PD's 540i
- 1974Alfa5spd
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Re: PD's 540i
I've never had much of an affinity for those roundy-nosed Bimmers (or Bimmers in general), but I know a nice car when I see one.
When I first read over the post about the temperature sampler fan I thought you meant the blower fan wouldn't slow down. That I can relate too. "Auto" in the Benz means "full blast." I think there's some dirty contacts somewhere, or maybe the cabin-air-sampler pump is kaput.
Also, I agree with noob. Remus time.
When I first read over the post about the temperature sampler fan I thought you meant the blower fan wouldn't slow down. That I can relate too. "Auto" in the Benz means "full blast." I think there's some dirty contacts somewhere, or maybe the cabin-air-sampler pump is kaput.
Also, I agree with noob. Remus time.
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Re: PD's 540i
Whatever you do, don't walk with a buddy into a gay bar and say "Remus"
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
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Re: PD's 540i
Rope-Pusher wrote:Whatever you do, don't walk with a buddy into a gay bar and say "Remus"
- padauk_dust
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Re: PD's 540i
CEL came on today, went to the zone and pulled a P0420 & a P0430. Both catalyst efficiency codes, one for each bank.
Since they came at the same time I'm thinking it's not a problem with either cat; probably a sensor or connector issue in the common circuit. I'll post my findings after looking into it. Could also be o2 sensor stuff. Or perhaps it was just running a bit rich from the heat (95F) today.
Well it's a BMW. SRS light and CEL since getting it. But it certainly makes up for the trouble.
I played a show today that was longer than last night's sleep for me. Then I worked in the shop for a couple hrs. Pretty wiped right now. Car will have to wait.
P0420/P0430 BMW 540i
Catalyst efficiency bank 1,2
Explanation: Faulty cat.
Probable cause: rich mixture, high fuel pressure, ignition/injector fault
Since they came at the same time I'm thinking it's not a problem with either cat; probably a sensor or connector issue in the common circuit. I'll post my findings after looking into it. Could also be o2 sensor stuff. Or perhaps it was just running a bit rich from the heat (95F) today.
Well it's a BMW. SRS light and CEL since getting it. But it certainly makes up for the trouble.
I played a show today that was longer than last night's sleep for me. Then I worked in the shop for a couple hrs. Pretty wiped right now. Car will have to wait.
P0420/P0430 BMW 540i
Catalyst efficiency bank 1,2
Explanation: Faulty cat.
Probable cause: rich mixture, high fuel pressure, ignition/injector fault
'88 Accord DX
'96 VFR750
'96 VFR750
- 1974Alfa5spd
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Re: PD's 540i
I'd post the link where the Cartalk guys were talking about dollar-amount lights instead of the CEL, but it's escaped my grasp for the moment...
I'll just leave this right here, though.
I'll just leave this right here, though.
- theholycow
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Re: PD's 540i
In my experience and experiences I've read about, P0420 is always deadly accurate about a failed cat. Both conceivably could have failed from a bad batch of fuel. I'd still rather follow up on common wiring first, but that would almost certainly throw a code for the post-cat O2 sensors instead.
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
- padauk_dust
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Re: PD's 540i
Ended up running some fuel treatment through the tank and it cleared the code right up.
The car has been a dream! There isn't a car I'd rather own instead.
Ok, maybe there is, maybe, but this one is pretty damn good.
The car has been a dream! There isn't a car I'd rather own instead.
Ok, maybe there is, maybe, but this one is pretty damn good.
'88 Accord DX
'96 VFR750
'96 VFR750
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Re: PD's 540i
Ok, that's pretty awesome. What brand of fuel treatment was it? (Not that I expect it to work twice, or work for anything else, but still...)
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
- padauk_dust
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Re: PD's 540i
It was Lucas. I got it as it was on sale at AZ and decided why the hell not. Turns out it worked quite well!theholycow wrote:Ok, that's pretty awesome. What brand of fuel treatment was it? (Not that I expect it to work twice, or work for anything else, but still...)
I'm usually a seafoam guy.
'88 Accord DX
'96 VFR750
'96 VFR750
- padauk_dust
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Re: PD's 540i
So the work continues:
2 months (!) ago I was doing an oil change (Mobil 1 synth ftw) and while loosening the oil filter (it's externally mounted connected via 3 lines) I noticed a huge gash in the rubber section of the oil outlet pipe. The rubber hose is perma-coupled with the other half, a metal section that twists and turns around all sorts of bits to the bottom of the engine. The rubber part is not replaceable - you have to replace the whole thing.
