Ruby's Thread

[Levy3Poop]

I forgot to show how the smileys look at night.

Here's how the lows look



Here's how bright they are with the LED lights I installed



The brights are just....holy hell they're bright lol



Don't cut me off, punk!



I realized that my beams were going the wrong way as soon as I left work and saw them on a wall.
I felt SO BAD that I was blinding everyone.
I stopped before turning into my apartment because someone was coming the other way, but they just surrendered about 100 feet before the driveway.
I guess they couldn't see. Sorry!
I hate people who have lights that ruin my night vision, and I was that guy for one drive :(



Go them oriented the right way!
The only down side is that i coudn't really aim them completely because the screws were stuck, and I didn't want to break the plastic bit on them. I'll hit them with break cleaner and give it another go when I have some free time to save everyone's eyes.

[Levy3Poop]

Lindsay and I went to the post office, drove to the top of a parking garage to watch the rain, and the temp gauge was touching red.

I pulled into a covered spot and popped the hood to let it cool down, but I can't see what's causing the high temp. All the hoses looked secure, and I appeared to have enough coolant.

Just a few minutes earlier the heater was working, and after I noticed the temp gauge, realized it wasn't blowing hot air. It seems like it might be the thermostat.

Thoughts?



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[vtechnik]

Typically thermostats fail open not shut from my experience. I would double check the coolant by feeling up the hoses.

[cutsham]

Nothing like "watching the rain" in an e30 on the top of a parking garage eh? ;D

[Levy3Poop]

Nothing like "watching the rain" in an e30 on the top of a parking garage eh? ;D

You know it, baby! ;D

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[Levy3Poop]

Typically thermostats fail open not shut from my experience. I would double check the coolant by feeling up the hoses.

Hmm..what should I be feeling for on the hose? Should I feel the one that goes from the heater core to the radiator, or from the engine to the radiator?

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[Levy3Poop]

Ol' girl was overheating last week.
The heater worked while driving, but as soon as I had to slow for traffic, the heater would cut out and the temps would rise.
After talking about it with the fine folk in the E30 Subreddit's discord, as well as vtechnic here, I figured it might be the thermostat.
Squeezing the upper radiator hose, it had pressure in it, so I don't think it's the water pump, and the lower radiator hose (coming from the heater), had no heat.
Thus, the thermostat might be closed and not opening to the heater.
Time to tackle that along with some other maintenance items!

But first, an odometer documentation. 231k miles and she's still great!
Well, aside from the over heating part :P



First (and easiest) things first!
I'm pretty sure this old shitty alternator ground cable was what gave me electrical problems back in December.
All the electrical problems happened while driving in heavy rain, which by the looks of it, just *might* affect the alternator's ground here.



I got an OEM BMW ground strap from Pelican Parts. I really didn't wanna pay $22 for this much cable, but hilariously long ground cables at AutoZone were $15, so for $7 more, I don't have to modify it or anything.



Beautiful! Though I wish they made it brown to signify it's a ground.



New thermostat vs. old!
I read in the E30 Restoration Bible (book) that they were saying only to use BMW thermostats.
According to Pelican Parts, Wahler is an OEM supplier, so fuck it good enough.
Also, the last thermostat that's been working for who knows how long was the same one I ordered.



I took my Dremel and a steel brush head to clean off the mating surface of the thermostat housing.
Also, I Dremel'd off a bunch of gunked up shit on the hose mounting surface.
That's probably the gel they say you get from not using the $25/gallon BMW coolant.



I Dremel'd out the mating surface on the engine as best as I could get the brush in there.
Also, I had some shop towels bunched up in the holes to keep a bunch of gunk and stuff from getting into the pipes.
When I took the towels out, there was no resistance or chunks missing, so we're all good there.



Gasket + gasket sealant + thermostat housing = FIX MY CAR
Also, I did take a pic of the new thermostat in there but it was a bad picture.



Hot air at idle and it wasn't getting more than 3/8ths on the temp gauge!




I can only upload 9 images per TapaTalk, but Lindsay and I went to get dinner, gas, and go for a little drive.
The heater stopped working again when slowing to a stop, and the temps would start to rise again, but not as bad as before.
When we got home, we sat there parked, and the gauge never got more than a needle width above half, but it did get up to 5/8ths while sitting at red lights.
I'm baffled what it could be, and really frustrated cause I spent 6.5 hours working on it today because I also did an oil change and got my fog lights working.

