E91 Straight Six Bearding

[Patrick Bateman]

Was away to say the same, can't get much faster for the money I suspect.

[13aines]

Thanks guys, fingers crossed!

[13aines]

Just read about the plastic wallet key.

Should a 56 plate coupe come with one guys?

I have read online they were stopped in 2007 on the 3 series but might be America only?

[Mr Tidy]

My 2004 E46 had one, but my 2007 1 Series didn't.

To be honest it wasn't much use anyway as it didn't operate the alarm!

[bodhi]

zippyonline said:

So, having pretty much done this exercise myself, it really is a case of how long's a bit of string. I don't know labour costs, having done the labour myself, but I can have a punt at garage expected labour times. Lists are in the order of biggest gains at the top, to more minor as they go (unless they've failed and so compromising things a bit).

You can split into front and rear. It seems the rear gets more of a beating from my experience (other peoples may differ etc. etc.)

Rear
- Springs and Dampers - (Birds kit is £1330 + VAT fitted).
- Bushes to go with the above - depending on your source, but say £75ish
- Ball joints, trailing arm bushes, and all the others (get them included on the arms, so toe, camber etc. sorted) about £350ish i reckon, say a mornings labour if no issues and the garage knows what it's doing. You'll also need an alignment after that.
-Subframe bushings - mornings labour, er normally the front bushes that go, the rear bushes I wouldn't bother touching, they're about £45 for Lemforder OEM (had the BMW numbers ground off), 3 hours labour at a garage...?
- Wheel bearings - more a fail or not, but my handling has gone weird since they've started going... bearings were about £80/ea iirc, again expect labour to be a morning as they're pressed in.

Front
- Springs and dampers - see above.
- Bushes - as above.
- Joints and arms - as above including track rod ends. Similar time to install. Prices were a bit more than the rear irrc - but haven't actually bought the bits myself, only done the track rods/ track rod ends on the front.

If it's leggy - all of this will make a massive difference! It's a fair chunk of cash to spend on the value of the car though...

I handed the 1 Series off to my usual garage to refresh the suspension for me after 126k miles. I ended up with

- Sachs OE Replacement Dampers
- New Bump Stops
- New Top Mounts

With Labour and Re-alignment, the bill was 1100 quid, and it drives superbly now. Kept the original springs, already had a new set of PS4s all round.

[MajorMantra]

Just did perhaps the easiest job ever on my car, as well as one of the cheapest. My tailgate struts looked like they were in imminent danger of causing serious brain damage, so I ordered a new set on ebay.

I figured cheap new ones were a lot safer than near-dead OEM. For £12.50 the pair, these Chinese specials look fine to my highly untrained eyes...

Also, they say "OE Quality" on them and no one would lie about that, right?

Here's the link if you're curious... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rear-Boot-Tailgate-Gas-...

Edited by MajorMantra on Friday 4th January 15:42

Edited by MajorMantra on Friday 4th January 15:45

[zippyonline]

Think I bought some febibilstein boot struts for about double that! I had some "strutdepot" cheapo ones when I got mine... OEM ones were something like £50/each at the time!

[ferrisbueller]

Weird happenings with mine this morning. Key-in, everything powered up as normal. Hit start and it briefly cranked before "bong" and the clock reset. Hit start again and it fired up as normal but the gauges took a couple of seconds to come to life.

Recall hasn't been done yet. Is this a battery cable symptom or just a low/knackered battery?

[MajorMantra]

zippyonline said:

Think I bought some febibilstein boot struts for about double that! I had some "strutdepot" cheapo ones when I got mine... OEM ones were something like £50/each at the time!

One of those parts where pricing seems all over the place. ECP's aftermarket ones were quite expensive, for instance, despite it being a very basic component that must be common to loads of cars.

Edited by MajorMantra on Friday 4th January 23:43

[MajorMantra]

ferrisbueller said:

Weird happenings with mine this morning. Key-in, everything powered up as normal. Hit start and it briefly cranked before "bong" and the clock reset. Hit start again and it fired up as normal but the gauges took a couple of seconds to come to life.

