Hi guys
I have a spare rear armrest in Silver-Grey (the really light grey colour). The part that folds down to reveal the first-aid kit.
It's in good condition, and comes with the first-aid kit installed. I bought it as a spare as I planned on butchering my original one to fit a subwoofer behind it, but I've changed my mind on that plan so have no use for this one.
Don't have any pics but can get some if required.
Looking for £40 (about 1/10th of the price BMW would charge for it 
)
That warning only appears when the ignition is switched off/on, it doesn't show up when driving (probably because the oil level in the sump can't be measured with the engine running).
If your oil level is up to the max level on the dipstick, I'd suspect the sensor.
Zitat von arnie;62868....followed by a trip to rebuild the transmission.
Not if you have a manual box... I have drifted mine on several occasions and have no concerns about the box.
Two things to make drifting far easier and more controlled: a manual box (which I have) and an LSD (which I don't have).
The beauty of the LSD is that both wheels spin together, so you can quite precisely control the slip angle with very subtle throttle adjustments. I am strongly considering buying one for my 8 but they don't come cheap. I already have one in my E36 track/drift slag.
Those of you lucky enough to have a CSi get both the manual box and LSD as standard, not to mention the 380 BHP engine which should make it very easy to break traction at the rear 
Zitat von reinhard;61143The key initialization feature will be blocked once it is attempted with a door open. Even though you might not feel responsible it may have happened long before you became owner of the car.
This programming block can only be removed with the appropriate software (DIS/MoDIC) and may be the reason why initialization of a key does not work.
Cheers
Reinhard
Yes, it's a pig of a thing and can be activated unexpectedly. I had it happen to my car and I had to reset it with MoDIC as it just ignores the coding process otherwise.
I believe this "feature" only applies to the IR keys however, so if you have a 3-button key then initialisation lock should not be possible.
Zitat von GARC;60755Alles anzeigen
SORTED - Big Thanks goes out to Reinhard. Thanks for the advice this was spot on and I fixed the horn issue in 20 minutes.
Revtor - I didn't change this part - seemed to get away with it although I had to chip off the white locking pin. Absolutely no issues now.
I must say the ALCANTARA is fantastic..feels like I have a new car
Only issue now is that I have my Airbag light on the dash which I need reset. Will the dealers do this for me for free does anyone know ? Any other ways to reset ?
Anyway - Thanks lots 8er forum - some great responses on my issue.
Regards
GARC
Nice work 
Airbag light will have to be reset. If you have a good relationship with your local dealer, they may do it for free as it's a very quick and easy job. More likely however they will charge an hour labour to do it -- crazy money for such a simple job!
MODIC, GT1, etc will do it (those are what the dealer will have) or a cheapo interface like a Carsoft clone will also do it. I could do it for you for free, but as you're a reasonable distance away it depends how quickly you want it done.
I don't think the ABS ECUs in these cars are coded to the specific car. Even if that was the case, coding is a simple process using a MODIC or GT1 as the car will already have the "key" used to code all modules stored in various places (known as the ZCS key for those who are interested).
These modules are not, at least to my knowledge, write-once EPROM coded like some modules such as the instrument cluster are (you can't recode a used cluster to a different car). As such, there should be no difference to a used or new unit.
Apologies for any inaccuracies; it's a Saturday night and I'm blaming the beer 
I can investigate further if required.
Yes, as mentioned there was a change to the slip ring design from model year 94 to 95 if I remember correctly. With the old style, the horn signal goes though the pressure connector (pin pressing onto the slip ring). It also grounds through the physical connection to the steering column. The newer one uses two wires through the slip ring instead.
I too am unsure about why the airbag light came on. Arnie's suggestion is good: test the connector on the car side of the slip ring does actually go to the airbag connector on the steering wheel side. Other than that, a faulty airbag is possible, but is pretty rare in my experience (it's far more often a wiring or other electrical fault).
