g8jka - 2.8 Roadster Progress Journal

[andyglym]

Now in winter mode, hardtop and winter wheels / tyres on.

View attachment 93227

Lambda error keeps popping up, but chasing a cold idle problem at the moment. Will detail this in another thread.

There's a few jobs to do over the winter, DRL's have given in apart from 1. I bought a different set after breaking some of the first lot and they must be a different type as all have failed, the one that is still working is an original so I need to get some more from this seller if I can find them again. The doorcard insert has come loose on the passenger side and one of the door tweeters has fallen off on the drivers side. My headlights also need taking off an sealing better as the don't like damp weather and steam up. And I've still got a very annoying intermittent whining noise coming from the rear drivers side.

I have changed the reverse light bulbs for some LED ones and they are extremely bright. I tried them in the tail, fog and brake lights but the originals were actually brighter, I will probably do all the indicators at some stage.

I'll be doing an oil service soon and changing the filter housing gasket along with the 2 all important small O rings that fit on the bottom of the filter housing. Does anybody actually change these though?! As in Mike Fishwick's article on doing an oil change he stresses that they are a vital part of the process for all cars at every oil change. Funny thing is I ordered some from BMW and they didn't have any in stock. They are listed on a load of cars and if they should be changed every time then BMW mustn't be doing their services correctly if they don't have them readily available on the shelf? I've never changed them in the past on any of my BMW's and never had any problems. Does anyone change these at every service?

Looks great with the hardtop on, changes the whole look of the car, love it

 

[g8jka]

Looks great with the hardtop on, changes the whole look of the car, love it

I agree, I prefer roof down or hardtop on. I like the look of it with the summer wheels and hardtop on also.

 

[Mint]

Looks great with the hardtop on Dave. I do like the look

Does anyone change these at every service?

I've had the same problem as you getting them from the dealer. I've never changed mine either

 

[t-tony]

One guy at work never changes any of the "O" rings on an oil filter housing even though they're supplied. I can't get my head round this, why, when you're supplied with them do you not fit them. Sometimes a filter comes with all the ones you need and sometimes just the large one for the filter bowl, depends on make.

Tony.

 

[Mint]

I've always changed the large 'o' ring on the bowl as it's supplied. Never had any of the small ones on any of the filters I've bought. I wonder if you'd get them if you bought a filter from BMW themselves?

 

[t-tony]

Mann filters usually give you all the "O" rings and a sump plug washer too.

Tony.

 

[Sean d]

Wasn't even aware of the little O ring, I fitted a Mann filter to the 2.8 and got the large one and the sump plug ring

 

[g8jka]

Every single filter I've ever had has only had the large O ring and a sump washer, never the 2 small ones.

From Mike's oil change how to -

"These rings play a vital role – if they leak, pressurised oil from the filter is permitted to escape into the sump, so by-passing the bearings! A failure of these rings could therefore be disastrous, and repeated use of them is the surest way to wreck your engine. I remember reading of an M Roadster owner whose crankshaft bearings seized to the shaft and spun in their housings, so wrecking the crankcase . . . just after having had the oil and filter changed! If your car has had a filter change, check the invoice to see if these vital components have been replaced, and object strongly if they have not.

Neither the BMW or German & Swedish filter kits include these rings, although the BMW manual (on the TIS CD) states that they must be replaced with each filter. Even BMW dealerships do not however replace them – I checked with my local dealership, who had fitted 12,000 filters in the past year, and ordered 8 (yes, eight!) small ‘O’ rings . . . and those 8 had been ordered for me!"

There's lots all over the web saying these have to be changed, yet the dealership had to order them in so they obviously never change them as part of a service. They are used on cars as late as the 2016 3 series. They can't be that vital! But I'm changing mine just in case

 

[Rha]

Every single filter I've ever had has only had the large O ring and a sump washer, never the 2 small ones.

From Mike's oil change how to -

"These rings play a vital role – if they leak, pressurised oil from the filter is permitted to escape into the sump, so by-passing the bearings! A failure of these rings could therefore be disastrous, and repeated use of them is the surest way to wreck your engine. I remember reading of an M Roadster owner whose crankshaft bearings seized to the shaft and spun in their housings, so wrecking the crankcase . . . just after having had the oil and filter changed! If your car has had a filter change, check the invoice to see if these vital components have been replaced, and object strongly if they have not.

