What did you do to your e36 today?

[LockDots]

Started to attempt to bring a euro wheel back to life.

[Twistytee]

What are you using on the wheel? I used the leatherique steering wheel kit and an airbrush on a 3 spoke wheel. Looked great for about a year but is starting to show wear again. I think recovering is the only long term solution.

[LockDots]

That's discouraging lol. Leatherique. I first hit it with a Mr clean magic eraser and then 400 grit. Going to do 800, 1000, 2000 and then spray it with dye and klear kote. Hoping the prep work helps it stay longer. Otherwise I'll sell it and get the later model 3 spoke (Z3 style).

[Twistytee]

Sorry. Didn't mean to bum you out. I followed the same prep work to a T. It looked great, especially spraying the dye which gave it a nice matte finish. The klear kote made it more glossy than I like, but definitely added some durability. Maybe I'm just too picky. But it's the first thing you stare at getting into the car and the dye is starting to wear at the thumb grips and top of the wheel again.

[MazerRackham]

Car nearly passed emissions today. After fixing the misfires the HC is nearly within a passing level. Only thing left is excessive CO emissions. I'm hoping its just spark plugs, FPR, or injectors.

[Themachine]

IMG_0118.jpgTime for some rust repair.

[notMpowered]

Installed eisenmann sport.
Oh.My.God.
Its everything I dreamed of. Stock volume idle to 2000RPMs. 120% of stock volume to 4000RPMs. 150% up to redline. Better sound throughout the rev range as well.
Please don't mind how dirty the bottom of my diffuser is. I just did a 2500 mile road trip, and missed it with the welcome home wash.
Untitled by Chris West, on Flickr

[MazerRackham]

I guess my stuck lifter is causing my car to misfire. Which is weird because it passed emissions with flying colors last year. I guess the gunk in the lifter has become too much. Purchasing 2 new hydraulic lifters tonight. I hope this fixes it. Not to mention that fucking god damn lifter tick will finally be gone. Thank god. Might be worth refurbishing the lifter after replacement and trying to sell it to recuperate costs? Any takers? lol

[LockDots]

Replace them all

[MazerRackham]

Replace them all

I have read that only replacing a few hydraulic lifters can potentially ruin the cams, is that true? Anyway I do have the funds to replace all the hydraulic lifters but is there anything fundamentally wrong with only replacing the affected lifters? I'd like to save that money for any unforseen problems I may have in the future seeing as the car has been off the road for nearly a year now and I've been coming into more and more problems that didn't exist when I purchased the vehicle - such as the broken drivers side handle. There are some aesthetic things about the car that are driving me insane that I'd like to fix such as the bumper hanger on the left side having been ripped off. Side skirts that need to be replaced. Front seats look like dog shit.

Transmission is leaking fluid. I didn't see any fluid leaking from anywhere other than the drain nut. Luckily it is a very very small leak. Is that a common problem? It looks like the fluid was changed without using a crush washer. If that isn't it then it must be the input shaft seal -- correct?

[LockDots]

If you have a stuck lifter now it's only a matter of time before another starts ticking. I say replace them all because to have to pull everything apart again to replace another small cost part seems kind of foolish when they could have been all done the first time, preventing it from happening again.

[MazerRackham]

If you have a stuck lifter now it's only a matter of time before another starts ticking. I say replace them all because to have to pull everything apart again to replace another small cost part seems kind of foolish when they could have been all done the first time, preventing it from happening again.

While I agree, it only takes me an afternoon to do that job, and honestly working on cars is my happy place no matter how much knuckle busting. I don't really mind having to take it apart again. Especially since I don't have to pull the whole head off. Tomorrow I'll be running some seafoam through the oil as a last effort to free it up before I take the job on. When I first purchased the car I performed an auto-rx treatment which I'm guessing freed up the sludge which is now clogging this lifter.

If I was a rich man I'd buy a spare engine to build for turbo on a stand, alas I am but a chimney sweep.

[Gordo0208]

I have read that only replacing a few hydraulic lifters can potentially ruin the cams, is that true? Anyway I do have the funds to replace all the hydraulic lifters but is there anything fundamentally wrong with only replacing the affected lifters? I'd like to save that money for any unforseen problems I may have in the future seeing as the car has been off the road for nearly a year now and I've been coming into more and more problems that didn't exist when I purchased the vehicle - such as the broken drivers side handle. There are some aesthetic things about the car that are driving me insane that I'd like to fix such as the bumper hanger on the left side having been ripped off. Side skirts that need to be replaced. Front seats look like dog shit.

