Hey Paul, I was only thinking the other day that you hadn't posted for a bit. Glad to hear you well and working on Ratty. Take care up there in the winter land.
Tony.
Tony.
A Highland Z3 1.9 roadster
- Thread starter Pls
- Start date
Thanks Tony. Definitely getting a bit chilly, but nothing which isn't sorted out with a big diesel spacd heater during work and a dram afterwards!
Cheers
Paul
Cheers
Paul
Another chilly day at work on Ratty, although it wasn't actually below freezing!
But very satisfactory. The nearside outer tie rod adjusting lock nut and collar eventually came free, with the application of heat. But trying to free the actual threaded rod took more effort.
Eventually we resorted to cutting it off with an angle grinder. First we extended the two longitudinal slits in the outer tie rod past the end of the threaded end of the inner tie rod within. We took care and did both cuts without touching the threads on the rod.
I decided to grip the arm with a Mole wrench after taking that picture, while I still had my fingers! Then we cut off the outer tie rod, leaving the two long slits available for prying apart off the rusty threaded rod within, till eventually the two remaining bits broke free of the rust and fell off.
Not the most elegant engineering practice, but I didn't want to spend out on complete tie rods when the inner joints showed no wear at all.
Fitting the new outer tie rods went easily; before removal/ destruction I measured their predecessors from ball joint pin to the inner end of adjuster thread on the inner tie rod (24.5cm) as we couldn't really count the number of turns! A jack under each ball joint stopped the pins turning on doing them up. I'll do the tracking roughly with string, and get it adjusted accurately in due course.
Not having the wherewithal to remove the outer ball joint from the suspension arm or press in a new one, I splashed out and got a whole new arm with both ball joints, plus a lollipop bush. The offside will get done in due course, but isn't as worn at the moment.
Then the new suspension arm practically fell into place, after which I installed the new front discs and pads, and here it all is:
I got all the parts from Highland Motor Parts in Inverness, all off the shelf and at reasonable prices, which was pleasing.
We then undid the ends of the corroded nearside front brake pipe. Tomorrow Ray is aiming to make up a replacement copper pipe, which has a fairly short run to the ABS hydro unit just inside the engine compartment.
Cheers
Paul
But very satisfactory. The nearside outer tie rod adjusting lock nut and collar eventually came free, with the application of heat. But trying to free the actual threaded rod took more effort.
Eventually we resorted to cutting it off with an angle grinder. First we extended the two longitudinal slits in the outer tie rod past the end of the threaded end of the inner tie rod within. We took care and did both cuts without touching the threads on the rod.
I decided to grip the arm with a Mole wrench after taking that picture, while I still had my fingers! Then we cut off the outer tie rod, leaving the two long slits available for prying apart off the rusty threaded rod within, till eventually the two remaining bits broke free of the rust and fell off.
Not the most elegant engineering practice, but I didn't want to spend out on complete tie rods when the inner joints showed no wear at all.
Fitting the new outer tie rods went easily; before removal/ destruction I measured their predecessors from ball joint pin to the inner end of adjuster thread on the inner tie rod (24.5cm) as we couldn't really count the number of turns! A jack under each ball joint stopped the pins turning on doing them up. I'll do the tracking roughly with string, and get it adjusted accurately in due course.
Not having the wherewithal to remove the outer ball joint from the suspension arm or press in a new one, I splashed out and got a whole new arm with both ball joints, plus a lollipop bush. The offside will get done in due course, but isn't as worn at the moment.
Then the new suspension arm practically fell into place, after which I installed the new front discs and pads, and here it all is:
I got all the parts from Highland Motor Parts in Inverness, all off the shelf and at reasonable prices, which was pleasing.
We then undid the ends of the corroded nearside front brake pipe. Tomorrow Ray is aiming to make up a replacement copper pipe, which has a fairly short run to the ABS hydro unit just inside the engine compartment.
