Now That’s Thinking with Your Dipstick — DIY Oil Change

Over the weekend I changed the oil in my ‘99 M3. It was actually pretty easy, since I didn’t have to go under the car at all. I used an fluid extractor that I picked up from Griot’s Garage. It siphons the oil out via the dipstick column.

I don’t have access to a lift, and when I first heard about the extractor I checked it out on the boards. Others had used it successfully, so I pulled the trigger. As far as the filter goes, BMW uncharacteristically made that easy if you can believe it. Instead of on the side or below the engine, the filter is right there front and center when you open the hood. So I bought a Mann filter, seven liters of Royal Purple 5×30 — BMWs are very thirsty — and tackled the job Sunday.

Saw a couple of neighbors looking and probably wondering what the??

Takes about 15 minutes to get all the oil out, but after a few pumps it keeps going on it’s own. The new filter looked different than the Mahle filter in there, hard exterior versus soft filter. But slid in easily after removing the canister top with a 13mm wrench. Car took a little over six and a half liters of oil.

I had a little drama when I started the car after I thought I was done — lost some oil out of the canister top. It was because I hadn’t seated the rubber O-ring properly, just removed and fixed easily.

Guess you can tell old vs. new

Will drop off the used oil at my local garage Hollin Hall Automotive, good guys. Next up is changing the manual transmission fluid, although I may wait until spring. Read online the extractor can be used for that too, must find more information…

Fun Little DYI Projects

Last weekend I got a couple of quick, fun DIY projects acccomplished. In my previous wheels post I said I needed to give the M3 some attention, but again these were focused on the 530.

A little BMW esoterica — the 2001 530 was the first class of BMW car that came with the now ubiquitious “angel eyes” lights. They don’t accomplish anything, but they look good. Today’s models have angel eyes that are very bright and white, matching the Xenon/HID (high intensity discharge) headlight color. The earlier models had angel eyes that were noticeably dimmer and more yellow than the headlights.

Of course, there’s a kit you can buy that fixes that right up. EuroDyne sells two LED batteries that replace the stock halogen ones, making a big difference in color tone. It was ridiculously easy to install — you don’t have to mess with the headlights at all, just remove and replace the angel eye bulbs. The results shown below.

Another characteristic of modern BMWs is a propensity to draw battery power when they are not driven every day. In fact, it’s possible to drain a battery by letting the car sit for as few as 10 days without it being driven, unless you hook up a battery tender. My 530 has been a lot worse than my M3 in this department, having totally drained the battery twice, although one time it was due to a malfunctioning fuse.

A place called Griot’s Garage sells a cool little battery disconnect switch. You simply install it between the negative battery terminal and the car. Then when you go on a trip or just can’t drive the car for a length of time, you turn a small wheel and disconnect the battery easily. It’s also an effective theft deterrent, and all you need to do after you re-connect and start the car is reset the clock.

Easy little mods that can make a big difference — the perfect weekend DIY!

Angel Eyes -- Old Color

Angel Eyes -- New Color

Battery Disconnect

Finally the 530 Gets a Facelift

Happy Labor Day to all. It’s an especially fun one for me since I’ve finally completed a project on the 2001 530. But it took an incredible amount of time, I started this project at the beginning of the summer. Here then is the story.

I have wanted to freshen up the 530 bumpers for a while. As described in previous posts, the previous owner had been easy on the car driving-wise but was neglectful in cosmetic matters. There were some dings and scratches on the bumpers, primarily on the rear. And BMW made a M Technic version bumper for my model car, which came stock on the 2003 540i. This bumper just plain looks better. It is sometimes called the “M5 bumper,” but that’s incorrect, the M5 and the M Technic bumpers are different.

