What have you done to your car today?
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South Lanarkshire
Grandfaloon
New member
I am replacing the fuel tank on my 2003 Z4 to fix the faulty driver side fuel sensor(only reads up to a half a tank, and I replaced the fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator previously).
The vehicle is on jacks, the driveshaft is out, the fuel tank is loose and ready to drop out. It hits the rear diff by about an inch.
It snowed a couple of feet, and I am waiting for a few warmer days to lower the diff and drop the tank. On a scale of one to "why did I do this" it's a ten. I am thinking I should replace the bushings while I am in there. Car has 105K. I have replaced the soft top hydraulic actuators, the central locking relays, and welded the exhaust mounts back on after they broke loose. I reinforced them while I was at it.
The vehicle is on jacks, the driveshaft is out, the fuel tank is loose and ready to drop out. It hits the rear diff by about an inch.
It snowed a couple of feet, and I am waiting for a few warmer days to lower the diff and drop the tank. On a scale of one to "why did I do this" it's a ten. I am thinking I should replace the bushings while I am in there. Car has 105K. I have replaced the soft top hydraulic actuators, the central locking relays, and welded the exhaust mounts back on after they broke loose. I reinforced them while I was at it.
What a brilliant day! Part 1
Started out with the sound generator foam removal. Read all about it in here and was going to only do one, then thought try removing all and can always work back from there. Was so easy. 5 mins.
For background, I've only had the car 5 weeks and been slowly working through making the car the way I want it. Love the low down torque. Surprised how quiet it is for a 3l 6. Wished I had a sport exhaust. Given mines an auto, I'ld become convinced the car is very much a mini gt car, not sports car, with it sounding /feeling a bit trashy over 5k rpm....
Then I removed the foam. First drive, planted foot... And actually shouted "WTF was that!!?"
No sports exhaust needed. For what it's worth, I highly recommend this to everyone, especially 3l autos. Its made no difference below 4k which is where the car cruises, but above that it howls like a banchee. Still laughing over it. Love this car!
Started out with the sound generator foam removal. Read all about it in here and was going to only do one, then thought try removing all and can always work back from there. Was so easy. 5 mins.
For background, I've only had the car 5 weeks and been slowly working through making the car the way I want it. Love the low down torque. Surprised how quiet it is for a 3l 6. Wished I had a sport exhaust. Given mines an auto, I'ld become convinced the car is very much a mini gt car, not sports car, with it sounding /feeling a bit trashy over 5k rpm....
Then I removed the foam. First drive, planted foot... And actually shouted "WTF was that!!?"
No sports exhaust needed. For what it's worth, I highly recommend this to everyone, especially 3l autos. Its made no difference below 4k which is where the car cruises, but above that it howls like a banchee. Still laughing over it. Love this car!
Part 2.
Reading this forums FAQ, I came across the grey CD player/ black CD player post, and how the black one can play mp3 CDs.....
This was great news, as I'ld been wondering how to get my music playing in the car. Quick run to the shops, bought a Dire Straits CD (as much to check the player worked, as loving Knofflers guitar) and some CD-Rs, burnt some music and Walaaah!! Happy days...
Then... Saw the notes about how to remove the vents/CD player....
My car had a power cable (5v maybe) and Aux cable exciting a small home in the vents above the stereo. My stereo would show AUX in the mode options which according to the forum notes suggested an Aux cable was plugged into the back of the stereo, but plugging a player into this Aux cable didn't seem to work ..
So I got the vents out, got the stereo out... And more mystery. Couldn't trace those cables to the stereo easily... But it did mean I could look into the back of a mini disc player that has been mounted just about the ashtray. And while looking really hard at how this was all connected for the first time..... I spotted the BMW official AUX housing mounted in the dash next to it lol lol!!
Quick rummage for an old Ipod shuffle, hurry back to plug it in, stereo on and again... Whalaaaah!! Music!!
So before I broke it. Tucked the strange mystery 5v and Aux into the rear of the dash, stereo back in and vents clipped into place...
I love this car
Reading this forums FAQ, I came across the grey CD player/ black CD player post, and how the black one can play mp3 CDs.....
This was great news, as I'ld been wondering how to get my music playing in the car. Quick run to the shops, bought a Dire Straits CD (as much to check the player worked, as loving Knofflers guitar) and some CD-Rs, burnt some music and Walaaah!! Happy days...
Then... Saw the notes about how to remove the vents/CD player....
My car had a power cable (5v maybe) and Aux cable exciting a small home in the vents above the stereo. My stereo would show AUX in the mode options which according to the forum notes suggested an Aux cable was plugged into the back of the stereo, but plugging a player into this Aux cable didn't seem to work ..
So I got the vents out, got the stereo out... And more mystery. Couldn't trace those cables to the stereo easily... But it did mean I could look into the back of a mini disc player that has been mounted just about the ashtray. And while looking really hard at how this was all connected for the first time..... I spotted the BMW official AUX housing mounted in the dash next to it lol lol!!
Quick rummage for an old Ipod shuffle, hurry back to plug it in, stereo on and again... Whalaaaah!! Music!!
So before I broke it. Tucked the strange mystery 5v and Aux into the rear of the dash, stereo back in and vents clipped into place...
I love this car
Grandfaloon
New member
@grandfaloon, Tank came out today, new tank is read for installation. The hard part was getting the filler neck out without bending it too much. I plan on installing an aftermarket fuel sensor on the left side to make a spare tank.
Not sure this counts at all, but my alarm was going off randomly in the evenings.
Quick forum check and disconnected the bonnet sensor and all is peaceful!
Worth getting a replacement, or just leave it?
Now all I need to do is figure out the "sometimes/maybe if it feels like it" rear parking sensors!
Quick forum check and disconnected the bonnet sensor and all is peaceful!
Worth getting a replacement, or just leave it?
Now all I need to do is figure out the "sometimes/maybe if it feels like it" rear parking sensors!
Simon 3.2M
Senior member
Number5 said:
Hi Number5, loving your Alpinas.
Taking the diagonal bar out should be a simple job. Take off grilles, undo 4 screws, take out bar. When I did mine, I stripped one of the torx heads and that was it, I had to paint my bar in situ. Did you have the same problem and how did you resolve it? I hate knowing that I’ve got a stripped bolt on the car, but the space is too tight to drill it out. Any suggestions?
Yes. 3 bolts came out fine but the bottom right one wasn’t shifting. I also couldn’t quite get square on enough with the Torx wrench to avoid stripping the head.
I ended up taking off the whole front bumper so I could access it square on and was then able to undo the last bolt.
I ended up taking off the whole front bumper so I could access it square on and was then able to undo the last bolt.
JamieIsf said:sjj84 said:JamieIsf said:Busy one! Took the radio out last week, and then suddenly remembered in the middle of the night a couple of days ago that I had forgotten to plug the cables back in!Also took the aged looking sat Nav out. It was at that point I realised that somebody had stuck the lid up with bathroom sealant, I thought it was just stuck up! Intentions to turn into storage/ charging deck for phones..
Is there a storage tray available or will you make your own?
What are you doing with the old screen?
I'm hopefully getting the existing piece scanned, and a new 3D model to be made, if successful, I'll share the drawings. At the moment the screen is detached from it''s casing, probably going to go in the bin..
Have you got any photos of the casing, I was toying with the idea of trying to mount a new screen in the original casing and hopefully having it still lift and close. Not sure if it would be feasible or not.