So I order the part, had to get it from a pretty small import company that is able to obtain any most original BMW bits. Pretty cool as it wasn't listed on any of the usual microfiche places. Glad I found that little site! Maximillion Import Company IIRC. It took a month to get here from Germany, costed about $70.
The weather finally let up for a couple of days so I towed the car from under the port out into the driveway. It was quite fun to do this by myself. It took about 45 mins to get the car into position, even though it was only about a 40 foot distance. The yard slopes every which way so the BMW would roll. I had to set up shims, change rope length, adjust/lock the steering wheel many times navigating around the trees etc. The challenge was actually pretty fun to figure out beforehand and execute properly.
Finally I had it in a good work zone on concrete. Put it up on stands, disassembled to access the alternator. Once removed I could (barely) access the intermediate mounting bolt on the metal section of the pipe. I ended up removing the lower base coupling of the other 2 oil lines in the area, and that finally granted enough room for the curved metal pipe to be threaded out once freed.
The banjo bolt on the bottom of the engine was the last thing holding the line on. Special $45 wrench couldn't get it. I ended up returning that. I heated up a 19mm box end with a propane torch and hammered it into the shape I needed. Could have saved calling and driving all over town to get that flex-head ratcheting box wrench.
Anyway, finally got the new one on and installed with new washers etc. I guess the moral of this story is that while BMW has some pretty tricky bolts/nuts to get to, you don't need to buy BMW tools. In both of these cases (one of which I didn't describe above) I used a combination of fairly common tools or slightly modified a standard wrench. You do need some torx bits.
So far so good; now comes valve cover gaskets and the valley pan gasket. The oil line was what kept it out of action though; so it feels good to have that done.
2 months (!) ago I was doing an oil change (Mobil 1 synth ftw) and while loosening the oil filter (it's externally mounted connected via 3 lines) I noticed a huge gash in the rubber section of the oil outlet pipe. The rubber hose is perma-coupled with the other half, a metal section that twists and turns around all sorts of bits to the bottom of the engine. The rubber part is not replaceable - you have to replace the whole thing.
So I order the part, had to get it from a pretty small import company that is able to obtain any most original BMW bits. Pretty cool as it wasn't listed on any of the usual microfiche places. Glad I found that little site! Maximillion Import Company IIRC. It took a month to get here from Germany, costed about $70.
The weather finally let up for a couple of days so I towed the car from under the port out into the driveway. It was quite fun to do this by myself. It took about 45 mins to get the car into position, even though it was only about a 40 foot distance. The yard slopes every which way so the BMW would roll. I had to set up shims, change rope length, adjust/lock the steering wheel many times navigating around the trees etc. The challenge was actually pretty fun to figure out beforehand and execute properly.
Finally I had it in a good work zone on concrete. Put it up on stands, disassembled to access the alternator. Once removed I could (barely) access the intermediate mounting bolt on the metal section of the pipe. I ended up removing the lower base coupling of the other 2 oil lines in the area, and that finally granted enough room for the curved metal pipe to be threaded out once freed.
The banjo bolt on the bottom of the engine was the last thing holding the line on. Special $45 wrench couldn't get it. I ended up returning that. I heated up a 19mm box end with a propane torch and hammered it into the shape I needed. Could have saved calling and driving all over town to get that flex-head ratcheting box wrench.
Anyway, finally got the new one on and installed with new washers etc. I guess the moral of this story is that while BMW has some pretty tricky bolts/nuts to get to, you don't need to buy BMW tools. In both of these cases (one of which I didn't describe above) I used a combination of fairly common tools or slightly modified a standard wrench. You do need some torx bits.
So far so good; now comes valve cover gaskets and the valley pan gasket. The oil line was what kept it out of action though; so it feels good to have that done.
'88 Accord DX
'96 VFR750
'96 VFR750
- theholycow
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Re: PD's 540i
BTDT!padauk_dust wrote:I towed the car from under the port out into the driveway. It was quite fun to do this by myself. It took about 45 mins to get the car into position, even though it was only about a 40 foot distance. The yard slopes every which way so the BMW would roll. I had to set up shims, change rope length, adjust/lock the steering wheel many times navigating around the trees etc. The challenge was actually pretty fun to figure out beforehand and execute properly.
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT
Put your car in your sig!
Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
Put your car in your sig!
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
- potownrob
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Re: PD's 540i
i will see you at the meetpadauk_dust wrote:
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.