Cheers
Paul
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Good work in not so inviting conditions Paul.
Tony.
Tony.
Thanks Tony. It's been very satisfying to get stuck in and sort it all out, even better to get it done with someone else's help and advice. And hydraulic lift! And they say that every cloud has a silver lining - well with the Covid restrictions on travel etc, three family members chose to send me money for Christmas, which has nearly paid for all the parts!
The other thing to work on is exhaust emissions. Today while starting to investigate the air inlet system, I found that there is a half inch longitudinal split in the end of the air hose that attaches half way along the big ridged intake rubber boot, and which seems to be a push fit: and it was nearly off. So, as that's downstream from the maf sensor, fixing that might improve the emissions readings. We shall see.
Cheers
Paul
The other thing to work on is exhaust emissions. Today while starting to investigate the air inlet system, I found that there is a half inch longitudinal split in the end of the air hose that attaches half way along the big ridged intake rubber boot, and which seems to be a push fit: and it was nearly off. So, as that's downstream from the maf sensor, fixing that might improve the emissions readings. We shall see.
Cheers
Paul
It surely should help the emissions Paul..
Tony.
Tony.
Nice to see an update Paul. Since the lad has been stationed near St Andrews we’ve only managed one trip up thanks to Covid. Hopefully next year will be better for distillery tours
New discs always look so nice!
Anyway, continuing with the work on Ratty, I went round with a list of torque settings and tightened all the nuts and bolts that had been off. I don't have a torque wrench extension thingy for going on to nuts inaccessible to a socket, so I estimated them! We had the usual discussion about 'wet' and 'dry' threads, and the effect of corrosion on torque readings.
Then the corroded brake pipe was removed. The length going to the ABS unit inside the engine compartment was fine, so we cut it off where it emerged under the wheel arch. Measuring the bit to be replaced, Ray cut a length of copper brake pipe and used an ancient flaring tool to shape the ends and fit a male and a female connector.
He then did the same on the end of the original steel pipe, which was harder to flare. The new length of pipe was then fitted, between the front body mounting bracket and the new connector. The flexible brake hose appears in good condition, so that was retained.
We then bled the brake system, and will leave refitting the plastic wheel arch liner ends a few days so as to enable leak checking.
On the air intake side of things, this is the hose with a split:
I've tried to identify it on RealOEM without success - anybody got any ideas on a part number or description? I guess it's a crankcase breather or it may go to the fuel injection unit, I'm not sure. Anyway, I may be able to use one of the new fangled super rubber adhesives to mend it, as the rubber seems in quite good nick, followed by a cable tie, but I may need to buy a new one (shock horror!), so I'd appreciate anyone's ideas.
Lastly today, I went and had two new Hankook tyres fitted on the front wheels, the tracking on which was out and had worn the tyres down on the inner edge.
That's the two older rear UniRoyal tyres on top and the new Hankooks below.
So that's the mechanical work done, just the emissions to fix.
Cheers
Paul
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- Joined
- Nov 25, 2012
- Points
- 178
- Location
- Newport, South Wales,UK
- Model of Z
- Z3 M43 1.8 (1999) and Z4 E85 2.5 (2003)
Just looked on oem, this is whats on thge 1.9 M43 engine
Replace the hose don't bodge it with glue it won't last. Replacing it may well fix your fuel trims these engines need a fully sealed vaccum system any leaks from holes or splits in the hoses will cause problems.
I've just found these threads relating to the same split air hose:
zroadster.org
zroadster.org
The same part number too: 13411433923
There's one on eBay for £14, but next week I shall see what Sopers of Lincoln and Harry Fairburn BMW Inverness have to say.