M Technic Aero Kit

As usual with the aftermarket, there was a plethora of choices to weed through. There are many good quality replica kits at there, as well as original equipment (OE) parts. Luckily I was able as usual to tap the wisdom of the crowd via the bimmerfest.com and bimmerforum.com online communities. These owners usually have no shortage of valuable info and strong opinions on which way to go with most any project. Complicating my choice somewhat was my car has park distance control (PDC), which is not an option I would have chosen but one I’ve come to appreciate. There are four sensors in both the front and rear bumpers, and many of the replica kits didn’t accommodate this feature.

I decided to go with the OE BMW kit, for the PDC and the reason I wanted everything to be perfect. Even a small fit problem with a replica kit would bug me, and I figured the build quality would be better. I knew Bavarian Auto sold the OE kit, and they advertised that they matched competitor pricing. I called, and pointed out that Bekkers had a lower price for the same OE kit. BavAuto matched it, and I started getting psyched to get this done. But the adventure was just beginning.

I ordered the kit on June 25th. Part of my ordered shipped right away — some bumper strips and the new projector fog lights. Unfortunately, the main kit was out of stock, and they were sending to GERMANY for it. I wasn’t happy they didn’t tell me this over the phone when I ordered, but figured I’d stay the course. So on July 22nd, the kit is shipped to my body shop (Professional Auto Body in Alexandria, VA) and I drop the car off.

But no! The shop calls to tell me the non-PDC bumper has been sent, with no rear bumper!? I’m pretty frustrated at this point, have to ship the bumper back, and convince customer service the rear was never sent at all. To BavAuto’s credit, they admitted the error and processed a full refund for me, minus the fogs that I kept. But still no bumpers. So I go back to Bekkers.

Call up, order the bumpers but by now wondering what will happen next. Sure enough, Bekkers calls me back a couple of hours later to say they have the front bumper for a car with PDC AND Headlight washers, which my car doesn’t have. Told me I could have the shop fill the holes in where the washers would go, no problem. No way Jose — I’m paying the $$ for OE, everything should be perfect. To Bekkers credit, they did call me with the explanation and after I said no they never processed the order. But I was still dead in the water re bumpers.

Usually dealers are the last place to go for a good price, but at this point I figured I had no other course. I remembered a few years back Pacific BMW in Glendale, CA had aggressively marketed themselves for BMW parts, then pulled back for some reason. I called, and after a few transfers got to the right person, Mark Flores. He found me a Mtech kit with PDC, surprisingly at a lower price than what I paid before.

I wasn’t quite home free — the kit was missing one important piece for the rear, and the bumper strips had to have two additional holes cut into them by the shop. But Mark is going to credit me the cost of the piece I had to buy locally, as soon as I scan my receipt and send to him. Definitely looks like Pacific has decided again to market themselves as a source for OE parts. And they are doing it via Facebook — check out Pacific’s page here.

Next, a new muffler. After getting the new Mtech bumper with the left side cut-out for an  exhaust tip, I needed to replace my old muffler. The old one was big, rusty and curved straight down, behind the bumper.  Magnaflow had some nice looking ones at very fair prices, and after some online forum research decided on the 14829, big fat single tip design that fit perfectly. Had to go to a Meineke shop on Rt. 1 south of the Walmart to get it done, since the job required some custom welding. Nice job and pretty quick, too.

Finally, I had to do something about the front place. Unfortunately VA is one of the misguided states that require a front plate — what a threat to freedom! I didn’t spend all that money on my front bumper to then drill some big holes in it for a bulky license bracket. The solution came from Skenedesign, thin brackets that require only two 1/8 inch holes underneath the bumper. The plate doesn’t even touch the front bumper surface.

So there’s the saga.  It’s done — but I didn’t think it would take all summer! Check it some pics below. If you’re a BMW owner thinking of going down this road, please contact me directly. I left out some arcane details in the interest of clarity.

Now, what should I do for the M3…

Before

After!