Transmission is leaking fluid. I didn't see any fluid leaking from anywhere other than the drain nut. Luckily it is a very very small leak. Is that a common problem? It looks like the fluid was changed without using a crush washer. If that isn't it then it must be the input shaft seal -- correct?

With all due respect it seems pretty ass backwards to focus on something aesthetic as opposed to ensuring the vehicle's mechanically sound. You know, the kind of stuff that can leave an aesthetically pleasing vehicle on the side of the road.
Though not difficult, who wants to remove timing chains back to back to back?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MazerRackham]

With all due respect it seems pretty ass backwards to focus on something aesthetic as opposed to ensuring the vehicle's mechanically sound. You know, the kind of stuff that can leave an aesthetically pleasing vehicle on the side of the road.
Though not difficult, who wants to remove timing chains back to back to back?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I appreciate you chiming in, so I'll explain. My thought process is that many people who own vehicles replace parts needlessly as a means of "preventative maintenance." I'm not trying to discredit it. In fact, I am all for it. But obviously its not the most economical choice. I've spent a great deal of time researching how the lifters in this car fail and how to remedy the issue. The lifter collapsing is often able to be remedied by disassembling them, soaking them in a solvent and cleaning them to remove the varnish, grit, and grime. The new lifters are probably not even needed as a truly failed lifter is pretty uncommon. I agree with all of your advice I am trying to make my dollars stretch with my vehicle and to me having the money not just to fix aesthetics, but also things like the door handle, and transmission leak, and other unforeseen problems goes farther in my opinion to making the car mechanically sound than replacing all of the lifters.

I guess one thing that I forgot and will force me to replace some of the lifters is the wear on the head of the lifters itself from the valve. Fuck it. It'll be a long afternoon.

[Gordo0208]

I appreciate you chiming in, so I'll explain. My thought process is that many people who own vehicles replace parts needlessly as a means of "preventative maintenance." I'm not trying to discredit it. In fact, I am all for it. But obviously its not the most economical choice. I've spent a great deal of time researching how the lifters in this car fail and how to remedy the issue. The lifter collapsing is often able to be remedied by disassembling them, soaking them in a solvent and cleaning them to remove the varnish, grit, and grime. The new lifters are probably not even needed as a truly failed lifter is pretty uncommon. I agree with all of your advice I am trying to make my dollars stretch with my vehicle and to me having the money not just to fix aesthetics, but also things like the door handle, and transmission leak, and other unforeseen problems goes farther in my opinion to making the car mechanically sound than replacing all of the lifters.

I guess one thing that I forgot and will force me to replace some of the lifters is the wear on the head of the lifters itself from the valve. Fuck it. It'll be a long afternoon.

Cleaning them absolutely works, I've done this myself, a little time consuming but it definitely works. I didn't suggest it because most people don't like to spend that amount of time doing it.
I'm one of those people who replaces as preventative maintenance, I'm not a fan of surprises. I also like to drive my M3 as much as possible and rev it out to redline, pretty much why I like to stay ahead of things maintenance wise.
If you're into rebuilding things then I'd say your mentality should help you stretch those dollars out.
I'm only suggesting prioritizing the mechanical parts first (notice I didn't say REPLACE in my last post lol), doesn't matter whether it's spending money on replacement parts or spending time fixing them.
Staring at your new side skirts will only keep you happy for so long as opposed to... hearing the revs climb and the exhaust note change =D


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LockDots]

Got rid of my lifter tick.

[zohaibrose]

Installed eisenmann sport.
Oh.My.God.
Its everything I dreamed of. Stock volume idle to 2000RPMs. 120% of stock volume to 4000RPMs. 150% up to redline. Better sound throughout the rev range as well.
Please don't mind how dirty the bottom of my diffuser is. I just did a 2500 mile road trip, and missed it with the welcome home wash.
Untitled by Chris West, on Flickr

when installing a peformance exhaust like that dont you loose torque and reprogramming of the ecu is required?

[Eric93se]

I was looking into that Liqui moly with the molybdenum disulfide, but then I saw that it's not full synthetic. Personally I would use a full synthetic and then use their moly additive.

RAzerMacham, If I were you I would definitely rebuild all the lifters (return or sell the news ones), it's only a little time consuming. You can get a cheap ultrasonic cleaner off ebay for ~$30, just make sure it's 110V and has a minute timer instead of seconds.