Cheers
Paul
air pipe split
hi, just found i have a split pipe on my 1997 z3 1.9. it goes on the rubber bellows on the throttle housing and goes under the manifold somewhere. could anybody give me a part number or a link to ebay. have found pipes on ebay but not sure if its the right one. have borrowed this picture i found...
zroadster.org
Split Hose / Pipe
Hi could anyone tell me what this hose / pipe is for and is a pig to replace? Would it or should it be causing any issues? many thanks
zroadster.org
The same part number too: 13411433923
There's one on eBay for £14, but next week I shall see what Sopers of Lincoln and Harry Fairburn BMW Inverness have to say.
Cheers
Paul
This morning, no leaks were apparent from the new brake pipe connections, so I refitted the plastic trim at the rear of the wheel arch.
Having swatted up on the thread and on YouTube, I then assembled a measuring tape, some gaffer tape (black to coordinate with Ratty's paintwork), and the roll of kitchen string from the larder, and embarked on adjusting the front wheel alignment. I had fitted the new tie rod ends to the same length as the old ones. So having driven it around the yard and settled the suspension down and left the steering wheel central, I measured across the treads front and back of the new front tyres, and the tracking was significantly out, explaining the uneven wear on the front tyres.
After a while with a 15/16" spanner (?) on the locknuts, I adjusted the inner tie rod ends with a Mole wrench and managed to end up with about 1/16" toe-in, with the steering wheel central. The nearside had needed undoing several turns, so after a run round the yard to check that the car ran straight with the steering wheel central, I put it back on the ramp and whipped the outer tie rod end off, to check how many turns of thread there were left for it to grip on to. But I needn't have worried, it still had a good inch of thread in the outer end, so I reinstalled it, torqued down the ball joint again and locked the tie rod adjustment on both sides.
I then glued the split air hose. I had some of the adhesive left from installing a two part 'split boot kit' for the CV joint rubber boots on the Volvo (which seem to be doing fine, and preclude the need to disassemble the half shaft etc). It is a black Cyanoacrylate superglue, designed for (synthetic?) rubber, and seems to have stuck the split hose ok. I'll leave it 24 hours to cure thoroughly, then put a turn or two of self-amalgamating tape on, followed by a Jubilee or similar clip. If that doesn't last, I now know the part number for a new one!
Cheers
Paul
Having swatted up on the thread and on YouTube, I then assembled a measuring tape, some gaffer tape (black to coordinate with Ratty's paintwork), and the roll of kitchen string from the larder, and embarked on adjusting the front wheel alignment. I had fitted the new tie rod ends to the same length as the old ones. So having driven it around the yard and settled the suspension down and left the steering wheel central, I measured across the treads front and back of the new front tyres, and the tracking was significantly out, explaining the uneven wear on the front tyres.
After a while with a 15/16" spanner (?) on the locknuts, I adjusted the inner tie rod ends with a Mole wrench and managed to end up with about 1/16" toe-in, with the steering wheel central. The nearside had needed undoing several turns, so after a run round the yard to check that the car ran straight with the steering wheel central, I put it back on the ramp and whipped the outer tie rod end off, to check how many turns of thread there were left for it to grip on to. But I needn't have worried, it still had a good inch of thread in the outer end, so I reinstalled it, torqued down the ball joint again and locked the tie rod adjustment on both sides.
I then glued the split air hose. I had some of the adhesive left from installing a two part 'split boot kit' for the CV joint rubber boots on the Volvo (which seem to be doing fine, and preclude the need to disassemble the half shaft etc). It is a black Cyanoacrylate superglue, designed for (synthetic?) rubber, and seems to have stuck the split hose ok. I'll leave it 24 hours to cure thoroughly, then put a turn or two of self-amalgamating tape on, followed by a Jubilee or similar clip. If that doesn't last, I now know the part number for a new one!
Cheers
Paul
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After a few days off, today I finished the work that I had intended to do. Having bled the brakes after installing the replacement piece of brake pipe, we were left with an intermittent brake warning light on the dash. We checked all the various sensor wires etc, checked the OBD2 codes etc, but it stayed on. The plastic part on the end of the brake pad wear sensor was damaged, and wouldn't hold it into the new pad, so the wire was just taped up out of the way. However that shouldn't have caused a problem. It was at that point that I looked up the list of things that the warning light might indicate. One of which was, wait for it, low brake fluid level in the reservoir! D'oh!