Before

After

Front Bracket -- Shot from top to show clearance

Magnaflow muffler -- a lot smaller and lighter than stock

A New Wine — and a New Ride

This is a combination Wine and Wheels post. Gabriele got a new (to us, anyway) car, and in celebrating we discovered a fantastic Zinfandel.

First the car. There was only one thing wrong with the white Murano we purchased last year – the former owner had been a smoker. Despite some kind of treatment the dealer had given the car, it still smelled on hotter days. So with summer here, Gabriele was thinking about a new vehicle. Last week we went to the CarMax at WoodBridge looking for another Murano.

There was no Murano that fit the bill, and I suggested she test drive the FX35. It’s probably the sportiest SUV this side of a Porsche Cayenne, built on the same platform as Infiniti’s G35 sports sedan and coupe. She loved the power, features and handling, and just like that the FX was our new target vehicle.

CarMax made the experience very easy by giving us a great quote on our Murano. From there, is was just finding the right used FX, and our salesman Mazen had two candidates on the lot this Saturday for us to check out. A beautiful 2005 Grey/Silver with tan interior and only 19K miles was the winner, and we drove her home feeling good about the transaction.

We drove our new vehicle to Del Ray that night for dinner at Bombay Curry Company, one of our favorite Indian restaurants. (I recommend the Saag Goosh.) Mount Vernon Avenue was hopping with people and activity, it’s just incredible how that area has changed since I lived there in the mid-1990s.

The evening was just beautiful, and after dinner we stopped in Cheestique for some, you guessed it, cheese and wine. They have a few outside tables along the avenue and we snagged one of them. We actually found a blue cheese Gabriele likes, Cambozola, a cow-based cheese from Grermany. But the find of the night was the 2007 Hart’s Desire Zinfandel.

A glass was $16, and I asked the waitress if it was worth it. She confidently said yes, and brought me out a small taste. The wine was unlike any other Zinfandel I’ve had. It was very rich, almost chocolately and a bit creamy. It had none of the pepper and spice a lot of Zins have. It had a very unusual aroma — this will sound very weird, but it reminded me of tiki torch fuel. (Gabriele backed me up on this.) That sounds awful, but it wasn’t. The smell was there but not overpowering. The wine was fantastic with the cheese, and I’d recommend it highly.

All in all, a very productive summertime Saturday!

A Positive Car Insurance Experience

Last month driving home from Silver Spring on a Friday night I was side-swiped by some guy in a minivan. The hit wasn’t major, he gave me a glancing blow as he cut me off in traffic. But it looked horrible, with damage and scratches down the back two thirds of the driver side. I was really pissed off, but stayed cool and exchanged insurance information.

Besides the damage, the other reason I was bummed was the deductible I carried on the 530. I figured even though it was not my fault I would be out that money before my insurance company State Farm covered anything. Plus the time wasted having them inspect, etc. A couple of friends suggested that I report the incident happened while the car was parked, so it could be covered by comprehensive. No way I was going down that road, and I wasn’t interested in the guy giving me money directly either, which his insurance broker offered the following Monday morning.

Then State Farm told me I could go through Allstate if I chose to, the insurance company of the other driver. They would cover the whole amount if they accepted liability. I figured, what are the chances he’d admit fault to his insurance company? I don’t know exactly what happened, but I gave my statement and a couple of days later Allstate told me they would cover, including rental car!

Initially they they wanted me to go to one of their inspection centers, none of which were close by. I wanted to go to Professional Auto Body in Alexandria, recommended by my mechanic. Their price apparently was reasonable enough for Allstate to accept when I faxed the estimate over.

They did a great job, and finished a day ahead of schedule. Definitely give them a call if you’re local and ever need body work done.

Check it out below. A happy ending dealing with car insurance — it can happen!

Before:

After:

New Fog Bulbs — Easy DIY

When owning an older BMW, it’s smart to discover the small maintenance items you can take care of yourself. Of course, what is easy for one person isn’t necessarily easy for another. In fact, it’s wise to approach with caution many projects some guys on the online boards say are incredibly “easy” to do yourself.

