Your wallet wanna die? Go buy that cheap 745
Discussion
Gallons Per Mile said:
Ooh, are those rare and sought after options? I have both of those on my E90 M3! Along with blinds in the rear doors and the Logic 7 audio. I'm beginning to think the person who originally bought my car new ticked all the right boxes 
Very nice options to have on an E90, it sounds like they did a good job.I've got a big soft spot for the E90 M3 on 18s, wouldn't mind having one in 'the collection' (of 2).
Pastie Bloater said:
PurpleTurtle said:
Pulls up a chair to the thread .....
What is your level of mechanical knowledge OP? Are you in the trade or a dedicated DIY-er?
Reasonably high I'm a mechanical design engineer and do have a degree in automotive engineering (nothing fancy only a Desmond).What is your level of mechanical knowledge OP? Are you in the trade or a dedicated DIY-er?
My dad used to nut and bolt restore Rover P4s so been exposed to that from an early age.
Spent the 6 years prior to this working on my E46, so kind of knew my way round BMW, where to get parts etc.
So this as a hobby really and to get my hands dirty. I also have all the tools needed and to be fair with access to INPA/ISTA, TIS and ETK/realoem makes it a lot easier (just not on the titular wallet).
Pastie Bloater said:
Very nice options to have on an E90, it sounds like they did a good job.
I've got a big soft spot for the E90 M3 on 18s, wouldn't mind having one in 'the collection' (of 2).
Cheers. I've got the 19" wheels the car came with but I'm a fan of 18" too. Considering moving to 18" when my tyres are worn out I've got a big soft spot for the E90 M3 on 18s, wouldn't mind having one in 'the collection' (of 2).
bolidemichael said:
RicksAlfas said:
g3org3y said:
The Comfort Seats are very complex and heavy. Got them on the X5 and the driver's side 'active function' only works intermittently. Heated and cooled function work fine. Must admit, I'm not keen to try and remove to see what the issue is. According to my code reader it suggests an issue with the switch.
Get 
Pastie Bloater said:
1. See photo, my block didn't corrode there as it was consistently soaked in oil.
Smart engineering.
Pastie Bloater said:
g3org3y said:
The Comfort Seats are very complex and heavy. Got them on the X5 and the driver's side 'active function' only works intermittently. Heated and cooled function work fine. Must admit, I'm not keen to try and remove to see what the issue is. According to my code reader it suggests an issue with the switch.
Switch is quite possible, my rear left cooling button is iffy, £151 for new or £60 used. It's still iffy (way down on the pecking order).
Can it be done with the seat in situ or will I need to make space in the kitchen?
g3org3y said:
Sorry to derail thread, but I presume it's the whole of this that needs replacing?
Can it be done with the seat in situ or will I need to make space in the kitchen?
Yeah the switches are all in one unit on those, TIS says in-situ but if you've got a kitchen island that can take the strain of those bad boys why not. Using INPA you can activate the functions on/off to confirm it's the switch that's iffy.Can it be done with the seat in situ or will I need to make space in the kitchen?
Side note but what's quite rare to see generally is on the E65 there isn't a single switch/button blanking plug anywhere, all the trim pieces are custom to each option combo.
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Wednesday 5th May 22:44
Not really sure how best to document the whole nearly 6 year saga, as I mentioned I can probably break it into 3 major parts:
1. When I owned the car for 1 year from June 2015 until June 2016 (12k miles, £6k spent)
2. When I sold it and what happened to it in that time (spoiler it did 11k miles trouble free).
3. How I came to own it again in July 2020 until now (1000 miles, another £6k spent).
Act 1 - Couple bands
I only paid £2600 so figured I had a bit of dosh to play with, say another £2600 to break even with a (supposed) better example. Knowing how 'notorious' these were I figured a pricier example could be superficially better but need just as much work underneath. Then again this was the only one I looked at.
The guy I bought it off also had a low spec E65 730i with curiously the venerable M54 engine (as in my 330Ci). He was keeping that one, it all makes sense in hindsight.
So after purchase and a more thorough inspection and a bit of diagnostics I figured the car had the following obvious issues:
Needs a full (full) service.
Very heavy smoke when revved after idling, none while driving.
Intermittent misfire on 1 cylinder.
Brakes all completely worn out.
Electronic handbrake not working.
Random clunking in first and second gear.
Front anti roll bar drop links rattling.
