zroadster.net

Mike Fishwick

In the case of cars made by mass-market companies such as BMW 'rare' means that they could not sell many! It does not make them better cars than those which people would actually buy - quite the opposite. Another reason for rarety is that they were rust boxes - look at the 6 and 3 series BMW from th...

Mike Fishwick

A lot of vendors try to make out that their car is something special - I have seen people claiming that their facelifted car has superior aerodynamics than the older type! As soon as you see the word 'Rare' you know that someone is trying to 'talk up' the value of their car.

Mike Fishwick

You have not mentioned replacing the thermostat - are you confusing it with the thermo switch for the electric fan? Even if the electric fan (assuming that you have air conditioning) is not operating, the viscous-coupled fan is capable to keeping the engine at a decent temperature. I would look for ...

Mike Fishwick

If you have an originality fetish, and wish to replace the rear silencer, BMW sell a seperate silencer and an suitable sleeve with suitable clamps to attach it. It would probably be cheaper to have a stainless cat-back system made up, unless you think that the droning exhaust note is worth listening...

Mike Fishwick

Yes - the 2 litre used the same exhaust system as the September 1998-on 2.8. The system is in one welded piece from the three-bolt flanges near the engine, without a central joint, so perhaps your system is not the original. The earlier 2.8 used a single cat with a joint after it, but this was not u...

Mike Fishwick

The Z3 boot is small enough to eliminate the risk of having anything lost within its confines! I took the bulb out of my boot light for this very reason about twenty years ago, and have never missed it! Alternatively, you could leave a window slightly lowered, and connect the charger via the cigar l...

Mike Fishwick

Try cleaning the sensor of any ferrous particles stuck to the magnet side before spending money! These sensors act like magnetic drain plugs, and attract any small particles worn from the timing chain and sprockets. My old 2.8 has a cable throttle, and I used to have the problem of stalling in rever...

Mike Fishwick

Why don't you simply have a full geometry check at a good tyre dealer? That will show up any problems such as bent trailing arms or rear cross member, not to mention distortion of the front cross member, chassis rails, or wishbone mountings.

Mike Fishwick

Take the light cluster off and use your powers of deduction! I think you will find that the lens is glued to the body, so look for an area showing signs of algie etc. Perhaps you will be able to dribble a bit of Araldite onto the back of the faulty area through the bulb hole.

Mike Fishwick

The sensor operates by heating a small amount of oil around its body, and then reading the incerease in temperature further up the sensor body. Your problem may therefore be as simple as an accumulation of sludge on the sensor body, acting as a heat insulator, so it is worth removing the sensor and ...

Mike Fishwick

I have just replaced the second battery on my twenty-year-old 2.8 Z3. The original American battery lasted twelve years, and the replacement Varta Silver eight years - what kind of life do others experience? Like our other vehicles - cars, motorcycles and lawnmower - the batteries have always been c...

Mike Fishwick

I'm puzzled - why do you think your 'slipring' is grating and the replacement needs to be lubricated? The horn push and airbag are connected by a flexible connection strip similar to a watchspring. It therefore does not need lubrication, and cannot make a 'grating' noise. I would bet that the noise ...

Mike Fishwick

At least the French do not view ordinary speeding as being a baby killer etc etc. If the speed limit is more than 50 kph, and you are not breaking it by more than 20 kph, the fine is 65 euros (reduced to 45 for payment within a fortnight) and one point off your licence, which is returned after a yea...

Mike Fishwick

I guess I am a bit of a recluse, as I do not watch French TV - it is ghastly - or read newspapers - not even the English-language ones! I think I had better start taking more notice of what is going on! They (and most other EU states) can still fine you at home via DVLA, and the French can take away...

Mike Fishwick

Has anyone ever heard of a Brit being prosecuted under this agreement? I would think it would merit a banner headline in the Daily Mail, to the effect that the government have allowed those awful foriegners to persecute British who are merely enjoying their holidays!

Mike Fishwick

I live in France, yet was unaware that the 90 kph speed limit on single-carraigeway roads has, from 1 July, been reduced to 80 kph! On my return from the UK last week I noticed that some of the 90 kph signs have been replaced by 80 kph, but do not assume that all 90 kph signs mean what they say! Wit...

