Another daily driver thread: E34 525i
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81,0xx miles
Maintenance time!
Finally got around to taking a look at a noise from the motor that has been increasing in volume lately, sounded like a pulley bearing on the way out. Made like a high pitched whine/grinding noise and was worse when the car was cold. Once warmed up, it quieted down reasonably well. Started by removing both tensioner pulleys and the idler pulley, removing the seals, and repacking them with some high temp grease. They were all pretty dry and crusty and that definitely quieted things down, but didn’t completely eliminate the noise. Because the new pulleys are so cheap, I just ordered new ones rather than trying to stretch the life of the ones on the car, just not worth the risk to me.
I then looked at the alternator, which upon inspection had bad bearings (spun like there was no grease in them anymore and were a bit crunchy sounding). Attempted to replace just the bearings but couldn’t get a few fasteners off and just said screw it and bought a reman unit from O’Reillys. Lifetime warranty on the unit, so even if it’s not amazing I’m fine with replacing it every few years for free.
Finally, I have a new set of front sway bar links on the way to address a front end clunk that started a few months ago.
On a different note, I’m ready to begin priming and painting the m-systems after stripping and media blasting all the old paint off. I was told by the seller that they had been previously stripped and painted, but it seemed that only one of the wheels had received that treatment; the other three had what looked to be the OEM paint underneath the rattle can paint. No matter, it was all coming off anyways.
After some discussion and deliberation, I decided against my original plan of polishing out the lips and will instead stick to paint for the whole wheel. With that said, any thoughts on a color for the lip? I can’t decide between a bright, almost “polished aluminum” type paint to give the look of polished wheels, or if I should just stick to the stock OEM BMW silver paint. Stock paint will likely be easier to sell, but I do really like the polished lip look. Any opinions?
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Obligatory 2 week after I did the work post:
Replaced front sway bar end links, which solved the main clunking noise in the front end but left a smaller one that is (I think) isolated to the right side. Going to inspect the upper and lower control arms the next time I’m home, I’m thinking the uppers are the likely culprit.
Yuck.
Double yuck. Ended up just cutting the upper nuts off, way easier than grinding up a wrench to get into the tiny little recess to hold them. Speaking of:
Going to put this into the pile of tools I’ll probably never use again, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of.
Much better.
I wasn’t originally thinking this car was going to stick around past this spring, but it’s beginning to look more and more like it will. There’s a few maintenance items I plan to take care of if it does:
- Replace the seals on the VANOS unit and install the anti-rattle kit. I already acquired a spare unit that I’ll rebuild beforehand to make it a quicker, easier job.
- Identify and repair whatever is clunking on the front end. I may just end up doing a full refresh of the bushings and steering, I’m undecided. If I hang onto it, it’ll stick around for another 4-5 years at least so it may just be worth it to do it now and enjoy the better suspension for longer.
- Shifter refresh (sorta finished? Z3 shifter and new bearing cup installed)
- Go through the steering system and replace everything, might as well future proof myself
- Drivers front and rear window regulator replacement
- Cooling system check? It had the water pump and I believe the radiator replaced preventatively by the P.O. but I’m not sure if anything else has been changed.
- Paint the front bumper
- Replace both roundels
- Door brake reinforcement. This will happen regardless of whether the car stays or goes
- Repair headliner
- Swap out the general module under the rear seat with a known working one to see if it solves the cold weather issues with central locking and flashing interior lights
- Replace rear seat belt trim pieces, and fix the front seat belt height adjusters
- New tan floormats to replace the black/red ones it has now
Potential upgrades and projects:
- Lowering springs and upgraded dampers: I’d like to retain as comfortable of a ride as I can while eliminating some of the front wheel gap and giving a slightly sportier ride. Since I’ll likely replace shocks and struts anyways I can do it while I’m in there as well. Any recommendations? I’m leaning towards eibach springs and Koni sports, but am open to suggestions. I’ve heard that the bilstein sports are pretty harsh for a daily driver, and the h&r springs are also on the harsh side. I REALLY wish I could retain OEM ride comfort while taking an inch or two out of the front, but I’m not really sure how that’d be possible.
- Add a limited slip. This’ll be a winter car, so extra traction would be greatly appreciated. Also, rage drifts.
- Add E32 adjustable lumbar supports
- Rear fog lights
- Add the ski bag pass through
- When it comes time to do brakes, upgrade to f30 335i/340i fronts (4-piston aluminum Brembos, 340mm rotor) and buy the spacer kit for it, and swap to e34 540i/M5 rear caliper and rotors. This would require 17’s at minimum which sucks for winter tire options, but big brakes are sweet. It’d be a great excuse to autocross the car some as well.
