HMC WBOD news

[HMC]

Back to the e39, as the car warmed up the car began to lose torque below 3000 and really over the whole rev range. Worse (dangerously so) Lower down. So a bit of internet trawling, parts darts and guessing landed on the the camshaft position sensors.

I fitted the exhaust cam sensor first (cheaper, easier job) No dice. Flat as a pancake when warm. Then the inlet cam sensor (not as cheap, more disassembly required) bingo! Car warms up and the torque is still there. 

[J-T]

On 8/18/2019 at 6:42 PM, LightBulbFun said:

Page 62 of my Invacar thread  

for those interested in such reg in info out sites I recommend keeping on top of my thread, Im always digging up such sites as I use the information they provide to further my Invacar research  

How do you get it to show the old plates? I can only see previous MOTs etc?

[Flat4]

17 hours ago, HMC said:

Back to the e39, as the car warmed up the car began to lose torque below 3000 and really over the whole rev range. Worse (dangerously so) Lower down. So a bit of internet trawling, parts darts and guessing landed on the the camshaft position sensors.

I fitted the exhaust cam sensor first (cheaper, easier job) No dice. Flat as a pancake when warm. Then the inlet cam sensor (not as cheap, more disassembly required) bingo! Car warms up and the torque is still there. 

 

How much did the bits cost you if you don't mind me asking?

[HMC]

I think the exhaust cam sensor was 27 quid and the inlet cam sensor 40 from memory. I went for febi as other cheaper  aftermarket brands can play up after a short while apparently.

[Schaefft]

Sensors are one of the things I'll always go OEM with (not directly from the stealer obviously) when possible. Heard plenty of stories where new out of the box parts wouldn't function properly after a short while. Considering most of them are usually a complete pita to access, I rather pay more to make sure they last as long as the original ones.

[HMC]

Having a bit of a mare with this (writes HMC of his banger e39) When bought there was almost nill coolant in the expansion tank. Topped it up. Possibly overly and it shat some out. Bad HGF vibes! However since I’ve bled it according to the internet and all seems well. Watch this space? Any advice or experience appreciated!

Also- Heater was stuck on full and I hopefully bashed the  underbonnet heater valves with a small hammer and fixed it. It’s 5 year lay up seemed to have seized them up. I keep on cycling from hot to cold to give them a work out and annoy passengers. The rear view mirror has just fallen off and is hanging by an electrical connector. This e39 just feels awfully flakey. Dare I risk a 650mile round trip to Leeds at the weekend?

Not convinced. From where I’m sitting, cider in hand, it feels more a job for the 940.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Mmm cider.

[Jamie]

42 minutes ago, HMC said:

Having a bit of a mare with this (writes HMC of his banger e39) When bought there was almost nill coolant in the expansion tank. Topped it up. Possibly overly and it shat some out. Bad HGF vibes! However since I’ve bled it according to the internet and all seems well. Watch this space? Any advice or experience appreciated!

Also- Heater was stuck on full and I hopefully bashed the  underbonnet heater valves with a small hammer and fixed it. It’s 5 year lay up seemed to have seized them up. I keep on cycling from hot to cold to give them a work out and annoy passengers. The rear view mirror has just fallen off and is hanging by an electrical connector. This e39 just feels awfully flakey. Dare I risk a 650mile round trip to Leeds at the weekend?

Not convinced. From where I’m sitting, cider in hand, it feels more a job for the 940.

hi HMC, 

 

Ive probably owned about 45 M52/M54 engined BMW's now and they are notoroious for eating their own cooling systems. The expansion tanks usuall crack under pressure (a very thin hairline crack at the rear, only noticable when warm & Running) and the coolant o rings/hoses leak, its 99% not the HG. Get it pressure tested - my latest M54 engined car the O ring was leaking on the thermostat housing causing it to piss out under pressure . 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

59 minutes ago, jamiechod said:

hi HMC, 

 

Ive probably owned about 45 M52/M54 engined BMW's now and they are notoroious for eating their own cooling systems. The expansion tanks usuall crack under pressure (a very thin hairline crack at the rear, only noticable when warm & Running) and the coolant o rings/hoses leak, its 99% not the HG. Get it pressure tested - my latest M54 engined car the O ring was leaking on the thermostat housing causing it to piss out under pressure . 

Just had to fit a new header tank to my Z4 as it split in exactly the same place as you described. Ended up buying a Mahle OEM one as I didn't want any knockoff shite being the reason why my engine could end up lunched.  Utter bitch of a job to remove the old plastic connections with their bloody o rings and circlips. 

[Flat4]

5 hours ago, HMC said:

I think the exhaust cam sensor was 27 quid and the inlet cam sensor 40 from memory. I went for febi as other cheaper  aftermarket brands can play up after a short while apparently.

Not as expensive as I was expecting!

[RoadworkUK]

My dad's E39 540i header tank split in twain fairly spectacularly on the A12. The cloud of steam that erupted made the whole of Colchester fear that global warming had suddenly arrived to consume them.

[Jamie]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Just had to fit a new header tank to my Z4 as it split in exactly the same place as you described. Ended up buying a Mahle OEM one as I didn't want any knockoff shite being the reason why my engine could end up lunched.  Utter bitch of a job to remove the old plastic connections with their bloody o rings and circlips. 