SEVERE oil leaks, basically from everywhere including the usual suspects (cam covers inc. sensors & valvetronic motors, alternator bracket, upper timing case covers, lower sump, smaller things like oil pressure sensor etc.)
Heavy coolant leak, source unknown but there are several common suspects.
Power steering / dynamic drive fluid leak.
Viscous fan clutch was locked up (sounds like an artic).
Auxiliary electric pusher fan didn't work.
Auxiliary water pump (for heater core) didn't work.
Crankcase vent hoses had been bodged (presumed vacuum leak).
Sat nav didn't work, blank screen when selected.
Sometimes the stereo would go 'pop' and lose audio.
Glove box fuse box cover was broken.
It has a detachable tow bar but the electrics didn't work, appear to have been bodged into the brake lights and then disconnected.
Battery was crap and not AGM type.
Nipple on the intake pipe was broken.
The 12-13mm tool kit spanner was missing.
I've been reasonably thorough there, there's plenty more besides which I will cover but no point going into an exact play by play of how it happened of stuff that's all in the past, all the really juicy stuff is in act 3 anyway (and ongoing too).
In the next posts I'll go over the causes and fixes (and prices) for these, which I did a lot of over the period June-December 2015. Did I mention the car only had 2 months MOT when I got it? So I prioritised likely (or guaranteed) MOT fails.
I can't seem to find many photos from this period but I've got a spreadsheet with everything I did, glad I still had it saved as the full ring binder didn't come back with the car in act 3
1. When I owned the car for 1 year from June 2015 until June 2016 (12k miles, £6k spent)
2. When I sold it and what happened to it in that time (spoiler it did 11k miles trouble free).
3. How I came to own it again in July 2020 until now (1000 miles, another £6k spent).
Act 1 - Couple bands
I only paid £2600 so figured I had a bit of dosh to play with, say another £2600 to break even with a (supposed) better example. Knowing how 'notorious' these were I figured a pricier example could be superficially better but need just as much work underneath. Then again this was the only one I looked at.
The guy I bought it off also had a low spec E65 730i with curiously the venerable M54 engine (as in my 330Ci). He was keeping that one, it all makes sense in hindsight.
So after purchase and a more thorough inspection and a bit of diagnostics I figured the car had the following obvious issues:
Needs a full (full) service.
Very heavy smoke when revved after idling, none while driving.
Intermittent misfire on 1 cylinder.
Brakes all completely worn out.
Electronic handbrake not working.
Random clunking in first and second gear.
Front anti roll bar drop links rattling.
SEVERE oil leaks, basically from everywhere including the usual suspects (cam covers inc. sensors & valvetronic motors, alternator bracket, upper timing case covers, lower sump, smaller things like oil pressure sensor etc.)
Heavy coolant leak, source unknown but there are several common suspects.
Power steering / dynamic drive fluid leak.
Viscous fan clutch was locked up (sounds like an artic).
Auxiliary electric pusher fan didn't work.
Auxiliary water pump (for heater core) didn't work.
Crankcase vent hoses had been bodged (presumed vacuum leak).
Sat nav didn't work, blank screen when selected.
Sometimes the stereo would go 'pop' and lose audio.
Glove box fuse box cover was broken.
It has a detachable tow bar but the electrics didn't work, appear to have been bodged into the brake lights and then disconnected.
Battery was crap and not AGM type.
Nipple on the intake pipe was broken.
The 12-13mm tool kit spanner was missing.
I've been reasonably thorough there, there's plenty more besides which I will cover but no point going into an exact play by play of how it happened of stuff that's all in the past, all the really juicy stuff is in act 3 anyway (and ongoing too).
In the next posts I'll go over the causes and fixes (and prices) for these, which I did a lot of over the period June-December 2015. Did I mention the car only had 2 months MOT when I got it? So I prioritised likely (or guaranteed) MOT fails.
I can't seem to find many photos from this period but I've got a spreadsheet with everything I did, glad I still had it saved as the full ring binder didn't come back with the car in act 3
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Saturday 8th May 05:13
The good points / first impressions / personal take:
No dash warning lights besides brake pads/handbrake (and when misfiring).
Couldn't find any rust anywhere.
The Logic 7 stereo is epic (until it goes 'pop').
Turns out It has a proper tow bar so I can use my bike rack.
Goes like stink when it's not misfiring.
The seats are supremely comfy and cooling was a revelation in sunny June weather. The dog seems to enjoy them too, especially cooled in the back with shade from the blinds too
As my first big car, first automatic and first V8 it ticked off several boxes.