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Are you swapping seats or can you actually get the parts to add lumbar into the e34 seats? Our lists are pretty similar
From what I’ve read, the seats are identical on e32s and e34s down to the mounting slots and harness, so it should just be as simple as bolting the mechanism into the back of the seat and plugging in the motor and switch. My seats are in pretty good shape so I don’t plan on replacing them unless I come across a screaming deal for a full black, blue or red interior to swap out.
Do you remember off the top of your head what springs/shocks are on the 540i/6 that you brought to the last fall meet?
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my wrench always fit those flats on the sway bar arms. but i know that different brands have different thicknesses.
if you need a modified 22mm (7/8") wrench for the bolts on the upper control arms, let me know Ill ship mine to you.
like your modified tool, after modifying it for the e34 i've never used it again
Dan
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my wrench always fit those flats on the sway bar arms. but i know that different brands have different thicknesses.
if you need a modified 22mm (7/8") wrench for the bolts on the upper control arms, let me know Ill ship mine to you.
like your modified tool, after modifying it for the e34 i've never used it again
It fit but was tight for the stock ones, but the replacements were tighter and I didn't feel like risking a tear in the boot. Thank you, depending on the way things go I will let you know!
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From what I’ve read, the seats are identical on e32s and e34s down to the mounting slots and harness, so it should just be as simple as bolting the mechanism into the back of the seat and plugging in the motor and switch. My seats are in pretty good shape so I don’t plan on replacing them unless I come across a screaming deal for a full black, blue or red interior to swap out.
Do you remember off the top of your head what springs/shocks are on the 540i/6 that you brought to the last fall meet?
I had to do some digging but that's the info on E32 seats I have. I never did rewire that seat and it did get scrapped with the car because I couldn't remove it. I still have the passenger seat from the '89 750i if you want to rip that apart or do wiring experiments on. If you break things I have more e34 seats too
The current 540i has BC Racing coil overs. Ben didn't mention what rates he bought in his thread. I haven't gotten around to raising/adjusting them to my liking because they can be harsher. I think h&r/Billy sports is what I'm gonna get for the 530i.
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I had to do some digging but that's the info on E32 seats I have. I never did rewire that seat and it did get scrapped with the car because I couldn't remove it. I still have the passenger seat from the '89 750i if you want to rip that apart or do wiring experiments on. If you break things I have more e34 seats too
The current 540i has BC Racing coil overs. Ben didn't mention what rates he bought in his thread. I haven't gotten around to raising/adjusting them to my liking because they can be harsher. I think h&r/Billy sports is what I'm gonna get for the 530i.
Interesting, I didn’t know that. I’ll definitely take you up on that though, I’d be very interested to see the differences and if a little splicing wouldn’t work. There’s probably some other random e34 parts from your stash that you have that I would buy too.
If you end up with that setup, let me know what you think of it!
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89,3xx miles.
Checking thing off the list slowly but surely. The new door brake and door reinforcement plates arrived a few weeks ago and will go on whenever I feel like welding the plate in, both roundels were replaced, driver's front regulator was replaced, general module was replaced, and I put a Z3 shifter in last night. l'm a big fan of the shorter throws and feel, it'll be interesting to see how notchy it feels when it gets cold again though.
Next on the list is rear sway bar links, a few new moulding pieces to replace the ones that are rusting and falling off, and lumbar for the driver's seat. Between all that and a new apartment, I'm going to be busy the next few weeks.
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89k, that’s really low!
It is! When it joined our fleet a few years ago, it had 59k and had been owned by the same family for most of its life. Maintenance history was great, but the aesthetics of the car left (and still leave) a bit to be desired. The nose has been resprayed at some point and it was done poorly and there's chips and scratches all over it, but the bones seem to be pretty solid. Unfortunately, it only took 3 winters to start to get a bit rusty, the door bottoms are already going
Forgot to add that the idler pulleys were replaced a few weeks ago as well.
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Finally got around to an oil change and a wash this past weekend, mileage sits at 93,3xx. Changed oil with Mobil 1 15w-50 synthetic. I threw some fresh exhaust hanger rubber mount donut things on at the same time since the last ones I bought shredded themselves in about a year and a half. Fresh rear pitman arms/dog bones and front upper control arms are sitting in the garage waiting to be installed when I get the chance. So, probably October.
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Finally got around to an oil change and a wash this past weekend, mileage sits at 93,3xx. Changed oil with Mobil 1 15w-50 synthetic. I threw some fresh exhaust hanger rubber mount donut things on at the same time since the last ones I bought shredded themselves in about a year and a half. Fresh rear pitman arms/dog bones and front upper control arms are sitting in the garage waiting to be installed when I get the chance. So, probably October.
