Beiträge von sparklesmcgraw

Jesus. I know Norway has some things right but this is just stupid. Those prices are down right robbery!

Took it for another drive and gave her some heavy braking. Seems ok. Coasts fine in neutral with no noticeable resistance. Will see how she does tomorrow.

Hey all,

I have not been running my car that much recently just to keep the mileage low etc..

Went and picked her up and drove her back to my place (+/- 10 miles). As I neared the house, at a traffic light I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the right rear. Pulled up at the house and the driver side brake pad was very hot and billowing smoke. I had a look and it seems as though there is not much clearance between the pad and the disc.

The car drove perfectly fine and didnt feel like it had a sticky caliper. Looking at all the other discs shows about the same clearance between the pad (not very much). When in Neutral should you be able to see a distinct gap between them?

Maybe it just needs a good drive and a few hard braking spells. I need to take her to work tomorrow (not far only 2 miles or so) so will see how it fairs then.

Any other ideas? Hopefully is just a case of needing a good drive. It sits for about a couple weeks at a time and then gets driven for a day or so at the most. Maybe she is trying to tell me to pay her some more attention!

Thanks for all the advice guys. Luckily my issue is now solved and seemed to be simpler than I had thought

I bought and installed a BMW CD43 headunit with the thought to update the unit to something newer and to allow the changing of CD's from the cabin and I had heard the sound quality was slightly better.

Head unit was a breeze to change and as it turns out the FM radio started working again! Looks as though it was the head unit itself.

New stereo sounds and looks great! Tape was pretty retro and all but it was time to update

Thanks Reinhard.

If it turns out to be a corroded wire in the rear windscreen, is a replacement screen the only option? How do I access the antenna amplifier to check the fuses?

Apologies but i am not very technically minded in these matters!

Thanks

Hi All,

The FM radio on my 8 has not been working for a few months and I am looking for some advice as to what could be the problem. The car is '99 840Ci and is in fantastic condition (52k miles). Absolutely everything else works on the car including the CD player and AM radio but for some reason I only get static on FM.

Could the problem be as simple as a fuse or is it possible the amp has gone? I would have thought the CD player also wouldn't work if that is the case but these cars are so complex it wouldn't surprise me if it had more than one amp! I am looking at getting a BMW CD43 stereo fitted soon but would like to know that the FM is sorted before I change out the original.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Very nice,

Best colour IMO although I am slightly biased :

Thanks all.

Rear window is factory original and all works as it should.

Guess I will have to have a hunt for the Amp and check the wiring. I may have to take it to somebody better than myself for this though as I have no idea what I am doing back there!

Fraser

Yes, I am talking about just the rubber conduit on either side of the boot hydraulic pistons.

Any idea what wires it contains?

Hi all,

Does anyone know what all the wires are that go through both sides of the boot wiring loom? I noticed one of my boot internal lights wasn't working and when I 'massage' the wiring loom it flicks on and off. Obviously there is a loose connection there so was planning to open it up and reseal all the wires.

My FM radio is also not working (everything else is fine, AM, CD, Tape etc..) and was wondering if maybe a corroded wire in the loom could be the cause? Hoping so as I hope the FM amplifier isn't goosed.

Thanks

Heres the final list:

- Inspection II service
- Brake Bulb
- Front and rear brake pads and sensors
- Front brake discs
- 2 x front inner control arm bushes
- 2 x rear trailing arm bushes
- 2 x headlight adjuster
- 2 x chassis brake pipes
- Air conditioning service

Parts = £580.28
Labour = £715.00
Service = £270.84
VAT = £330.22

Total = £1981.34

I must say the car drives a lot better now. Just got back from a long drive to the west coast and it performed as it was built for. No more wobbles at 60 mph and the car feels more planted than it has been recently. Overall I am pretty happy, but appreciate you opinions of the cost to help decide to go back to them or not.

I could go elsewhere but as expensive as petrol is it would get expensive fast and I would be stuck without transport home.

