Whilst the mirrors were off and still up on axle stands I decided to get the seemingly fairly tatty wheels powder coated - the wheels were actually in good condition - purely the lacquer and not kerbing damage - in a Light Graphite rather than the original Silver. After the wheels came back they look good - prompting the decision to paint the side gills in a similar shade Graphite and refinish the mesh inside the gills in Silver.
I’ve got some Fabsil to treat the roof (when the weather is a lot better, and I can get rid of the algae in advance).
Passenger seat non-movement has proven to be a complete drag; initially I would have put money on the motor being the culprit - rusted and gummed up, having changed the non-functioning motor for an eBay warranted one (BMW ceased the motors in March this year - not that I would have run to the c£250ish it would have cost…..). Irritatingly still a non-mover. Whilst the original motor may have been toast, removing the (very wet - more anon…..) carpet revealed a corroded deteriorated feed wire - finally a functioning passenger seat, and……a heater/fan unit that wouldn’t work - yet another feed (it was working a couple of days previously). Thoroughly sick of the car fighting back every step of the way.
I suspect both the heater/fan and seat feed have both been caused by water ingress into the passenger footwell via the heater grill below the windscreen at the back of the bonnet When the drain holes have become blocked (guessing there’s 20+ years of build up in there), looks like another task to add to the list (which I wish I could say is getting shorter, but it isn’t) - I’d read a different post describing the same symptoms, so I’ll follow that approach first and keep fingers crossed for success.
During a short run out (total of 15 miles) the engine warning light came on (again), I’d replaced both inlet and exhaust cam sensors previously - fairly easy except trying to get the inlet VANOS sensor out (I took the opportunity to replace the VANOS oil seals too). This time the codes were fuelling on both bank 1 and 2 (P1188, P1189), on first starting it’s also not ticking over evenly, but strangely out on the road it runs just fine. More thread searches suggest MAF sensor, and then I came across one mentioning the same issues I have, that turned out to be the Crankcase Breather valve. On the basis the breather valve has probably never been replaced, and a kit including the hoses is a lot less than a new MAF sensor, it seems logical to do that first and bite the bullet on the MAF it it doesn’t resolve the fault codes. One thing I did notice is the engine warning light doesn’t come on until the car is well warmed up and it’s done a dozen or so mile - I have no idea whether that in itself is indicative of the right solution one way or the other. Either way, another job to add onto the list.
