Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Fleet Update

[wesacosa]

12 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Thanks for the excellent info, I think I will need all the help from people on here that I can get with this one. Will definitely consider joining the forum as well! But indeed, so far I'm not interpreting this as a problem, any clue if it could have an effect on ride quality?

I don't think so, its just how long it keeps the pressure in the rear suspension and brake circuit from what I can tell (via what's known as the anti sink sphere).

With the engine running push down on each corner it should move under light pressure, if it doesnt the spheres are probably flat.  The suspension and steering quality will also be massively effected by LHM cleanliness so if it hasn't had one for a while plan for a filter clean and LHM change. 

[wesacosa]

Page 6 (13th December 2021 post) you can see some before and after sphere change suspension bounce videos of Mine 

 

[Schaefft]

A few updates from the last few days. My parents are currently visiting the UK for the first time in 10 years so I took them to Cragside (very expensive but definitely worth visiting) in the E38 yesterday. The car drives brilliantly but you can really tell that the 728i's i6 is struggling a little to get up to speed with 4 adults in the car. I already have everything needed to do a vanos rebuild, hopefully that'll help a little. I couldn't pass on the oportunity to do a few quick photos with an appropriate backdrop though!

On the other end of the easy-to-own spectrum, I visited the local BMW specialist today to figure out what the cause for both the airbag module deactivation and parking brake error could be. It seemed like we figured things out for the former after 2 hours, looked like there was no voltage for at power supply of the module while there was at the fuse box (indicating a broken wire). I checked the voltage at home again, unfortunately everything seems perfectly fine and the module does get power. He was stumped that there wouldn't be any sign of the module whatsoever, not something he seems to be seeing very often. The spare module didn't make any difference either.

Not exactly what I had hoped as this is really limiting my options now. I'm actually getting an entire parts donor delivered tomorrow (facelift 750i) which I originally bought for the headliner and other random bits I'll likely need. I might try and replace the master airbag module to erase any indication that the satellite was ever disconnected. If this doesn't work I can only try the BMW dealer or another specialist, none of which will be cheap or be any guarantee for success either.

The parking brake error was narrowed down to another broken communication wire. Since a yellow parking brake light is not an MOT fail I'll probably just ignore it for now. On the plus side I fixed the exhaust leak today, it was really just the copper nuts that had rotten away, oddly enough the internal thread was a different material and coil spring shaped, nothing I have seen before.

Little more to report for now. I'll probably order an o-ring to sort a powersteering fluid leak, aside from that there's little else I can do to make progress on this car for now.

[Schaefft]

The car buying frenzy continues with this facelifted E65, a 750i. I've bought it cheap enough to take the interior and a few bits and scrap the rest without losing money. It does however take up valuable driveway space so it will need to be gone again in the next 10 days. The local BMW specialist did show some interest in it so lets see how long it'll be here.

The Corona EXiV received some attention as well today. I was finally able to find a person capable enough to take my money and sell me a battery hold-down (only took about 2 years of dealing with idiots on FB marketplace). Since the Corona is based on the St180 Celica the engine bay is pretty much identical which makes this a perfect fit. I also bought a wing mirror bracket (triangle bit the mirror bolts onto) which is one part with the seal around it. It's a different part number and is probably not going to fit but its worth a try.

[cort16]

Hopefully the new module works. I hope you didn't help the specialist too much he may think you're the e65 whisperer and call you in everytime he gets one in. 

[Schaefft]

4 hours ago, cort16 said:

Hopefully the new module works. I hope you didn't help the specialist too much he may think you're the e65 whisperer and call you in everytime he gets one in. 

He only asked me for translations as it's convenient to have someone around who speaks German 😂 He really does know his stuff though, he's been BMW master tech for years and had his shop for even longer. I remember having my E39 handbrake sorted at his old garage 8 or 9 years ago, he already dealt with broken E65s back then. There's a first time for everything though, I'd just expect that deactivated airbag modules because of unplugging would be a more common issue. The Internet says not tho!

[Schaefft]

Well, I finally managed to diagnose the airbag issue of the E65. Turns out the fiber optics cable for the satellite is raptured in one way or another, not letting any light through at all (no clue how that can be, theres no damage on the insulation either). Since thats fundamentally required to communicate with the module it only makes sense its not being recognized, despite having power.

The parking brake is still causing issues, now not holding at all on the driver side after "testing" it with the transmission in drive, hopefully something that can be resolved relatively easily. 

