The One That Didn't Get Away [100K Mile E30 325is]
-
Cars been down since August of last year. Was leaking coolant into the drivers footwell. Believed to be heater core valve. Purchased the valve, heater core, and O rings that should be here end of this week. I don’t want to deal with draining coolant or any of that shit so I’m having the guys at Auto Clinic do it. I also don’t really have anywhere to do the repair at the moment.
I did take the interior apart to make it easier for them to do the repair. Now it’s exposed and ready for them to replace.
You can see where it appears to have been leaking based on the carpet. It might be the O rings that failed, but I’m just going to replace all of it.
-
Exhaust removal can be a pain. Start spraying down assorted exhaust bolts/nuts now with penetrant of choice.
This and I would just plan on getting a full set of studs/nuts to replace them. It’s tedious but you’re likely to have a few of those nuts seized to the stud and will only come out as one.
-
This and I would just plan on getting a full set of studs/nuts to replace them. It’s tedious but you’re likely to have a few of those nuts seized to the stud and will only come out as one.
Probably will just end of buying this.
https://www.iemotorsport.com/product/exhaust-hanger-kit-e30-m20/
I'll have to check, but it looks like the cat back came with 4 exhaust studs and nuts.
-
Probably will just end of buying this.
https://www.iemotorsport.com/product/exhaust-hanger-kit-e30-m20/
I'll have to check, but it looks like the cat back came with 4 exhaust studs and nuts.
I’m lacking on sleep, sorry I was thinking about the exhaust manifolds when I wrote that. That IE kit has everything you’d need from the manifolds back.
-
Interior back in the car. Almost ready to make its summer/fall residence in my garage. Which means the truck will be in the lot. Storage unit was nice to have both cars in covered storage, but saving ~$80 a month will also be nice. Car will stay in my parents storage for winter unit once they put their boat away for the season.
Carpet extraction, Leatherique, and exhaust are the first bits on the list to start the season off.
-
I think I was able to trouble shoot, or at least narrow down the cause of my radio issue.
I pulled the deck out, and un hooked the speaker wires from the back of the deck, and then turned the radio on. According to the trouble shooting process outlined in this post, if you don't hear the bad sounds when the speakers are undone, then it's the deck. Which was the case for my test, no noise made when I undid the wires and turned the deck on, and turned it all the way up. As soon as I would touch one of the speaker wires to the deck, the sound would come back.
I wasn't able to recreate the second portion of his post where you plug a speaker into the back of the deck. I have a non powered speaker on my desk that I brought to the car and tried plugging the positive wire into the speaker output on the deck and grounding the negative wire on the radio chassis. Was not able to get a sound. But that could be because I didn't have a connector on the wire and was just sticking the bare wire in, or I wasn't grounding it properly.
Regardless, I think I have gotten to the point that I can make an assumption that there is an issue with the deck. I even tried the method of using electronics cleaner on the volume knob and the receptacle of the deck outlined in this post. But no luck.
My next choice is to now either go with the continental or find an OEM replacement. Leaning toward the Conti.
Looking on eBay, do these CM5908's really go for hundreds of dollars?
**I'm assuming this connection is for if it had a CD change in the back?
Reading another thread on R3V, apparently it's for a 5 or 7 series that used the same radio but had an LCD display.
-
The conti unit is the best choice unless you want to shell out money for the “Blaupunkt” Bremen SQR 46 DAB. The Clarion FZ-102E has been discontinued which sucks because it just needed updates like modern Bluetooth.
I was gonna suggest contacting Car-Feteria in milwaukee but looks like they finally closed up shop. Maybe r3v or elsewhere might have suggestions for old school stereo shops that still repair OEM units.
-
The conti unit is the best choice unless you want to shell out money for the “Blaupunkt” Bremen SQR 46 DAB. The Clarion FZ-102E has been discontinued which sucks because it just needed updates like modern Bluetooth.
I was gonna suggest contacting Car-Feteria in milwaukee but looks like they finally closed up shop. Maybe r3v or elsewhere might have suggestions for old school stereo shops that still repair OEM units.
I purchased the Conti unit last night.
Also, my matching shift boot arrived this morning. Think it ties in nicely without being gaudy.
I also added a tube of the Lucas fuel treatment someone had suggested.
-
I knew this was the case but had forgotten until I got underneath the car. One of my donut gaskets in the mid section is broken. My assumption is that I can not replace this because the end of the pipe is flared for it to pull the sections together when it’s tightened. Or are they not flared at the end of the mid section? The RealOEM diagram shows it as if it's not. I understand that this should not be taken as gospel, the way it's extruded in this makes me think it can be removed. Regardless of that fact, the pipe looks super corroded, what is the likely hood I could even get a new one over it.