Never mind, got there in the end! Anyway, the nice thing was that the OBD2 diagnostics, reading the datastream with my C110 code reader, showed that the additive mixture reduced from 3.5ms to 2.0ms and the multiplacative mixture remained steady at 4.19%; as far as I can make out, these values are within normal ranges, so there appears to be no vacuum leak, and the repair to the split air hose had been successful. I had followed up the Cyanoacrylate glue repair with a binding of self amalgamating tape and a jubilee clip.
Lets hope that will last a while. And that it will help get the emissions ok. Meanwhile, no other trouble codes were reported either, so that's all good.
So Ratty is now all tucked up in the garage and will be off to get re-tested in due course.
Cheers
Paul
Never mind, got there in the end! Anyway, the nice thing was that the OBD2 diagnostics, reading the datastream with my C110 code reader, showed that the additive mixture reduced from 3.5ms to 2.0ms and the multiplacative mixture remained steady at 4.19%; as far as I can make out, these values are within normal ranges, so there appears to be no vacuum leak, and the repair to the split air hose had been successful. I had followed up the Cyanoacrylate glue repair with a binding of self amalgamating tape and a jubilee clip.
Lets hope that will last a while. And that it will help get the emissions ok. Meanwhile, no other trouble codes were reported either, so that's all good.
So Ratty is now all tucked up in the garage and will be off to get re-tested in due course.
Cheers
Paul
View from the garage door - a lovely sunny day, but
Minus 5.7°C. I'm glad I don't have to work inside the garage today! I may even postpone the wash and polish I'd promised Ratty when the repair work was done!
Cheers
Paul
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I wouldn’t blame you Paul (neither would Ratty), another day, or two, won’t matter.
Tony.
Tony.
The weather on Tuesday was cold but bright, so I took the opportunity to clean Ratty, removing all the greasy handprints from the various mechanical jobs, and then to give it a bit of a polish.
The roads have been very icy around us, and the gritter lorries don't always get round, as we're a bit off the beaten track. And with food being delivered and other things by the postie, there's not really anywhere desperate, sorry 'essential', to go at the moment!
Cheers
Paul
The roads have been very icy around us, and the gritter lorries don't always get round, as we're a bit off the beaten track. And with food being delivered and other things by the postie, there's not really anywhere desperate, sorry 'essential', to go at the moment!
Cheers
Paul
Having sorted all the mechanical items required by the MOT in November, Ratty has been hibernating since the beginning of January. But with the spring here, it was time to bite the bullet and put the car in for a test. I wasn't sure that the small hose split was the sole cause of the emissions problem. And so it turned out - CO levels were too high at idle.
My first thought was to check for unmetered air leaks on the inlet side, but the diagnostic tool gave results for both additive and multiclative mixture adaptations that I was told were as good as I could expect by my local independent BMW guru. And a test with flammable brake cleaner aerosol spray around all the hoses and manifold gaskets produced no telltale rises in idle speed.
So I decided to replace the catalytic converter, which was an old after market one, at least to rule that out if nothing else.
It was only an after market one though, at £115. I gather that while these might not last anywhere as long as a decent BMW original, they should be effective for a year or two. So I put the car back in for a retest, but the new cat made no difference. At all. So there's a lesson. But while I can't take it back for a refund, at least I was able to rule it out as the cause of the problem.
It was suggested that its always a good idea to replace the O2 lamda sensor as well, so a replacement was quickly found - not a new one, but borrowed from another Z3. On retest, that was even worse! Ray's experience had shown that it was easier to take the cat off the car and put it in a vice to remove the sensor. Anyway, I fitted a new aftermarket one (£50), and hey presto, the CO level came down to within MOT test limits, and Ratty has got a new MOT! One website we found suggested that the O2 sensors are best replaced every 30,000 miles. So the lesson for me was, to reduce CO emission levels, try replacing the O2 sensor before replacing the cat!