Unfortunately the alternator appears to have just shat itself, making the occasional grinding noise and and putting out 12.3V at higher rpms. Naturally its a watercooled alternator, hopefully its not a total pita to replace though. Since I wont be around from Saturday next week I probably wont be getting this back on the road before mid/end of October now. There's also a strange hot starting issue that's throwing no codes at all. E65 ownership in a nutshell...

[Schaefft]

Success! After faffing around with the airbag satellite for weeks the airbag light is finally gone. The fiber optics cable arrived at the dealer today. I had a chance after work to temporarily replace the line between SIM (SRS module) and SSH (rear seat airbag satellite) and communication was restored. Since I replaced the back seat cushion with a tidier one out of the 750i there seems to be a communication issue with the seat occupancy mats (mats/wiring might be slightly different), however it only took 2 minutes to code those out (rear side airbags will still deploy).

This is another huge step closer to getting the car through an MOT. Since I'm planning to replace most of the interior with that of the donor car anyway I'll lay the line properly later, until then this will need to do:

And for anyone out there still searching for a solution because of an airbag satellite module deactived fault code (get all the search tags in here), here are the part numbers. I didn't end up needing the pins as the cable came with them already installed:

Optical waveguide

7000MM

61120142318

	Optical waveguide, pin contact					61136901847			(ENDED)
	Optical waveguide, pin contact					61136905233

This issue could have been sorted for 17 quid (price of the cable) btw. It only took about 150 quid worth of unnecessary parts and diagnostics time to get there. Thank god I didn't end up going to the dealer to get this diagnosed though. Parking brake and alternator will be next, however after I'm back from Germany.

[Schaefft]

I'm back home in Germany at the moment enjoying the remainders of summer with my better half for a little. Since I wouldn't be enjoying getting around by public transport (and don't feel like spending hundreds on a rental) I did the only sensible thing again and bought a car (the ferry was full btw). That was also the reason I couldn't jump on the cheap W221 S320 posted in the low cost, big liability thread last week in the end.

The A6 Avant was a huge success last time, giving me trouble free motoring for over a year and thousands of miles and netting me a decent profit at the end of it all. The objective was the same again, only that this time I gravitated back to BMW once again, resulting in the acquisition of another iteration of God's intention for the perfect car, the E39. I still own my 528i saloon which I plan to get the sills sorted on eventually. This time I went for the Touring in 523i flavor, also with a manual. It's a mid-98 car so not silly Disa valves and other added complexity. A 2.8 would have been twice the price so I'll have to make due with 22hp less. You definitely do notice the different gear ratio on the Autobahn though where rpms would be lower in 5th in the 528i.

More details tomorrow, it needs some minor work and a really good clean inside but so far so good!

[JakeT]

Just been catching up on this, Herr Schaefft.

 

Agreed, Cragside is lovely. I think when we last visited in 2018 I was in my E46 328ci and my parents in their X5 3.0i. 
 

Great news on the E65. Water-cooled alternator is a foible of late E38/39s with the V8, too. I never did find out why a water cooled alternator is better. I am amazed at the fibre optics for the airbag modules too, I thought that they were for Audio stuff only.

 

E39 looks tasty. Hope it’s crazy German spec in some way, like memory seats and massage, but manual rear windows.

[loserone]

Will you flip it before you leave or bring it back?

[Schaefft]

8 hours ago, JakeT said:

Just been catching up on this, Herr Schaefft.

 

Agreed, Cragside is lovely. I think when we last visited in 2018 I was in my E46 328ci and my parents in their X5 3.0i. 
 

Great news on the E65. Water-cooled alternator is a foible of late E38/39s with the V8, too. I never did find out why a water cooled alternator is better. I am amazed at the fibre optics for the airbag modules too, I thought that they were for Audio stuff only.

 

E39 looks tasty. Hope it’s crazy German spec in some way, like memory seats and massage, but manual rear windows.

Someone actually ticked quite a few option boxes in this one. I think rear electric windows and climate control were standard at that point. They added heated electric memory comfort seats (split backrest), leather, rear PDC, cruise control and shadow line though, making this a fairly well equipped car for a relatively early German 523i. Most would have stopped at leather. I really wanted to try a Touring as I never even drove one iirc, the manual was a must and this one was somewhat local, came with decent history and many new parts plus 3 keys. That's usually unheard of, or I'm just not used to buying cars in Germany anymore. The jacking points are all solid, the fuel lines got replaced at some point with copper lines and it generally drives well. Aside from old tires and the rear brakes (which I got brand new in the box with the car) it doesn't seem to need much. It doesn't even have a single pixel missing on the dash or radio.