I performed a similar upgrade on an E34 540i and all I had to do was replace the plastic part on the steering column behind where the slip ring mounts, and maybe a few other bits and pieces (it was about 4 years ago now). Basically turned into a plug and play swap, with the right bits in place -- no soldering required.
Be aware however, that once the airbag light is on, it will probably have to be reset to get rid of it. Correcting the fault isn't enough; the airbag will detect the system is now fully functional, but the light will remain lit until the error memory is cleared. I have a MODIC that can do it, but even the cheapy stuff like Carsoft clones etc can do this no probs.
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.
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?
Ah Ok thanks. It's just the shifter (part inside the car) I was talking about. The one in the 540i is just as bad from what I remember. I might try getting one from a 330d or similar to give it a shot. If I don't like it I could always go back.
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
Zitat von rcrad6653;58808On the shifters, you need to remember that the shift arm is unique to the 840 and completely different than the 540/M5. You couldn't use that or the selector rod for the 840... it wouldn't line up right in the tunnel, and I'm reading that the stock 540 shifter isn't great anyway. You have to place a shifter in the specific carrier anyway so might as well put leverage in your favor.
Are there no OE shifters that will drop into the 8?
I agree that the OE 540i/6 shifter is pretty similar in throw to the 8, as I used to own one. I had hoped that any shifter that fits the 540 would fit the 8, since they're pretty similar mechanically. But I guess the body differences mean they're different as you state.
Zitat von Koizumi;58445The blue painted bulbs looked black blobs in the orange markers. They didn't look so hot on my 750iL. I replaced the markers with clear ones and the blue painted bulbs looked better. Maybe all in all it wasn't so bad, but the fact that I knew they were blue made me not really like them.
My thinking is that they won't really be visible in the FTP lights, as the lens is so frosted. I definitely wouldn't put them behind clear lights as they'd look very chav.
As long as they're white when on (which I think they will be as I have lightly blue tinted marker bulbs in my other car and they still look yellow next to the HIDs) I'll be happy.
It's the belt that drives the power steering pump, alternator, water pump, etc.
No fancy tools needed, just a decent socket set and some spanners. I can't remember the sizes but somewhere in the range of 13-16mm seems right. You'll also need a 32mm spanner to remove the fan.
Quite an easy job, just remove the fan (remember it's a left-hand thread so you need to turn the spanner in the opposite direction you'd expect to remove it) then loosen the bolts holding the tensioner in place. It will automatically de-tension, leaving the belt loose so it can be removed if you're replacing it. You can then pop the tensioner off.
If you're replacing the whole unit, fitting is reverse of removing. Otherwise if you're replacing just the springy/damper part you'll have to remove a few more bolts to get the pulleys off and refit them to the new damper. Something like a vice to hold the tensioner in place can be helpful here.
Once the unit is back on the car, leave the tensioner bolts a little loose. With the belt correctly routed, there is a hex shaped part on the tensioner that can be used to rotate the unit and apply tension (it's behind one of the nuts). Use a spanner on this to apply tension to the belt, and while holding it in place tighten the bolts. It may be easier with a helping hand here, although I done it myself and it's not too bad.
Don't forget to replace the fan, again remembering it's reverse threaded. You don't need to tighten it with the spanner, as the rotation of the engine will tighten it and it can't undo itself anyway (due to the engine direction, that's why it's reverse threaded).
It's documented in the BMW repair manual, so if you're struggling with my instructions I can grab some pics from it and post them up.
I had an issue with mine "chirping" when doing slow speed maneouvres when the wheels met some resistance, increasing the load on the power steering. The adjuster was at its maximum setting and it felt tight, so I replaced the belt. No difference.
I have since replaced the tensioner, and on removing the old one it was obvious that it was slightly shorter than the new one with no load applied, so clearly worn. This has cured my problem -- it seems the tensioner loses pressure over the years, so the belt slackens off just enough to cause it to slip a little under heavy load.