Sounds about right, I think we all have that shelf full of stuff we bought 6 months ago that we're just mustering up the ambition to install
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Well, got under the car to do the upper control arms, and realized the lower control arm ball joint boots were toasted. I’d also been noticing fromt damping getting worse, to the point that when you combined the worn out arms and shocks, the car was getting to be frustrating to drive. Lots of steering slop, shitty tracking (if you ever needed to find microscopic changes in pavement grading though, hoo boy was this your car), clunking, and turn-in that would be best described as uninspiring.
So, after four FedEx shipments, all of which were late (not sure what’s going in the Menominee Falls FedEx hub, but I’m pretty sure it’s literally nothing, and certainly nothing with any urgency) new strut inserts, dust boots, bump stops, top mounts, 750il upper control arms, and e31 spherical lower control arms arrived and were installed on the car. Sorry, no pics, was too busy trying to not throw my old control arms through the FedEx distribution center’s windows. Did I mention I REALLY hate FedEx?
Anyways, the car handles soooo much better with the new parts. I fell back in love with it a bit again, it’s so comfy and well suited for highway driving but still is tossable enough to be fun. Turn in is much improved as is tracking with steering slop definitely improved but still not great. Might replace the steering links in the spring and see where that gets me. There’s definitely some slop in the box itself though too, and adjusting either made it too tight or left slop. Sure as shit not worth replacing the box, so I’ll leave it for now. Doing the front end also highlighted how loosey-goosey the rear is; shocks, mounts, subframe bushings and sway links will be coming in the spring. Holding off on RTABS until I absolutely have to, I’d rather not disconnect brake lines until I absolutely have to.
Oh, I forgot, mileage sits at 99,xxx or so. Getting real close to the century mark.
I finally got around to replacing the rear trailing arm links (dog bones) last night as well, no word on the difference they made because I installed them, then immediately shut the door and drove home in the e30. Side note, that job is cake on ramps. Most of the DIY’s say to use stands, but the links are in their unstressed position at normal suspension height, so save yourself the hassle. I’ll weigh in on the difference the links make next week probably when my RA plates come (updated registration came in the mail today!).
If you made it this far, you’re probably REALLY bored at work today. Tune in next time for me probably burning subframe bushings out of the car! Or an oil change note. Probably that. Shit, I should really do an oil change.
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Both my wife and I have had shitty experiences with the Menomonee Falls hub. A package gets there and they basically float it around the building for a few days and scan it each day to tell you it’s there. I’ve been avoiding ordering parts from places if they use fedex.
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FYI adjusting some of the slop from the steering box is doable in a 6cyl e34. there are how tos online. you should be able to remove some of the dead-on-center feel.
Dan
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FYI adjusting some of the slop from the steering box is doable in a 6cyl e34. there are how tos online. you should be able to remove some of the dead-on-center feel.
I’ve tried once, it improved it slightly but didn’t completely remove the slop, which sounds about par for the course. It’s still on the original steering components, so I’m hoping that replacing those helps it some.
104,870
Oil change with Mobil 10w-40, fresh NGK BKR6EK plugs as well. Noted oil in 4/6 spark plug wells, only one had any real accumulation though. Valve cover was already noted as leaking around the outer edge, so that’ll get replaced soon. I also need to replace the giubo, it’s starting to get some good cracks. Trans has a few leaks, and the diff output seals are also weeping, I plan to take care of all the seals this spring once the e30 is back on the road. Sunroof seal also needs replacement, it’s sealing but allowing movement/rattle and the general consensus online is that the gasket causes that when worn. I’ll also inspect the mechanism for wear when it’s not so damn cold. Door lock actuator in passenger rear door also needs replacing, part is on hand and just needs install.
I realized I haven’t updated this in awhile, I had to replace the alternator again after about a year and a half (oreilly special, thank god for the warranty), bearings were already semi-roached and the brushes were shot. I replaced the battery at the same time, it was pretty old and the peace of mind is nice knowing I’ll be less likely to get stranded this winter. Also had a fiasco with a door not latching in the cold, but some lube seems to have fixed that. Otherwise, pretty uneventful running lately. It definitely doesn’t enjoy sub-zero running/starting though.
Otherwise, I mounted a set of Continental VikingContact 7’s for the winter, really enjoying them. Not loud, great snow traction, and they seem to be wearing pretty well. I got the set for $350 shipped from tire rack (with rebate) so pretty hard to beat if anyone is looking for good budget snows.
I didn’t notice anything really out of the ordinary on the plugs, but I’ll post images here when I get home. If any of you see anything concerning, let me know.
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