8 hours ago, loserone said:

Will you flip it before you leave or bring it back?

I'll probably keep it until after Christmas when I'm visiting again. I'd like to have a car around so I won't have to worry about transportation when I'm here flying over, ideally permanently. I can work from here so those visits are a little longer compared to the years before so that's my justification! I wouldn't have space for it in Newcastle, although my parents would probably appreciate it not taking up space around here either. Some might remember the German collection thread from right before the pandemic. That car is still here as well and needs a lot of TLC to even run again. I might also take the XM over for Christmas and fill the back with parts from the E65 I broke and sell them here as that alone would make a few hundred quid extra. It'll depend on a few things in the end.

[JakeT]

Sounds ideal, and a good spec indeed. Comfort seats are great and I find PDC a must on an estate. Hope it’s as good a buy as the Audi a while ago.

[Schaefft]

I've had a few days with the 523i Touring, enough time to get a few first impressions. Which are mostly positive!

The car actually drives perfectly fine, there are no unexpected noises or vibrations aside from the exhaust needing an exhaust clamp. The tires are from 2012 yet dont display any cracking. They would be the first thing to go should this turn out to be a keeper. It's also clearly losing a bit of coolant. I noticed it being low when I bought it and it continues to do so now. It received a new radiator and hoses before so I don't think it'll be those. I can't see any obvious leak (and theres fortunately no moisture in the oil), if I had a guess it'll be the thermostat housing gasket leaking when under pressure, it took quite a while for the same leak to become noticeable on the 528i, its just inpossible to see without taking the fan and fan cowl out.

It's lowered on H&R 30/30mm springs which give it a great stance, the 17 inch Style 49 alloys look great on it, too.

Theres also some unfortunate crispiness under the battery tray which will most likely need sorting for TUV. That's probably the biggest flaw of the car and something I can't fix myself (properly), I'll have to see if the car will earn its keep, if yes it'll get sorted.

As with most of the cars I buy its as filthy as they come. I'm not sure if the interior ever received a clean but its painfully obvious that this was no fucks given family transport and/or garbage hauler. It's probably not coming across in the photo but everything is covered in stains of unknown origin.

I've made a start removing all the trash and vacuuming the carpet and seats. I've also started cleaning the leather and plastics and its crazy how much shit is ending up in the towel. I'm hoping to be done with those tomorrow and will post some before and after photos. At least sitting inside the car after a proper clean already makes a huge difference. Shame I dont have my drill brush and wet vac for the carpets here, those would speed things up immensely once I start with the carpets... 

As always, the car came with some goodies as well. Aside from the new front wing (which was painted today) and rear brakes I got some jumper cables, zipties (always appreciated), a pillow which went straight into the bin, a few bulbs and and droplink of unknown use.

I also found 96 cent, what more could you wish for?

In other car news, I bought a new alternator for the 745i (almost 100 quid cheaper when bought on the autodoc app for some reason) and some essential accessories for the the XM:

More updates tomorrow hopefully.

[Schaefft]

Well, cleaning the car took a little longer than expected but Im pretty happy with the results. I can only recommend the plastic and leather cleaning products from Sonax, they might be a little pricier (especially in the UK) but excellent when you are looking for something removing even the worst deeply ingrained filth.

I borrowed a drill brush from my brother to get the carpets done today (waiting for my Amazon order to arrive) and that probably made the biggest difference.

Some before and afters:

I've also removed the baby on board sticker and the M-colors people just can't stop slapping on their kidney grilles.

I wanted to pick up my freshly painted front wing today which was included in the deal, that'll have to happen tomorrow now. Not much more I can do without new parts at this point, should this not turn out to be a total rustbucket underneath I'll probably get a new back window, facelift taillights and a few interior trim pieces when I'm back in Newcastle. Parts prices are close to nothing compared to in Germany so it'll be around Xmas when the work needed to make this a decent (looking) car again will be done. I might even give it a polish then if I can be bothered (unlikely).

[riek]

I do like style 49s on an earlier e39.

[yes oui si]

4 hours ago, riek said:

I do like style 49s on an earlier e39.

Dark paint, Style 49s and gingercators is my favourite oem e39 look. 

[Schaefft]

1 minute ago, yes oui si said:

Dark paint, Style 49s and gingercators is my favourite oem e39 look. 

