Monday, 20 April 2015

104,500 Miles

Added 1 litre of Castrol Edge 5W30 engine oil as the getting low yellow warning light came on.

Saturday, 18 April 2015

104,095 Miles

Calipers obviously sticking so bought 2x new Pagid calipers from EuroCarParts and replced them today.

Remarkably simple job. Wheel off, caliper off, undo brake line union with new caliper close to hand, quickly swap one onto the other, open bleed valve and let brake fluid bleed through and fill new caliper. I had an Easi-Bleed kit to aid with this, but gravity would also work.

Tuesday, 7 April 2015

104,000 Miles

Car is now doing what it did before...when going around a left hand bend (before it was right hand bend) the traction control flickers on and off, causing loss of power. Last time it was a new driveshaft/sensor. Great! Can feel it holding back all the time now. Currently I just turn TC off as soon as I start else it's undriveable. And every journey it gives up and flicks the lights on the dash. Not ideal but I can drive it like this until I get it sorted.

Having a look underneath, it does appear that the reluctor ring may be making contact with the sensor, as there is a shiny patch on it.

The official BMW solution is to replace the whole driveshaft as it comes with the reluctor ring already installed on it. They would not replace just the ring. But there is no reason to accept this solution. You can buy aftermarket rings and the job is quite straightforward. All one has to do is remove the driveshaft, remove (cut) the old ring off, heat up the new ring and drop it onto the shaft (maybe add a bit of Loctite for good measure) and refit the driveshaft. Seem SO wasteful throwing away a perfectly good driveshaft just becuase the ring as got a bit corroded or something.

So I have bought a replacement reluctor ring (from UK Parts Direct) and sensor (from GSF). Also bought new driveshaft inner bolts and outer nut. Just need to find the time to get round to doing it now.



Also today, brakes were squealing slightly on way home. Closer inspection, front N/S very hot, caliper probably sticking. Took pins out and copper greased, but they came out easy so suspect it's the piston. More joy.