E91 Straight Six Bearding

[pmorg4]

Find/sort the source of the leak and replace the belt. Not worth messing around with these as a failure of the belt can be catastrophic if you're unlucky.

[AmirGSXR]

helix402 said:

The Birds kit is great. I found by 93k on my 335d the standard dampers were dead despite no visible leaks. The body control was awful as was the ride quality. I tried a B12 kit, great handling, still poor ride quality. The Birds kit achieves good handling and ride quality.

Thanks all for the info on Birds suspension. it will be about £1800 fitted, but I have read on other forums that Birds do not check the alignment after the install. This thread here discusses some of the more disappointing experiences with Birds: https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

At present, my car drives nicely on it's SE suspension when at 6/10th, but if I try to drive it at 9/10th's like I did with my Mondeo ST220, the car feels 'less' alive, has more body roll and I have to be very cautious. My Mondeo was lowered 35mm on an Eibach Pro kit (this was actually a standard Ford upgrade item), and felt very much like a go kart no matter how hard I pushed. I wonder if having an Eibach kit (with dampers) might be more suitable and cheaper than the Birds kit? Essentially, I want to have the confidence in being able to drive the car slightly quicker through a series of corners that flick left and right in quick succession (the type we have loads of here in N.Wales).

This is the E90 Eibach kit I came across: https://www.eibachshop.co.uk/eibach-b12-prokit-sus...

[helix402]

I had the B12 kit. As mentioned, great handling, poor ride.

[Court_S]

helix402 said:

I had the B12 kit. As mentioned, great handling, poor ride.

Very much this.

I had Birds B1 on my 130i with 18 inch wheels. My friend had a 125i with the B12 and 17 inch wheels and the ride in his car was noticeably worse especially around town.

[Fulla]

pmorg4 said:

Find/sort the source of the leak and replace the belt. Not worth messing around with these as a failure of the belt can be catastrophic if you're unlucky.

It's booked in on the 9th to a local BMW specialist. I've replaced the cap and washer on the power steering reservoir which I believed to be the source.
I had ordered the washer and cap separately and when I collected from BMW the cap does come with the washer. I had to laugh at the parts chap as I told him I wouldn't need the washer on its own and requested my money back. (had to pre-pay as it wasn't a stock item). He grumbled that he would have to write the £4.99 washer off....

[steelwheels13]

Hello beards,
I could use some advice. I’ve taken my 2005 325i up to 143k and the oil consumption is absolutely dreadful. I get ~350 miles/litre. I’ve replaced the valve cover gasket and the CCV with no improvement. It’s not smoking except at high revs when there is a brief, small puff of black smoke.
My guess is the piston rings are bad. Possibly valve stem seals too although there’s no smoke on startup or when left idling. I’ve not had it compression tested.

It drives well, returns decent mpg and the power seems fine, but I’m sick of pouring oil into it and am now wondering what to do.
Get the engine overhauled? Replace it? With another b25, and maybe suffer the same problems, or go for a b30? Not sure how that would affect insurance.
In all other aspects the car is in good condition and I’ve done a fair amount of preventive maintenance. I’m fond of it and would rather not get rid.
I’ve never undertaken major engine work or a swap before so I’m a bit at sea.

[Court_S]

Fulla said:

It's booked in on the 9th to a local BMW specialist. I've replaced the cap and washer on the power steering reservoir which I believed to be the source.
I had ordered the washer and cap separately and when I collected from BMW the cap does come with the washer. I had to laugh at the parts chap as I told him I wouldn't need the washer on its own and requested my money back. (had to pre-pay as it wasn't a stock item). He grumbled that he would have to write the £4.99 washer off....

I just sucked it up, even though the o-ring cost pretty much the same as the cap with the o-ring. I’ll just pop it in my box of random BMW bolts and fittings that I seem to have accumulated.

In my case, the new cap has solved the sweeping reservoir. Looking at the old cap, the o-ring is missing.

[Swervin_Mervin]

steelwheels13 said:

Hello beards,
I could use some advice. I’ve taken my 2005 325i up to 143k and the oil consumption is absolutely dreadful. I get ~350 miles/litre. I’ve replaced the valve cover gasket and the CCV with no improvement. It’s not smoking except at high revs when there is a brief, small puff of black smoke.
My guess is the piston rings are bad. Possibly valve stem seals too although there’s no smoke on startup or when left idling. I’ve not had it compression tested.

It drives well, returns decent mpg and the power seems fine, but I’m sick of pouring oil into it and am now wondering what to do.
Get the engine overhauled? Replace it? With another b25, and maybe suffer the same problems, or go for a b30? Not sure how that would affect insurance.
In all other aspects the car is in good condition and I’ve done a fair amount of preventive maintenance. I’m fond of it and would rather not get rid.
I’ve never undertaken major engine work or a swap before so I’m a bit at sea.

Wow, that's pretty bad. And odd that there's no other significant signs of trouble. Might sound daft, and apologies if so, but have you check the sump pan gasket and the oil filter housing gaskets as well? Even so, 350mi/litre would be a fairly noticable leak.

[steelwheels13]

Not at all!

I haven’t checked the sump yet, but I’m taking it to a trusted garage for an MOT soon and will ask them to poke around. The OFHG has a slight leak that I attempted to fix when I did the CCV but I didn’t have the right Torx bit. Sorting it next week. Replaced the oil cooler gasket.