It does feel inspired (by some press shot?), I'm contemplating whether celis taillights with white indicators would improve the look or not. I never really noticed the wheel style before but it's definitely a great choice here.

[Schaefft]

The E39 might be briefly in the evening news today as there was a crash on the way back from collecting my front wing.

The bmw driver told me he had a blowout with the cruise set to 200. Seems like everyone is mostly fine. I really only saw a cloud of dust from the distance.

[Schaefft]

After getting back about 2 hours later than planned I still had enough time to replace the front wing today. This is the worst area of the car cosmetically so replacing the wing does make a difference:

I expected the worst behind the wheel arch liner but things turned out to be rock solid, even where the dirt usually collects at the bottom (and where things look pretty rough on my 528i...). I used a wire brush to get rid of the worst rust and applied some rust converter (using paint brushes from my school time, I really need to get creative with a lack of tools around here). Since I need the car tomorrow at 7am I can't leave the wing off for things to dry and spray some primer so the arch liner will have to come off again.

Things generally look great down there, I don't understand how rust happened to develop right in that corner, on the outside.

Wing off, pretty easy aside from 2 rusty screws:

Wing back on. Paint match is pretty good, its a tad lighter but you wont be able to tell in these photos:

I've also used the trip today to check on the pre-covid Oldsmobile Aurora I bought back in January 2020. It'll finally make it way out of the seller's yard tomorrow. To the delight of my dad it'll stay at my parents house until I figure out whether its worth fixing up or selling/parting out.

I think the decision whether the wrap stays or not will be a pretty easy one looking at it now. I actually liked the color.

[Schaefft]

Well, today was the day the Aurora was supposed to get collected. Unfortunately the below happened 2 minutes from the collection point. The driver made a turn cross traffic and didn't see the Fiat. I was ahead and only heard the bang. Maybe the BMW is cursed or something. Bank holiday tomorrow so it'll probably have to happen when I'm back around Christmas.

[Schaefft]

Not much to report since getting back from Germany. The alternator for the E65 arrived, I've removed the viscous fan (first time ever without having to apply violence) and fan shroud to get some accessibility in front of the engine and ordered a new power steering hose which should be here next week, the old one has been leaking since I got the car and I might as well while in there.

The Q45 has switched places with the Cadillac as the latter needs a fresh MOT soon, so that was on the list for today.

It shouldn't really need much to get another pass, its barely done any miles in the year I've owned it. Taking it out for a longer drive confirmed that its still in surprisingly good shape after mostly standing, if you ignore the knackered battery anyway.

What it most definitely did need were new front swaybar links which I ordered last year and finally installed today. And oh boy what a shitfest that was again. Not only was it a bit of a pain to get the old ones out due to poor accessibility at the bottom nut, the new Moog drop links were of such a ridiculously dumb design that installing them took 4 times as long as it should have taken.

For some reason (most likely cost cutting) they arrived as a kit. I know that I ordered greasable ones as it would be a nice bonus being able to service them. I didn't expect having to assemble the damn thing myself though. The grease nipples are easy enough, self tapping so Moog saves a cent per unit not having to cut the thread themselves. The rubber boots however are just shoved onto the balljoint it seems, there is no ridge or instruction on how to tie them down at all. The grease is apparently just held in by the rubber pressing again the casing.

This basically means that this "new and improved" design goes all the way back to the 1950s where regularly greasing your chassis components was still seen as normal service, absolutely insane on a 1990s car and in a world where people can't even be bothered to wash their own car anymore. Please someone correct me and I'm just misunderstanding their intentions here.

To top it off there was no way to hold the shaft of the ball joint in place while tightening the nut. I've spent at least two hours in agony trying to torque the already piss poor-to-acess lower nut until I came to the conclusion that squaring off parts of the shaft to hold it in place with my vice grips was the only way forward. A decent brand would give you an area to insert a torx bit or slide a spanner over, not Moog those pricks. Got it all done in the end anyway:

People including myself have already observed a downward spiral of quality on Moog suspension parts (premature wear on my lower controlarms in the Lincoln), the experience I had installing these today was the last straw for me however, I will never buy any of their junk ever again. Especially now that I know Lemforder actually sells them as well. Cannot wait having to replace them again.

I also had a new airfilter for it so that went in as well.

