My First Zed Thread (2003 E85 3.0)

[Timmyboybunter]

Did you get the blue bumper sprayed?

No I didn't in the end. It only cost me £100 to get the scrapes done on my original, so I've got your blue one in the garage as a backup. I was very glad to find the lower grille present on your blue bumper so I could swap over onto mine - they're quite pricey on their own.

[Z4C_er]

They're not really as good as they look - the mesh is not actually attached, it's just held in place when the silver surrounds are clicked into place. The silver bits are the original BMW part with the fins hacked off!

Yours if you want them though - just need the postage covered.

If Mr Tidy only wants the mesh, then I'd gladly have the frames? I've got a project that requires inserting newer model grilles.

[Timmyboybunter]

He may not have noticed my reply possibly.

If you ever decide to sell those mesh kidney grilles please PM me!

Quote for attention - will also drop a PM.

[Timmyboybunter]

If Mr Tidy only wants the mesh, then I'd gladly have the frames? I've got a project that requires inserting newer model grilles.

You're welcome to them, Mr. T has passed - PM me your address and I'll get them in the post. My Hermes small parcel will do it - 5 or 6 quid you can settle up later, or I can keep them until you're passing if you're close? (BS39)

[Z4C_er]

Thanks! PM sent.

[Mr Tidy]

Yes, I PM'd the OP earlier to say I'd kind of gone off them when I saw how they had been "constructed".

But I'd be interested to see what you do with them Z4C_er.

[Z4C_er]

I've got an old set of 4 series grilles that I'd like to splice and dice into the new frames. Wish me luck!

[Timmyboybunter]

Aux belt looked a little worse for wear when I was under the car last week, so my local garage replaced it and the air con belt today. £80 all in, they also checked all tensioners and the water pump - nothing to worry about.

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Also managed to break the CD loading mechanism on my head unit at the weekend when using a "CD Slot Mount", in about 30 seconds - so that's £100 down the drain. Full details at the link below if interested.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=116450

(Now have a spare nav head unit which needs a new CD mechanism: requires 'CDM M6 4.4/5' or equivalent - leaving here for reference)

[Timmyboybunter]

I've got an old set of 4 series grilles that I'd like to splice and dice into the new frames. Wish me luck!

Frames in the post - keep us updated

[Z4C_er]

Cool, yes I will!

[Timmyboybunter]

Took the head unit out, nothing obviously broken/out of place with the CD mechanism having been broken by using the "CD Slot Mount" product, so the mechanism will need to be replaced - one for the tasks list.

Checked my connections in the boot, pleased to find the standard 6+3 plugs for the CD changer which is pre-wired (I don't have a CD changer fitted) rather than a co-axial connection, even though I have the DSP amp setup:

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This means I can easily fit one of the aftermarket bluetooth audio streaming options - bought this one from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

£37.99 when ordered a few days ago, the price has now dropped to £34.51 so Amazon gave me a £5 voucher when I moaned

Literally plug and play - did a test drive yesterday and used Google Maps and Amazon Music apps via Android Auto on my phone, through the new bluetooth connection - all working nicely, so well recommended for the money.

Also bought one of the 'Yosh' magentic vent mounts for my phone and used it for the test drive yesterday, again working very well and would recommend.

[Timmyboybunter]

I have a significant amount of water coming in the passenger door - didn't realise quite how much until removing the mat to find I could wring it out

Not 100% sure what the problem is, though I did find when doing the sound deadening mod that both the door membranes had previously been butchered (see earlier in this thread) presumably when window regulators were replaced by previous owners which I see in the service history; rather than peel down the membranes and do the job properly they were simply cut through the middle and not re-sealed. I didn't realise how vital these 2 membranes are to keeping a water tight car until investigating my leak!

Could be a number of issues however from reading around: the membranes, the front drain channels being blocked, the rubber seal which meets the window not being tight enough etc. The symptoms are an obvious wet trail of water on the sill of the door when opened (where the 2 bits of sill plastic cover meet towards the front of the car), the rubber seal which sits above this sill has water in it, and the carpet immediately inside the foot well adjacent to this area is wet. The leak is not motion/parking angle related - a load of water came in during recent heavy rain with the car parked flat on the driveway.

