E46 318i Touring: New front drop-link for MOT

The 318i Touring was up for MOT this week and failed only on the O/S front anti roll-bar link. Normally I would replace these as a pair, which would have been more cost effective as you can get a set of two from eBay for under £15. Time was an issue and I wanted to get it back for a re-test so had to buy one from Euro Car Parts for the same price, around £15. Annoyingly, the eBay pair were Lemforder and the single piece from ECP is Starline, but needs must.

The car has only just passed 104k miles, so this could well have been the original anti-roll bar linkage and boy was it seized on. I only got a couple of turns on the top nut before the 5mm Allen-key in the stud stripped and rounded, so had to cut the rubber boot off to get a 17mm spanner on to the flats at the back. Even so, progress was painstakingly slow. Couldn’t even get a grinder in there as things are surprisingly tightly packed on E46. This made an otherwise quick and easy job last a bit longer, but it is nearly 20 years old.

E46 318i Touring: Back on the road with new battery!

Despite paying road-tax and insurance on the E46 Touring it's been laid up for 6 months and with an improvement in the weather it's high time I put it back on the road. All it really needed was some air in the tyres and the brakes beating up. The battery was totally dead, however. The previous owner had put an AGM [automated glass-mat] battery design for vehicles with Start/Stop technology on it, which was great but clearly the 19 year old alternator and charging setup on the E46 was not up to the job of charging it properly. Ah well, it has lasted for over twelve months... 

I've always sworn by Bosch batteries, but the £100+ price tag these days, yes even with a Euro Car Parts discount code, is a bit too expensive for this car. ECP, as well as the parts dept. at work can offer a budget Lion battery for a little over £50, but I have been warned by everyone willing to give their fifty pence that these don't last five minutes and I should avoid like the plague. Ultra-budget batteries can be found on eBay for as little as £27, but who knows anything about their quality.

At this point I have to hand it to the parts dept. at work here, who loaded me up a Yuasa 3110 series battery [760Ah] for just £60 all in! Yuasa get a good write up, in fact I am told they beat Bosch in tests and are currently one of the best on the market. ECP could offer me a Yuasa for £67, but it was a tiny little square battery and this just goes to show how useful working or knowing someone in the motor-trade can be...

E34 5 Series 'Countryman' Touring X-Over Lifestyle utility concept... with pop-out tent...what?!

Well, I really have now seen it all. This is something I never expected to see from BMW, given their sporty, driver-focused image, but here it is... The E34 5 Series Touring utility camping wagon! Not only is it lifted with bigger tyres and sports obligatory 4x4 style two-tone paint, but it even sports a 'pop-out' camper roof and folding tent! This idea was only ever adopted in one vehicle I know of and that was the truly ill-received Pontiac Aztec some 10 years later, with the tent thing actually being one of its saving graces! You heard it from Bavaria first.

The concept is of the early 1990's, which means it also pre-dates Audi's 'Allroad' Quattro and Volvo's V70 XC / Cross Country, both of which were released and saw quite a bit of niche popularity, not to mention Subaru's ever popular Forester that seem to still be seen all over. The Audi and Subaru of course had 4-wheel drive as standard and the Volvo has it as an option, whereas the BMW would have still only been rear-wheel drive.. Can't imagine this would have been too good on a muddy camp-site field! It certainly wouldn't appeal stylistically to the same sort of younger BMW driver's who drift round ploughing up fields for fun anyway and perhaps doesn't quite fit with the BMW ethos overall, so I can see why it was overlooked and never made it into production. X-Drive all-wheel drive only became a feature in this millennium, which would have suited this thing to a tee and may have even brought it into production, but with such a limited market maybe the world has moved on.

Personally, I love it! Maybe I will recreate one from my E46 Touring! I challenge someone to beat me to it!

This reminds me, I really must get on a 'camping' trip in the 318i wagon when the epidemic is over and camp in the car, which I've been planning to do for a while now. I thought I was the only one eccentric enough to have such an idea... but no, some design team at BMW had the same notion, only over 35 years ago!

E46 318i Touring: Oil leak fixed! Rubber rocker-cover gasket was the culprit!

It's about time I got back to wrenching on some Beemers after a busy hiatus, so where better to start than with the massive oil-leak on my E46 318i Touring. The car hasn't seen much use over the winter months, but as I start to need it again for its cavernous load-lugging functions, I figured it was time to spend a bit more time getting it right.

I was going through about a cupful of oil every 100 miles or so (I think that is a pretty favourable estimate to be honest, more like half a litre!) and worse than the cost of all the topping-up, smoke continued to billow from not only the sides of the bonnet (hood) while stopped at traffic-lights, but also straight into the cabin with the blowers turned on. This meant for the last 12 months I have had the climate-control set to full recirculation mode and on low, making de-misting the windscreen a nightmare on colder days.

