nderwater wrote: Where are you sourcing your parts? The prices you've listed are lower than what I would have expected.
The non OE parts I got off ebay, and most of the OE parts I got from http://thebmwminipartstore.com/. Yeah I was kinda surprised at some of the parts pricing myself. My brother had a 2001 323i years ago and had nothing but issues with that car and the parts prices he quoted were just unreal, so finding these parts at these prices was kind of a shocker for me.
Updates!
t25torx wrote: I guess the previous owner was trying to run a BMW on a Civic budget.
That's the peril of a lot of 10-15 year-old stuff that ends up in the hands of the 'hood.
This one is my favorite episode yet. I love the progress so far. Can't wait to see how it turns out! 
Harvey wrote: Updates!
You're wish is my command!
I last left our BMW with a new lower intake boot, and vacuum hoses, but still having a rather nasty miss in cylinder one. So a new set of spark plugs was ordered after finding some rather nasty units in the car. The new sparkplugs were installed and torqued to the proper amount. Then the coils were installed and torqued down as well. It was the moment of truth, with some apprehension I turned the key, and still a misfire, so I read the codes, cylinder two misfire this time, which is good news and bad news. Good news is, it was the coil from cylinder one, bad news is, that coil is definitely bad and the issue with the misfire is following the coil. So I took a fellow board member up on his offer for a couple of those coils he had laying around and will be installing them once they come in.
Ooo shiny.
Coils installed.
Make sure to attach the ground straps to the end coils.
While I wait for the coils, I had some new parts to install. I ordered a couple of these connectors since the clips aren't sold separately. Then simply removed the clips and installed them in the missing locations.
One for the alternator
And one for the MAF.
Job done! No more zip ties and loose connectors.
Once that was completed it was time to tackle that pesky hood latch cable. The cable is actually three pieces on these cars and is a fairly common failure point. I started by removing the two 10mm bolts on the core support, and the two inner Phillips heads.
Then take a couple 8mm bolts out that hold on the radiator brackets.
At this point the core support can be bent forward enough to get the old cables out and the new ones hooked into place. I greased the cables ends up with some semi-liquid grease and started to install them, that's when i noticed something odd about the latch on the drivers side, the cable wasn't really being held in tight and after looking close I found the reason. The retainer had broke off that holds the cable to the passenger side lock. So after closer inspection both locks are the same part and after removing them from the core support I swapped them around so the unbroken lock was on the drivers side. I also went ahead and put the cables into place before putting the locks back into the support.
Bad lock
Cable swapped to good lock.
Then they were installed back into the car.
Bad cable, meet good cable.
The cable was then attached to the fender.
The next section of cable has to come in from the cabin. The lower dash panel needs to be moved out of the way so the foot rest can be pulled out. Once it's out of the way I was able to fish the cable up through the firewall and connected to the other cable clipped to the fender.
The latch section slides into this hole and then turns to lock into place with a screw. my screw was missing, but I have three boxes of screws removed from other cars, so a suitable replacement was found.
While I bolted the core support back down I noticed the passenger side hood adjuster was missing, so it was off to my boxes again and I found an adjuster from the RSX I parted out a while back, it's not exactly the same but it gets the job done.
I also got another present in the mail! A super shiny brand new headlight.
I needed to clip on on this lower trim piece, it just clips on here.
and here.
Then it was bolted into place.
Now I have a nice matching set.
Oh and as you can see, the hood shuts and opens with the working latch!
When I went to plug in the new lights I noticed this rather nasty rats nest of tape and hacked wires. Thankfully none of the wires were cut, so I wrapped them with some 3M Super 33+ (good from 0–220°F) and tucked them back into place.
I wrapped them individually first.
Then wrapped them all back together.
After that was completed I was able to install the airbox. I removed the filter expecting it to not even be there and was pleasantly surprised to see a K&N filter in place, I don't have any oil to refresh it with so I blew it out with some compressed air and stuck it back into place.