However replacing the fog light bulbs on an E36 M3 truly is easy. My driver side went out last week and I replaced both bulbs this weekend. The bulb size is H1 and I like using Osram (Sylvania) SilverStars purchased from PowerBulbs.com: http://tinyurl.com/6tz2tk

They are much brighter and the light is whiter than stock bulbs, and since the dollar has come back against the pound the price is very competitive.

First step is to insert any type of screwdriver through the brake duct and disengage the fog assembly clip. It’s simple, and when you pop the clip the fog light comes straight out:

Step One

Out It Comes

Then just take off the plastic housing, and unclip the two springs that hold the bulb in place:

Clips

Opened and ready for replacement

Then slide back in and push until it clicks back into place:

All Done

Voila, all done in about ten minutes. It’s easy to learn how to replace all the bulbs on these cars, and even something small like this gives a nice DIY feel.

Winterizing the 530

This past Saturday I got the 530 ready for winter by putting the set of snow tires back on the car. I bought the tires last year after an early December storm had me struggling to get up a gradual incline. Last year it never snowed again, but supposedly this year we’ll see some of the white stuff.

The garage I went to said they see fewer people around here doing what used to be very commonplace. With the mild winters the greater DC area has had the past few years, most drivers go with a set of all season tires year round. This is especially true for front wheel or all wheel drive cars, but the 530 is rear wheel. And you don’t want to be caught in even a mild dusting with summer performance tires, which I put on this spring.

For those who experience tougher winters, there are actually different snow categories to choose from. You can choose performance snow, studless snow or studdable, sacrificing ride and handling for better snow traction each step of the way. Here’s Tirerack with the full story: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/snows.jsp

I went with Hankook Ice Bear W300s, 235×45 all around. They are about as good in dry weather as snows can be, but will help me stay on the road in the white stuff. While I was at it I swapped out the floor mats.

Safe travels and a Merry New Year to all.

DIY the Answer to ABS Problem

As I wrote in an August 2 post, my 2001 530 was having trouble with its AntiLock Braking System (ABS) and traction control. The codes were lighting up on the console, signaling the system was out. I had cleaned and replaced the front sensors, and that seemed to work at first. Read the original post here.

Unfortunately the problem returned. Apparently it’s a common one in the E39 series, and the dealer quoted me a cost of $1,230 for a replacement! Yes, you read that dollar figure correctly. Clearly another option needed to be found.

Thanks (as usual) to my online cohorts on bimmerforums and bimmerfest, I was able to find the best solution of all and keep this a Do It Yourself experience. By reading posts from fellow owners, I learned about an aftermarket that has developed around the repair of these units. That in itself is clear evidence these things almost always fail.

There are two main providers –  Module Masters and BBA Remanufacturing.  It’s very easy to remove the unit from the car, only need to remove six screws. Then you need to package securely and ship it away to be repaired. There is nothing unsafe about driving the car without the module, but it is strange to have no speedometer or odometer.

BBA repaired the module and had it back to me in eight days, for $255 including shipping and with a lifetime warranty. Saving almost a grand and doing it yourself — it doesn’t get much better than that! I highly recommend anyone having similar problems contact BBA. The web site is a bit confusing but will walk you through the process: http://www.bba-reman.com/

Some pictures below. It feels really good to have this issue resolved at last — just in time for weather that might require some ABS.

Module Removed

Cover with foil for a few days

Fixed and ready to go back in

Reinstalled

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Tips for Car Buying

This is a rare Wheels post that does not talk about either of the BMWs. Gabriele and I just sold our 2007 Hyundai Sonata, and purchased a 2005 Nissan Murano. So I thought I’d share some thoughts about how we tackled the process.

It all stems from doing your homework — financial, vehicle, trade-in. Arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, and stick to your budget.