If anyone knows what the source may be, please let me know. God, I just want Rube to run right again.

[Levy3Poop]

My car has had the yellow fogs since I bought her, but they've never worked.
The only thing I've done in the year + of owning her to try and fix it is to make sure the fog light button is plugged in. It is.

I finally decided to try swapping the bulbs, cause I figured the bulbs were out.
Got these LED H3 bulbs on amazon for something like...$10. I don't remember, but they were cheap, and LED so they fit the bill.



OH! THAT's why they didn't work before!
There were no bulbs in the fog lights at all!
Well that certainly does explain it...



I HAVE FOG LIGHTS WOOOOO!!!



But I don't have a garage.
You should feel lucky if you have a garage.
It really blows ass having to make 6 trips from the apartment to the parking lot to get all my supplies out here.
I'm just grateful my apartment doesn't tell me "The lease says no working on your car in the parking lot!" like some would.
Also, you may notice my IS lip is missing. Well the driveway at Torchy's thought it would be right to claim it from me. Currently trying to sell/trade my US ellipsoids to get another lip.

[zwill23]

I understand the struggles of driveway / parking lot wrenching, a little planning goes a long way! I have a large tool bag that holds a majority of everything I need to get the job done, so I'm not running back and forth grabbing tools... that gets old real quick.

I also made myself a little folding work bench and bought a cheap canopy that has really helped too, especially in the summer months when it's blistering hot. You'll have yourself a garage one day, just keep grindin' till then :up:

[Levy3Poop]

I understand the struggles of driveway / parking lot wrenching, a little planning goes a long way! I have a large tool bag that holds a majority of everything I need to get the job done, so I'm not running back and forth grabbing tools... that gets old real quick.

I also made myself a little folding work bench and bought a cheap canopy that has really helped too, especially in the summer months when it's blistering hot. You'll have yourself a garage one day, just keep grindin' till then :up:

Yeah, your little folding table is sweet! I usually keep my tools in the car just because you never know when you'll be needing them, but I can't really keep my jack, stands, ramps, and oil catch can in the trunk all the time lol. We're going to be moving to Ft Worth this year, and we're looking for a house with a garage

[MR E30 325is]

In regards to your temp issue, how confident are you in the bleed you completed? That could be your culprit there, if enough air is still in the system.

I too worked on cars in a parking lot for years and years. I got pretty good at fitting almost every tool I needed into a single box, which I could get to the car in one trip, even though it was heavy.

The ground was a great 'table' for me.

[Levy3Poop]

In regards to your temp issue, how confident are you in the bleed you completed? That could be your culprit there, if enough air is still in the system.

I too worked on cars in a parking lot for years and years. I got pretty good at fitting almost every tool I needed into a single box, which I could get to the car in one trip, even though it was heavy.

The ground was a great 'table' for me.

I'm not confident in my bleeding ability on the M42 at all. The bleed was the hardest part of the engine swap last year and took a hell of a long time to get complete. Do you have any tips on bleeding the radiator? Just FYI it's the radiator with the attached expansion tank.

Also, the heater works above 1800RPM or so. I read on some Z3 M forums that people were having this issue, and their heater worked above 2k, so I tried it while at a light and sure enough the heat came back and the temp gauge started creeping down.

[Levy3Poop]

I never posted this update, but my IS lip got ripped off when leaving Torchy's here in Waco, so if you see a deal on one let me know! It looks like I neglect the Rube without the IS lip :(

[Levy3Poop]

OH! Also, I caved in a took my car to a radiator shop. They got it all flushed out and Ruby's running great!

[Codym42]

Bummer about the lip! I actually just reinstalled my lip and splitter today. Now I'm worried about ripping it off lol. The BMW lips have gotten much more expensive over the years. Ebay has them for around $50 but I'm not sure how good they are.

Here are some general guidelines on how to bleed the cooling system (for future use). Basically just jack the car up in the front, set heat to full blast and crack open the bleed screw while making sure coolant is topped off. It can be a bitch to get all the air out.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=1654762&postcount=5