Servicing recommendations / experiences in Scotland

I'm not in the Uk, so I really cant recommend anyone.
But if you where happy with the ones you used keep using them.
If they know the e34/e32/e38 they should be able to figure iut the e31 since they share much the same technology and part/suspension desing.

Oh... and I know binary

Hi Alex,

I'm scottish - just bought an 8 at Xmas.

I'd highly recommend BM Motors in Law

http://www.bmwccscotland.co.uk/bmmotors/

I have an E30 M3 Convertible Garage Queen which I only use in the summer. I take it to Dave every April ( even though I sat an hour away ! ) for a check over and Oil change ( with an Insp II last Year ).

I've also used him for an Insp II for my wife's 318 Touring. Really nice guy - someone to trust which is rare. Rates are significantly cheaper that dealers but what I like about him is he is very knowledgable about older BM's.

I haven't phoned him yet about my 8 but I know there was an 8 Owner at one of the Scottish BMW Car Club meets that used him so I assume he'll not be phased.

Hope this helps

GARC

I have used Harry Fairbairn (on the south side) a couple of times and found them to be ok.

Stuart

Zitat von GARC;58519

Hi Alex,

I'm scottish - just bought an 8 at Xmas.

I'd highly recommend BM Motors in Law

http://www.bmwccscotland.co.uk/bmmotors/

I have an E30 M3 Convertible Garage Queen which I only use in the summer. I take it to Dave every April ( even though I sat an hour away ! ) for a check over and Oil change ( with an Insp II last Year ).

I've also used him for an Insp II for my wife's 318 Touring. Really nice guy - someone to trust which is rare. Rates are significantly cheaper that dealers but what I like about him is he is very knowledgable about older BM's.

I haven't phoned him yet about my 8 but I know there was an 8 Owner at one of the Scottish BMW Car Club meets that used him so I assume he'll not be phased.

Hope this helps

GARC

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I can second this recommendation. Used Davy many times for servicing and various other work like replacing my water pump, springs, brakes, etc.

He is one of the rare breed of old-school mechanics that is very meticulous in his work. As an example, when I had my brakes changed, he removed the mechanisms for the hand brake and cleaned every part before greasing them up and correctly adjusting them both at the brakes and inside the car (under the handbrake lever). How many main dealers do you think would go to that effort when they can rush through the job in 30 minutes and bill you for 2 hours' work? That was well over a year ago and my handbrake still works perfectly -- I reckon it could hold the car on a near vertical!

The only thing he doesn't really do is electronics, as he doesn't have all the gear for it, although he will reset the lights after a service. There is a place he can recommend if you need the car plugged up, or I could do it for you as I have the gear myself (BMW MODIC, none of that Carsoft rubbish ). It suits me fine as he's a great mechanic and I'm a bit of an electronics guru so my car seldom goes near a main dealer except to buy parts!

PS GARC not sure if it was my car you saw at one of the meets? I'm not in the BMWCC but I did go to Davy's last year for the meet up. If it was Calypso Red and in need of a good wash (well I did blast along the B roads from Edinburgh!) it was probably mine I do know there was someone else there who has (had?) a grey 8.

Alex - Agree with Paul - Davy can't do everything but is A1 on the mechanical side.

Paul - you seem to be the type of guy Alex and I should get to know as I have no clue about electronics and to be honest that's the part that always worried me about owning an 8 as I beleive the V8 is bomb proof if maintained.

Alex and i plan to meet up at the Dumbarton meet - it would be great to meet you also.



Gary

Electronics is definitely my forté much more than mechanicals. The electronics in the 8 aren't really too bad -- a lot of people say they're problematic, but that's often because they don't understand them.

The 8 was the first BMW to use bus communications between all the electronic modules, and in places like the electric window switches (if you've ever removed the driver's window control you'll notice it only has 4 wires even though it's controlling 4 windows with one-touch). But the bus is no less reliable than old-style wiring; possibly it's more reliable as there are fewer wires and connections to go wrong.

The main thing is to be aware that there are a lot of control units scattered around the car, so if any of them get wet for example you can get strange problems. Damaged wiring can also occur in several known places, such as in the left wheel arch area on earlier models (possible ABS issues) or the wiring to the boot lid cracking (common on several BMWs of this era).

A diag machine is a definite plus with these cars. Personally I prefer the proper BMW tools such as MODIC, as they're reliable and give good troubleshooting information when a fault is detected. You can also perform tests and get live data from some modules.

But MODIC is expensive so not for everyone; Carsoft or similar provides a cheap alternative that will do 80% of what most people want, for 10% of the price of MODIC. OK you can't do things like reset the initialization lock on the IR mirror using Carsoft (I did actually have to do this after losing my key and discovering my spare had a flat battery) but few people even know such things exist, let alone how to use them

If you guys have electronics issues and need a diag any time, drop me a line and we should be able to sort something out.

As for the meet, I'd quite like to go but my 8 is currently waiting on me fixing one of the headlight adjusters after I broke it trying to adjust the beam. They're cheap nasty plastic that are very prone to breaking, but I thought I'd try anyway. I have the replacements waiting, just need to find the time to strip the headlight unit.

The other issue is that it's on the 1st Feb, and I have a night out to watch a few of my mates who play in a band on the 31st Jan. But I'll see what I can do

Wow You do sound like a guy to know.

No problems ( touch wood ) to report as yet - only slight concern I had is a couple o f times the electric windows have seemed to have mind of their own. I'm not driving the car to oten at the moment until I sell my wifes 318 touring so I'll keep a closer eye on things when I get to drive it more regular.

Would be good to see you Sunday if you can make it. Would be good to see a 'manual' 8 in the flesh - I'm sure it's a myth that they exist in the UK

Cheers
Gary

Zitat von Paul_M;58942

The 8 was the first BMW to use bus communications between all the electronic modules, and in places like the electric window switches (if you've ever removed the driver's window control you'll notice it only has 4 wires even though it's controlling 4 windows with one-touch).

Mine has 9 connectors.



BMW use the Telefunken 6050 remote controller chip with a 16 bitcode.



we modified this bitcode for some new functions (programmable) ...



As you said, with the knowledge it's ...

It's looking increasingly unlikely that I'm going to make this one guys, as I've got a house move in the pipeline now (I'm only moving about 4 miles but it's still a major hassle). Sorry -- hopefully make the next one.

Martin, that looks like a very interesting project (yet another one!) I see you're using the old faithful Microchip PIC in there, I used to program those in assembler back in the day. 12c509 for really basic projects (the weedy little 8-pin one) and usually 16F628 for more complex stuff. They are great little microcontrollers once you get to know your way around them.

Not sure I could do it now though, it's been too long since then and I can't remember most of the instructions. What does it do in this case?

Zitat von Paul_M;59014

What does it do in this case?

Open or close all windows with two button clicks.

With the central locking switch you can switch between the normal and the new special mode.

When you click the central locking switch longer than 1 second, the control unit lock or unlock the doors.
A shorter click than 1 second start a 5 second time window in the special mode for choosing the windows direction (close or open all windows).

A click to an UP-Button start first both rear windows. When they are in the middle, the front windows starts too.

and so on ...

Very nice feature Martin! I continue to be impressed with both your ideas for upgrades, and the electronics know-how to turn them into reality.

Those are exactly the sorts of things I used to do myself when I was at uni and had spare time and an enquiring mind. Unfortunately the world of work has largely put paid to my days of fiddling with electronics.