Dynamic drive is amazing, there's no body roll unless you're at like 8 tenths (which it then gives you to let you know you're cooking). The difference it makes is night and day.
You get accustomed to the 'luxury' features like soft close doors, power boot lid, door brakes that you can set anywhere, auto park to hold the car while stationary in drive etc. very quickly.
The idrive has tactile feedback through the pie tin, scrolling in a list is fine but needs more obvious force to 'move over' to the next list.
As mentioned the centre arm rest storage is directly air conditioned and as a small(ish) space gets surprisingly cold, stick a cornetto in there and it's still good an hour later. Mine's just a big cavern, luckily no CD holders or phone or anything like some have.
The rear blinds keep the interior cooler when parked and keep a low sun from blinding you in the rear view mirror.
The column shifter is brilliant as it completely frees up the area where the cupholders are. But having 4 stalks takes a while to get used to.
The N62 engine feels 'zingier' or a little bit 'racier' compared to the M62, in the same way the N52 does to the M54.
People just get out of your way, whereas my E46 just seemed to attract boy (and some girl) racers.
The comfort seats side bolster adjustment is like the later E60 M5, just not active.
The headrest pillows can adjust to hold your head, it would be easy to fall asleep if you were tired (as driver or passenger).
I like/need the 2 proper cupholders, especially when compared to the E63 6 series.
The CD player and 6 disc changer only plays audio CDs, not MP3 CDs, and there's no aux in.
You can programme multiple custom cruise control speeds on the dial and just move between them.
Flash really shows the colour of the dash and wood
No dash warning lights besides brake pads/handbrake (and when misfiring).
Couldn't find any rust anywhere.
The Logic 7 stereo is epic (until it goes 'pop').
Turns out It has a proper tow bar so I can use my bike rack.
Goes like stink when it's not misfiring.
The seats are supremely comfy and cooling was a revelation in sunny June weather. The dog seems to enjoy them too, especially cooled in the back with shade from the blinds too
As my first big car, first automatic and first V8 it ticked off several boxes.
Dynamic drive is amazing, there's no body roll unless you're at like 8 tenths (which it then gives you to let you know you're cooking). The difference it makes is night and day.
You get accustomed to the 'luxury' features like soft close doors, power boot lid, door brakes that you can set anywhere, auto park to hold the car while stationary in drive etc. very quickly.
The idrive has tactile feedback through the pie tin, scrolling in a list is fine but needs more obvious force to 'move over' to the next list.
As mentioned the centre arm rest storage is directly air conditioned and as a small(ish) space gets surprisingly cold, stick a cornetto in there and it's still good an hour later. Mine's just a big cavern, luckily no CD holders or phone or anything like some have.
The rear blinds keep the interior cooler when parked and keep a low sun from blinding you in the rear view mirror.
The column shifter is brilliant as it completely frees up the area where the cupholders are. But having 4 stalks takes a while to get used to.
The N62 engine feels 'zingier' or a little bit 'racier' compared to the M62, in the same way the N52 does to the M54.
People just get out of your way, whereas my E46 just seemed to attract boy (and some girl) racers.
The comfort seats side bolster adjustment is like the later E60 M5, just not active.
The headrest pillows can adjust to hold your head, it would be easy to fall asleep if you were tired (as driver or passenger).
I like/need the 2 proper cupholders, especially when compared to the E63 6 series.
The CD player and 6 disc changer only plays audio CDs, not MP3 CDs, and there's no aux in.
You can programme multiple custom cruise control speeds on the dial and just move between them.
Flash really shows the colour of the dash and wood
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Friday 19th November 07:13
This post covers everything up to the MOT which was due in August 2015, which gave me 2 months to get stuff sorted.
So first things first I got the missing tool kit spanner off eBay for £4.50
I then did servicing, some prep jobs, brakes and coolant hoses.
Servicing:
MOT-related and general prep:
I replaced all the brakes, I also did the wheel bearings too as the rear ones were noisy and the fronts are the simple bolt on type so I thought while I'm in there. Also all of the hub faces were quite corroded so helped to get a true surface for the new discs.
I had the rear bearings done by a garage as I didn't have the tools at that point, and I was choosing to not pick that battle.
