zroadster.net

Mike Fishwick

It is probably just a damaged 'O' ring, but it may be a split in the drain plug boss. My 2.8 uses a blue radiator plug, but a 1.9 uses a different header tank, so that is not a good guide. Why not just drain the radiator - when it is cold the engine will not be drained at the same time, so a normal ...

Mike Fishwick

Well, if you stretch a piece of string from the top of the screen frame to the back of the car, it looks as if a roll-over would be rather more comfortable with proper roll-over bars fitted! Better still, they provide a good mounting for the mesh wind blocker. They can also be handy for supporting o...

Mike Fishwick

There are quite a few stainless steel plates on Ebay, but those for the Z3 fit directly onto the sills, rather than on the platic sill covers. We really want stainless inserts to replace the aluminium items.

Mike Fishwick

I suppose that in the USA - the main market by far - a lot of owners think that Roll over bars are 'uncool,' and with the strength of the windscreen frame I suppose a lot of people can walk away, albeit with a bit of a bloody head! I remember a BMW advert, showing a Z3 supporting a 7 Series saloon b...

Mike Fishwick

Only one, actually, from which the driver walked away - but if he had used your advice that 'one can choose materials - steel, aluminium, copper etc etc... ' I doubt if he would have managed to do so! The main roll-over prtection on a Z3 is the forged steel windscreen frame, proper roll-over bars he...

Mike Fishwick

I hope no-one would choose to use aluminium or copper top make a safety item such as a roll-over bar!

Mike Fishwick

The best value is the BMW CD set, which contains the TIS (manuals for all cars since the E21) the ETK (parts lists) and ETM (wiring diagrams) for abut £10 on Ebay. Bentley is overpriced and under-detailed, with poor quality photographs. I do not know if the version I reviewed (see Z3 Knowledgebase) ...

Mike Fishwick

Sorry - Don't know why I was thinking of DRLs - I must have had a rush of blood to the brain!

Mike Fishwick

UK law requires that any DRL on a new car be automatically controlled to illuminate with the ignition, dim or extinguish when the parking lights are in use, and extinguish when the headlamps are in use. This means that - apart from being supplied from a source controlled by the ignition circuit - th...

Mike Fishwick

What rubber cover? Your RH light looks normal to me. You are probably misinterpreting the parts diagram. Moisture is kept out of the headlamp enclosure by the rubber bellows which can be seen around the main bean unit, and sealing is provided by the 'O' rings on HB-type headlamp bulbs, or the adapto...

Mike Fishwick

I took my DISA unit out after about 125,000 miles, and found no problems. The pivot, which falls into the engine on an M54, was securely in position, and if it did come loose would have been retained by the recess which surrounds it. Presumably the M54 manifold lacks this recess. http://i143.photobu...

Mike Fishwick

The inablity of glass to fold is the reasonthat soft-top cars with glass rear windows have windows which are not very high - with the proportions of a letter box slot! OK - it can be heated, but even after parking in the W Midlands during winter I find it clears easy after a blast of de-icer on the ...

Mike Fishwick

LEDs in a different colour than the bodywork? That can mean anything! Even a red light being shown half-way along the side of a vehicle can - in conditions of poor visibility - confuse other drivers, who may assume that they signify the rear of the vehicle. The Road Vehicle Lighting Regs require amb...

Mike Fishwick

There is a powerful force out there called coincidence - really! After spending my career on quite complex ships I am a firm believer in it. As an example, I have twice flushed the loo, whereupon all three main engines stopped and the lights went out. Knowing that there was no connection between the...

Mike Fishwick

'As the only sensor on the wheels is the ABS sensor. I suspect that there is some feedback going on to tell the car that there is a mega burn-out going on and to shut down the speedo.' Yes - of course there are no other sensors on the wheels other than those for the ABS/AST - I clearly stated that ...

Mike Fishwick

The speedometer has noting to do with the ABS sensors - the sensor is on the back of the final drive - get under the car and make sure it is clean and secure before you start suspencting the instruments. Also remove the sensor and make sure its magnet is not coated in metallic sludge, as this can sh...

Mike Fishwick

Noise and vibration from a secondary air pump is usually due to it being neglected (sorry - 'Requiring no maintenance' in BMWspeak!) The pump is an eccentric vane type - just like a bigger air horn compressor, and in the absence of lubrication the vanes stick in their guides and do not seal against ...

