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What did you do to your E39 today?


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On 04/09/2023 at 21:02, Sharkfan said:

Replaced one of the centre caps for the 19" Alpina alloys. One of mine had become deformed sometime over the years and I always wanted to replace it with a straight one - you have to swap the rotating centre cap mechanism and the lock over but it looks a lot better now.

I've kept the old one - I might pop it in the oven to see if I can soften it just enough to straighten it.

@Sharkfan where did you buy the replacement from dealer or another source? I've got the 18'softline wheels. 1 of my centre caps is plastic Vs the other 3 I think original cast aluminium pieces. The plastic one is a bit tighter to lock and a royal PITA to get to fit nice and flush and even.

I'm toying with getting the wheels refurbished anyway due to bubbling corrosion so a matching metal centre cap is on the wish list before that!

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On 07/09/2023 at 23:20, ad_b10v8 said:

@Sharkfan where did you buy the replacement from dealer or another source? I've got the 18'softline wheels. 1 of my centre caps is plastic Vs the other 3 I think original cast aluminium pieces. The plastic one is a bit tighter to lock and a royal PITA to get to fit nice and flush and even.

I'm toying with getting the wheels refurbished anyway due to bubbling corrosion so a matching metal centre cap is on the wish list before that!

From ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/lloydcarlislebmwminiparts

I have a set of E39 18" Softlines too - I have never seen a plastic wheel centre for them - are you sure it's genuine?

Edited by Sharkfan
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Two new front tyres for my E39 yesterday. A recent through the seat vibration developing at speed led me to believe a rear tyre had lost a balance weight so I dropped into my local tyre place to have all 4 balance checked. It turned out two screws in the outer tread pattern about 3 inches apart in a front tyre were making the tyre delaminate from the inside out and misshapen as well. Two new 245/35x19’s and all is smooth motoring again. 
 

I never really trust tyre fitters with torque settings either so after a planned wash this morning I will loosen then correctly re-torque all 20 wheel nuts.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Sunday was Surrey to Nottingham for an Alpina meet at Sytner. My E39 got a fair few compliments as well as a few people thinking I’d bought another Alpina as they’d only ever seen me with my E38 or E34. In truth I’ve owned the E39 longest, almost 13 years. 

From Nottingham it was on to Yorkshire to stay overnight with a good friend before heading over Ilkley Moor to the funeral of my old neighbour who had passed after a truly remarkable life of 102 years.

Then a straight drive back to Surrey. The B10 V8 didn’t miss a beat all the trip and again reassured me I don’t want to buy another car after getting my E39 back to its best.

IMG_1287.thumb.jpeg.40ef9d1b23189c923337decf734b04fd.jpeg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Found water pooling in the fuel filler area.  Known problem with E39s where many rust in that area.  No rust on my car there yet.

Removed the filler flap and cleaned it and the filler area.  Unblocked the little hole behind the hinge with a wooden kebab skewer until water easily drains out and then coated the whole area with Jenolite Waxoil (thinner than Waxolyl) making sure the wax doesn't block the tiny drain hole.  

All back together and hopefully good for a while.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Passed MOT on the second attempt. just before the test I did a quick check of car systems, seeing as its been off the road for a couple of years, and discovered BOTH screen wash pumps had died! Got the meter and a test bulb out and scrambled to fix it, but with half an hour before the test there was little I could do. Fuse fine, power to plugs, direct power to the pumps yielded no result, so with no time to go rob one of dads pumps, i just had to live with it.

Later removal and testing showed one rattled, and had some rust on the base, the other looked fine but wasn't. For the record, genuine ones are £52 each! So it got two Febi ones with 5 year guarantee for £33 the pair.

 

 

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19 hours ago, Flandy said:

Passed MOT on the second attempt. just before the test I did a quick check of car systems, seeing as its been off the road for a couple of years, and discovered BOTH screen wash pumps had died! Got the meter and a test bulb out and scrambled to fix it, but with half an hour before the test there was little I could do. Fuse fine, power to plugs, direct power to the pumps yielded no result, so with no time to go rob one of dads pumps, i just had to live with it.

Later removal and testing showed one rattled, and had some rust on the base, the other looked fine but wasn't. For the record, genuine ones are £52 each! So it got two Febi ones with 5 year guarantee for £33 the pair.