I had to modify this clip since the airbox was broken where the clip is supposed to attach and I wasn't about to spring for a new airbox, it needed to be shortened to hold the MAF snug.
A couple of bends with the vise grips and pliers, and tada!
So that's all for now. I have more parts on the way and will start to shift work to the inside of the car in the next episode, see you then!
Looks good. I need to swap the lenses on my wife's 330. They are really clouded up. Just got done doing the valve cover gasket and plugs and next I'm gonna do the CVV. Might want to check that if this thing has the same setup.
I will probably end up replacing the valve cover gaskets before it's all said and done. We'll see how the car runs once I get this new coil, and then figure out if I want to go that far to do the CVV. It needs to cool down already, so I can feel like going out and working on this thing.
How much did the headlights run you?
In reply to nderwater:
I found a brand new unit on Ebay for $150 shipped. I just needed the one for the drivers side to match the newer one that was put in on the passenger side before I got the car. Now these aren't the xenon units so they are significantly cheaper than those units.
Update!
I got the coils in from user Burrito Enthusiast on here and... It runs, and whats more is it runs good! I took it up and down the street also to see how it would drive and well it was a good but disappointing run. First off, there's no power steering and you'll get some arms the size of Pop-eye's trying to drive this thing at low speeds. Next is the speedometer doesn't work, now this could be due to the ABS pump being unplugged or a bad speed sensor on one of the rear wheels, I'm trying to source a decent price used ABS pump for this thing so we'll figure that out once I get it replaced.
After I got it out on the road there was a terrible clunking sound coming from mid-car on accelerating and especially when I was turning while accelerating. I'm hoping it's a guibo, and not diff mounts or something stupid like that, I haven't had a chance to jack it up yet and see whats going on.
Good news is the engine runs great, good power through the entire RPM range and no spitting or sputtering. I didn't think to turn the A/C on though so I still need to see how it runs with the A/C going, make sure it doesn't trip over itself.
In addition to the 2 coils I replaced I got some other parts in but haven't put them on. I got the passenger side window switch. The front bumper molding on the passenger side and the trim under the headlight for the passenger side. Also got the tow hook cover and the bolt cover for engine trim. So lets tally up and see what we have into the is car at this point.
Total after last parts order was $1282.79
So that's grand total of $188.84 added to $1282.79 brings us to $1471.63.
It's adding up fast, I might end up selling the bad taillamp and the headlamp to recoup some cash, but look like it'll be closer to a $2000 budget for this car. So stay tuned to see if we can stay in budget and get this one back in shape.
The clunking I agree is probably the guibo.
Coil packs for $3 each is blowing my mind.
t25torx wrote: Update! It runs, and whats more is it runs good!
Awesome! I'm glad they worked out for you!
nderwater wrote: Coil packs for $3 each is blowing my mind.
One man's used, high-mileage take off parts is another man's treasure?
nderwater wrote: Coil packs for $3 each is blowing my mind.
This.
i read the potential clunk source as "guido"
That's some good progress, keep it up! Horrible vibrations under straight line acceleration are usually the giubo. It's probably a good idea to replace it anyway; I saw an E12 ChumpCar do a pole vault once because it was still running the original.
Oiled filters always say "the PO used too much oil on this, time to clean the MAF" to me.
Small update here fellas. I had a few minutes to jack the car up and see just what was making that god awful clunking and thunking under the car, and like I thought, this guibo is shot.
And as you can see, it's even missing a bolt, so time to make another parts order. So for this round of parts needed it's going to be:
1 Guibo 1 Valve Cover Gasket Set 1 ABS Pump/Module 1 Power Steering Pump
So not sure what this round will end up costing but I'll update when I find out.
Oh and I did remember to turn on the A/C and it gets ice cold, so that's a huge plus for a black car in Florida.
Oof, that is gonna make a big difference once you swap it out.