I'm very lucky to have a local garage prepared to keep retesting the emissions, without charging anything. And of course to have Ray's help and resources to facilitate sorting the car out - thanks!
So, I'm looking forward to another year's Zedding after a bit of pause over the worst of the winter. Let's hope that there will be somewhere to go and visit soon!
Cheers
Paul
My first thought was to check for unmetered air leaks on the inlet side, but the diagnostic tool gave results for both additive and multiclative mixture adaptations that I was told were as good as I could expect by my local independent BMW guru. And a test with flammable brake cleaner aerosol spray around all the hoses and manifold gaskets produced no telltale rises in idle speed.
So I decided to replace the catalytic converter, which was an old after market one, at least to rule that out if nothing else.
It was only an after market one though, at £115. I gather that while these might not last anywhere as long as a decent BMW original, they should be effective for a year or two. So I put the car back in for a retest, but the new cat made no difference. At all. So there's a lesson. But while I can't take it back for a refund, at least I was able to rule it out as the cause of the problem.
It was suggested that its always a good idea to replace the O2 lamda sensor as well, so a replacement was quickly found - not a new one, but borrowed from another Z3. On retest, that was even worse! Ray's experience had shown that it was easier to take the cat off the car and put it in a vice to remove the sensor. Anyway, I fitted a new aftermarket one (£50), and hey presto, the CO level came down to within MOT test limits, and Ratty has got a new MOT! One website we found suggested that the O2 sensors are best replaced every 30,000 miles. So the lesson for me was, to reduce CO emission levels, try replacing the O2 sensor before replacing the cat!
I'm very lucky to have a local garage prepared to keep retesting the emissions, without charging anything. And of course to have Ray's help and resources to facilitate sorting the car out - thanks!
So, I'm looking forward to another year's Zedding after a bit of pause over the worst of the winter. Let's hope that there will be somewhere to go and visit soon!
Cheers
Paul
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Hi Paul, glad you got that out of the way. As you say aftermarket Cats usually have a couple of years in them O2 sensor at £50 was reasonable and probably good for 2 years as well.
Tony.
Tony.
So, at last, Ratty got a good polish and we set off on a beautiful day of hood-down driving in the sunshine, stopping for good coffee, bacon and a long walk on the shore by the sparkling sea, followed by excellent bacon sandwiches on sourdough. It was a very good start to my third year of Z3 motoring!
Cheers
Paul
It's been great to get out on the road again, even if it's meant dodging snowfalls and hail showers. Today we did some essentials in Dingwall, including getting a much needed haircut which reopened yesterday in Scotland. They're booked up for weeks, but had a cancellation so I was lucky. We then went up to the Neil Gunn Memorial on the top road to Strathpeffer, with a lovely viewpoint, with views across to Knockfarrel vitrified fort from the Iron Age on the hill across the strath, and to the distant mountains of Wester Ross, and the memorial stone to the right on the skyline.
and over towards Culloden moor and the distant Cairngorms to the south,
While the viewpoint car park provided a very pleasant spot to brew up for a cuppa,
On the way home it started snowing again, but wasn't too cold, and like a couple of kids Sara and I just enjoyed speeding through the great big swirling snowflakes as they whipped up and over the car. With the hood down of course! Really uplifting in some dreary times!
Cheers
Paul
and over towards Culloden moor and the distant Cairngorms to the south,
While the viewpoint car park provided a very pleasant spot to brew up for a cuppa,
On the way home it started snowing again, but wasn't too cold, and like a couple of kids Sara and I just enjoyed speeding through the great big swirling snowflakes as they whipped up and over the car. With the hood down of course! Really uplifting in some dreary times!
Cheers
Paul