Mike Fishwick

I wonder if the pre-October 1998 foglamp lenses - the prismatic type - are more prone to being broken that the later clear type? After twenty years my October 1998 car is still on its original foglamps . . .

Mike Fishwick

You do not give us the full story - did the motor fail, or did it run but not pump anything?

Older washer pumps (up to the early 2000's or so) have a habit of the impeller coming loose on the shaft.

Mike Fishwick

The Slip Control Module is voltage-sensitive, so if the car has been standing for a while without being trickle charged the lights will come on, and after a decent run they will go out when the battery is fully charged. It is also sensitive to having rear tyres which are unevenly worn. Having said t...

Mike Fishwick

Yes - I am spoilt by French roads - Even those which have not been resurfaced for thirty years are better than a lot of UK roads. I am not looking forward to dodging potholes on motorways etc when I visit next week! We do have one local road which was resurfaced suspiciously quickly , and is now fal...

Mike Fishwick

A friend fitted a six-speed gearbox from a 3 litre Z4, which gives about a 10% higher top gear. He is very pleased with it, and found that the only thing which needed modification was the front section of the prop shaft, which had to be shortened by 40 mm, a job which most prop shaft specialists can...

Mike Fishwick

Yes - given the the Z3 headlamps have a sharp cut-off anyway, fog lamps are pretty useless - apart from to the people who insist on using them as running lamps in the belief that it looks 'cool.' In 19 years of Z3 use I have yet to have a broken fog lamp lens, so assuming that you are not travelling...

Mike Fishwick

Environmental Protection Zones are spreading like wildfire over Europe, and following in the footsteps of Germany and France, Austria and Denmark have now introduced their own Environmental Protection Zones, with an assortment of windscreen stickers to match. These regulations also apply all to vehi...

Mike Fishwick

They are sockets for the headlamp height adjustment motors, with black, brown, and yellow wires.

Mike Fishwick

Can you make a replacement from PVC drainpipe and fittings? I know, it's not the same thing, but I made a better air intake for my 2.8 from 70 mm rain water pipe, and after spraying it matt black is could be original. It may be possible to make a pipe which picks up air frm a better place than the o...

Mike Fishwick

Yes John - my first reaction was that the OP had been drivng around with the fog lamps on, but he says that he does not do so. One presumes that he would notice if the fog lights were on, but they are pretty feeble things, and could become 'lost' in the dipped beams. If he is not driving on the fogs...

Mike Fishwick

OK - in that case you have a problem concerning the front foglamp indicator - just because it has always illuminated when the lights (headlights?) are on does not mean that it should, unless perhaps your car is a US market model, where they need to be spoon-fed! This is why the Z3 has a buzzer which...

Mike Fishwick

If you to read the Owner's Manual (well reccommended) you will find that the green warning lamp is provided to show that the front fog lamps are on! It even has a little picture of a fog lamp . . . You have therefore been driving around with the fog lamps on irrespective of visibility, which is an o...

Mike Fishwick

Hi Alex I forgot to mention that your car will have a Torsen (TORque SENsing) type of LSD. These units are a far better type for road driving than the locking-cloutch type, but they reduce the ease with which the car can be drifted. They operate by a clever gear train - see Wikipedia for details - w...

Mike Fishwick

Does your 2.2 have an engine-driven fan? Can't remember if they do, as the later BMW engines rely on the air con condensor fan. If it does have a mechanical fan, it may be that the viscous coupling is on its last legs - 60 to 70,000 miles is a pretty usual life for these couplings. It is easy enough...

Mike Fishwick

The N54 engine - the 2.2 and 3 litre models - are the engines which can often burn oil steadily. Some dealers claim that it is 'designed' to burn oil, as though it is a sign of a thoroughbred sports car! A lot of these engines were filled with synthetic oil by the dealers, which extends the running-...

Mike Fishwick

If your gear lever is not made of metal, what is it made from - perhaps resin, like the clutch pedal? In this case you would need to get hold of an older type of lever.