 

 

There is no particular reason to use genuine washer pumps in my experience.

I've been using Meyle ones for years at abput £10 each.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373595334339

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  • 1 month later...

A combination of clearing out  behind the shed where the E39 M-Paras with (old) winter tyres on were stored, a need to properly clean and high temp wax the 19” Alpina’s (much easier off the car) and a cold snap of weather due in the next few weeks led to this mornings work. 

Winter wheels and tyres on, car and all eight wheels washed, back side of the 19’s also scrubbed (proper minging) and then spend the next few weeks cleaning and waxing the 19’s under the watchful gaze of Nadiya.

IMG_1437.thumb.jpeg.0e34abec8b7da536b1d1ab2dc4643c80.jpeg
 

IMG_1371.thumb.jpeg.a929438e5ce2f19aa53835bd1536b3f5.jpeg

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On 06/01/2024 at 11:42, Sharkfan said:

A combination of clearing out  behind the shed where the E39 M-Paras with (old) winter tyres on were stored, a need to properly clean and high temp wax the 19” Alpina’s (much easier off the car) and a cold snap of weather due in the next few weeks led to this mornings work. 

Winter wheels and tyres on, car and all eight wheels washed, back side of the 19’s also scrubbed (proper minging) and then spend the next few weeks cleaning and waxing the 19’s under the watchful gaze of Nadiya.

IMG_1437.thumb.jpeg.0e34abec8b7da536b1d1ab2dc4643c80.jpeg
 

IMG_1371.thumb.jpeg.a929438e5ce2f19aa53835bd1536b3f5.jpeg

Strictly Fan?

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Ordered a replacement indicator stalk as mine initially failed by putting the main beams on in the wrong direction before failing again so the main beams were on as soon as the sidelights were on.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/01/2024 at 22:52, Sharkfan said:

Ordered a replacement indicator stalk as mine initially failed by putting the main beams on in the wrong direction before failing again so the main beams were on as soon as the sidelights were on.

It wasn't the bloody stalk, it was the LCM but thanks to Dbcrd who coded it for me using PASoft I am now back with all legal lights. My work around whilst the saga played out was to simply unplug the main beams at the bulbs.

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11 hours ago, Steve VH said:

I have a very slow PAS fluid leak on my 1997 528i, needs topping up about once a month, any idea where I need to be looking for it.

This should probably be moved to its own thread to get a better chance of an answer.

Easiest things:

Reservoir.  They are cheap.  Often though  its just the o-ring in the cap.  

I replace mine every so often.  You can get them from BMW or on ebay.

I use Viton o rings.  Size (don't quote me is 42 x 2 )

 
The other place to look are the two flexible pipes - they are cheap and you don't need genuine ones (in my opinion).
 
After that it is more involved - metal pipes etc.
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14 hours ago, Steve VH said:

I have a very slow PAS fluid leak on my 1997 528i, needs topping up about once a month, any idea where I need to be looking for it.

Reservoir has the built-in filter so should be changed anyway, but it's got no seals so it won't cause a leak. 

You'll have to look around and see, it's a fairly simple circuit. Follow a hose from the bottom of the reservoir, follow all the connections through until you get back to the other hose connected to the reservoir. 

It'll be one of the hoses or from the output of the steering rack, sometimes the steering rack gaiters can hold the fluid from the leak so you don't see it. Give them a squeeze and see if they're filled with oil.

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1 hour ago, 4aceman said:

Reservoir has the built-in filter so should be changed anyway, but it's got no seals so it won't cause a leak. 

You'll have to look around and see, it's a fairly simple circuit. Follow a hose from the bottom of the reservoir, follow all the connections through until you get back to the other hose connected to the reservoir. 

It'll be one of the hoses or from the output of the steering rack, sometimes the steering rack gaiters can hold the fluid from the leak so you don't see it. Give them a squeeze and see if they're filled with oil.

These are the hoses ready for my E46.  I already changed the similar ones on my E39 and it fixed the leak.

 

20240202_120737.jpg

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I had leaks on my V8 PAS system - it was from the two hose connections on the bottom of the reservoir. My Indy says its common and said to take off the BMW squeeze-type hose clips and replace them with jubilee clips - job done and no more leaks.

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