I could see the oil-leak was coming from the rear left side of the engine, as it so often the case with N42 engines and assumed it to be the vacuum-pump (like with my E46 318ci in this this post), but after removing the rocker-cover (cam-cover) I found it was actually the rubber gasket itself. The thick rubber gaskets tend to harden and go brittle over time and almost completely down the left side of the cam-cover there was noticeable leakage, primarily at the back corner, next to the vac-pump of course. The gap at the rear-left corner was so pronounced I feel you could have slipped a credit-card through with a little force and touched the back of the cam-shaft! This was allowing a constant drip of oil out onto the heat-shield and down onto the exhaust-manifold, as shown by the arrows in the picture and causing most, if not all of the smoke.

Luckily, I suppose, I have been working through the Covid epidemic, so I am classed as a 'key worker' and had a day off, so I managed to blag Euro Car Parts that it was essential work and instantly collect the new Elring gasket (£22, but eBay alternatives are as cheap as £9.50 if you can wait!) and some Corteco White instant gasket-sealant (£7), though they still had me waiting for an hour outside!

Knowing how prone the top-end seals of the N42 are to leaks and not wanting to take any chances of removing the rocker-cover again anytime soon, I slapped on a liberal bead of the Corteco sealant over the vacuum-pump ring and along the entire left-side (lower) surface of the cylinder-head top edge along with the new rubber-gasket. The job does not take long at all (I will post a guide soon), with removal and refitting of the cam-cover only taking around 30 minutes each and that's taking your time...

Needless to say, this has stopped the major part of my oil-leak in this area! Not only has the oily steam stopped from the sides of the bonnet while stationary, the smell/smoke from the climate vents has now ceased and the car is no longer consuming oil at a silly rate, so I would say job done! There is still a tiny weep of fresh oil coming from around this area, but nowhere near like before and, after a run where the engine is warm, there is no dripping pool on the under-tray! For the money I spent, the difference in convenience is worth vastly more! I would have spent the ~£30 I did in oil in a couple of weeks using the car daily, so if you have this problem, it's safe to say this is the culprit and get it sorted!

BMW BTCC 60th Anniversary Poster - E90 320Si, RAC team Colin Turkington - 'Stencil Art'

2002Ti, Works team 1965 - 'Pop Art'
E9 3.0 CSL Alpina, Works team 1973 - 'Collage Art'
E30 M3, Mobil team Frank Sytner - 'Tech Noir'
E36 318i, FINA team Steve Soper - 'Memphis Design'
E90 320Si, RAC team Colin Turkington - 'Stencil Art'

Era: 2009
Car: E90 320Si
Driver: Colin Turkington
Team: RAC Racing
Style: Stencil Art
Artist: Katie Edwards
Resolution: 1191 x 1684

What is Stencil art? - Stencil Art Wiki here.

These are a bit out of date, but I think they're great and I've been after some higher resolution versions for a while. BMW UK had them designed in 2015 to mark 60 years of competing in the BTCC, Super Touring and World Touring Car series, with the posters evoking a popular art style from each decade. Here, post-millenil Stencil art and Colin Turkington's 320Si.

BMW BTCC 60th Anniversary Poster - E36 318i, FINA team Steve Soper - 'Memphis Design' - [1191x1684]

2002Ti, Works team 1965 - 'Pop Art'
E9 3.0 CSL Alpina, Works team 1973 - 'Collage Art'
E30 M3, Mobil team Frank Sytner - 'Tech Noir'
E36 318i, FINA team Steve Soper - 'Memphis Design'
E90 320Si, RAC team Colin Turkington - 'Stencil Art'

Era: 1993
Car: E36 318i SE
Driver: Steve Soper
Team: FINA Racing
Style: Memphis Design
Artist: Yukai Du

What is Memphis design? - Memphis design Wiki here.

These are a bit out of date, but I think they're great and I've been after some higher resolution versions for a while. BMW UK had them designed in 2015 to mark 60 years of competing in the BTCC, Super Touring and World Touring Car series, with the posters evoking a popular art style from each decade. Here, Memphis design from the 1990s and Steve Soper's almighty FINA 318i.

BMW BTCC 60th Anniversary Poster - E30 M3 DTM, Frank Sytner 1988 - 'Tech Noir'

2002Ti, Works team 1965 - 'Pop Art'
E9 3.0 CSL Alpina, Works team 1973 - 'Collage Art'
E30 M3, Mobil team Frank Sytner - 'Tech Noir'
E36 318i, FINA team Steve Soper - 'Memphis Design'
E90 320Si, RAC team Colin Turkington - 'Stencil Art'

Era: 1988
Car: E30 M3 DTM
Driver: Frank Sytner
Team: Mobil Racing
Style: Tech Noir
Artist: Van Orton
Resolution: 1191 x 1684

What is Tech Noir? - Tech Noir Wiki here.

These are a bit out of date, but I think they're great and I've been after some higher resolution versions for a while. BMW UK had them designed in 2015 to mark 60 years of competing in the BTCC, Super Touring and World Touring Car series, with the posters evoking a popular art style from each decade. Here, 1980s Tech Noir design and the awesome E30 M3 DTM.

