"What did you do to your E39 today V2.0."

[sleuth255]

Me too !
What are the problems the engine is having ?

Rumbling sound/slight vibration on startup that goes away after a few seconds. The entire engine note changes when this quits. Only happens when the engine is cold. May be vanos related. Vanos has 200K+ miles on it. Rod bearings have to be worn by now too. If I get lead/copper in the analysis then they're getting replaced.

[seagreen323i]

I popped off a rod cap at 210k and replaced the bolts when I reinstalled it. I didn't see anything of concern.

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[sleuth255]

Yeah, but I had a problem with the drain-back valve on my OFH which I left unfixed for quite a while. Honestly didn't know I even had a problem: the oil light would take 2-3 seconds to extinguish on cold starts and I didn't even notice it until I read a thread about the problem here.

[seagreen323i]

Pretty happy with the completed product.

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[Nfs021]

Pretty happy with the completed product.

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Looks good. Be sure to get some Xpel PPF to keep them looking new for years.

[MotorMouth93]

Yeah PPF is key when it comes to keeping headlights looking good. I've had Suntek PPF on my DJ Auto lenses for 4 years now, the car sits outside in Texas 24/7, and they still look brand new.

Did you go with Morimoto projectors again? I'm surprised the bowls burned that quick the first time, hopefully it was just a defective batch.

[seagreen323i]

Yes I went with morimoto projectors, the worst projector had a really cheap bulb in it for 2 weeks while I waited for a quality one. I think that's what did it.

I'm currently designing 3d printed headlight adjusters because I broke the part of the adjuster that screws into the headlight bezel, the socket part of the ball and socket joint. If anybody wants some let me know. I can't find that part for sale anywhere.

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[seagreen323i]

I got this design set up to replace my adjusters while I'm at it. I ain't gonna pay for it if I can make it.

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[sleuth255]

I'm currently designing 3d printed headlight adjusters because I broke the part of the adjuster that screws into the headlight bezel, the socket part of the ball and socket joint. If anybody wants some let me know. I can't find that part for sale anywhere.

I think you might get a few takers on that. Not sure why the socket part was never available; they often break when ppl try to pry the ball out.

[seagreen323i]

I have created a pretty 1:1 replica of the socket portion. Not to brag but I'm pretty impressed.
I've ordered better filament and want to get some variety of testing before I offer it to the public if I decide to go that route.
20 bucks a headlight seems to be a decent price for me. Id pay 40 bucks for piece of mind. That ought to pay for filament, shipping, and R&D.

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[kallekula]

Ordered new Sachs sport struts, bellows and bump stops from RockAuto.
EDIT: I’m amazed the car feels so steady even though the struts are completely shot. Got some purple polyurethane bushings that’s been collecting dust on a shelf for a while too. Can’t wait to feel the difference!

[kallekula]

Pretty happy with the completed product.

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Top job! Looks like new ����

[seagreen323i]

Prototype one got lost, I went to hit the save button and the whole program crashed deleting everything. There goes 2 hours of my life ill never get back.

I'm going to do an initial test using petg filament, not sure how that will hold up to the temperatures in the headlight housing as petg starts to warp and deform right around 190°, I can easily see this being blown past on a 90° day in the sun with the headlights on.

Next in line is abs I reckon, that bumps up the glass transition temp to around 221°, that still seems a bit inadequate. The issue arises because my machine is incapable of using filaments with a higher melting point then this or it will melt some Teflon tube inside of the extruder and give me more permanent brain damage.

I'll have to make a few modifications to use polycarbonate but that will have heat resistance up to 300°, if that doesn't work then I'm not making this.

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[sleuth255]

Prototype one got lost, I went to hit the save button and the whole program crashed deleting everything. There goes 2 hours of my life ill never get back.

DOH! That's never happened to me before...

[jp5Touring]

Prototype one got lost, I went to hit the save button and the whole program crashed deleting everything. There goes 2 hours of my life ill never get back.

I'm going to do an initial test using petg filament, not sure how that will hold up to the temperatures in the headlight housing as petg starts to warp and deform right around 190°, I can easily see this being blown past on a 90° day in the sun with the headlights on.

Next in line is abs I reckon, that bumps up the glass transition temp to around 221°, that still seems a bit inadequate. The issue arises because my machine is incapable of using filaments with a higher melting point then this or it will melt some Teflon tube inside of the extruder and give me more permanent brain damage.

I'll have to make a few modifications to use polycarbonate but that will have heat resistance up to 300°, if that doesn't work then I'm not making this.

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Cool that you want to make your own, but you can get them on eBay for $15. a set.
Purchased some 5 or 6 years ago and still work fine.

[seagreen323i]

My adjusters are fine, I broke the part they clipped into. I cannot find a single source to get them anywhere.

Anyways I figured out the polycarbonate issue, I feel as if this is the ideal material to make them out of that I have available.

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[jp5Touring]

Got it, that sucks. A couple guys on the M5 Board rebuild headlights maybe they have a spare if your project doesn't work out.
Good luck with it.