Recall hasn't been done yet. Is this a battery cable symptom or just a low/knackered battery?

Don't quote me, but these cars do do weird things with a low battery. I ran mine down a bit during an extensive fettling session a while back and got all sorts of warning lights. After a jump and a drive it was fine again and it's still running happily (touch wood) on the same battery a year and a half later.

The recall is for wiring near the blower/fuse box isn't it? You could try poking things around there with the car turned on to see if anything misbehaves, but a low battery seems a more likely culprit.

[Dannbodge]

Well looks like I'll be keeping the 335i.
Had two people fk me around now and both pulled out (one made an offer and now doesn't reply to messages, the other made me wait 6 weeks until he sold his house before he came to see it, then tells me it's too much money, even though I knocked 1k off without him asking) and the deposit on my next car only holds it till Sunday, so I'll be losing that now.

On the plus side, it leaves a load of money in my savings and 3 days ago my wife gave birth to our first baby.

[ferrisbueller]

MajorMantra said:

ferrisbueller said:

Weird happenings with mine this morning. Key-in, everything powered up as normal. Hit start and it briefly cranked before "bong" and the clock reset. Hit start again and it fired up as normal but the gauges took a couple of seconds to come to life.

Recall hasn't been done yet. Is this a battery cable symptom or just a low/knackered battery?

Don't quote me, but these cars do do weird things with a low battery. I ran mine down a bit during an extensive fettling session a while back and got all sorts of warning lights. After a jump and a drive it was fine again and it's still running happily (touch wood) on the same battery a year and a half later.

The recall is for wiring near the blower/fuse box isn't it? You could try poking things around there with the car turned on to see if anything misbehaves, but a low battery seems a more likely culprit.

There's a second element to the recall which is for battery cable. Wasn't sure whether this is a "power loss" symptom. Car is fine otherwise, no other warning lights. Bit odd. Will ask when it goes in for the recall.

[Mr Tidy]

MajorMantra said:

ferrisbueller said:

Weird happenings with mine this morning. Key-in, everything powered up as normal. Hit start and it briefly cranked before "bong" and the clock reset. Hit start again and it fired up as normal but the gauges took a couple of seconds to come to life.

Recall hasn't been done yet. Is this a battery cable symptom or just a low/knackered battery?

Don't quote me, but these cars do do weird things with a low battery. I ran mine down a bit during an extensive fettling session a while back and got all sorts of warning lights. After a jump and a drive it was fine again and it's still running happily (touch wood) on the same battery a year and a half later.

The recall is for wiring near the blower/fuse box isn't it? You could try poking things around there with the car turned on to see if anything misbehaves, but a low battery seems a more likely culprit.

I hadn't used mine for just over a week.

Remote key wouldn't unlock it, neither would the spare key.

I called the RAC as I didn't want to open it with the key blade then p*ss of all my neighbours when the alarm went off!

RAC arrived in about 30 minutes. We unlocked it with the key blade and even the alarm was dead! Put the key in the slot and got no time or date. RAC connected their power pack and it turned over about twice then threw up a red steering lock warning light.

Left it connected to the power pack for 10 minutes or so and it fired up but the voltage dropped to 12.07V as soon as I turned it off, and 10 minutes later it was down to 12.01V.

As the RAC van had a suitable Varta battery in it I bought it! Bingo, all warning lights gone - reset the time and date and all good (so far).

FWIW mine has already had the heater/AC blower fan resistor recall, and is too early a model to need the power cable one.

It was built in August 2005, and the dead battery just may have been the original as the only brand marking on it was "BMW".

I suspect it may be new battery time for someone else too sadly.

Just over a year ago my Z4 threw up an amber EML for pre-cat faults about 2 weeks before it needed a new battery - it seems to be a BMW "feature"!

[Swervin_Mervin]

MajorMantra said:

Just did perhaps the easiest job ever on my car, as well as one of the cheapest. My tailgate struts looked like they were in imminent danger of causing serious brain damage, so I ordered a new set on ebay.

I figured cheap new ones were a lot safer than near-dead OEM. For £12.50 the pair, these Chinese specials look fine to my highly untrained eyes...

