Literally a Cat
This is going to be half off-topic. It's also a bit of a story about the relatively uninteresting repair projects I did this weekend. I felt like an open thread for "boring BMW repairs" that everyone could share their more mundane stuff in would be good for venting, and I'm only familiar with you Z3 guys, so... *shrug*
My fiance has a 2001 525i touring. Recently, we went through a car was and when we came out, both his blinkers had gone rapid-flash. I did the usual diagnostics: checked to see which ones were inop, checked the bulbs, and remembered the lights on the hatch door don't work reliably but didn't find any visible problems with them. I still don't really "get" those lights, because it seems only the reverse bulbs are halogen and then the rest of the lights are LEDs yet the housing design has contacts or something under the LEDs that reminds me of the bases for halogen bulbs. Something like that, I can't wrap my head around it; I'm guessing BMW or Hella did minimal retooling to the molds for them to save money when converting to LED? At this point, the outer turn signals still worked fine. I don't remember if the hatch lights even flash with the turn signals. I also checked fuses, his glove box handle stopped unlatching due to the locking cylinder being plastic and wearing off the end of the housing, and then the locking cylinder came out and exploded. I replaced the locking cylinder with a main cap bolt from a Ford 3.5L Ecoboost engine, which fixed the problem despite looking a bit tacky (we are not concerned about having no lock on the glove box--we don't ever leave valuables in the car). A better fix will be designed.
Anyway, I remembered that the Z3s get broken wires at the trunk / hatch hinges, so I next went into the hatch harnesses on each side and found broken wires. I soldered in some patch wires and used shrink tube to insulate the splices, then added some electrical tape wrapping and spiral wrap to help prevent them from getting pinched by the hinges, as the breaks look like the wires had gotten too cozy with a pinch point, and then tested opening and closing them a few times to make sure that looked right, and then tested the signals. Still had the rapid-flash!Next, I did Googling for common issues, and waded through many results for different BMWs before I added quotes to "E39". Many posts were about the LCMs getting water on them, so I extracted his LCM and found that water had leaked in and caused a short to one of the capacitors, and the capacitor was covered in corrosion and a little charred.
I immediately got some weed-eater line and unclogged both sunroof drains, because this is usually what causes leaks like that. I ordered him an LCM IV (his was an LCM III--which I will try to fix) and when I installed that, none of the rear turn signals worked! My fiance replaced the reverse bulbs when I noted they had corrosion on the contact wires for the filament, and he also found that the amber bulbs for the outside had actually exploded. Upon replacing those, the turn signals were fixed. Except for the instrument cluster tamper dot, but I don't have PA Soft yet.
He's got a stubborn oil leak on the second-to-last valve cover nut directly over the headers. Replacing the nut, washer, grommet, and valve cover did not solve this. Neither did silicone sealant.I also replaced the oil separator and its hoses, and his vacuum lines. I'm planning to see if I can set up a vacuum gauge to monitor the pressure inside the valve cover at all, but haven't come up with anything for that. Also need to replace his cooling system, suspension, and intake boots.
I then checked up on my current SRS fault and plugged the module back in, but INPA only pulled an error for internal fault. I'm starting to think I have a broken solder joint inside of it. I can fix this, but reflowing every single joint is going to be so fun and I'm worried I'll get something too hot, probably an SMD I won't be able to identify and replace. I should probably invest in a "homemade" reflow oven (a toaster oven with a different controller board + software for reflowing), I've gotten into electronics lately anyway. Since I can't currently do anything with that front, I moved on to removing the foam adhesive from the top of the HVAC outlet and replaced it with new foam strips that probably aren't quite as good. I then put zipties on the side HVAC ducts to hold them up.
My parents still don't appreciate the missing dashboard, but new ones are too expensive, and if I get a used one I have to actually go check it out and make sure I don't end up buying something that will be too brittle and have the same problem anyway. The closest salvage yard that has a dashboard is over 200 miles away, too. They have not offered to replace it or the passenger's side door panel, but do frequently complain about it. I want to put a black or dark grey towel or something over the general dash area to cut down on glare.
I really need to replace the soft top, but I will need to use a garage to do it. I have a new one, new cables, and some butyl adhesive. If anyone has a specific butyl adhesive that they recommend, by the way, I'm really interested in hearing about it. I don't want to find out what I got is going to refuse to stick or seal. I also need to mess with the rear shocks more, and vacuum the interior, and maybe try to do some stitching on the tear on the driver's seat even though I'm pretty sure it won't work at all.
What super-exciting things have y'all been up to?
Member
Oh, putting things back close to right with double sided tape, crazy glue and GE silicone. That's all here.
Literally a Cat
If it works and isn't a safety hazard, it's fine! Unless you ever have to take it back apart, or find out that there's a better way to fix it practically for free but now you can't because of all the glue. Sigh, did that to the passenger door handle...Originally Posted by Dakar Ole
Member
RIGHT! Just trim pieces. Sill cover with 5 broken clips is back fine with acrylic double sided foam tape. Seat belt guide, after 19 years went and that got glued successfully. Silicone to close openings in rusting bubbled paint. Single sided tape on the top of the driver window when we get 8.5 inches of rain in 5 hours. And crazy glue to stop a wall from rattling inside the right tail light.
Last edited by Dakar Ole; 11-12-2018 at 05:47 PM.
Member
No 200 mph tape holding up body parts?
Member
Nah, body part in the closet waiting to be stripped and repainted though. 40$ for a real nice lower fender panel.
Literally a Cat
I had spilled PAG oil straight from the AC lines onto the passenger side floorboard. I had thrown some baby powder all over the carpet in that general area. The powder sat for a good month as we've been taking my fiance's car and I had been sick.
Yesterday I vacuumed it all out, wiped the carpet with a soapy damp rag, powdered and vacuumed some more, vacuumed the floorboard in front of both seats, and put the all-weather mats back in, crossing my fingers that the current problem with the SRS system is not something under the carpet.
I still need to plug the SRS module in again while it's cold and pull codes... Again. I'm planning to do that today. In any case, I'm glad Abel is such good friends with my module because apparently I am straight - up cursed.
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