M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => General Topics => Topic started by: strad on November 04, 2007, 05:44:25 PM
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So the M42's going on about a 1500-mile jaunt this Christmas. As preparation, I'm replacing belts and all hoses, including the mess under the intake. water pump will be inspected. It will get an oil change and I will remove the pan (again) to inspect for loose parts. Filters will be checked or replaced. It has a fuel pump about 20k miles old--fuel filter is likely the same age. Timing chain tensioner was replaced about 1k miles ago -- no abnormal noises from the timing chain. Rear end and trans are both current on fluid maintenance. Brakes and clutch hydraulics are recently serviced/ not leaking, etc.
Are there any other gotchas I should be checking for. I'd really prefer not to blow up my motor on the way if at all possible, and of course not to get stranded :) And in case you're wondering, the M52 is not in the stable yet -- that's one of the reasons for the 1500-mile jaunt, to pick it up.
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check your spare, seems obvious, but its very important.
also a good jack, the e30 one blows, especially on gravel.
take wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, wd-50, duct tape, coolant & water, oil , ect
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Yup. Always carry a toolkit on trips -- had to change an AC compressor on our 2000 Mustang on the roadside once, on a road trip! Damn serpentine system, couldn't isolate the compressor.
Spare is crappy, I'll borrow the one from my cabrio. Good call on the coolant and oil too -- usually do carry those items but a reminder is always good.
So my car prep looks okay on paper, huh? Any spare parts/fuses/relays I should bring?
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Bring ear plugs. The noise level with 4.1 gears can wear you out faster than anything.
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^^^lol. I think we'll be fighting over who gets more seat time in the M52 coupe on the way back!
I just decided the water pump needs to be replaced as long as I have the cooling system apart -- ordered it and a Wahler 92-degree thermostat.
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bring a bunch of stand up comedy- awesome on road trips
I sugest
demitri martin
daniel tosh
jim gaffigan
stephan lynch
dane cook
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Lol: missing from this picture is the water pump, thermostat and two small hoses.
It's not often I have this many new parts all waiting for install!
P.S. If I cared about not scratching the paint, I wouldn't have used it as a backdrop. It's hopefully getting resprayed this Christmas, with all but the spraying done by me!
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thats alot of stuff. where did you get all the bent hoses. i need all that stuff as well. please point me in the right direction
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All but one of the water hoses come from bavauto's hose kit. I went with them because the package is convenient.
Pelican is where I got the two four-way hoses and the hoses leading to and from the idle valve, as well as all the gaskets, water pump, thermostat and belts. I got the plastic water pipe from the dealer (it was in stock!).
I should mention that several of the hoses are not necessary if you do what this guy did.
http://www.m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2742
I decided to put it back together the way it came from the factory though.
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AAA card
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An update: Besides losing a few ounces of coolant, 1500 miles went by without a hitch. All that maintenance paid off apparently.
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Nice. My dealer also had the plastic pipe in stock. That's good, because mine grenaded not too long ago. Somehow it managed to break off at 3 of the 4 joints...
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Amazingly you may have over prepared.
I try not to change too much right before a trip, some examples. Replaced a hose on a 535. It looked ratty at the end and I figured it would need it soon anyway. Filled system went on road trip. New hose burst in center, leaving me to AAA to the local autozone, and cobble together a hose. Should have kept that ratty hose, because really it was ratty for the last 30K miles and worked fine.
Had a similar event with a serp belt on a chevy suburban. A fuel pump in a ford probe, and a water pump in a Datsun. Maybe I just have bad luck but I come across these lemon parts more often than you could imagine.
My point being, next time you go on a 1500 mile road trip, install these things a few hundred miles in advance of the trip, then if it blows you will be in your neighborhood, and not on the side of a highway.
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Actually, I finished most of this about three weeks in advance of my trip, for the exact reasons you specified. And believe me, all of it was necessary! Although I had lifetime service records for the car, it was evident that the maintenance items I went after were due or overdue!