This is harder than i had hoped

[nedtheviking]

[rant]
Hi everyone. so I've had the car for a month or so, i have to say its been sort of frustrating. i cant enjoy the car because all the little things that are wrong with it are annoying/worrying me. i did stop the leak into my trunk which was exciting, but i had timing chain noise from 2800 to 3500 rpm so i replaced the tensioner, and I'm having trouble telling if the engine sounds any better. It still seems too loud.
 Also, my rear rotors were binding a little so i figured they were warped and I decided to replace the rotor and pads. I did the drivers side, but the pads are so thick they are touching the rotor even when I'm not braking. That pissed me off, i couldn't tell if that was normal or not, but there are not springs to keep the pads off the rotor, which seemed odd. Also, i got my new tires mounted at midas and they used an impact wrench to put the lug nuts in, so i couldn't get the passenger side wheel off to replace that side's rotor and pads :mad: so my brakes still make a zzsssing noise that i can hear inside the cabin, it sucks. do people think as my pads wear down this will go away? should i take a picture to explain what I'm talking about?
[/rant]

   Basically I'm discovering that fixing cars is a lot harder than just replacing parts, which is what i previously assumed based on building radio control cars and fixing lawn mowers. sorry to be a huge newb , but generally if i tell people I'm frustrated about this stuff they are just like "oh, thats too bad. anyway, blah blah blah"
    Hopefully this winter i can get stuff sorted. like the mess under the intake, which is gross and probably hiding a vacuum like, judging by my occasional hard cold starts. OH - and that stupid plastic pipe under the intake manifold was leaking for a while, but then decided to stop for some reason. So i should probably replace that too. okay sorry, rant is actually over now. thanks for providing me an outlet. i hope everyone else's m42 adventures are rather more successfully adventurous than mine

[tjts1]

The joys use old bmw ownership. Hang tight.

[RED IS 91]

Remember that you are working on an 16 year old car, if you have an E30....
Parts wear out ,rubber gets hard and brittle. And let's not forget rust unless your in the sunbelt. These cars needs Love (MAINTENANCE)  and eventually will love you back with an ultimate driving experience.
Unless you bought your car from an enthusiast or for a lot of money then you will need to do some Love  .As far as working on cars ,we are all still learning. Every time I stick my head in there I'm learning something .And of course I say "what the Hell did I buy this thing for " but then when I get it right it's a really rewarding feeling that I fixed it myself.
These little cars are some of the easiest I've ever worked on in my many years.
Hang in there and ask lots of questions ,that's the beauty of our little group.Make sure you have a Bentley Manual to go by.
In the end it's just a piece of machinery made by man .
How's that for a rant???
Good Luck

[strad]

And don't forget that you need *two* Bentley manuals, one for the E30 and one for the E36 (because of that damn M42b18 lol).  And even then those two will still hang you out to dry now and then.  That's where the forums come in.

[gearheadE30]

That plastic pipe that comes out of the front of the block under the intake actually got so brittle that it shattered on my car. My local dealer had the part for $36, and it worked great. If you replace it, notice that it doesn't actually snap into place. Make sure that it is going straight into the hole and tighten the nuts down. I spen a good hour and a half trying to get it to snap in before realizing this...

[kowalski]

That plastic pipe that comes out of the front of the block under the intake actually got so brittle that it shattered on my car. My local dealer had the part for $36, and it worked great. If you replace it, notice that it doesn't actually snap into place. Make sure that it is going straight into the hole and tighten the nuts down. I spen a good hour and a half trying to get it to snap in before realizing this...

good to know. i'm planning to do mine soon, i had a huge coolant line rupture the other day...

[strad]

Yes indeed.  Based on what I saw on mine last week, I'd recommend anyone with an M42 change that pipe before a disaster happens.  One of the nipples sheared clean off while I was pulling the hose off of it, and the half of the pipe fitting that goes into the block stayed in there when I was pulling it out.

[jpod999]

I thought only doing a few of the pads was a bad thing.

[mrferg]

That plastic pipe that comes out of the front of the block under the intake actually got so brittle that it shattered on my car...

Thanks for the heads up about it not snapping in place, I need to replace mine this week. I was replacing my blower motor and decided in my infinite wisdom to get inside the engine bay for leverage in order to finagle it in. I absentmindedly rested my foot on that piece, and off came one of the hoses with part of the plastic assembly still attached. Ahahahaha

[strad]

I thought only doing a few of the pads was a bad thing.

I almost ended up driving off the road because some idiot "professional" mechanic replaced pads on only one side in front.  Amazingly, when we put new pads on both sides the braking issue straightened itself right out :rolleyes:

[mrferg]

Oh don't you love fixing other peoples mistakes? My $400 project 318i was chock full of em. For instance they put the transmission support bracket on backwards. Seriously how dumb do you have to be to do that?!?