It's only about £40 for a new tensioner unit so well worth a try if yours hasn't been changed, although you might want to replace the pulleys as well. I'd also stick on a new belt while you're there, unless it's been changed recently.
Zitat von TerryY;58709Interesting article on BMW shifters http://www.540i6.com/m3shifter.html
I have the Z3 M shifter in the parts pile and it is definitely different than the 540 shifter that came with my engine and trans.
That is an interesting article. A point to note is that the 328i and US M3 use a 5-speed box, which I think was a ZF. Whereas the 3.2 M3 EVO (Euro only) uses a 6-speed Getrag, similar to ours but with a lower torque rating (420 vs 560 I think). All the Z3-based cars (inc M roadster and M coupe) used the 5-speed box, as there wasn't enough room to fit the 6-speed.
The 540i/6 uses the same box as the 840 of course, as does the E39 M5. So it would seem that sticking with a shifter from one of these cars should ensure that the position and fitment of the shifter is most likely to remain correct.
This theory fits in with what the E36 guys say here: The Z3 shifter is a good upgrade for all models except the 3.2 M3; the latter is best upgraded by a 330d shifter (which also uses a Getrag 6-speed).
I quite fancy a change in shifter, but can't justify stretching to the UUC kit (especially with the crash in the value of the pound!). Who has tried an E39 M5 or E36 3.2 M3 shifter? Or even the E46 330d shifter, which seems even shorter than the M-car ones?
Thanks for the very comprehensive reply rcrad. I hadn't expected that so many parts would be required, but thinking about it all there are quite a few differences.
If I was doing it here in the UK, I'd probably pick up a rough E34 540i/6 which you can get for less than £1000 these days. As the gearboxes are pretty solid, I'd have no worries about using a high mileage one as long as it shifts nicely and has no noises, and the oil looks clean (I had mine drained and replaced a few years ago and it looked brand new).
You'd also get the pedal box, shifter, could salvage the prop (I expect they're different but you could probably get a shop to join the two from both cars), the flywheel is probably the same (not sure though), new clutch obviously. The other parts that don't swap over from the E34 I'd probably buy new.
Having a lift would definitely make a job like this infinitely easier. I'm still not convinced I'd have the mechanical skills to do it, but I can always fall back on my mate if needed.
I have no actual plans to do something like this at the moment, as you know we do have good factory 6-speeds here, although they do command a premium over the autos and are a lot harder to find, so it's definitely worth considering if an immaculate auto comes up.
As for the jumper mod, I have access to a BMW MODIC so I'd probably recode whatever modules need it (general module and cluster at least I'd expect) but that's a minor point.
Good luck and keep us updated with progress.
Zitat von Lloyd;57978Argonaut do you know the code for the bulbs i.e. T5 etc as there seems to be quite a few LED versions on the bay which should help to brighten up the bash.
The LEDs would probably cause the light to be patchy, as they're too directional. You made the right choice getting OE replacements.
Zitat von ziggystardust;58789dvd , good 3d gps (you can play music while using), infrared camera when reversing, bluetooth, sd card, tv, ipod connection and the colors fits our display so it's not shockingly pimped.
for 260 pounds delivery included, i'm thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looks good, except for my one pet hate: the blue illumination for the buttons 
Not sure why these are so prevalent in modern electronic gizmos, but I find them really distracting and they always look out of focus due to the short wavelength.
If someone could change them to BMW orange, you'd be onto a winner! Looks like it gets most of the functions of a car PC, with a fraction of the installation effort and cost. Nice work
PS One thing I think is a big negative for the custom car PCs is the lack of a proper volume control. I adjust the volume quite a lot, and I don't think it's very safe having to do so using a touch screen with no tactile feel for where the button is.
The ideal solution would be to fit a steering wheel with controls and wire that to the car PC, but I notice this unit has proper volume controls so I'd certainly prefer that to only having software volume on the touch screen.