Also, they say "OE Quality" on them and no one would lie about that, right?

Here's the link if you're curious... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rear-Boot-Tailgate-Gas-...

Edited by MajorMantra on Friday 4th January 15:42

Edited by MajorMantra on Friday 4th January 15:45

Might do mine soon. Have to say the BMWs we've had have all had crap struts. Even the ones on our 6yr old F20 are pants. Can barely hold the tailgate open and it weighs nothing

[survivalist]

Dannbodge said:

Well looks like I'll be keeping the 335i.
Had two people fk me around now and both pulled out (one made an offer and now doesn't reply to messages, the other made me wait 6 weeks until he sold his house before he came to see it, then tells me it's too much money, even though I knocked 1k off without him asking) and the deposit on my next car only holds it till Sunday, so I'll be losing that now.

On the plus side, it leaves a load of money in my savings and 3 days ago my wife gave birth to our first baby.

Sorry to hear that. Market is tough at the moment but that’s no excuse for making an offer you can’t deliver on.

Remember your advert on babybmw, unique spec but I guess that makes it hard to price.

Have to admit I was tempted, but I’ve promised myself not to buy any more back cars as I’m rubbish at keeping them clean and I’be promised my wife not to buy any more manual cars she doesn’t want to drive. Having owned a birds converted BMW I’m also scared of the amount of money I’d potentially spend.

Out of interest what was your next car going to be?

[stevesingo]

I have a 07 plate Titan Silver E90 330i. Not an E91, but can I share a pic?

[cerb4.5lee]

stevesingo said:

I have a 07 plate Titan Silver E90 330i. Not an E91, but can I share a pic?

[Dannbodge]

survivalist said:

Sorry to hear that. Market is tough at the moment but that’s no excuse for making an offer you can’t deliver on.

Remember your advert on babybmw, unique spec but I guess that makes it hard to price.

Have to admit I was tempted, but I’ve promised myself not to buy any more back cars as I’m rubbish at keeping them clean and I’be promised my wife not to buy any more manual cars she doesn’t want to drive. Having owned a birds converted BMW I’m also scared of the amount of money I’d potentially spend.

Out of interest what was your next car going to be?

Yeah. I think one of the problems is that people stick the plate and mileage in wbac and see they only offer 5k.

It was something completely different. A Seat Leon Cupra 290 (DSG).

[stevesingo]

cerb4.5lee said:

stevesingo said:

I have a 07 plate Titan Silver E90 330i. Not an E91, but can I share a pic?

75k miles
Titan Siver
Black Dakota Leather
No Nav - No issue for me.
No Xenons - I wish it had them. Standard halogens are awful.

We are the third owners, the first being BMW UK, the second a lady from Bournemouth and have taken the mileage from 31k to the current 75k in the 3yrs we have had it.

Aside from one service at a specialist, every other has been done within the dealer network, including MOTs which i has just sailed through again and whilst it was at the dealer it had the recall done. Aside from replacing the VANOS solenoids due to a hesitation coming on to the throttle at 1500-1800rpm, it has been 100% reliable and doesn't even use oil between changes which are carried out at half the recommended intervals. Does about 28mpg when used by the wife on here 10mile each way commute. On a run it is easy to get 33-35mpg.

I really don't know what I would replace it with. Sure, the F11 535d we also have, is quieter and has more toys, but it is something of a barge in comparison. I'm amazed at how lithe it feels after driving the F11.

[13aines]

I picked my 335i up yesterday. Loving it!

First question has arisen though... what would you expect your oil temperature to be in the winter in the UK? I have read such a mixture.

It was about 3c outside yesterday and I drove around 160 miles. My oil temperature with mixed gentle driving and bursts of short hard acceleration didn’t rise above 90c. But it was cool out and I was on motorways and dual carriageways a lot. Is this normal?

I expected to see it reach the middle of the gauge (120c?) reasonably soon into my journey and was refraining from putting my foot down until then, but it never warmed up that much.

If 90c is normal, I guess I’m safe to drive it hard from around 90c oil temp?