only 18k covered this year? Poor showing!

Glad it passed with no issues

[Waitey]

Percy. said:

Only 18k covered this year? Poor showing!

Glad it passed with no issues

Yes the Yaris has done 3k of what this should have done.

[Percy.]

Waitey said:

Yes the Yaris has done 3k of what this should have done.

Glad to see the Yaris, looks a fantastic addition.

I bought a 530d, really like the extra boot room against the F31. Noticeably bigger than the S4 Avant it replaced.

I always keep an eye out for F11 D5s but I was about 3 years too late to the one that sold on Collecting Cars in 2020

[ATM]

Percy. said:

I bought a 530d, really like the extra boot room against the F31. Noticeably bigger than the S4 Avant it replaced.

I always keep an eye out for F11 D5s but I was about 3 years too late to the one that sold on Collecting Cars in 2020

I've been thinking about an f11 but just the vanilla 530d or 535d. I can understand the appeal of an Alpina but with a massive f11 I can't imagine it being the sort of car you'd want to throw around and enjoy. So if you want to just waft around then Alpina seems unnecessary if that makes sense?

[bolidemichael]

ATM said:

Percy. said:

I bought a 530d, really like the extra boot room against the F31. Noticeably bigger than the S4 Avant it replaced.

I always keep an eye out for F11 D5s but I was about 3 years too late to the one that sold on Collecting Cars in 2020

I've been thinking about an f11 but just the vanilla 530d or 535d. I can understand the appeal of an Alpina but with a massive f11 I can't imagine it being the sort of car you'd want to throw around and enjoy. So if you want to just waft around then Alpina seems unnecessary if that makes sense?

I thought the m o of Alpina is to create the driver’s car out of the factory BMW.

[smithers-jones]

bolidemichael said:

I thought the m o of Alpina is to create the driver’s car out of the factory BMW.

"Gentleman's express "

Essentially remove all the BMW nasty bits, and refine and improve as much as possible. I have mixed views of their success.

Edited by smithers-jones on Saturday 20th January 18:37

[conanius]

ATM said:

I've been thinking about an f11 but just the vanilla 530d or 535d. I can understand the appeal of an Alpina but with a massive f11 I can't imagine it being the sort of car you'd want to throw around and enjoy. So if you want to just waft around then Alpina seems unnecessary if that makes sense?

I had an F11 535D a couple of years back. Was, unsurprisingly, a very different drive to the F31 330D a had a couple of years prior to that.

It was absolutely brilliant at soaking up big miles. I imagine a few Alpina tweaks on that platform would make the handling quite nice, but ultimately it is quite a bulky beast...

[Ed.Neumann]

Waitey said:

My coolant does vanish though every now and again.

I've got a new header tank and cap to go on it, as I can't see a leak anywhere else in the system, and that wing does look damp sometimes.

Sure it isn't the EGR cooler leaking?

[Waitey]

Ed.Neumann said:

Sure it isn't the EGR cooler leaking?

It’s on its 7th (!) one so I hope not.

The lastest is the newest version, fitted late 2023.

[Ed.Neumann]

Waitey said:

It’s on its 7th (!) one so I hope not.

The lastest is the newest version, fitted late 2023.

Haha, I got another letter saying they wanted to see my 5 series again in the autumn, I said I had only had the latest on for a few months, they got it in, looked at it and it was leaking, so swapped it over again and put a new EGR in too this time.

So who knows?

[Stedman]

Waitey said:

It’s on its 7th (!) one so I hope not.

The lastest is the newest version, fitted late 2023.

Jesus

[Waitey]

Ed.Neumann said:

Haha, I got another letter saying they wanted to see my 5 series again in the autumn, I said I had only had the latest on for a few months, they got it in, looked at it and it was leaking, so swapped it over again and put a new EGR in too this time.

So who knows?

I had the full unit, EGR and cooler in Oct 2023, so we will see.

Coolant is certainly going somewhere, as it makes no pressure in the cooling system anymore either.

I'll change the header first, then work my way around some of the hoses too, they have done nearly 300k of work now.

[Waitey]

Traced the coolant leak down to the plastic connector which goes to the head.



You can just see the hair line crack in it.

Sadly it was buried under the inlet... 4 hours of work to get to it!



My inlet was amazingly clean considering its been on for over 100k miles!



So I gave it a wipe down, fitted new gaskets and put it back in.

I've also ordered some new O rings for my boost pipes as there's quite a bit of blow by on them.


Can now doesn't lose coolant and the heater actually works! The road to 300k continues.

[Mad Maximus]

4 hours just for a tiny split is annoying. How did you manage to find it??

[Waitey]

Mad Maximus said:

4 hours just for a tiny split is annoying. How did you manage to find it??

UV dye kit. Very handy.

[Ed.Neumann]

Nicely found.

[Mad Maximus]

Waitey said:

Mad Maximus said:

4 hours just for a tiny split is annoying. How did you manage to find it??

UV dye kit. Very handy.

That’s very crafty. I’ll add that to me notebook.

[PurpleTurtle]

Mad Maximus said:

Waitey said:

Mad Maximus said:

4 hours just for a tiny split is annoying. How did you manage to find it??

UV dye kit. Very handy.

That’s very crafty. I’ll add that to me notebook.

That's a new one on me too as a DIY spannerer! Also committed to memory.

[Waitey]

Mad Maximus said:

Waitey said:

Mad Maximus said:

4 hours just for a tiny split is annoying. How did you manage to find it??

UV dye kit. Very handy.

That’s very crafty. I’ll add that to me notebook.

£20 from Ebay.