Das Einhorn - LebensmittelgeschäftWägon - E34 V8 Manual

Indy-Barely Functional-Guy said:

Anyone have any tips for repair or at least minimizing the cracking from getting worse? Not going to replace the dash. No motivation or $$ to do that. Just want to make it a little nicer.

Not sure what material the dash is in these compared to my e28s, but if you pull the dash out you can use a Dremel to smooth the cracking down and then fill with body filler, then get a flocking kit and flock the dash. It's basically a bit of prep, roll on some glue, and then shake a bunch of microfibers onto the dash to coat it. Looks sweet....

(Not an e34 dash, pretty sure this is an e30, but it gets the point across.)

I haven't officially put the wagon into daily duty yet, it's been sitting mostly for the last few weeks. It's also been raining a lot. Windows have been fogging up on the inside. Puddles of water in the front and middle passenger foot wells as well as rear cargo area. 95% certain it's the dual sunroofs leaking.  Got it into the garage for a good drying out session. Pulled some interior bits out and running fans after soaking most up with towels.

The sunroof seals or drains or both must be shot.  

The sunroof is inoperable, but has a way to use a hex key to turn the actuating motor.

I tried to open it up, but it won't open, inner moves a few inches but won't pop up, hits a Hard spot and the hex key is stripping out. Bummer. I'm seriously considering just caulking the whole thing shut. Any thoughts?

Sunroof seals don't really seal out the water much.  The real line of defense is the gutter under the sunroof and the drains in the gutter, which are probably plugged.

Resist strongly the urge to just blow the drains out with compressed air.  The drain tubes will merely pop off, and you'll have to disassemble the interior to get them back on.

But first you must get the sunroof open.

Found the coolant leak. Look closely at the center of this picture (between the two small hose clamps).

See that stream?. 

Well, finally was able to place the order for the cooling system refresh parts:

Can you believe the price of the thermostat?  Ouch.  I'm used to $6 Saturn parts.  This Unicorn is costly.

Guess I'm just used to it.  A $25 thermostat seems totally reasonable to me...  Don't see a radiator, new hoses or new belts on your list.  You've got some more buying to do.  I'd also buy a new fan and a new fan clutch...

In reply to docwyte :

This is my first BMW, first German car too.  I'm used to swimming in the shallow end of the pool (been daily driving a 1996 Saturn for 17 years) where parts are stupid cheap.

Going to do this in two stages.  This first stage is to get 'er up to daily duty by stopping all the leaks.  I'm only going to fill it with water (no anti-freeze) for now, and get back in there with the rest of the parts (and then 50/50 mix) before winter's freezing temps.  Why? both for Challenge budget and real$$ (family) budget.

There's a shocking lack of information out on the world wide web about the M60 and it's care.  Either that, or I just haven't found it yet.

Despite leaking coolant, I drove the old girl to work today.

Hello there, fellow E34 wagon owner! My 92 525it/5 was purchased for $350 and has a lot of the same issues as yours, but is in way worse shape overall, haha. Though for the price I can't complain, especially since the AC works, kinda. I did need to replace the engine wiring harness and DME to get it running though, so a bit more work than you had to do.

There's a lot of info on the Bimmer Forums E34 section, that's where I'd go for M60-specific question. And if you think E34 parts are expensive, don't get into any newer BMW's! My 2000 540it with the M62tu has a thermostat that causes $75 for an OEM part.

I'd be a little cautious with Üro parts, as they're not known for being the highest quality parts. That being said, if budget is the main concern, they'll do fine.

In reply to dannyzabolotny :

Thanks for the info and tips. 

I'm not proud of what you're going to see next.

Please don't revoke my membership.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I think a stack of dimes weld all the way around would look cool. Well except for all the panel warpage. 

In reply to Stampie :

I had a Mini Cooper S a while ago that someone had jammed a bunch of pennies into the dashboard. I took them out and realized they were there to keep it from rattling like crazy....so I put them back in. Coin repairs FTW.

Loving this wagon!

At my home depot, they have black sealer.....

   Even if the sun roof never works again, still a great car!

       I think sometimes the doors on my X3 leak, doors should drain to the outside, but I think they sometimes leak to the inside.

Beautiful car! I hate sunroofs. I don’t think I’ve had an older car where the sunroof wasn’t stuck, leaky, or some combination of the two.

Never use them.   Hope you didn't forget the wet finger smooth out dealy on the silicone.  Looking good, non the less.

In reply to Stampie :

That sounds like too much work. Plus requires paint.

In reply to karplus2 :

LOL.

My Saturn's radio requires two quarters strategically located to function properly. Because detachable face.

TED_fiestaHP said:

At my home depot, they have black sealer.....

   

In hind sight, yeah, I should have gone with black. I bought the clear, specifically for this, because I thought it would be CLEAR. It's actually a bit white.  

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Beautiful car! I hate sunroofs. I don’t think I’ve had an older car where the sunroof wasn’t stuck, leaky, or some combination of the two.

I hate them too. Especially leaking ones. I guess they would be OK on a new car if they function properly, but I don't buy new cars. I drive old 'junk' at the bottom of the depreciation curve.

Dirtydog said:

Never use them.   Hope you didn't forget the wet finger smooth out dealy on the silicone.  Looking good, non the less.

Yes I used that trick, the pictures were "in-process"

It's raining cats and dogs out right now.... Gonna find out if my hack job was effective.

Success. Interior was dry when I left work today. I can now move on to the other areas that need attention.

Please understand that it was leaking really badly before. So bad I thought the dash would short out.  I took the car for a drive when I had the door panel off and water, literally poured out the side vent when I turned. Also water was coming out from around the stereo during hard acceleration.