[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

I haven't updated it for ages...there's a fair bit I've done but not documented. Car sees more motorway miles nowadays, since my occasional commute is 200mi each way.

Glad your e91 is being kept well

Each way!? Goodness, that's lovely and terrible all at once, haha. I need a T4 spring review at the very least... I may purchase those.

[Tambohamilton]

Yeah, I'll get to it...bear with me. About the T4 springs in particular; they're good I think. Bear in mind that my 330d front axle weight is similar to a 335i.

And yeah, each way. 400 round trip. I've been in the office about 10 days since I started in November last year. It's a silly distance, but jobs like this don't come up often!

[M3_Legend]

Great stuff, love E91 wagons

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Yeah, I'll get to it...bear with me. About the T4 springs in particular; they're good I think. Bear in mind that my 330d front axle weight is similar to a 335i.

And yeah, each way. 400 round trip. I've been in the office about 10 days since I started in November last year. It's a silly distance, but jobs like this don't come up often!

Well, if it's worth it, it's worth it. Happy for you.

[Ughandi]

Can I put defibrillators on this thread and ask about rivet nut installation for that m3 plate?

I was under the car installing an m3 sway, and decided to test fit the rivet nut. It slipped right into the frame, but there's nothing to catch it and hold it in place.

Are the rivet nuts squashed in place after torqueing them down? If so, what's the spec?

[Tambohamilton]

Rivet nuts work a bit like blind rivets; you insert it into the hole, swage it with a special gun, then it's good to take load... Or you can use a nut, bolt and washer (and grease) to swage it instead.

[tlow98]

167k mile check in with repairs. The wagon started missing coolant.

- radiator. Went with BMW genuine one. Was leaking at the top neck
- upper hose - febi
- lower hose - febi
- new expansion tank and cap - febi.

Surprise find! A rat that must have died long ago. Creeped me out.

The e91 soldiers on!

Next up - 2nd round of the tensioners and belts and an oil change at 170k.

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[rothwem]

Eesh! That rat is gross.

I have a similar issue with randomly missing coolant, but I can't seem to find where its leaking from. No drips, no wet spots, nothing, but its happened twice in the past year where I've started the car up and its told me that its low on coolant. Sure enough, the coolant is low. I top it up and then forget about it for another 6 months.

I replaced my radiator in 2020, I wonder if its time to go bananas on the cooling system again and replace everything proactively.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by rothwem

Eesh! That rat is gross.

I have a similar issue with randomly missing coolant, but I can't seem to find where its leaking from. No drips, no wet spots, nothing, but its happened twice in the past year where I've started the car up and its told me that its low on coolant. Sure enough, the coolant is low. I top it up and then forget about it for another 6 months.

I replaced my radiator in 2020, I wonder if its time to go bananas on the cooling system again and replace everything proactively.

This sounds like our n55. It had a leak that required coolant every ~2 years. I eventually found that the trans cooler hose had the tiniest of leaks and the bottom of the radiator had an astonishingly small pinhole in the aluminum. They were so small that the evaporated off coolant had formed stalactites is the area. From what I know/saw there was never an actual drip in the ground.

I’m assuming you have a leak somewhere, it’s just very small and hidden.

How much mileage/time do you have on your water pump and thermo? Might use that as an excuse to get in there.

Also, removing the air intake top coolant hose and fan will get you a ton of space to look around before you go ordering parts. That’s what I did with our n55 to help avoid guess work.

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by tlow98

This sounds like our n55. It had a leak that required coolant every ~2 years. I eventually found that the trans cooler hose had the tiniest of leaks and the bottom of the radiator had an astonishingly small pinhole in the aluminum. They were so small that the evaporated off coolant had formed stalactites is the area. From what I know/saw there was never an actual drip in the ground.

I’m assuming you have a leak somewhere, it’s just very small and hidden.

How much mileage/time do you have on your water pump and thermo? Might use that as an excuse to get in there.

Also, removing the air intake top coolant hose and fan will get you a ton of space to look around before you go ordering parts. That’s what I did with our n55 to help avoid guess work.

Only 41k miles on the water pump/thermostat. The PPI I got showed a water pump code when I was looking into buying the car, so I replaced it almost immediately after purchase in 2019. During the water pump replacement I managed to crack that upper pipe neck on the radiator but didn't realize it for almost a year and finally replaced it in 2020. I drive very few miles in this car since I only live 3.5 miles from work.

I'm buying a cheap EV soon for a commuter, at that point I can take my E91 apart and do a deep dive. Good tip on the transmission cooler though, I hadn't thought about that. The other place I was concerned about is I bent some fins on the radiator when I installed it, I'm wondering if I've got a pinhole leak there somewhere.

I'm obviously an excellent mechanic as you can tell

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by rothwem

Only 41k miles on the water pump/thermostat. The PPI I got showed a water pump code when I was looking into buying the car, so I replaced it almost immediately after purchase in 2019. During the water pump replacement I managed to crack that upper pipe neck on the radiator but didn't realize it for almost a year and finally replaced it in 2020. I drive very few miles in this car since I only live 3.5 miles from work.

I'm buying a cheap EV soon for a commuter, at that point I can take my E91 apart and do a deep dive. Good tip on the transmission cooler though, I hadn't thought about that. The other place I was concerned about is I bent some fins on the radiator when I installed it, I'm wondering if I've got a pinhole leak there somewhere.

I'm obviously an excellent mechanic as you can tell

Man, I know the feeling. These radiators are old and brittle… it doesn’t take much.