In reply to t25torx:
I've never heard the term "guibo" before.
Harvey wrote: Oof, that is gonna make a big difference once you swap it out.
Definitely! You could put the car in first and let it engine brake from 15mph and the whole car would shake and it sounded like the drive shaft was about to come through the floor. I ordered a new BMW unit for $65 shipped, so it's on it's way.
I also found a local source for an ABS pump and power steering pump, the quoted me $100 for the ABS pump and $35 for the PWR Steering pump, so not too shabby. If I can get all this stuff replaced it'll be a sweet driving machine.
Yeah, once you get that fixed the car should be very smooth. Even at 97k my wife's 330i is a smooth running machine. Winds up so smoothly that I often don't notice how fast I'm going.
Harvey wrote: Yeah, once you get that fixed the car should be very smooth. Even at 97k my wife's 330i is a smooth running machine. Winds up so smoothly that I often don't notice how fast I'm going.
this. back in the day my mom had a (e39) 528i and more recently I had a (e36) 325i. it was easy to get on the highway and cruise a long way before noticing that you forgot to shift out of 3rd gear. "wow, the car is certainly faster on the highway that usual, oh! 5k rpm, that's why!"
So semi-related, but I figure I'll bring it up because you mentioned the ABS pump. A friend of mine is a jobber mechanic for a chain store and he had a '99 540i come in today.
He had a brake light switch code that kept getting thrown. The transmission is in failsafe mode too. Pokes around on the internet, everyone says "replace the ABS module."
One guy is like "Move the vanity mirror slider on the passenger side and see if anything weird happens." Sure enough, he does it, the stereo dies, airbag light goes off, transmission failsafe mode disengages, and the seatbelt light turns off. Repeatable every time.
Turns out it all hubs through the ignition switch somehow. Replaces the ignition switch, problem solved.
Doubt your diagnosis is wrong on the ABS pump (stuck on is probably not a good sign - cold solder joints? Tin whiskers?), but just thought it was weird enough to bring up in this thread.
In reply to ssswitch:
Wow. That's some badass diagnostic skills.
In reply to gamby:
Apparently the guy on the forums who recommended it figured it out himself after not wanting to shell out for an ABS pump. Reportedly, it killed all the lights in the cabin of the car in addition to setting off the airbag warning lights and the stereo.
Welcome back.
Got some work done to the car today, not as much as I had hoped but it's coming along.
I had ordered the guibo on the last update and was waiting for it and the ABS pump and powersteering pump to come in. I went and picked up the ABS and power steering pumps on Thursday and the guibo arrived the next day.
So to replace the guibo on these cars you have to drop the rear section of the exhaust down because the drive shaft extends into the guibo, making it impossible to just unbolt it and put a new one in.
I removed the transmission mount first, then unbolted the 3 hangers supporting the exhaust. After removing the front and rear chassis brace I was able to lower the back of the exhaust down and unbolt the drive shaft from the diff.
Before I removed the drive shaft I marked it with some spray paint against a flat edge so I can realign it correctly when I install it. One quick glance at the center support bearing and it was obvious this part would need to be replaced. I had read it would probably need replacing, but this being a budget refresh I wanted to make sure before I bought anything. One is on order now though so for the time being that's as far as I can go on that.
After I got done with that for the time being I went ahead and put in the used ABS pump assembly. IT was a pretty easy swap. Just six 11mm flair nuts, and three 10mm bolts holding the unit to the car. Just remove and re-install. Don't forget the connector for the pressure switch.
I hooked the connector up and no more ABS pump running while the ignition is off, outstanding!
I still need to bleed the brakes now, and there's some debate on weather I'll have to take the car to someone to have the ABS module coded to the VIN of the car. I won't know till I'm able to drive the car, and see if the lights on the dash go out and if the speedo works. So join me next time as I tackle that power steering pump and finish up the drive shaft reinstall. Ta-ta!
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