Today I fixed two door issues. The key would not work at all in the drivers door, this is due to the little metal arm that connects the lock cylinder to the door latch mechanism, there is a small bushing that breaks fortunately I had a new one. The other problem to fix while I was in there, a few weeks ago I put a replacement window motor and greased the transmission in the gearbox and didn't get grease all the way around so when the motor ran I could hear it slow down and speed up rhythmically and I didn't like that. So I disassembled the gear box, cleaned it out and re-greased it properly.

[Silenced]

With summer winding down that means less driving with the windows down, but my door seals were shot so I had constant wind noise regardless. Finally tackled that today & replaced all 6 door seals & 4 vapor barriers today, holy what an amazing difference it all made!

[MazerRackham]

My car has been stalling randomly lately. I feel as though I had misattributed it to the intake lifters. The CEL came back on today, and it was for the Cam Position Sensor on the intake cam. Naturally, I am going to refurbish all of my lifters anyway because fuck that god damn ticking noise, but also could the faulty sensor have led to my failed emissions test? I am certain my lack of power after 4K RPM is due to the faulty sensor but I'm wondering if it also led to decreased combustion performance and my failed test.

[Gordo0208]

My car has been stalling randomly lately. I feel as though I had misattributed it to the intake lifters. The CEL came back on today, and it was for the Cam Position Sensor on the intake cam. Naturally, I am going to refurbish all of my lifters anyway because fuck that god damn ticking noise, but also could the faulty sensor have led to my failed emissions test? I am certain my lack of power after 4K RPM is due to the faulty sensor but I'm wondering if it also led to decreased combustion performance and my failed test.

Faulty sensor could lead to your failed emissions test. It’s definitely a cause for loss of power as well. The sensor determines the camshaft location during engine operation, the DME needs this to calculate appropriate ignition timing and fuel injection timing.
Depending on the fault it could actually be a faulty sensor or incorrect timing. Wouldn’t surprise me if VANOS isn’t engaging because of this fault.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jmo69]

I have read that only replacing a few hydraulic lifters can potentially ruin the cams, is that true? Anyway I do have the funds to replace all the hydraulic lifters but is there anything fundamentally wrong with only replacing the affected lifters? I'd like to save that money for any unforseen problems I may have in the future seeing as the car has been off the road for nearly a year now and I've been coming into more and more problems that didn't exist when I purchased the vehicle - such as the broken drivers side handle. There are some aesthetic things about the car that are driving me insane that I'd like to fix such as the bumper hanger on the left side having been ripped off. Side skirts that need to be replaced. Front seats look like dog shit.

Transmission is leaking fluid. I didn't see any fluid leaking from anywhere other than the drain nut. Luckily it is a very very small leak. Is that a common problem? It looks like the fluid was changed without using a crush washer. If that isn't it then it must be the input shaft seal -- correct?

Old school is new lifters are OK on an old cam but not old lifters on a new cam.

[jmo69]

Took my strut bar off in anticipation of my VCG change.
20170928_133708.jpg20170928_133219.jpg

[yensed]

Went to Walmart. When I put the groceries in the trunk I went to start my car and it wouldn't even attempt cranking. There was no indication the starter or fuel pump were even trying. Jump start did nothing so I know it wasn't a lack of power from the battery. After an hour of trying everything I could think of and random stuff I read online, I called roadside assistance for a tow home.

30 minutes and a McDonald's Cheeseburger later; I gave it one more shot. It started right up. And did 3 more times over the course of the rest of the day... I don't know WTF.

[jmo69]

Did my valve cover gasket. I was beginning to think it wasn't the original when I removed the hold down bolt/nuts. They were somewhat pliable, not rock hard like I read about. It popped off easily and tipped it over I heard something fall, I couldn't see anything in the valve train, plus I didn't know what I was looking for. I'm the only thing missing when I reassembled was the washer under the rearmost stud. I found a replacement so everything is secured. The old gasket was almost as hard as the cover itself but I was able to get it off the perimeter with only two breaks but the spark plug tube seals were the worst. The washers had molded themselves into the gasket and I had to squeeze them in the vise to get the old gasket material off. The spark plug tube seals had to be cut and pried enough to give the pliers enough to grip. I must have spent 20 minutes on those alone. I also 'cheated' and put the bolts and studs into a piece of cardboard with a diagram. My memory isn't what it used to be. The valve train and underside of the valve cover are pretty clean for 147+K. The Motorking coil in the second pic did come apart when I pulled it out. The boot got stuck on the plug, when I finally got it off there was a small piece of the 'spring/connector that broke off. Put the original back in and no misfires. I really wish I knew where that washer ended up, I'm hoping it's laying somewhere outside of the engine.
untitled (15).pnguntitled (16).jpguntitled (18).jpguntitled (19).pnguntitled (17).jpg