• Arrange financing first

Doing this really gives you superior leverage for negotiating. If you are going to a dealership, there are three ways for the dealer to profit on the transaction — the vehicle itself, the trade-in, and the financing. Usually, you’ll get a better percentage rate from a bank or credit union. There are exceptions, such as special zero rate financing and other promotional offers. So be flexible to a better offer, but have it all done first, especially if shopping for a used car. This removes a big extra negotiating step, keeping the focus on getting the best deal possible for the car.

• Sell your trade-in private party

Some people trade in their old car without considering selling it themselves. Others like the convenience of making the trade-in part of the new purchase. The convenience is nice, but if the car is in good shape you’ll almost always be leaving money of the table. Our Hyundai was a 2007 with only 18K miles and a full warranty good until 2012 or 60K miles. But multiple dealers quoted us thousands less than our research said it was worth.

CarMax can be a useful reality check when pricing your used vehicle. They also gave us a low offer, but it was higher than other dealers. And of course CarMax will buy cars without you buying from them, so it can be a last resort if necessary. Their quotes are only good for seven days, however.

We used Craigslist and Autotrader listings. Autotrader introduced us to the Sonata’s new owners. We sold it for $1,500 over the CarMax offer to a very nice couple from the Fredricksburg area. Thanks Skip and Liz, happy motoring!

The other nice thing about the sale was it truly was win/win. We got what we wanted for the car, and the new owners paid a very fair price, lower than the major car sites said it was worth, and far less than they would have paid at a dealer. What do you know, this process doesn’t have to be adversarial!

With this and the financing done, now all the focus was on finding the right car at the right price, with no other distractions.

• Research your target

Know all the important information about your desired vehicle before you go see any. The two sites that worked best for us were Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book: www.edmunds.com and www.kbb.com. You can price the vehicle with options and read reviews from both the site owners and actual owners.

Edmunds does a better job of letting you price out all the various trim levels. For the Murano, there are three levels, S, SE and SL. Gabe was able to price it all out and decide on the features that were must haves, nice to haves and don’t cares.

Buying private party is a good option. But there were almost no Muranos being sold private party in the area, so we went to a number of dealerships. It took three weeks, but we found the right one. Under 30K miles, Arctic Pearl, AWD and lots of the options Gabe wanted. We got a really good price from Mike Pallone Chevrolet in Springfield, who until last year also owned a Nissan dealership. Pallone also stood behind the sale and fixed a problem that popped up right after purchase, so if you’re in the market check them out.

Gabe's New Crossover

None of this is rocket science, but many don’t put all the pieces together prior to shopping. Doing the prep work is the way to put the right car at the right price in your driveway.

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The Zen of DIY BMW Maintenance

This weekend my 2001 530 got a lot of attention. It was a very productive day — a vibration issue related to new rims purchased in late April was finally resolved, and I replaced both front ABS/speed sensors.

Before I dive into the details, a word about owning a BMW out of warranty. Unless you have enough money not to care about cost, you need to educate yourself about your vehicle. And be open to learning what you can tackle on your own (DIY — Do It Yourself), and what you can’t. Running to the dealership every time something goes wrong will land you in the poorhouse, and chances are you won’t be treated very well. Dealerships don’t want to deal with older cars, they want to focus on the people who will buy the new models.

Knowing what preventative maintenance is required to avoid problems in the first place is critical. That way when it’s something bigger that requires professional service, at least you know the particulars and can be an educated consumer. Unless you’re driving the car simply for the brand — in which case you’d probably be in a new car — embracing this fact can be fun. The car becomes a hobby, not simply a means of transportation. I’ve found a great deal of advice and support from Internet forums populated with folks who own the same cars, and run into the same issues. It’s a perfect example of the “wisdom of the crowd” dynamic, enabled by Internet access. You can find the links in my blog roll.

