PZero

Howdy folks, haven't been here for a while after the great forum crash, but thought my work today might be worth sharing. I've wrestled with this problem before but never been able to find an answer online, so here's mine. If I'm somehow crap at google and somehow missed a thousand other threads on the matter, meh, here's one more... Meet the infamous / stupid ball bearing which has inconvenienced many an E39 touring owner. Anyone who has ever folded their touring rear seat down and found themselves unable to put it up again as the seat belt had locked in place without enough slack, has experienced the work of this little bastard. After having that pleasure again today but this time removing the bench seat to unbolt the other end of the belt not being possible (don't ask), I had no option but to take off the seat back and get into the seat belt reel. Having now seen how this catch worked, I have no idea what it was trying to achieve other than pissing me off, so out it came. Et voila, belt once again works fine, inertia lock still works as it should (as that's a different unconnected mechanism, related to the only spring you see in the following images) and it doesn't get stuck in any position. Finally just like any other seatbelt. Not saying that everyone should go and do this right away, in fact I would say don't unless / until you have to, as getting the seat back off resulted in four out of eight built in plastic clips on the carpeted seat back being broken (almost unavoidably as they are recessed in and away from the edges, so can't be levered out of their slots), and if you do do this, once you have unbolted the seatbelt assembly, make sure that you only remove the cover which runs the full length of the belt assembly and has the Bowden cable going into it, NOT the small round black on which is the size of the reel. Get the wrong one and the winding spring will burst out and either your belt is knackered or you have a fun hour or two trying to re-coil it perfectly. I've read previously that this bearing catch was there to stop the centre belt reeling in too much when seat folded, but having seen the mechanism now I can't figure out how that would have been the case as it in fact stops the belt being pulled out, not in. The brown ratchet wheel in the pic turns with the reel, counter clockwise as belt pulled out. As can be seen, when this lock engages then the belt can reel in (clockwise) but not pull out (counter clockwise). The Bowden cable at the bottom of pic is slaved to the seat release handle, so as soon as you release the seat to fold it, the arm is pushed up and the lock is engaged, as shown here. The bearing rolls down and wedges underneath the arm, holding it in place and preventing counter clockwise turn of the reel. When seat back lock mechanism is then closed again (manually or by folding seat back up again), the Bowden cable doesn't pull the block out of the ratchet wheel, just gets out of the way of that blocker arm. The ball bearing holds the arm in blocking position until seat back is upright again, when gravity rolls it back into a very shallow depression in the bottom bit which is in line with a matching cut-out on the underside of the arm. Arm can then drop, reel can then turn once again. (Unfortunately I don't seem to have taken a pic of that, only of me holding the arm out of the way so I could pull out some slack. Just imagine that my thumb isn't there.). The bearing operated catch is a separate assembly, and can be just slid upwards out of its mounting on the seat belt assembly. Having now gotten the this bearing catch out and examined it, it's apparent that if it's only a few degrees off level on either left/right or front/back axis then the bearing rolls out of the centre and pushes the very lightweight and loose arm upwards. This would explain why I've never been able to free my belt by patient jiggling for 5 minutes until I get lucky, as seems to work for some. I live on a steep hill, and my driveway is sloped so my car is never level at home, hence that bearing and gravity conspired to always hold the blocker arm in place. Cons? None that I can see. Everything works as it should, no locking when it shouldn't, and inertia locking works as usual so no worries at MOT time. I can't see why BMW put this in there in the first place. But if any issues do become apparent, the bearing bit can just slot right back in again. May be of use to someone!

From colouration, I'd be inclined to agree. But not actually connected to anything including the body, and no appropriate connector type anywhere nearby that I can find. That connector on both sides is just folded back against the loom and was strapped to it with fabric tape (which was very old and crumbled as I groped around for these fellas!).

At first I thought that might be it from Ivans diagram, but wrong place. This connector is at the top of the tailgate, that sensor is at the bottom (locations in relation to the tailgate when closed). No way this connector would reach that far down. Oh well, whatever it was 'meant' to plug into obviously isn't present in my car, so perhaps I'll see if I can tap it up for power. Ta!

Maybe? Not encountered a powered tailgate in the flesh, but would have expected the 'doing' parts of it to be up in the roof / hinge area. Maybe it requires some extra fusebox in the body of the tailgate itself where these are, but as each of these plugs is on a short lead at either side of the tailgate, no way they would have reached a single common fusebox. Hmm.

Fellow longroof purveyors, Whilst tinkering in the tailgate, I found a pair of unused connectors, which had been tucked away and tied back to the loom out of sight, seemingly from factory. One on each side, branches off the loom a couple of inches after enters the tailgate through the grommets on both sides. Not a connector type I've seen before, and although I can find it by part number on RealOEM, it only just comes up on 'Various comb connectors', so no clues from diagrams what it would/could connect to. Presumably some option which this car didn't have, but I'm stumped as to what it could be. Description of it in RealOEM specifically is 'Insulation Housing Fan Connector'. Can't imagine a tailgate with fans! Googling has lead to a lot of images of it in relation to keyless entry retrofitting on E36's, but nothing else. Apepars that this connector is intended for a junction box, but there are none in the tailgate, don't know if every would have been nor what for if so? Haven't yet had multimeter on it so don't know if /when live, but wondering if this could be a convenient power source to tap for my reverse cam (which is less than ideally cabled at present). Anyone know what this pair of little fellas would have been for? Thanks in advance!

