Topaz Blue Z3 2.8

[Newtricks]

I’ve had the car for a couple of months now and put together quite a list of things to do;
Seats are out and sent for a refurb. - passenger seat motor not working - don’t know if it has simply been pushed too far back in the past, or the motor has a problem - I’ll check when they come back.

Roof pump needed more than the oil topping up (war and peace thread on this else where), but now works properly.

Next on the list is coolant flush, change fan, viscous clutch, water pump, thermostat and housing etc

Needs engine, gearbox and differential oils, oil filter and fuel filter changing. I also have new lambda sensors.

Brake pipes are badly corroded - I’ve bought some Kunifer and new fittings - I found a thread on the forum of this work having been done by another forum member in the past showing how to go about it. I suspect this might be something I find the hardest to do.

There’s some bodywork to sort (front wing and sill) that have minor corrosion.

 

[Paul Rice]

Welcome to the forum
Looks like your well into a refurb
Pictures would be nice

 

[Newtricks]

I should have taken pictures of the interior after taking the seats out as a before and after of cleaning the carpets, and some of the roof hydraulic pump when I had it in bits. I’ll take some during swapping the water pump etc out.

 

[DavidM]

Good work so far!

 

[Nodzed]

 

[Stevo7682]

Here's a couple of tips for when you get round to doing the brake pipes.
I would probably recommend only doing the pipe replacement to one corner at a time and bleed each one as you go.
Zeds don't like getting the fluid emptied causes really difficult to remove air locks in system.
2nd tip while doing each pipe place a bar between pedal and seat to depress the brakes slightly as then after the initial slight fluid loss when you break into the system it will stop the fluid leaking out while you are working.

Stephen.

 

[Newtricks]

Thanks for that, I was pondering on the approach to adopt, and decided to ‘park’ it for the moment and do the cooling system/belts and oils first - particularly after having spent 2 weeks ‘topping up’ the roof pump oil - I was starting to think I’d bitten off more than I could chew - may still discover that!

 

[Newtricks]

I’ve drained the radiator and now need to drain the engine block; as I look from the from of the car, below the manifold, around about level with the water pump (sort of between the 2nd and 3rd cylinders) is a 13mm plug (pic below), visible between the front roll bar and steering rubber boot - is this the coolant plug? I’ve seen other pictures that shows this much closer to the flywheel (sort of between cylinders 5 and 6), supposedly on a Z3 2.8 engine.

 

[Newtricks]

The picture above does show the engine block coolant drain plug; after disappearing down the rabbit hole that is a bonnet safety catch that will not release for several hours (solved by removing the left hand kidney grill and moving manually), I drained the engine block down - this picture below is the coolant from the radiator and block.
I refilled with Wynn’s coolant system flush (375ml bottle) and de-ionised water - I measured the water carefully as I wanted to know how much is left in the engine after draining. I ran the engine up to temperature and left it running with the expansion tank venting screw out for around 10 minutes, topping the expansion tank up with de-ionised water. Total amount of water - marginally less than 7 litres, plus the coolant flush means there must be a little over 2.5 litres left in the engine after draining down. My plan now is to allow it to cool (don’t fancy being on the receiving end of hot coolant), drain down, fill with de-ionised water alone, run up to temperature etc, drain down and replace the water pump, thermostat, fan, viscous clutch etc. I’ll try and take pictures after each drain down to see/show whether the procedure shows an improvement in the colour of the coolant removed.........

 

[Newtricks]

After draining the flush (picture below), Whilst it’s not as filthy as the first drain, it’s not as clean as I would like, I’ve decided that a second fill with Wynn’s and de-ionised water might be prudent - I’ll fill and flush twice after this with de-ionised water only to try and get as much old anti-freeze and the coolant flush out of the system as possible leaving it ready for the final fill with new anti-freeze.
I think a formable funnel would be worthwhile in future as one definitely gets wet draining the block....! Oh, and the bonnet’s stuck again!

 

[Newtricks]

Bonnet sorted (hopefully for good this time). Final flush concluded with pretty clear water coming out this time. I’ll start the strip down of the fan, water pump etc.

 

[Newtricks]

I’ve removed the fan, air box, both belts, alternator belt tensioner (remembering to slacken the water pump pulley bolts before removing the belt), and taken the water pump out (which looks in OK condition) ready to replace it. I’ll also take the thermostat and housing off to replace those. The picture below is prior to taking the water pump out, with 6mm bolts fitted to remove it from the block.

 

[Newtricks]

I’ve changed the air filter, drained engine oil and prepped with new filter ready to refill. I’ve also drained the transmission ahead of a change to Redline 50/50 ATF/MTF to see if this cures the poor centring of the gearstick - whilst not exactly problematic, it wasn’t as smooth as it could be - I wanted to ensure I could get the filler plug out before draining (the drain is well located and easy to get plenty of leverage on) - filler plug was too tight for the leverage I could exert - I resorted to putting a jack under the handle of wrench to move it the first few turns and then it was OK. I’ve also changed the fuel filter. Now on the differential which is a similar story to the transmission - stuck filler plug, but no room (without taking the spare wheel basket off entirely) to use a jack to crack it the first couple of turns. Generously applied WD40, we’ll see what a bit of a soak can achieve tomorrow.......

