As is the case with most of the BMW Z3, the heater controls are ‘borrowed’ from the E36 series, but in their new home there is far less space behind them than in the original application. This, coupled with the tight fit of the bulbs in their mountings, makes replacement less than easy.

Back in the days when cars had a separate chassis it was not unusual for the driver to see that the radiator and bonnet were moving relative to the scuttle – the front of the body’s rigid area, on which the windscreen was mounted – as the chassis flexed. This phenomenon was known as ‘Scuttle Shake,’ and largely passed away with the advent of monocoque body structures.

Brake bleeding is one of the most cost-effective maintenance tasks you can perform, an annual operation removing most of the impurities which accumulate in the lowest parts of the system. These include moisture, rubber particles worn off the piston seals, and metallic debris from cylinder bores. Moisture is absorbed through the rubber hoses and into the hygroscopic brake fluid, reducing its boiling point, and as the “wet” fluid is denser than when “dry” it will gradually find its way down and i

Here's my step by step guide to fitting BMW Z3 parking brake cables. You can see in the pictures that both of the outer sheathes of the cables had completely split in half. Whilst this isn't a reason to fail the M.O.T. it is sensible to change them as water ingress can cause them to fail.

After reading various posts regarding the retrofit of cruise control to the various models of Zeds I decided to give cruise control a go on my car. My car is a 2002 M54 3.0i build date nov 2001 with a fly by wire throttle. As far as I am aware this guide is applicable to all fly by wire throttle...

The Z3 must be the most-maligned sports car ever built, most of the motoring press and television presenters pouring scorn on it, particularly for its use of ‘old fashioned’ semi-trailing arm rear suspension from the E36 Compact. The same people, of course, are full of hysterical praise for the E30 M3, which has the same suspension, but which is set up for a more specialised task.

I fitted my fitting kit and hardtop a while ago now – but it wasn’t really perfect (I was about 95% happy with it).. It was weather tight – but I was getting a slight clunk from the rear when going over bad roads/potholes etc and a very slight wind noise. I always said I’d get round to sorting it out once and for all once time and weather permitted! and low and behold it was actually sunny here today for a change!!

Article reproduced with the kind permission of Mike Fishwick A BMW Z3 Buyers Guide. This article gives out general information on what to look for when choosing your BMW Z3.

I am always amazed by the number of BMW cars on which the body work is regularly treated to expensive polishes, yet the engine bay and underside is totally neglected. Cleaning this area is not difficult, and even on a neglected car it can be recovered with regular attention. A morning’s work every week for a month will make a dramatic change. Do not worry about getting water on the engine and its ancilliaries – just use an open hose pipe and common sense.

This article will show you how to manually move your seats forwards if the back/forwards motor has failed. It's all too common that either the seat motor fails, or that the seat jams in the rails because it has been adjusted too far back. Using this procedure you can move the seat forwards...

Most BMW Z3 have a fold line on the plastic rear screen. You can clearly see that it is the second roof spar (arrowed) which rubs against the rear screen causing those awful scratches and a fold line.

How to fix your BMW Z3 Rocking Seats. It’s a common problem that all BMW Z3 owners will suffer from at some stage as our cars get older. The standard seat bushes wear out, and this article details how to change yours for a set of Aceman's World Famous BMW Seat Bushes!

I originally experienced problems with my old BMW Z3 2.8 but did not initially attribute them to the camshaft sensors as the the symptoms were so intermittant. Symptoms including reluctance to start, stalling and low power but these were all occuring fairly infrequent until recently when I could repeat them after restarting the engine whilst it was luke warm.

[B][U]Subject: 3G EWS remote fob programming Background[/U][/B] I have a ’98 1.9 Z3 with the old style `house-brick’ remote and had problems with it not operating. I sought help on the zroadster forums and as is usual, there were lots of useful comments and links to previous...

BMW Z3 Sills are prone to rusting from the inside outwards, so this article shows you how to remove them and protect the bare metal on the insides.

This article is to give a basic BMW Z3 history. The overnight success of the Mazda MX-5 throughout the USA was probably the deciding factor in BMW’s decision to produce a small sports car. It was decided that as the majority of sales would take place in the USA, the car would be built by the new BMW factory at Spartanburg, South Carolina.

How to fix issues with your BMW Z3 seat belt guides. It’s unfortunately common for the BMW Z3 seat belt guides to snap or break if you are not careful. It’s also quite common for roadster owners to retro fit the M Coupe seats as they are arguably more comfortable (and heated). However the Z3 Coupe seats don’t have a seat belt guide attached to the seat, as this was fixed to the B pillar in the car.

This guide is mainly for those BMW Z3 owners among us whose mirrors are so badly corroded they cant be twisted to access the bolts. Theres no extra work per se but the removal process is somewhat backwards

Many owners regard the presence of a brake pad wear warning lamp as an excuse to ignore the condition of their pads, but the warning is only given when the friction material is worn to 3 mm, when there is a risk that damage to the discs will soon occur, particularly if the owner leaves replacement until the next service.

Even those who keep their cars in top condition often ignore their battery until it dies. This failure is usually regarded with surprise, and accepted as being ‘One of those things,’ but at £60 to £80 a time it is an expensive folly.

Article written by 'Zedonist'. Detailed instructions on how to change your standard BMW Z3 headlights for Angel Eye versions. These particular angel eyes are made by Sonar

Most BMW Z3 Owners have suffered from the seat belt guide snapping at some stage during ownership. I have seen quite a few methods of repairing the BMW Z3 seat belt guides on our cars. Here is mine, not as pretty as some but definitely less expensive.

I received a full set of keys with my BMW Z3 M (x2 remote locking, valet and small plastic wallet key) One of the main remote keys was mint but one was very worn and had the usual degraded rubber buttons typical of this type of key. With my previous BMW Z3 M I had the same issue and purchased a new key off eBay so I decided to do the same.

This the first phase of my overall Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul job. A mission to ensure my BMW Z3 is fully refurbished, This article includes many of the obvious tasks for a car of this age.

The Service Indicator system operates the SI lights, which lose one of five green lights at a time, in response to the amount of fuel used – hard driving and/or cold running uses more fuel – changing to orange (Service due) and red (Service NOW!). The system also operates a two-year timer, which illuminates a clock symbol indicating that the coolant and brake fluid should be replaced.