Well the upper intake boot wasn't my only problem it appeared, as the codes just kept on coming. So back under the bonnet and... aha. It appears that the CCV drain hose has had a tracheotomy. New hose in, let's see if that's the end of the matter or if my car still sucks.

Recently had a recurring EML recently and codes complaining about banks 1 and 2 fuel trim range exceeded, so here we go again... Yup, split intake at the resonator. Replacement ordered, hopefully nothing further required. Had my rear arch/sill rust sorted by a bodyshop, just don't have the time to sort it myself. Whilst at said bodyshop, in conversation I mentioned that I was on the look out for a 'solid' tailgate due to rust in both bottom corners of glass aperture (like I've got a chance of finding a good one anyway!), and he asked for a look. Said that they could cut those sections out and replace, which had not occurred to me as never heard of anyone dealing with this by any means other than replacing the tailgate. Anyone else had any experience of such work? Would require pulling the wiring out to avoid it being damaged, which in turn is likely to damage iot anyway as we all know how these things go, and then me having to redo the wiring as well. 50/50 about it as a result, but as they've quoted a price around the cost of a decent replacement gate (from schmiedmann for example, as found nowt in better condition over here in UK), not ruled it out.

I've just noticed a few small bubble in the same place on mine. Very minor surface only, had a good look around. Loathe to pay a body shop god knows how much for this small job so I want to tackle it myself as well. Did you use a grinder or just wire brush attachment on a drill to strip it back?

Most definitely, there are some things I wouldn't skimp on! Thanks @4aceman and @duncan-uk, CCV hadn't occurred to me until now, will have to look into how much of a job that is as well. Cheers!

Oil leak down left side of engine (M54), appears to be coming from higher than sump gasket, but rocker cover not leaking either, so my guess is the seemingly infamous oil filter housing gasket. From previous owners very extensive paperwork doesn't look like it's been done before so even if turns out not to be this, 20 years old and worth doing anyway. From pre-emptive research online appears kind of straight forward, just a bit long winded in terms of everything to take out to get to it though. Anyone done this and knows of any potential gotchas, I'd be only too pleased to hear them!

That was one of my MOT advisories a few weeks ago, saving that job for summer as not serious yet. Remember last time I did the front, which should have been a quick job... but took a whole weekend due to bloody seized bolt. Hopefully I'll have better luck at the back!

MOT yesterday, couple of things to take care of, mostly rubber related on offside front wheel. Drop link cover torn and tie rod boot split. Not too bad to deal with (until likely seized bolts ruin everything like usual). Small leak from sump gasket. Bugger, that's a sub-frame dropping job, I'll leave that one for a mechanic. Also an advisory on the rear brake discs, I'll need to do those before next test so will do those and pads whilst there at some point. I recall discussion before on the dearly departed old forum relating to which brand were the dustiest. I replaced my front with Brembo a year ago and they seem to generate a lot of fallout, so want to use something different at the rear. Several people mentioned a particular brand as good, can't remember if it was Pagid or not?

Until the cover is off, I wouldn't say that it can be decided whether it needs replacement or not. Had a leak from mine which I noticed not long after having bought the car, ordered gasket and took it off to replace. Only then did it become apparent that the cover was cracked at the bolt hole adjacent to where the leak was coming from, presumably over-torqued by a previous owner / mechanic. This couldn't be seen when cover was in place as not cracked on the top (which would have been hidden by washer anyway), and unable to get angle to look at it properly in engine bay. New cover was about £350 from BMW themselves, came with all required gaskets. Only other thing suggested would be some high temperature RTV gasket sealant for the corners around the VANOS. If you have a torque wrench, somewhere to do the job and a a couple of hours hours, it's not a difficult DIY. Did mine in early 2019, four years and 20k miles later, not a drip.

Thanks @Clavurion, I was afraid of that. Been meaning to get pixels fixed for ages, the place I was going to use is only an hours drive from me and says on their website that they you can bring it in and they'll do it in an hour, but when I phoned them to book appointment they unexpectedly then said that they don't do in person jobs for E39's and I'd have to send it instead. Being without my car for a couple of days whilst it's in post there and back would be awkward enough due to work and other responsibilities, and if it gets delayed with couriers that would make life really difficult for me. If it's damaged or lost altogether in transit, then the faff of getting a replacement and then finding someone / somewhere to have it coded I just will not have time for. Maybe I'll just put up with guessing how much range I have left!

Sunny day, so I'll have a wash too. Get rid of the bloody road grime which plagues this time of year. Also, a question - Anyone know if the instrument cluster of E39's are coded to the car, or can they just be straight swapped with another? Thinking of sending mine away for pixel repairs, and on the off chance that a courier misplaces it, really could do without drama getting a replacement!