Might have to bring it somewhere for this to be fabbed.
it’s dripping because I was soaking all bolts and nuts in rust penetrate
-
I believe the donut gaskets can both be replaced, however I have only ever done the one that sits loose between the flanges on the cat and cat back section.
I’d like to preface this by saying I have an aftermarket muffler so it might not be the same, but on mine, one donut is pressed onto one of the pipes on the cat side, with an inch or two of pipe extending beyond it, and the other cat side pipe ends in just a flared flange. On the cat back side, both pipe ends are flared. Thus, when you put them together, the small protruding pipe section on the cat side serves to line everything up, and once it’s nearly in place you slip the other donut in between the two flared flanges on the second side and then bolt everything together to hold it all in place.
So yes, you should in theory be able to replace them both. The donut that is pressed on will probably have to be cut off, however, if your exhaust is anything like mine was.
I also just took a closer look at your pictures, and it appears one of your bolt flanges is broken in half on the cat side, so that’ll be your bigger issue here. That’ll require fab work of some sort because those wont come off/go back on due to the flared pipe ends.
-
I believe the donut gaskets can both be replaced, however I have only ever done the one that sits loose between the flanges on the cat and cat back section.
I’d like to preface this by saying I have an aftermarket muffler so it might not be the same, but on mine, one donut is pressed onto one of the pipes on the cat side, with an inch or two of pipe extending beyond it, and the other cat side pipe ends in just a flared flange. On the cat back side, both pipe ends are flared. Thus, when you put them together, the small protruding pipe section on the cat side serves to line everything up, and once it’s nearly in place you slip the other donut in between the two flared flanges on the second side and then bolt everything together to hold it all in place.
So yes, you should in theory be able to replace them both. The donut that is pressed on will probably have to be cut off, however, if your exhaust is anything like mine was.
I also just took a closer look at your pictures, and it appears one of your bolt flanges is broken in half on the cat side, so that’ll be your bigger issue here. That’ll require fab work of some sort because those wont come off/go back on due to the flared pipe ends.
Yes, the flared bolted flange is the issue. I was incorrectly using the donut gasket and the flange terms backwards for what I was trying to describe. But yes, I'm starting to look around for local shops that could cut the flared end off after the cat and weld a flared piece back on, or just weld the flange on.
I am using the Ireland Engineering catback exhaust which is pretty much a factory replacement with just a slightly different muffler(only in sound, dimensions appear the same).
-
Well, the biggest issue with the car(incredibly), has been resolved. I have never had a working stereo system in this car since I bought it. I’ve used a Bluetooth speaker on my dashboard, and that shit was getting old.
I went with the tried and true Continental head unit. This was my first time doing any kind of stereo work(other than the speakers in my truck). The install was pretty straight forward, but was a little confusing at first because there weren’t some of the wires that were mentioned in the install. Realized I had to peel the loom back a little to exposed them.
Was great to hear actual music come from the speakers instead of the R2D2 noises. Heard a little bit of thump coming from the rear deck speaker. Pulled it out, realized that the little rubber seal that sits on the metal frame of the speaker had come undone in one portion. Used some flexible super glue to get it set in place.
Sounds great for what it is, and really glad to no longer use a Bluetooth speaker.
-
Also, my matching shift boot arrived this morning. Think it ties in nicely without being gaudy.
Where did you order from?
https://www.instagram.com/_jdesigner_/ http://nevertoolow.tumblr.com/
🥳SOLD BMW E24 633CSI - BMW M30B32 🧪SOLD HCH ES9 - 1.3 LDA
👽BMW E30 325IC - Toyota 1JZ-GTE ⏰ HONDA EF9 CIVIC SI - JDM B18C5
☠️BMW E36 318i - Ford 5.0 FE302 🚴♂️ GT-Labomba - 26x2.75 Freeride
🤹♀️SOLD BMW E36/7 Z3 - BMW M54B25 🧓SOLD BMW E10 2002 - BMW M10M05 -
Where did you order from?
Condor speed shop
-
Got the car out of storage two weekends ago when it was warm just to circulate the fluids and what not. Car started in half a crank, so no issues there thankfully. Also, very little fluid underneath the car for sitting in the same place for almost 6 months.
Really no big plans for the car this year other than some continued maintenance. I addressed a big portion of things on top and front of the motor last summer. Aiming to target the lower portion and the rear.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I still have this Ireland Engineering cat back I bought last summer and never had installed, so that will be a big thing I’ll look to have done.
OFHG for sure, and possibly looking at having the RMS and crank seal done. Have the trans resealed, new guibo, trans mounts, slave cylinder, drive shaft CSB, etc. Starting to build out the shopping cart on FCP.
Hopefully just a lot more miles this year. I’ve owned this car for 4(5?) years now and I think I’ve only put on like 2-3K miles.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login