Good shout on the mahle one! And i feel your pain, they dont give you much confidence when pulling and yanking upwards! 

[Schaefft]

My coolant reservoir/tank in my '96 528i was regularly almost empty before I replaced my thermostat housing. I only managed to figure out where the leak was when it really started to piss out of there. Was only a poorly installed gasket (as everything POs did on the car) so no spectacular cooling system failures or anything. But if it tells you anything, running these cars low on coolant really didnt seem to matter at all in my case.

[Rod/b]

On 8/18/2019 at 9:05 PM, HMC said:

Spent an age cleaning the 940 today - on and off over 4 hours. No snow foam was used (what is that?) in fact I spent all my time on the interior. To be fair to the vendor they said it was filthy inside...... 

They had dogs and it’s fair to say it was probably never vacuumed whilst they had it. Hence 4 hours on and off was spent removing dog hair from every possible nook and cranny. Stickers need not state the outdoorsy credentials- there was plenty of the outdoors smeared on the carpets.

End result Quite demoralising as it looks tidy but not 4 hours worth of tidy; it looks no different on the outside. Probably the dirtiest interior of any car I’ve bought. Why no before pics? I’m embarrassed to admit I drove it around for a week in that state so avoided taking the pics. Reading this back I sound like a clean freak; not in the slightest it was just grim.

I had an Audi Coupe that had once belonged to a bloke who did dog sitting / boarding. The interior on that was so bad i stripped it out and replaced it with one from a spare car - there was just no amount of cleaning that would get rid of the smell. 

[HMC]

The stance that says boot full of crap..... or that  the air struts on this particular banger e39 are a bit leaky overnight

[Flat4]

Looks familiar!

[Marm Toastsmith]

1 hour ago, 83C said:

I do like that Volvo. .

Yeah me too...

only time i’ve briefly driven them 240s and 740s i’ve found them a bit boring though.  Do they grow on you?

[HMC]

The set of plates for the old number it’s gone onto arrived today. I used fancyplates where I selected a pre 2001 font variation  (note the curly “3”) and an oversized rear plate as the chunky recess was begging for it. I also went through the history and found the supplying dealer was lex in Birmingham.....

[Split_Pin]

I nearly went for that font for my Audi plate but opted for the standard style instead. Fancyplates made a good job of it.

[HMC]

I had the feeling I’d finally cracked de niggling the e39. There was still an issue with a breather on the fuel tank leaking or something  connected to the equalliser tank pump in the horseshoe shaped tank. Also there was still intermittent power loss and what seemed to be coolant loss even after properly bleeding the system.

Heavy traffic, battery light on and pas down. Nowhere to pull in. Shit. Limped it what felt like ages up a long long hill temp climbing. Must have thrown the aux belt, stopped in an unsafe place, limped it a bit further, another hill (because Devon) boom! Huge blue smoke, awful noises and finally a hell of a lot of steam.  

One dead e39. HGF/ other related mechanical carnage. Perhaps the headgasket was on its way out (see earlier) and this had pushed It over the edge.

Its been fighting me with various niggles and this was the last, non viable straw. I made the call and it went to the bridge.

To end on a more positive note: shiter relay later where the MG van is collected from me and I acquire a new member of the fleet, something that’s been advertised on here.....

[gadgetgricey]

Talk about one out, one in

Now off to have a look at the cars advertised recently, to see if I can guess.

[gadgetgricey]

ok i guess 8. 

[Marm Toastsmith]

BMWs do seem to get to that point...of no return...for numerous small things...well done for trying to fix it and also for finishing it off properly!

look forward to seeing what comes next, and possibly dibs on the ovlov if the new one turns out to be a sort of keeper

[HMC]

I met wuvvum off the coach at Plymouth in TEH Volvo and we made our way to the mg van....

 

Kindly Wuvvum had offered to drop me off on his route north to collect a car. Thanks again, it got a bit like a night stage as the light went and we were sent down little country lanes by the sat nav.  wuvvum skillfully despatching all that was thrown at him by the nav.

And on to collect a certain POLO open air from Simon numbers. Was great to meet you; had a great run back in the little VW.

Money shot Devon country garage style...

.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Eh nice! I was sooo tempted by that little polo. Glad it’s stayed in devon!

[gadgetgricey]

8 hours ago, gadgetgricey said:

ok i guess 8. 

Well I was totally wrong. Thought the BMW 323 was heading your way (3+2+3=8)

Polo looks great by the way. If it had been an Auto I probably would have had it when first advertised.

Cheers

[HMC]

Polo- the mint with the hole.....

 

[gadgetgricey]

What's the heater like? The 1.4 Auto we had of that shape a few years ago, had a heater that could melt your face off. Loved that car.

[HMC]

Picked up this end of lifer crate today. Drives ok, no rust as far as I can tell; well done GM excelling where others fail(looking at you Mercedes). Alas they did fail to inject it with much character.

It’s got faded headlamp lenses, peeling soft touch button surrounds, and dropped onto 3 cylinders and threw an EML when hot. End of life vehicle full house. Coil pack? Cheap OBD interrogation awaits. It’s shite 2019 style white goods; it feels like I’ve contracted a transmissible disease. Competent but worthless; and it’s got a shiter’s name all over it.

[HMC]

Also- it’s an LS But has cruise, A/c and a self dipping rear view mirror, whatever next?