I also bought a cheap EV commuter. And, wow, the 2019 Nissan Leaf is the best ‘turd’ I’ve ever owned. The suspension bobs and heaves comically when pushed and it feels like the wheels at every corner are pointed in different direction. However, traveling around for pennys on the dollar with no maintenance and no gas stations is friggin lovely!

Great car if you can find a good one. Highly recommend!

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Man, I know the feeling. These radiators are old and brittle… it doesn’t take much.

I also bought a cheap EV commuter. And, wow, the 2019 Nissan Leaf is the best ‘turd’ I’ve ever owned. The suspension bobs and heaves comically when pushed and it feels like the wheels at every corner are pointed in different direction. However, traveling around for pennys on the dollar with no maintenance and no gas stations is friggin lovely!

Great car if you can find a good one. Highly recommend!

Ah, nice. I just got a Chevy Bolt. It handles surprisingly well but the wheel bearings and steering rack are fucked. While the wheel bearings look easy to do, the steering rack looks like a giant pain the dick to swap so that means more time before I can get to the BMW.

[RealJ22]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Man, I know the feeling. These radiators are old and brittle… it doesn’t take much.

I also bought a cheap EV commuter. And, wow, the 2019 Nissan Leaf is the best ‘turd’ I’ve ever owned. The suspension bobs and heaves comically when pushed and it feels like the wheels at every corner are pointed in different direction. However, traveling around for pennys on the dollar with no maintenance and no gas stations is friggin lovely!

Great car if you can find a good one. Highly recommend!

I put over 200k on a CT200h (Fancy prius) and I will never own a slow hybrid or a hybrid in general again. They are literally throw away cars. I even worked for Toyota for a few years.

EV I'm open to. I would drive a Tesla, especially for the price. I have too many vehicles and would not want a payment. If I absolutely needed something like that, under 30k with a warranty would be my top choice.

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

I put over 200k on a CT200h (Fancy prius) and I will never own a slow hybrid or a hybrid in general again. They are literally throw away cars. I even worked for Toyota for a few years.

EV I'm open to. I would drive a Tesla, especially for the price. I have too many vehicles and would not want a payment. If I absolutely needed something like that, under 30k with a warranty would be my top choice.

My wife drives a Highlander Hybrid, its astoundingly good. Its slow and handles like the Titanic, but it rides great, gets great mileage, has comfy seats, is quiet inside, etc, etc. I wouldn't want it to be my only car, but it does its job of transporting my wife to work and our family to vacation extremely well.

The goal of the Bolt and tlow98's Leaf is to get our respective carcasses to work for a cheaply as possible and also provide an alternate transportation mode for when the BMW is inop. I do kinda wonder if a second gen Prius would've been a better choice though, cheaper buy in than the Bolt but with potential old car problems.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by rothwem

My wife drives a Highlander Hybrid, its astoundingly good. Its slow and handles like the Titanic, but it rides great, gets great mileage, has comfy seats, is quiet inside, etc, etc. I wouldn't want it to be my only car, but it does its job of transporting my wife to work and our family to vacation extremely well.

The goal of the Bolt and tlow98's Leaf is to get our respective carcasses to work for a cheaply as possible and also provide an alternate transportation mode for when the BMW is inop. I do kinda wonder if a second gen Prius would've been a better choice though, cheaper buy in than the Bolt but with potential old car problems.

Bingo. I paid $8,500 for a 2019 with 33k miles on it. The battery checked out, so who cares. That's right around the average lease payment in the USA for one year... and yet I own it.

Crazy reasonable for a car that does 80% of the "hard" miles. It does 0-40mph in ~3 seconds. Could not be happier.

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Bingo. I paid $8,500 for a 2019 with 33k miles on it. The battery checked out, so who cares. That's right around the average lease payment in the USA for one year... and yet I own it.

Crazy reasonable for a car that does 80% of the "hard" miles. It does 0-40mph in ~3 seconds. Could not be happier.

Jeez that's a slammin deal, I'dve gone Leaf if I could've found something like that. I paid 14k for a 2023 Bolt with 66k miles on it, I thought I got a good deal. I'm unfortunately not eligible for the tax rebate either.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by rothwem

Jeez that's a slammin deal, I'dve gone Leaf if I could've found something like that. I paid 14k for a 2023 Bolt with 66k miles on it, I thought I got a good deal. I'm unfortunately not eligible for the tax rebate either.

Yeah, the Bolt is 4 years newer with much longer range and much better handling... tradeoffs. Also, the Leaf was owned by a young family, and they managed to put a ding or scrape on every panel. Nothing that jumps out, but I felt good buying it bc we also have young kids. I don't want to care about it too much. Bolt was my other option - but with this deal, I couldn't look away.

[tlow98]

Ok, 170k mile update.
- Oil Change
- New pulleys and belt
- New headlights. Went with TYC brand. They seem to be pretty high quality. I snagged them on eBay for $250 for the set. I was tired of polishing the old ones only to get mediocre results. Took about 2 hours to swap them and have it all buttoned up. Not a hard job - I followed the Pelican Parts instructions. They were spot on.
- Techron Fuel system cleaner

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[tlow98]

Missed this pic.

Belts and pulleys were the usual Continental and INA suspects, respectively.

Air filter, as well. Was pretty clean for 40k miles.

Wish I would have bought an alternator voltage regulator… maybe next time. Will need a trans coolant drain/fill by then as well.

That cable tray looks so sad. Hmmmm, don’t really feel like buying parts for that…

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[tlow98]

Next up:
- wiper blades all around
- trans fluid
- diff fluid
- maybe spark plugs/coils