Meanwhile I came outside to a flat Blizzak tire today. About to go pull it and see what I got.

[seagreen323i]

Got into the stock ecu today after lots and lots of research. Man it's a scary feeling flashing this thing. Gonna see what I can get away with. I've got a welder and the ability to tune now so that never ends well for anybody.

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[sleuth255]

yeah... flashing stuff is scary but the adrenalin rush is damn near addictive lol. Not tried anything with my DME but have done plenty of phones over the years... I recently flashed my own code onto my bluebus and had the build environment incorrectly set up. Bricked it real bad. Thankfully, Ted thought about that possibility and built hardware recovery method (set the recovery jumper on the board) that forces the bootloader to come back online. After that, I was able to re-flash my code update successfully.

[Nfs021]

Code brown moment heading home from work last night. "STOPENNGINE!OILPRESS" warning came on followed by low oil warning. Pulled over and shut off car. However nothing out of ordinary. No leaks, plenty of oil, no signs of oil blockage since cams and filter were clearly getting oil and car runs fine otherwise.

Most likely guess is oil pressure switch. Original one to the car and the only sensor/switch related thing on this engine I haven't replaced yet. So will be ordering a new one from FCP and replace it. Should sort the problem. If not?...Uh oh lol.

[sleuth255]

....aaand you know your ticker checks out good too.

I finally got around to fixing my passenger door. Problem was that it occasionally wouldn't open from the outside. Always had to pull the handle way up to open the door too. I figured it was the lock carrier bowden cable or the carrier itself. Turned out to be a bit of both. The R&R procedure mirrors that of removing the latch assembly to replace the actuator in terms of disassembly and disconnecting the outer lock carrier bowden cable.

But I'm here to tell ya that the pople who say that getting that outside cable off the latch assembly is a major PITA didn't notice that the white connector which attaches the bowden cable to the outer door latch release lever has an Allen head fitting to make R&R easy. Just stick the correct wrench in there and twist. Cable pops right off. Re-assembly is just as easy since you can actually set the part into place by manipulating it with the Allen wrench. The biggest deal I had was getting the door handle lock tab slid over to the open position so that I could remove the handle assembly. Major corrosion going on. Fortunately, I have the BMW tool that goes in from the outside and was able to tap on that to get the metal tab to loosen up. Here's some pics!

The old lock carrier:


Yay! Got the handle out!


Here's what I'm talking about. Yes, there's really that much room back there; you can literally use a tool this size to release/re-attach the cable to the latch.




Biggest problem I had with this job was actually taking that last picture! While I was in there I sprayed another coat of cavity wax onto the repair the BCW did and also redid most of the butyl seal.

[dmaisenh]

Got my 99 528i touring back from a friend I had loaned it to.
4 months and 3000 miles. It is now over 300k.
I had planned on replacing the SAI pump to clear the code so I can get it emission tested but after I cleared the code it hasn't returned, strange.
When she returned the car it did have an air bag light that came up in INPA as an Air Bag Ignition circuit problem so I swapped out my sport wheel for the old 4 spoke one and now no light.

Since this car is now number 3 I am seriously considering getting rid of it. I just seems to get rougher and rougher and I really don't want to spend the money.

[theWalkinator]

Finshed rebuilding the headlights. Morimoto Evox-r 2.0 bi-xenon projectors. Osram CBB bulbs. TYC aftermarket lenses and regular Hella ballast. Orion V4 halos carried over. Extended the wires for them and the projector cutoff shield wires so I was able to feed them through the halo bulb hole. Got the projector mostly aligned with the high beam. Really difficult to get it spot on. Everything works great and no issues. Need to wait until night to do final aiming adjustments.
Attachment 710207

Just glad to have the car running again. Took almost a month. Waiting on parts, working 11 hours a day and of course taking my time to make sure it's right. Though annoyingly, there's a couple small finger smudges on the inside of the drivers side lens. Don't want to deal with tearing the lights apart again, so I'll leave it for now. Did put the battery on the charger overnight to be safe. Car fired right up. Can't wait til it gets dark to see the results.

Did the same except I re-used the old lens, I sanded and 2K spray the old lens then finished with ceramic coating, happy with the result, light output is much much improved than the stock projector, only thing is the passenger side the cutoff line is slightly tilt to the left, not sure it is the projector or my installation issue.

[Nfs021]

Did the same except I re-used the old lens, I sanded and 2K spray the old lens then finished with ceramic coating, happy with the result, light output is much much improved than the stock projector, only thing is the passenger side the cutoff line is slightly tilt to the left, not sure it is the projector or my installation issue.

Was originally going to do the 2k spray route. But several of the lens tabs were broken and I just figured since better aftermarket lenses were available, that'd be the best route.

Loving the output.
20221206_204113.jpg20221206_204128.jpg

[sleuth255]

The sharp cutoff when the highbeam shutters are open is pretty cool as well. You can see that (sloping lines extending upward) in your second picture.