BMW BTCC 60th Anniversary Poster - 3.0 CSL Alpina - 'Collage Art'

2002Ti, Works team 1965 - 'Pop Art'
E9 3.0 CSL Alpina, Works team 1973 - 'Collage Art'
E30 M3, Mobil team Frank Sytner - 'Tech Noir'
E36 318i, FINA team Steve Soper - 'Memphis Design'
E90 320Si, RAC team Colin Turkington - 'Stencil Art'

Era: 1973
Car: E9 3.0 CSL Alpina
Team: BMW Works
Style: Collage Art
Artist: Martin O'Neill
Resolution: 1191 x 1684

What is Collage art? - Collage Art Wiki here.

These are a bit out of date, but I think they're great and I've been after some higher resolution versions for a while. BMW UK had them designed in 2015 to mark 60 years of competing in the BTCC, Super Touring and World Touring Car series, with the posters evoking a popular art style from each decade. Here, Collage art from the 1970s and the 3.0 CSL.

BMW BTCC 60th Anniversary Poster - 2002Ti Works Touring Car 1965 - 'Pop Art'

2002Ti, Works team 1965 - 'Pop Art'
E9 3.0 CSL Alpina, Works team 1973 - 'Collage Art'
E30 M3, Mobil team Frank Sytner - 'Tech Noir'
E36 318i, FINA team Steve Soper - 'Memphis Design'
E90 320Si, RAC team Colin Turkington - 'Stencil Art'

Era: 1965
Car: 2002 Ti Works Touring Car
Team: Factory
Style: Pop Art
Artist: Garry Walton
Resolution: 1191 x 1684

What is Pop Art? - Pop Art Wiki here.

These are a bit out of date, but I think they're great and I've been after some higher resolution versions for a while. BMW UK had them designed in 2015 to mark 60 years of competing in the BTCC, Super Touring and World Touring Car series, with the posters evoking a popular art style from each decade. Here, Pop Art from the 1960s and the works 2002 Ti.

UPDATE: F10 off road with DPF issues... E46 Touring joins the stable!

So, quite an eventful couple of months... first I rectified the hi-beam headlight issues on the F10, only for it to then fail the MOT on emissions due to a blocked DPF and new regulations. Work on my house meant that I had no time to sort it and needed a car, so ended up buying an E46 318i Touring for the princely sum of £400. It's got 102k miles, MOT until October and is purple... enough said.

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F10 DPF / Emissions woes...

New UK emissions rules [info here] for diesel cars are extremely choking [excuse the pun]. The law states that diesel cars made after 2008 must no longer adhere to a generic CO2 value, previously 3.0 m-1, but instead must produce emissions lower than the manufacturers plate value... in BMWs case this is 0.5 m-1. Therefore, to pass a UK MOT test on emissions the car must now produce 1/6th of what used to be considered acceptable! There is still a generic value to test to, only halved at 1.5 m-1 and easier to pass, but this only applies when there is no 'manufacturer plate-value' and sadly the F10 has one.
To make matters worse, any emission of black smoke from the exhaust pipe on a post-2008 vehicle fitted with a DPF is an instant fail!

My first emissions test produced just shy of 1.8 m-1. In past years this has been well within the acceptable limits, my Dad's 2004 Audi A4 diesel producing nearly 2.8 m-1 and passing for instance, but since April 2018 the limit is 0.5 and my 1.8 is well over. I ran a bottle of CataClean through and gave the car a good 20 mile run up and down the motorway, then returned to the test-station for another go. This time I rolled just under 1.5 m-1 of CO2, an improvement but still well above the permitted 0.5. Besides, it was pointed out to me that the car was emitting a puff or two of black smoke during the tests, so it didn't really matter and this only pointed to one thing... a blocked DPF.

After trying a re-gen through software, I realised that the DPF would need to come off the car to be cleaned out / replaced before this was going to happen. A new DPF from BMW is £1596 +VAT... so lets not even go there. Used or reconditioned DPFs.. hmm, I decided to give those a pass too, along with cheap spurious models that I've heard nothing but bad things about. No, instead I will have to clean out the heavily clogged one I have now, so watch this space as I will post results soon.

Yeah, a lot going on and you can see why I needed a cheap runaround!

If I had the money...

Classic & Sports Car Magazine is full of things you'd give your right arm for, but this ex Spa prepared E12 530i touring car caught my eye. I've been hankering after an E12 for a good while now, but the engine swap / new turbo on my E60 means I don't have the 45k odd Euros lying around. Shame, as it has the M1 developed straight-six engine (M30) that made it into the M535i and would sure give a modern M5 a run for its money...

If you fancy it yourself and have deep pockets, here is the link to it on French auto-salon HistoricCars.fr - http://www.historiccars.fr/bmw-530-juma-bastos-24h-spa-francorchamp-1981.html.