Mike Fishwick

'Axle' grease is not the correct type of lubricant for CV joints, which require a special molybdenum grease. Typical greases for CV joints are Molykote MRM 2 or FIAT BRM 2 (same stuff in a FIAT package). Similar greases are available for CV joints on Volkswages, usually in measured quantity in a pla...

Mike Fishwick

It could be worse - you could have bought a Morgan! A friend's 4 year old Morgan went to a body shop for treatment of large carbuncles on most body panels - not properly primed - and after removing ALL the panels for stripping, it was found that the ash body frame was wet-rotted at its lower ends. I...

Mike Fishwick

The blanking plate is available from BMW - just ask a dealer. Look at the 3 litre engine, which in UK form does not have a secondary air pump fitted - it is not necessary to pass an MoT as it only operates just after start-up. Plate and gasket should not be expensive, and the vacuum line can be seal...

Mike Fishwick

All right - I hang my head in shame - I must realise that the important thing when choosing a wheel is not its basic quality, but how cheap it is being sold for, how large a diameter and rim width can be obtained, and how 'trick' the design is! I also admit to the anti-social crime of preferring fun...

Mike Fishwick

Keeping your original wheels is a good idea - at least they are manufactured by a reputable company. The only bad thing about them is the use of clear laquer on the outer edges of the rims, which is always the first area to show corrosion. Unless you have an unhealthy originality fetish you would be...

Mike Fishwick

Using sticky pads or tape etc for this type of thing is DIY at its worst! They are not designed to be used on curved surfaces - even slight curves. I did not like the look of the sticky pads supplied with my handle surrounds (made by Wellstar)so after rubbing down the area with T-Cut I filled them w...

Mike Fishwick

Yes - the spring clips are a really tight fit. I also lube them with Copa-Slip, then engage the tip of one prong into the piston, using both hands to then engage the opposite prong tip. Then the clip slides in. VW pads with these springs are exactly the same. It sounds as if you are not being master...

Mike Fishwick

Yes - I have just added a few words to explain why the ARB links shold be fitted at a 76 degree angle - the same consideration applies to tightening the bolts at the bottom of the rear dampers and the front ARB drop links.

Mike Fishwick

Just use a well-fitting socket and plenty leverage!

Mike Fishwick

This is a well-known problem on all Z3 and 318Ti Compact up to April 2000, and is even detailed in a BMW Service Instruction - these tell dealers what is wrong with their cars! http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r157/MikeFishwick/FittingARBLinks.jpg New ARB drop link being pressed into position The ...

Mike Fishwick

OK - I asked as many people think a clutch only lasts about 30000 miles.The DMF is probably fine, unless it is making a rattle when ideling or pullubg away. Unlike our Golf, the Z3 flywheel is easy to replace if it ever becomes necessary, so I would leave it be.

Mike Fishwick

If the car is driven with sympathy the DMF should last for ages - mine has covered 130,000 miles on the original clutch and flywheel, and our Golf TDI had a new clutch and flywheel at 195,000 - and even then only as a preventative measure while the gearbox etc was removed to replace a collapsed rele...

Mike Fishwick

I heard of an owner being fobbed off by BMW GB with the lame story that the 3 litre engine was 'Designed to burn oil!' Even a litre per 2000 miles is pretty awful - roughly the rate of consumption we accepted in the early 'sixties, but piston and ring technology and bore machining have improved a lo...

Mike Fishwick

Rather than spend money like water, as suggested by Southernboy, I would get a leak-down test performed on the engine - a test of how long the cylinders can hold a given pressure. This tells you if there is any leakage past the piston rings or valves, for only an hour or so of labour. Logical diagno...

Mike Fishwick

Both our cars - Z3 and Golf TDI - have exactly this type of fan operation - it is normal, and the ambient temperature does not make a great difference, as the effect of compression heats the gas anyway. It does not take long for the compressor to push a load of hot gasified refrigerant into the cond...

Mike Fishwick

The A/C condenser fan operates when it wants to, not when you think it should! It was obviously reducing the temperature of the hot - and therfore gasified- refrigerant which had been pumped into it while you were driving, so providing a reserve of liquified gas to make the A/C operate normally as s...

Mike Fishwick

Yes - that is what I said! The speedo will always read the same, irrespective of the tyre pressures, and therefore size of rear wheel in use. The relationship between the rpm of the prop shaft and rear wheel driveshafts - and therefore the speedometer reading - is not affected by the circumference o...