There’s no evidence of oil leaks on the ground, but I suppose really know I’d have to take the undertray off.
The exhaust is certainly sooty and spits out a sort of carbonised gunk occasionally, I think when water has condensed inside.

It’s perfectly driveable for now but I want to get on top of this as it’s my only car and I will do a lot of miles in the summer. I suppose I should ask the garage to carry out a leak down test too.

Does anyone know an engine specialist they could recommend should it come to the worst? I’m based near Nottingham but I’ll travel if needed. Thanks.

[bodhi]

steelwheels13 said:

Not at all!

I haven’t checked the sump yet, but I’m taking it to a trusted garage for an MOT soon and will ask them to poke around. The OFHG has a slight leak that I attempted to fix when I did the CCV but I didn’t have the right Torx bit. Sorting it next week. Replaced the oil cooler gasket.

There’s no evidence of oil leaks on the ground, but I suppose really know I’d have to take the undertray off.
The exhaust is certainly sooty and spits out a sort of carbonised gunk occasionally, I think when water has condensed inside.

It’s perfectly driveable for now but I want to get on top of this as it’s my only car and I will do a lot of miles in the summer. I suppose I should ask the garage to carry out a leak down test too.

Does anyone know an engine specialist they could recommend should it come to the worst? I’m based near Nottingham but I’ll travel if needed. Thanks.

If it helps I have a 125i with the 3.0 version of the same engine. I was getting through a litre every 700 miles, diagnosis was a leaking rocker cover gasket and a leaking sump. Note, not the gasket but the sump itself had begun to rust through and was leaving spots on the drive. Mine was running absolutely fine also, just had a drink problem.

Like it's owner I guess

[pmorg4]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is worth a read. The 2.5 engine can suffer from a problem with the rings that doesn't affect the 3.0 N52.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16...

Hopefully it turns out to be something else however!

[Mr Tidy]

bodhi said:

If it helps I have a 125i with the 3.0 version of the same engine. I was getting through a litre every 700 miles, diagnosis was a leaking rocker cover gasket and a leaking sump. Note, not the gasket but the sump itself had begun to rust through and was leaving spots on the drive. Mine was running absolutely fine also, just had a drink problem.

Like it's owner I guess

Corroded sumps seem to be an issue on the N52 engine - I know of more than one Z4 owner who has needed a new sump because of it, although one of them thought that not having an undertray may not have helped!

[steelwheels13]

Heck! I knew about the ring problem (after I bought the car…) but this sump issue is news to me.

Maybe I’m at least getting some accidental rust protection.

Edited by steelwheels13 on Friday 3rd February 21:29

[dhutch]

Corrosion of sumps isn't that uncommon, certainly, certainly not in 20yo cars with steel sumps and no undertray.

Although I guess a new sump pan from BMW is more than for a 90s Ford.

[Gee Whizz]

Hello fellow E91'ers. Whilst I'm sure most folks on this thread already own one, the family E91 has been put up for sale if it's of interest to anybody.

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/14505915

Appreciate any comments on the price as I'm not sure if it is in the correct ball park or not.

[JakeT]

Price seems reasonable given the condition, and spec. Ideal London spec I’d say, over the diesels.

[Court_S]

As my 335i is hanging around for a bit longer, I’ve been toying with the idea of changing the seats / door cards because the black is, well black.

I’ve found an M3 interior in bamboo. The downside is that it’s from an LCI car and it doesn’t have lumbar (which I don’t use anyway). I know the active head restraints won’t work, but will the car have a tantrum if there is no lumbar function? Can anyone confirm if the other functions like heating / bolsters will be fine.

[pmorg4]

It'll be fine - lumbar is a "dumb" system that simply gets a 12V supply and the switch directly powers the pump and valves. There is no coding or bus communications etc involved. Bolsters are the same - pump and valves, no coding.

Heating is controlled via the junction box which communicates with either the seat module (for more advanced options like memory seats) or the heating module (for more basic seats with heating) so you'd need to check if that is compatible with the M3 seats. I'm assuming being a coupe that both will have memory so will have the full module, which should transfer across fine I'd have thought. Hopefully there are no significant wiring changes over the years, I'll have a look on the WDS and see if I can spot anything.

The M3 interior sounds lovely, looking forward to seeing it.

Edited by pmorg4 on Wednesday 8th February 16:55

[pmorg4]

Just had a look at WDS for E92 Coupe with seat module, and there is no meaningful change over the years other than the fuse number for the power supply from the junction box, so it should in theory just swap over. Fingers crossed they haven't done something strange like change the connector but all the pins etc are identical so they should be the same.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Collected my car from Darren Woods on Monday. It had gone in Friday to ahve a few jobs done:

Replacement PAS rack - supplied them with a 2nd hand one which they reckon is ok.
New oil sump pan gasket
New cam cover gasket
Replacement rear calipers - the n/s one started binding really badly, to the extent that aftera high speed run and heavy stop there was lots of smoke and some crackling noises...

All sorted now. Just need to get the tracking re-done. And it seems I may have a near 17yo BMW with no oil leaks!

Also just got delivery of 2 new headlight washer from BMW. Some stock had come in so I went for it. THey don't look as solid as the originals, and definitely a different design on the cap of the outer half of the unit. Will get those fitted at some point soon and keep the cheapo one and non-broken original as spares.