Same on the passenger side, though not leaking as badly - though the leak is more obvious as it makes the plastic heel protection bit on the drivers side (not present on the passenger side) shiny when wet.

I did want to check the front drain channels weren't blocked as a first step, but I failed miserably to get the wipers off (despite soaking in penetrating oil, wiggling like a madman, persuasion with a rubber mallet) so this will be my next avenue to go down with my local garage if replacement membranes don't fix it. They get all the jobs I fail at

Nearside membrane now replaced - was fairly painless as I only did the sound deadening mod a few months ago.

Excellent YouTube video explaining how the door card comes off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djgcv-VpCW8&t=221s

I bought in advance: new door membrane, 6m * 8mm butyl tape, pack of cheap white and yellow trim clips for the door to replace the couple which broke off last time the cards were off, or any newly broken.

Door card off - note the membrane is cut through the bottom and up around the airbag. Tsk.

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Membrane removed, shows the original placement of butyl.

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Butyl removed - followed a tip I read about using a ball of the old butyl and, as it likes to stick to itself, using it to pull the remaining mess off the door - it works like a charm and makes it all very easy and quick. I cleaned up any remaining minor traces using a lemon oil based sticker remover I had kicking around in the garage - in hindsight I wouldn't bother as the old outline gives a good guide for the new butyl.

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New butyl bead added. The top right had side corner needed to be at more of an angle so was lowered after this picture - partially because I got it in the wrong place but my new membrane was also at a slightly steeper angle. In hindsight I would either use a thicker tape than the 8mm one used here, or (probably better) do two widths worth of a 6mm tape. Hopefully this will be fine though.

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And finally the new membrane added. There are cutouts on the left and right hand side for wiring and in the middle for the airbag connector, so you should not need to make any changes as long as the airbag is disconnected (do so after disconnecting battery and wait 25 mins - do not reconnect battery until the airbag is reconnected or you will trip an airbag light which needs INPA/a dealer to remove). If the airbag is left connected, you'll need to enlarge the central slit so it is large enough to fit the airbag through.

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After that pic, I added some gaffer tape just to cover the bead poking out at the top right hand side so it doesn't stick to the door card - the trailing wires on the right also show here hanging down, whereas there is a plastic plug I had forgotten to push back in, through the foam, into a hole in the door.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that the new membrane has no holes present for screws when putting everything back together - I didn't make any specific holes, just screwed everything straight through the foam and it all went back without issue.

Not sure if this will fix the leak or not, so have a fresh dry towel sitting inside the passenger footwell ready for a nice heavy storm to see if it gets wet or not

[Timmyboybunter]

And the offside completed too. This had definitely already had new butyl at some point, far thinner bead and a lot stickier - was a pain to remove and I got nowhere near a 'clean' looking door. All went to plan however with the membrane fitting.

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[wonkydonkey]

Fingers crossed!

Also, FYI, I've been waiting 15 mins to disconnect airbags after disconnecting the battery. Have had the seats in and out a few times recently and 15 mins serves me fine. Obviously it's not something you'd want to chance, so I can see why you haven't tried reducing your 25 mins without KNOWING that 15 is okay

[Timmyboybunter]

I wrestle with that time interval. I guess the theory is that there could be an electrical charge somewhere in the system which could set the airbags off when unplugged, but there are wildly varying theories on how long should be left - better safe than an airbag in the face is my motto

It's fine for this task as plenty to be doing in the meantime, but I do remember being impatient when I was swapping E46 seats in and out.

More weirdness: the electric mirrors stopped working yesterday after reassembling the door. Sprayed some contact cleaner on both connections, sorted it out. My Gaptech refused to work this morning, it was happy to close the car after my journey however so was hopefully just a glitch due to disconnecting the battery.

Finally, for no reason I can think of other than disturbing wiring, I have an airbag light on! Hopefully I've not damaged anything and I can just turn it off.

Sometimes feels like the car is fighting me every step of the way but then rewarded by a brief commute through the gorgeous sunshine this morning.

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