Mike Fishwick

No - the speedometer system loses interest in anything past the final drive, so it does not care about the size or type of tyres you are using! It just uses the final drive gear ratio and the frequency of the pulses from the speed sensor. I have not calculated the exact mph per 1000 rpm figure for e...

Mike Fishwick

The sampling rate for GPS is several times a second, so the old bogey of the system thinking a straight line is being pursued when you are driving around a twisty road is not a real problem. In the old days - the 'seventies - the original Satnav system, Transit, could give very interesting average s...

Mike Fishwick

It is worth doing the GPS check a few times, on different roads at steady indicated speeds, as GPS signal accuracy can vary a bit, being dependant upon what is going on in the upper atmosphere, and the number of satellites currently visible. The 0.5 mph accuracy often quoted by manufacturers is a 'B...

Mike Fishwick

It seems odd that the TuV require adjustment motors, for when I bought new LHD headlamps on moving to France, they were not fitted with adjustment motors, and never have problems in passing a French Controle Technique test.

So much for EU standardisation!

Mike Fishwick

The BMW paste is very good, being simiar to Meguiars Scratch-X, the particles getting smaller as it is used, but I have never heard of any paste which will remove scratch marks - prevention is the only way. BMW sell a hood blanket, but being made of thick felt it occupies a load of boot space when n...

Mike Fishwick

40 mph at 2000 rpm works out at 20 mph/1000 rpm, which gives 100 mph at 5000 rpm in fourth gear. This is the same as my 2.8, so sounds normal. As you can see, the Z3 is quite low geared - probably to please the Americans, who desire the social kudos of having a five-speed manual box, but want to sta...

Mike Fishwick

I had assumed that anyone who seems as serious as you seemed to be about a 2 litre Z3 would have had a good poke around one and have a decent knowledge of the basics, rather than just kicking tyres via the internet - I was wrong again! The 2 litre engine is the M52TU B20, the 'TU' bit denoting a Tec...

Mike Fishwick

While you can buy a filter kit for an M3 or 1.9 engine with the small 'O' ring, you do not get any when buying a filter kit for the non-M six cylinder engines. I once order a load of the small rings from my local dealer, and after explaining tothe parts man what they were for he told me that they we...

Mike Fishwick

If you did manage to extract 170 bhp or more from your 2 litre engine, there are other things to consider - the gearbox is different from 2.8 litre upwards - a ZF unit as used on the M3, front brakes are vented, clutch, radiator,expansion tank, and exhaust system are different, and so on. Then there...

Mike Fishwick

Ah - so you did not just dump the 6.5 litres intothe engine, which is what it originally sounded like, but thought the engine had required 6.75 litres to reach the 'Max' mark. If you were measuring the oil by means of the markings on the oil container, then it is probable that you have put 6.5 litre...

Mike Fishwick

How can you fill the filter housing? As soon as you partially unscrew the cover the 'stick' on the inside of the cover lifts, and opens a gallery to drain the oil back into the sump, making filter changing a fairly clean job, and getting ride of the oil in the filter housing too. Always put about 6 ...

Mike Fishwick

If your battery is flat, a 1 watt charger will take for ever to do anything - buy a decent mains automatic charger such as a Gunsons unit, which will put about 6 amps (about 70 watts) into the battery. It will cost about £50, but you will save more than that in terms of battery life. http://i143.pho...

Mike Fishwick

The 2 litre engine is not easily made to produce more power, the inlet manifold being able to feed a 2.8 (just). The only cheap increase would be maybe 7 bhp from a good remap, which will give maybe another 10 lb-ft in the mid range. The only other avenues would be Shrick camshafts at about £1200 pl...

Mike Fishwick

Although the current FK-453 is although excellent in normal conditions including low temperatures, they would be useless in snow due to their circumferenial grooves without any lateral grooves - a typical modern low-noise tyre. If you want a tyre which works well in all conditons look at an all-seas...

Mike Fishwick

I'll put it in this site, with pictures - this winter

Mike Fishwick

In spite of their reputation as hot-blooded latins, I find the French to be quite laid-back about driving, and get quite apprehensive before a trip to the UK - agression starts when leaving the ferry at Dover - people seem to think that they HAVE to get to the customs hall before anyone else!

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