Neither the BMW or German & Swedish filter kits include these rings, although the BMW manual (on the TIS CD) states that they must be replaced with each filter. Even BMW dealerships do not however replace them – I checked with my local dealership, who had fitted 12,000 filters in the past year, and ordered 8 (yes, eight!) small ‘O’ rings . . . and those 8 had been ordered for me!"

There's lots all over the web saying these have to be changed, yet the dealership had to order them in so they obviously never change them as part of a service. They are used on cars as late as the 2016 3 series. They can't be that vital! But I'm changing mine just in case

We learn something every day, thanks Dave.

Roy.

 

[gookah]

From Mike's oil change how to -

"These rings play a vital role – if they leak, pressurised oil from the filter is permitted to escape into the sump, so by-passing the bearings! A failure of these rings could therefore be disastrous, and repeated use of them is the surest way to wreck your engine. I remember reading of an M Roadster owner whose crankshaft bearings seized to the shaft and spun in their housings, so wrecking the crankcase . . . just after having had the oil and filter changed! If your car has had a filter change, check the invoice to see if these vital components have been replaced, and object strongly if they have not.

Neither the BMW or German & Swedish filter kits include these rings, although the BMW manual (on the TIS CD) states that they must be replaced with each filter. Even BMW dealerships do not however replace them – I checked with my local dealership, who had fitted 12,000 filters in the past year, and ordered 8 (yes, eight!) small ‘O’ rings . . . and those 8 had been ordered for me!"

Yes there are millions of BMWs littering the streets with engine seizures, from not changing those two little 'o' rings.. and his local BMW dealership must have been busy doing 12,000 engine failures afterwards......

Oh wait a moment . perhaps it wasn't even one.....

The M engine has a known problem of spinning the shells, and its not related to 'o' rings
I do check mine, but have never found that they even looked like they needed changing.



"I checked with my local dealership, who had fitted 12,000 filters in the past year, and ordered 8 (yes, eight!) small ‘O’ rings . . . and those 8 had been ordered for me!"
And that statement sums up everything about this 'expert fact'
What a complete and utter load of b*******s.

 

[t-tony]

I wouldn't worry if I didn't get them with a filter, IF it was imperitive that they be changed filter suppliers would supply them. My point was that if they're supplied I would fit them, no sense in not doing as I see it.
"O" rings definitely harden with age and you won't know by looking at them if they have hardened until you try to remove them and they break into pieces.

Tony.

 

[g8jka]

I always fit the ones that come with the filter, never had the 2 small ones come with one though. I am going to change them because I have a different cap on mine that can house temperature sensors and the O rings aren't great.

 

[g8jka]

So a few things have been done over the winter. Oil and filter change plus the oil filter housing gasket seal replaced, didn't really need to change the seal as it wasn't leaking just a bit flat but it's not a hard job and keeps it nice and fresh. The small 'O' rings on the stem of the housing were also changed.

My exhaust decided to crack and the back box was wobbling all over the place, don't think it was ever welded great by the guy who did it and it had to be patched up before. This time was worse but @gookah welded it up so it's now secure and not blowing.

Changed the DRL's again so they are now all working and sealed the backs so no water can get in. The lambda error kept coming back, it was on bank one, pre cat and I got a genuine second hand one for a tenner. Was a bit fidly to change but has cured the error code. I thought I'd found the dodgy idle problem by cleaning the spark plugs but it has returned, cleared again for now by resetting the adaptations in INPA.

Still a few jobs to do what I just couldn't be bothered over the winter. The summer wheels are back on and the hardtop off. I had to get the rear tyres roatated as they have worn excessively on the inners after only one summers use. And I've had new tyres upfront. I went for some cheap 'Roadstone Eurovis' at £86 a pair. They are rated A wet and B fuel and so far I'm impressed. Took the rimblades off and reapplied them with new tape so I didn't have to fork out another 20 quid for a new set

Been to a couple of shows and meets, a recent one at Weston Park on Easter Monday.

Plus the Shropshire cruise with a pit stop at The Ponderosa

The headlights started to look a bit hazy again as I never sealed them with anything apart from some wax so I polished them up again a few weeks ago and sealed with a cheap headlight restore kit I picked up in Aldi. Don't know if it will last or not.

Back in December some idiot reversed into the front bumper and smashed the sidelight and damaged the bumper and drove off. Eventually I tracked him down and got some money from him for the damage. I was going to get the bumper repainted at some point anyway and had been saving for a while for a couple of other panels to replace and paint. In the winter I bought 2 new sills from BMW and 2 aftermarket front wings. The rear wings also needed work so I was planning to replace them with the old ones of the car (they were replaced due to some scuffs but the replacements have since gone rusty).