I still have the Lambda sensors and spark plugs to change. I did notice that a flanged nut is missing from the top of the inlet manifold shroud, which looks to need the injector rail removing to get to - I’ll sort that at the same time as the plugs. Seats are due back tomorrow.

 

[Newtricks]

After leaving the filler and drain plugs soaked in WD40 for 6-8 hours, I tried again to shift them - 450mm length 1/2” breaker bar for the additional leverage - couldn’t shift them - I sat around the lefthand rear wheel and applied steady force with my foot onto the handle of the breaker bar - both have eventually slackened off. Both crush washers were in particularly bad state, so I’m guessing it’s had the diff oil changed at some point (but not had crush washers replaced), and the oil (whilst not brilliant) wasn’t as bad as I had envisaged. I’ll leave the plugs out and let it drip overnight. Whilst the spare wheel is out I’ll give it a spruce up.

 

[Newtricks]

Seats came back on Friday, and look a million times better than they did, sadly the passenger seat still isn’t working (I was hoping it might have been a frozen motor and the moving around would have freed it.....), I need to work out whether it’s got power, whether it’s the motor and/or switch. If anyone needs any upholstery work, I can recommend Stuart from the Leather and Timber Doctor - his website says York, but he’s now located in Stafford.

Refilled coolant and fluids. I have the 4 lambda sensors to change, whilst access to the rear ones is OK, I haven’t worked out how to get to the front ones (from underneath, but visibility and access is a pig), has anyone done this task on a 2.8 and got any advice?

 

[Newtricks]

Found an oil leak from somewhere at the back of the engine, cause seems to be valve cover gasket going hard. I ordered one (and sealing grommets) from BMW after reading some feedback of cheaper pattern parts leaking again after a couple of months. The BMW parts list provides 12 sealing grommets, not the 15 that you need - I think the 12 might relate to cylinder head and the additional 3 are listed under Vanos - anyway, I got the 15 in the end. The nuts holding the existing gasket down were ridiculously tight - the gasket and sealing grommets had all gone hard, 3 didn’t have the metal washer present - I’m hoping this has cured the leak........I also noticed 2 of the coils were arc’ing, on the basis that 2 are on their way out after 20 years I decided to replace all 6 - I used Bremi as they were the OE. Finally moving onto brake pipes - I want to know it passes MOT before I do the paint work.

 

[Newtricks]

I’ve replaced the rear brake pipes - never having done this before I wanted to take the originals off in one piece (I understand it’s easier if you cut the existing pipe off by the union so that you can use a socket rather than spanner’s), the right-hand side was straight forward - plenty of access, the left-hand was a different matter - the in-board union is positioned above exhaust and access is a pig - with patience and swearing it came off in one piece too. I used kunifer and made the pipes up one at a time, using string to work out the length of pipe to cut, I found the kunifer quite soft and easy to bend by hand. Refitting was the reverse of getting them off - left-hand being a similar pig......

I’ve not bled them yet, and will be checking carefully for leaks from the unions - whilst I reckon to have nipped them up tight......

I still have the non-working passenger seat to ponder on and resolve, and the bodywork to sort. I’m just wondering whether to take it in for an MOT before attacking those items.

Does anyone up this way have the ability to read and reset error codes? I’d like to check whether there’s anything flagged that I’m not aware of.

 

[Newtricks]

I bought a C110 and 20 pin adapter cable and ran through the error codes and deleted them - the one I did note (to check again later) was related to the Vanos, as it was supposed to have been serviced the other year (before I bought it). The pre-MOT check found split boots and play in front control arm ball joints (see Thread about how to stop them spinning whilst I got the nuts off - a definite low point so far!), and blocked washer jets (I hadn’t checked them........), apparently it sailed through emissions checks. Now I’ve finally got the control arms off, I’m also replacing the Drop links, and I’ll bleed the brakes again with a pressure version as they still feel a bit ‘odd’, but stop well enough. At some point I’ll get onto the bodywork. Again a shout out to @colb, @t-tony, and @Nodzed (alstublieft!) for advice and encouragement whilst I’m boldly going where I’ve never been before.

 

[t-tony]

There are many members who work their way through issues with these great little cars and it's nice to know that help is readily available. No one knows it all but between us we can cover most of it. My knowledge comes from almost 50 years in the motor trade and I'm still learning.
Good luck with the ongoing experience and above all enjoy the satisfaction of doing it for yourself.

Tony.

 

[Newtricks]

All the help is invaluable, and a definite learning curve for me.