Mike Fishwick

The usual cause is clutch drag, caused by either a worn-out clutch or (more likely) the need for re-greasing of the splines on the gearbox input shaft and the clutch hub.

Bleeding the clutch slave cylinder and changing the oil also help.

Mike Fishwick

Shortening the gear lever is one of the best things I have dome to my car - the others being disabling the self-cacelling of the indicators, and the other the smaller RAID steering wheel, all of which are nice to play with even when the car is in its garage! The upper portion of the gear lever is al...

Mike Fishwick

I would put Gaydon as being a two-hour visit, but Cosford can be an all-day one, and even then you would have missed a lot.

Mike Fishwick

Cars are OK, but if you want to see real engineering design, visit the massive RAF Museum at Cosford - signed off M54 J3 - it's free, too!

Mike Fishwick

Buy two jacks - you can then raise either end of the car easily and quickly. I use a pair of Halfords 2.5 ton jacks, which have a larger frame than their 2 ton jacks - about £30 each. To raise the front of even a non-lowered car, just drive onto a pair od 50 X 200 mm pieces of wood, with one end saw...

Mike Fishwick

Which part of my article did you not understand? I thought it was clear enough, but maybe I could do better!

Mike Fishwick

Compared to VW, BMW parts are very reasonable - a front strut mount for a Mk.2 Golf GTI for example costs £75 at a dealer, and is the only decent quality mount available. Pattern mounts fall to pieces. An E46 mount for my Z3 cost £25 . . . Do not dismiss BMW parts as being expensive until you know, ...

Mike Fishwick

The cam sensors look like they use a Hall-effect sensor, with a magnet on one side, which attracts fine metalic particles from the engine oil. When enough of this debris is attracted, the sensing part of the unit is shielded from the magnet - hence it is a good idea to clean them from time to time. ...

Mike Fishwick

Clean them everyyear - it is just one of the many things ignored by the so-called 'Full BMW Service!' Cam sensors are another area of offical neglect . ..

Mike Fishwick

More likely to be a sticky idle control valve - take it off and clean it before suspecting naything else.

Mike Fishwick

Did you replace the gasket between the mount and the body? I find that two gaskets make a difference.

Also - did you use the original nuts with built-in washers? use of ordinary nuts with washers is known to generate noise.

Mod edit -Gazza

Mike Fishwick

This seems to be a complex description of an improbably drainage system, but being on an american website people tend to believe it! If this idea were true, then why could I see daylight between the rubber seals at the top of the screen frame and above the window - on a car which was two years old? ...

Mike Fishwick

My Wellstar trims were labelled as being for E36 saloons, which is logical - hence the lock hole on the passenger door.

Mike Fishwick

I have been using Falkens (in seventeen-inch sizes with staggered wheels) for fifteen years on my 2.8, in FK 451, 452, and currently 453 forms, and have no complaints. I prefer 2.5 bar all round, and get about 30k from the fronts, with 20 k from the rears.

Mike Fishwick

They are probably similar to the 'Wellstar' handle covers I have been using for about twelve years - no problems, apart from using black silicone in place of the sticky pads for the handle surrounds. They are a lot cheaper than buying complete new door catch/handle lifter units, and after many years...

Mike Fishwick

I have never seen one in the metal, but the 'normal' thermostat which was fitted to the 1.9 140 bhp engine - the M44 - was probably a two-late type anyway, as used on a Golf GTI etc. People tend to assume that things such as this are always what they are familiar with! I think that the 'electric' th...

Mike Fishwick

I'm puzzled - do you mean the connectors on the ends of the horm cables, or those on the horns themselves? Those on the cables are easy enough to buy from any motor factor, but those on the horns are part of the horn itself - and surely you would have noticed this when you replaced the horns? If 'Th...

Mike Fishwick

What were the symptoms before the RAC man decided to gut the thermostat? The electrically-controlled thermostat was introduced to permit the ECU to regulate coolant temperature between very close limits, so reducing exhaust emissions and fuel consumption. Unlike old British cars, the electrically-co...

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