Getting the front bumper, both front and rear wings plus sills provided me with problem number 1.
Do I just get these panels repainted and hope for a good colour match? Do I get the whole of both sides painted? Or do I get the lot painted?

But then I started wondering and along came problem number 2.
Do I put it all back to standard, sell it, sell the parts I have and use this money along with what I saved for paint towards a 3.0 Z4? I've been looking at them for a while and wouldn't mind something a little newer.

Problem one was fairly straight forward and that the whole lot would get painted as I'd never be happy with having some fresh paint and some not for the sake of several hundred quid more than what I'd saved. It's best to get it all done whilst I can. Then problem number 2, a poll decided you all voted massively in favour of painting the Z3 instead of buying a Z4. So that's the way this is going. I think it's the right decision with how things are planning out over the next few years with priorities changing and getting our first home. There won't be as much time and definitely not enough funds to start modding a Z4.

Work has started on getting the Z3 ready as it goes in to be painted this Saturday.

TBC!!!

 

[t-tony]

Good man. Keep us posted Dave.

Tony.

 

[Rha]

Still looking like a nice Z3 Dave respray or not. A Z4 would be a natural progression in my book but then it would be having gone down that road. Allways regret selling the Z3 but never regret buying the Z4.


Roy .

 

[g8jka]

I've taken the sills off to see how well the rust treatment I did 3 years ago was holding up on the inner sills. They have done well and are still rock solid. I removed any new corrosion I could and treated with good old kurust and a coat of tetroseal again as it's done a decent job over since they were done before.

And a nice coat of sealant, should be good for another few years.

I went a step further this time as well and also treated the inside of the inner sills with a coat of Dynax S50. Really easy to work with and seems good stuff. 1 can did both sills, could have maybe used 2 but not sure if it's overkill as they have last almost 20 years as they are.

View attachment 102714

Haven't taken any other panels off yet to see what lurks underneath.

 

[Rha]

Way to go Dave, remember in the old days running RS2000 Mk1 Escort up a lorry ramp to plaster the underneath with waxoil, that ramp was so high I could nearly stand up at the front. We used to steam clean it then after a couple of dry days re under seal and wax oil it, that was forty+ years ago. That car was stolen by a ringing gang from Essex after following me around for a couple of days, according to the police.These days the underside are treated so well that there’s no real need to worry about the dreaded tin worm unless it’s a very long term keep. With all that work you really need an agreed value insurance, as I barely got back what I paid and no way near what is was worth.


Roy.

 

[g8jka]

Way to go Dave, remember in the old days running RS2000 Mk1 Escort up a lorry ramp to plaster the underneath with waxoil, that ramp was so high I could nearly stand up at the front. We used to steam clean it then after a couple of dry days re under seal and wax oil it, that was forty+ years ago. That car was stolen by a ringing gang from Essex after following me around for a couple of days, according to the police.These days the underside are treated so well that there’s no real need to worry about the dreaded tin worm unless it’s a very long term keep. With all that work you really need an agreed value insurance, as I barely got back what I paid and no way near what is was worth.


Roy.

I wouldn't be suprised if I'm slower down the strip at Santa Pod this year with all that underseal. My Dad might even have a chance of getting somewhere near.

I have thought about agreed valuation, will look into it. I know they are well protected underneath now, it's just another thing I fancied doing and it won't do any harm keeping it nice. I enjoy doing this sort of thing and making stuff look nice and fresh. We can never stop tinkering

 

[billz]

Think you are right going for the full spray in stead of just certain panels. I had our Z4 front end done 2 years ago and have never been happy with the front end as not enough red fleck in the paint compared to the rest of the car

 

[g8jka]

Think you are right going for the full spray in stead of just certain panels. I had our Z4 front end done 2 years ago and have never been happy with the front end as not enough red fleck in the paint compared to the rest of the car

I've had bumpers done in the past and been happy but having 3/4 panels done at a time will be different. I don't think I'd be happy with the other panels if I just had done what was needed. They would not be as fresh and possibly not be a perfect colour match like you mention. I always said when I bought the car one day I may get it resprayed, my brother had his old E36 done and after seeing that I've wanted mine done even more. I've got through buying 2nd hand panels and touching up here and there in the past so now is the time to treat it. I just hope it's everything I'm expecting and that it doesn't fail the MOT as it's due next month after spending all this money