One lesson I learned is to buy better quality brake springs e.g. OEM ATE, as the Mintex ones corroded heavily after a couple of years and one failed, it broke and fell out
(wheel bearings subtotal £463.73)
I replaced all the coolant hoses at the front of the engine as some of the plastic parts had turned brown, they usually break very easily when they're in this state. None of them appeared to be leaking though. The water pump looked brand new (albeit apparently unbranded) so I left it alone for now. The heavy leaks are usually from the pipe that runs front to back where it seals at the timing case, this needs a special repair or serious work to deal with. Also possibly the rear cover which is inside the bellhousing, and the valley pan which is under the intake manifold. As I wasn't going to address these immediately I just kept topping it up and checked the coolant (and oil and power steering fluid) level every other day.
I replaced the failed auxiliary water pump which sends coolant up to the heater matrix with an OEM Pierburg.
So the total on this first lot of jobs is £2305
I'd only managed to put about 1000 miles on it in this time as I was doing so much work on it.
It passed the MOT with these advisories:
So first things first I got the missing tool kit spanner off eBay for £4.50
I then did servicing, some prep jobs, brakes and coolant hoses.
Servicing:
- Engine oil Quantum £21.58 (this was when TPS still dealt with randoms off the street, Quantum is VW 504/507 & BMW LL04)
- Oil filter Mann £7.99
- Oil filter cap BMW £26.46 (the drain plug in the cap was rounded off)
- Air filter Mann £13.37
- Fuel filter Mahle £40.10
- Coolant BMW £20.69 + deionized water Carplan £11.70
- Brake fluid £27.60 (for the price I have this done at the garage to save messing about, there's enough to be doing as it is)
- Spark plugs checked ok (found some oil around the spark plugs, we'll come back to this)
- Cabin filters checked ok
- Drive belts checked ok
- Power steering fluid checked ok
- Gearbox and diff oils left for now
- Wiper blades BMW £37.88
- Tyres checked ok
- Wheel balancing x4 £27.79
- Wheel alignment Hunter £74.84
- Air con service/regas £35 + cleaner grenade £11.99
- All bulbs interior & exterior checked ok
MOT-related and general prep:
- Battery Varta Silver Dynamic AGM £144.40
- Front anti roll bar drop links Lemforder £33.04
- Handbrake unit and cables BMW (used) £163.18, got this off eBay.de, my unit had failed and it turned out both cables had also worn through and the inner wires had snapped, so no wonder it wasn't working.
- Ignition coil Bosch £24.95, this was to fix the intermittent misfire which worked, but we'll come back to this.
- Viscous fan clutch Behr Hella £105.00, mine had locked up and was spinning at full engine speed.
- Auxiliary pusher fan NRF £210.59, mine had failed and was diagnosed by telling it to turn on in INPA. Symptom was air con getting warm while stationary.
- Crank case vent (CCV) valves BMW £31.89, mine were fine but I changed them anyway as I'd already bought them, these are apparently a common failure point causing smoking, but mine has a much more serious smoking addiction.
- Wheel centre caps BMW £34.99
- Locking wheel bolts BMW £44.11, these are the same as McGard Ultras but black instead of silver.
- Petrol filler cap BMW £17.82, the seal had perished badly.
I replaced all the brakes, I also did the wheel bearings too as the rear ones were noisy and the fronts are the simple bolt on type so I thought while I'm in there. Also all of the hub faces were quite corroded so helped to get a true surface for the new discs.
I had the rear bearings done by a garage as I didn't have the tools at that point, and I was choosing to not pick that battle.
One lesson I learned is to buy better quality brake springs e.g. OEM ATE, as the Mintex ones corroded heavily after a couple of years and one failed, it broke and fell out
- Front discs Brembo £63.52 348x30mm
- Front pads TRW £33.79
- Front pad wear sensor TRW £9.61
- Front pad springs Mintex £7.61
- Front wheel bearings/hubs FAG £117.93
- Rear discs Zimmermann £46.80 345x24mm
- Rear pads TRW £32.26
- Rear pad wear sensor TRW £10.01
- Rear pad springs Mintex £6.19
- Rear wheel bearings FAG £75.80 + fitting £270
- Handbrake shoes TRW £27.13
- Handbrake shoe fitting kit Braymann £8.05
- Handbrake adjusting screws BMW £25.58
- Handbrake expanding locks BMW £40.70
(wheel bearings subtotal £463.73)
I replaced all the coolant hoses at the front of the engine as some of the plastic parts had turned brown, they usually break very easily when they're in this state. None of them appeared to be leaking though. The water pump looked brand new (albeit apparently unbranded) so I left it alone for now. The heavy leaks are usually from the pipe that runs front to back where it seals at the timing case, this needs a special repair or serious work to deal with. Also possibly the rear cover which is inside the bellhousing, and the valley pan which is under the intake manifold. As I wasn't going to address these immediately I just kept topping it up and checked the coolant (and oil and power steering fluid) level every other day.