So first up was a vibration at highway speeds. In a prior post I described buying new rims and tires for the car. I was very psyched to give the car this refresh. The previous owner hadn’t bothered to clean or maintain the rims properly, and I needed to get my snows off the car for better handling: http://cparente.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/new-shoes-for-the-530/

Initially I was very pleased with the purchase. But I soon noticed that at highway speeds there was a significant vibration that hadn’t been there previously. I knew the tires had been mounted and balanced properly. I had the work done at a garage right in my neighborhood I’ve used before and that comes recommended by Tire Rack. Hollin Hall Automotive provided great customer service and continued to work with me at no additional cost while I worked through this problem. A big public thank you to them, and I highly recommend the shop to anyone in or near the Alexandria area: http://www.hollinhallauto.com/

I won’t go into all the arcane details. Monet was the company that made the rims, and I purchased through one of their resellers, The Wheel Connection. Monet was responsive via email, but it took some time for the problem to be identified. After eliminating other possibilities, it came down to the fact that the spacers sent with the rims were not fitting tightly enough, causing the vibration. Monet initially said it was the Wheel Connection’s responsibility, and they said it was Monet’s. I stayed patient, and persistent. Eventually Monet stepped up and sent me new spacers at no charge, as long as I returned the original set.

When they arrived I had my doubts, since they looked almost identical to the originals. But these snapped into the back of the rims beautifully, and have corrected the problem. Finally my car feels right at highway speed — solid and stable but with the driving feedback via the steering sport tuned BMWs are known for.

Thank You UPS!

Inserted into back of rim

One issue down, and one new one to go. A couple of weeks ago an error code popped up on my display. My ABS system was out, along with something BMW calls Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). The two systems work together via sensors that monitor wheels speeds at all corners, applying breaking and reducing torque in a split section if wheel spin or loss of traction is detected. The car can be driven safely without these systems, in fact DSC can be turned off via a button on the dash. But clearly something was wrong, and I got busy with some forum research.

Thankfully there was a good chance it wasn’t a major malfunction. Turns out those sensors at each wheel eventually fail — they get jostled constantly and debris tends to build up inside the sensor housing. If any sensor stops communicating with the car’s on board computer, the lights kicks on. There is no way to know for sure which sensor without a special BMW diagnostic tool. But by reading the stories of others who have had this problem, and noticing that other things like speedometer and cruise were not affected, the likely culprit was the front right sensor. It’s the one that kept coming up in discussion threads. Dealership quoted me $138 for the part — I found it online for $60 plus shipping.

So as soon as I got home from having the spacers swapped out I jacked up the car, fixed a floor stand and took the front right wheel off. Technically you could try and do the job with it on, but I read that would be much harder. There were a couple of spots where I was unsure how hard to pull the wire out of its clip points, and my wife Gabriele chipped in at one point when smaller hands were needed.

But it was relatively straight-forward, and in fact it took longer to jack up the car and wrestle with the tire than to do the sensor swap. Big thanks to the guys in the bimmerfest thread on this subject and to Michel, aka mmm635, the man with all the BMW answers.

But my satisfaction was very short-lived. Unfortunately, the lights stayed on. So I went to Gary Martin at Martin Motor Sports and he read the error code for me. Turns out it was the LEFT front sensor. Guess I should have gone to Gary first – he read the code at no charge, which I really appreciated. Thanks again Gary! At least having just done the right sensor the job went a little faster. Some shots:

Where sensor bolted into wheel hub

Other end -- note line of debris cleaned out of box

Sensor replaced

Compared with many of the guys on the boards, I don’t know how to do much at all. Gary will continue to do most of the work on my cars. I have no illusions of ever being a mechanic or tackling complicated car projects.

But it’s a very satisfying feeling doing even small maintenance or repairs on a modern car, above and beyond the money saved. Part of the enjoyment comes from making sure my cars are in good condition. And it also connects me to a time when people were a little more self-reliant about these things, and our possessions weren’t quite as disposable as they seem to be today.

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