March was the 20th birthday of my 1987 325is. It was first sold in March of 87. I'm happy and sad at the same time.
I finally got her running again, after 10 months of sitting in my garage and driveway. The short-term problem was the battery, making it three batteries now in less than as many years. Considering how long it had been since the car had been run, I decided to change the oil. No real problems, except that the placement of the oil filter is awful, and I couldn't swap it out.
Once done, I needed to get her on the road again, to work out the flat spots on the tires and get the brakes functioning. WELL... here's where my list of gripes starts to get long. Just for background... The car was driven to the house in April of last year, and then sat idle until June, when I had to try to move it - but the thing had zero power, not even ACC pwr. I pushed it into the garage about three months later, and hadn't moved it since.
The central locking system doesn't seem to work anymore. This means that I couldn't get the gas cap open to pump some fresh fuel in, as the pin is fully extended/engaged. The driver's lock cylinder is stubborn - as it was before - but the CLS used to work. I can't even hear it TRYING to work now.
I'd been driving with the headlights on the whole 45 minutes I was out. However, at an intersection I decided to turn on the fog lights, so I pushed the button, and the car died. Turned everything off, started her up, waved apologetically to traffic, and sped off. A little while later, I gave someone a little love honk, and when I did, the car felt like I'd jammed on the brakes... and the check engine light illuminated for the duration of the honk. I tried to replicate this several times, and was successful. Every push of the button was like a hearty tap on the brakes, accompanied by the light. WTF? It's almost like the car was wired by the Brits (Lucas, Prince of darkness, would be proud). Bad alternator, perhaps?
My heater fan is intermittent. If I press on the dash cover, I apparently make the connection again, and the fan kicks in. The A/C now no longer works (did in March - not April, though - 2006).
The car is beautiful, inside and out - save the area where the knee bolster used to be under the steering wheel, which I removed and have been unable to re-attach due to the MASS of jumbled wires. I'm starting to wonder now, though, whether it's time to start pulling everything out of the car in preps for its future track use. I was holding out because the car is in such great COSMETIC condition, and I wanted to keep it that way. I was also holding on to holding out because time and money (work and house) have been conspiring to keep me from the track. I'm just thinking I could eliminate some of my problems - like the A/C, and some of the superfluous and unnecessary systems (CLS, OBC, Check Compt), and maybe even cut down on the electrical gremlins by reducing wiring to bare bones. Does it make sense to have a track car in the garage with no chance to use it?
Thoughts anyone?
I finally got her running again, after 10 months of sitting in my garage and driveway. The short-term problem was the battery, making it three batteries now in less than as many years. Considering how long it had been since the car had been run, I decided to change the oil. No real problems, except that the placement of the oil filter is awful, and I couldn't swap it out.
Once done, I needed to get her on the road again, to work out the flat spots on the tires and get the brakes functioning. WELL... here's where my list of gripes starts to get long. Just for background... The car was driven to the house in April of last year, and then sat idle until June, when I had to try to move it - but the thing had zero power, not even ACC pwr. I pushed it into the garage about three months later, and hadn't moved it since.
The central locking system doesn't seem to work anymore. This means that I couldn't get the gas cap open to pump some fresh fuel in, as the pin is fully extended/engaged. The driver's lock cylinder is stubborn - as it was before - but the CLS used to work. I can't even hear it TRYING to work now.
I'd been driving with the headlights on the whole 45 minutes I was out. However, at an intersection I decided to turn on the fog lights, so I pushed the button, and the car died. Turned everything off, started her up, waved apologetically to traffic, and sped off. A little while later, I gave someone a little love honk, and when I did, the car felt like I'd jammed on the brakes... and the check engine light illuminated for the duration of the honk. I tried to replicate this several times, and was successful. Every push of the button was like a hearty tap on the brakes, accompanied by the light. WTF? It's almost like the car was wired by the Brits (Lucas, Prince of darkness, would be proud). Bad alternator, perhaps?
My heater fan is intermittent. If I press on the dash cover, I apparently make the connection again, and the fan kicks in. The A/C now no longer works (did in March - not April, though - 2006).
The car is beautiful, inside and out - save the area where the knee bolster used to be under the steering wheel, which I removed and have been unable to re-attach due to the MASS of jumbled wires. I'm starting to wonder now, though, whether it's time to start pulling everything out of the car in preps for its future track use. I was holding out because the car is in such great COSMETIC condition, and I wanted to keep it that way. I was also holding on to holding out because time and money (work and house) have been conspiring to keep me from the track. I'm just thinking I could eliminate some of my problems - like the A/C, and some of the superfluous and unnecessary systems (CLS, OBC, Check Compt), and maybe even cut down on the electrical gremlins by reducing wiring to bare bones. Does it make sense to have a track car in the garage with no chance to use it?
Thoughts anyone?
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