I replaced the failed auxiliary water pump which sends coolant up to the heater matrix with an OEM Pierburg.
- Auxiliary water pump Pierburg £55.28
- Upper rad hose BMW £62.19
- Lower rad hose BMW £46.15
- Lower rad hose temp sensor BMW £27.18
- Hose BMW (exp tank - rad) £23.76
- Hose BMW (exp tank - block) BMW £47.25
- Hose BMW (exp tank - pump) £36.18
- Hose BMW (pump - gbox cooler) £40.68
- Expansion tank cap Meyle £4.79
- Radiator drain plug BMW £7.20
- Hose clamps x2 BMW £2.95
- Hose bracket BMW £4.76
So the total on this first lot of jobs is £2305
I'd only managed to put about 1000 miles on it in this time as I was doing so much work on it.
It passed the MOT with these advisories:
- Offside Rear Suspension arm has slight play in a pin/bush
- Oil leak (no kidding, we'll take a look at that next)
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Sunday 23 May 11:12
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Tuesday 25th May 08:33
Pastie Bloater said:
Rear comfort seats
took these out recently to fix the lumbar pumps
Now they're working I need to find the noisy fan and apply the Colourlock.
Feel like I've got a pretty good handle on how the seats work now, the fans are laid out as below.took these out recently to fix the lumbar pumps
Now they're working I need to find the noisy fan and apply the Colourlock.
For the noisy rear left fan when I put the seat back in the car I could hear all of them working, but if I put any pressure on the one in red below I can hear something catching the fan and stopping it. The fans are guarded by their metal frame on top and 'netlon' mesh below, so I'll take a look at this but should be an easy fix.
The cooling button seems to be working fine now, might have been a loose connection (I'll take it).
You can see the front seat cooling pays particular attention to a specific area, how much of this effect is physical or just psychosomatic I don't know.
This is the 'netlon', we use tubes of this stuff at work to protect machined components.
For the rear seat refurb I first cleaned them with:
1. Autoglym leather cleaner using brush
2. Magic sponge moistened with water
3. Colourlock strong leather cleaner with sponge/brush
I then applied several coats of Colourlock leather fresh dye in the correct BMW natural brown.
This really restores the original colour and finish, especially to the heavily faded headrests and any 'scuffed' areas where the leather turns white. For this perforated leather it also gets in the holes and dyes the 'edges' of the holes. This is ideal as you can't clean there and you could still see staining in the holes after cleaning, especially standing back you could tell where stains had been even though the leather surface wasn't stained.
I sprayed dry PTFE lube on/in all the moving parts to hopefully reduce any speaks and groans. Seems like they come mostly from the seats moving against the side and centre trims.
For the front seats as you can see above the driver side is really worse for wear after 156k miles, but to be fair they were in this condition when I got the car. The big hole has been caused by one of the sharp-ended upholstery 'hog rings' turning round and cutting its way through. The seat base foam has also gone, but oddly enough the specific cooled-but-not-active (aka 'massage') version is still available from BMW (£185).
So the driver seat will get new seat base foam and the leather recovered with these below I found on eBay.de.
Hard to find the covering specific to colour (duh), comfort version, heated and cooled, gets progressively rarer.
The passenger side is ok just needs the same refurb as the rears.
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Wednesday 26th May 07:10
MORE?
That's only 54 rows of a 380 row spreadsheet
For pudding the Colourlock kit plus extra gubbins was £87
I used nearly all of the 150ml dye on the rear seats though
Another bottle of dye will be £25
Can definitely recommend it, but also need to get the cleaning spirit and a sanding pad:
https://www.colourlock.com/all-diy-products/kits/c...
That's only 54 rows of a 380 row spreadsheet
For pudding the Colourlock kit plus extra gubbins was £87
I used nearly all of the 150ml dye on the rear seats though
Another bottle of dye will be £25
Can definitely recommend it, but also need to get the cleaning spirit and a sanding pad:
https://www.colourlock.com/all-diy-products/kits/c...
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Sunday 23 May 10:32
k me.....
RicksAlfas said:
Pastie Bloater said:
Side note but what's quite rare to see generally is on the E65 there isn't a single switch/button blanking plug anywhere, all the trim pieces are custom to each option combo.
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