The car will finally receive a proper wash and interior clean tomorrow. I'll order a new suspension height sensor as well. While it does ride pretty well its probably more wallowy than it should be at speed, the car complained about a faulty front right sensor since I got it. The tires are old as well, should the car decide to behave and I keep it long term maybe a set of whitewalls will be added to the list!

 

Oh, and then of course there's been the latest event happening this week...

[Schaefft]

A bit more cleaning done today. The hose of my Karcher decided it had enough of life and ruptured halfway through the engine bay clean. It's a shit design and this is the 2nd time it has happened now. That means the exterior will stay filthy for at least another week. Didn't have enough sunlight to clean the floor mats either but the carpet, plastics and leather are clean again.

Say what you want about engine covers but the 4.6 Northstar really looks better because of it.

Some interior cleaning, better before and afters another time:

If anyone is following The Detail Geek on YT, his complaints about shit quality carpets are real. Cadillac used the cheapest material they could possibly find in the trunk, its not even attached to the car in any way other than folding over all the shapes in there. Even with the drill brush I couldn't get some of the stains out. Still much better compared to before.

MOT hopefully happening next week, fingers crossed it'll behave and it'll be a straight forward pass this time.

[Schaefft]

Floormats back in the Cadillac, the carpet is clean yet still looks filthy, excellent material choice there. I'm actually starting to wonder whether these are original Cadillac floormats. They certainly are heavy but appear a little generic in shape (edit: they are oem).

Fun fact, the 1993-1996 Cadillac DeVille was the car (I assume 4-door sedan) with the biggest interior volume you could buy in America at the time, even roomier than the even bigger (also) fullsize Fleetwood, Panther cars, Caprice and Roadmaster. The FWD/transverse drivetrain layout of the platform really pays dividends there. The front bench seat definitely offers enough room for 3 average sized adults so I believe Cadillac's marketing claims. A proper 6-seater car to fit the whole family then!

I've also found this little leather sample in the trunk, love stuff like this and makes the car a little bit more special, at least to me. I got something similar with my 540i before, unobtanium if you want complete documentation for the car.

Some of the other junk found in the car, it clearly came with a fitting car cover before, probably long gone now.

MOT planned for Friday, wish me luck.

On the Mercedes SL front, I FINALLY received my steering angle sensor/clock spring yesterday, this time ordered from Latvia after the last one got lost in the mail. Lo and behold, the ESP light is gone!

Only for it to immediately come on again after driving a few meters, this time with this code!

It's like peeling layers of a shit onion. First it was the ESP module that was junk, fixing that revealed that the steering angle sensor was knackered, now I can see that the pre-charge pump is most likely seized after having stood for so long. Fortunately the fix for this might be straight forward (if it is that pump that is), applying 12V directly to the pump and beating the hell out of it usually seems to revive them. I'll see when I get the chance to try that.

The Alfa finally got a little attention again, I have to admit that its silly loud exhaust is a little embarassing, it urges you to go full throttle anywhere you go though (which is kinda a good thing in an Alfa right?). This time to the Metrocentre and Asda.

I've also bought some bits for the XM, thanks again to everyone helping in my Wanted thread, there were some great suggestions in there. Hopefully I can get it running again Friday night, it might have just ran out of petrol...

[Schaefft]

Taking the Cadillac to buy 34p fishcakes for dinner. Also bought a replacement ride height sensor, coming all the way from Japan where someone broke a mint condition Seville. Oddly enough this DeVille already has RHD market headlights, something that probably only existed in the Japanese market for these.

[Dabooka]

Ah Witton Gilbert.

Home of Prefab Sprout if I recall correctly?

[loserone]

Indeed, Paddy Macaloons dad owned a car dealer there.  I wonder if @Schaefft has plans to drive to Memphis 😂

[Schaefft]

21 minutes ago, Dabooka said:

Ah Witton Gilbert.

Home of Prefab Sprout if I recall correctly?

I had no idea!

14 minutes ago, loserone said:

Indeed, Paddy Macaloons dad owned a car dealer there.  I wonder if @Schaefft has plans to drive to Memphis 😂

As you know my girlfriend lives nearby so I drive through there all the time, first time I actually stopped at this Morrison's. Totally worth it, the fishcakes tasted at least as good as 90p ones.

[loserone]

4 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

lives nearby

 

[Schaefft]

2 minutes ago, loserone said:

 

Considering the car was sold new in Lexington there's a chance it might have gotten close to Memphis, it's clearly all starting to make sense now... I'm just surprised Langley Park was ever mentioned outside of Langley Park.