Thanks for the replies all. The inspection II was only around £700 I believe. Prices up here in Aberdeen are pretty high in general.

The bushes done were the control arm bushes I believe.

HD- I appreciate your efforts in recommending that garage but I was not able to make it there and I know someone with an 8 series who recommended the local one I used so thought I would give it a go. If my mind is changed I will venture further afield next time round. Again, I appreciate your efforts, thanks.

Oh well, expensive as it may be as long as the work has been done right (fingers crossed). I am picking up the car tonight so will post what was done properly (not just what I remember from the phone call) once I get the itemised bill.

I guess seeing as I have owned the car for over three years and it has not cost me more than £200-300 so far that a decent bill was coming! Despite this however, if the experts here believe it is excessive I will definiteley look elsewhere next time.

Hi all,

I just had my 840 serviced by a local independant who performed an inspection II and various other bits and bobs:

- Control arm bushes front and rear
- Headlight adjuster fixed
- Recharge air con
- New front discs and pads
- Rear pads
- Brake chassis points

The weird one is the front discs. I had them changed only a few months ago but the garage told me they needed done as they were warped (well the offside was but as they come in a pair best to do both). I asked how they could warp so quick and he said maybe the suspension bushes being worn has had soemthing to do with it. The new discs I put on couldn't have had more than 500 miles on them.

That aside the total came to +/- £1900. What are your thoughts on that price? I am trying to decided whether to use them regularly from now on.

Thanks!

Will do some investigating thanks.

The bulb holder looks brand new with no signs of corrosion. Possibly the 'female' side however may have some corrosion although I can't bend my neck that way to have a good look!

Hello folks,

I have been having an issue with my passenger side rear brake light. At first the computer alerted me that it had failed so I checked the bulb and it was indeed blown. I changed out the bulb a couple of weeks later (once I got around to it) and all was well for around two weeks.

Now, the alert has come back and my brake light is not working again. I have checked the bulb and all is fine and even tried a few different bulbs but all with the same result.

Could there possibly be a faulty connection between the bulb holder and socket? Has anyone experienced something similar before?

Thanks

Looks familiar to me! I am sureI saw that for sale a while back. Most definitely looks like one of the best around. The paint work must have had a re-spray at some point? makes me want to give mine a new coat!

Fraser

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Well i got my new discs fitted for £80 by a local mechanic who said there was nothing wrong with my calipers and fitted the discs no problem. Nice one BMW.

Car feels great and has no more steering wobble under breaking!

Thanks

Thanks for the advice.

It is good to know that the stealers aren't lying to me at least! Anyway I think I will take the car elsewhere for a second opinion and cheaper labour costs.

Thanks again!

Just thought I would get you folks' opinion of what my local BMW garage just told me.

I put the car in for two new front brake discs and was quoted £330 including labour which I thought was reasonable and was the only reason I let them do it. They called me up today saying that the caliper piston is seized and they need to try a repair kit (25 quid) to see if they could fix it. If they couldnt fix it then it would need new calipers which gets very pricey. Because of this they werent able to fit the new discs as the thicker disc wouldn't fit in the caliper as the piston is seized.

I told them to stop what they were doing to save things getting out of hand. If they dismantled the calipers and couldnt fix them I would be forced down the route of getting new ones (quoted £370 each!). I have bought the discs (£200) and will take them elsewhere to get fitted.

I am no mechanic but surely calipers on a 49k mile 1999 car can be fixable? Seized caliper piston? What happened to WD40 and hammers?

Hi Folks,

As my inspection II service is coming up over the next few months I have been looking for trustworthy and reasonably priced garages in Scotland. I would love to drive down to 8Tech's garage but it is a tad far from Aberdeen.

After doing some research I cam across B4BMW : http://b4bmw.co.uk/

They seem to have a good customer base and have genrally good reviews. Has anyone every used or heard of them before?

I simply don't trust the main dealer or any of the independant garages in my area for that matter. I love my car and want the best possible attention I can find given to her....sad I know.....