Beiträge von reptileis

well wuffer, Im in Bellingham. Fairhaven area.

your names not bob is it? he has two red 8s too. Met him off the list recently.

This gal was headed Northbound on i-5 through Bellingham at around 12-12:30 PM Last Friday.

Do we Know her?

I was headed South but she didnt seem to pay me any mind.

Thanks guys.

I used Dex this time- just because I had some kicking around and didnt want to suffer the possibility of a freeze. Im having the system flushed again and I will use the BMW coolant to refill her.

I used to own an 81 928 which required a special type of antifreeze. Before i refill my radiator I thought that I would check with the list to see if there are any special concerns on antifreeze for our 8s.

appreciated.

Mike Blain

Yes the wheels are staggered, 20 x 8's (i think for the front) and 20 x 9.5 or 10 on the rear.

The tire sizes are something like 245 35 20 and 275 35 20 or something like that. The ride is still quite nice- I get a lot more sensation of the road's contours up through the steering wheel- kind of annoying on a some stretches of street- but mostly the feel is quite decent.

Im taking her on her second 5 hour drive from Bellingham down to Olympia and up 101 to Naselle/greysriver. Great driving roads there through the fir tree plantations and along the rivers. All I can say for sure is that the pics I posted are pisspoor to the reality of staring at the car with these wheels on her. They have a very nice coating of thick chrome-

Finally- It stopped raining long enough that I had an opportunity to take these crummy pictures.......and they are very poor, as it is dusk at the time of shooting.

these are the 20 " M parallels from Evergreen imp.

Hi guys, been away so sorry for the slow response time.

I have been exceedingly happy with the 20" M parallels. They balanced out very easily (according to the installers) and are exceedingly true to round. Vibration is unfelt.
as for traction- Im afraid that I cannot honestly report good or bad. My car has only 300 ponies, traction control, and the prior make of tire was very poor. Im currently running the new Nitto's, and have witnessed the warning light for traction loss light up on occassion, but have not been able to break the rear end loose more than enough to just make me smile... and I live in the rainy state of WA. I must also admit that Im fairly new to my car- and used to driving cars that can set the rear tires ablaze without warning... like the Porsche 928. So for me, I am happy with the choice I made.

I purchased my set of wheels and Tires through Evergreen Imports (Eugene OR.) find em online. and the price was a no brainer cvoupled with their feedback. Robert (the owner) was very helpful and I would appreciate it if you dropped my name (mike from Bellingham) should you decide to purchase from him.

I will take pics in the morning if it's not raining, and once Ive washed the car.

Oh... I will say that... I get infinately more inquiries about the car now that I have these wheels on. To me, they simply make the car (aesthetically speaking).

Sorry Im late in this conversation. may have the answer for you.

I recently put 20 inch triple chromed M parallels on my 93 ci, they fit fine, no rubbing- and they LOOK amazing on these cars. I paid about 2,000 including tires - hell of a deal. if your interested I could snap a pic or two when the rain stops.

Mike

THREE DAYS of flushing the system with cascade detergent at the radiator shop and the gunk is still slowly removing itself from the various internal parts.

The shop did a wonderful job- and they concur that it is most probable the PO put oil into the radiator thinking it was the oil filler cap. Based on the amount of oil they flushed.

Currently the water is clear but little beads of oil still float to the top where I can get at them with a turkey baster. The car goes back in after 500-600 miles of driving for a re-flush. Cost so far 86 usd. best deal yet on expenditures. :^)

OK
here was todays huge scare.

dropped the car off at the radiator shop for a good thorough flushing. Went to pick her up this afternoon, and recieved word that they didnt do the service because:
1) oil in the radiator
2) analysis of the tank read as obscene amounts of feul dumping into the radiator.

WHAT!!! That means head gasket or worse-----cracked head. I made them redo the sniffer analysis while I watched. they did...and I watched them open the broken wiper fluid tank, and take the reading. It read high......because it was getting the alcohol fumes from the residual wiper fluid. DUH. I corrected them on this, they then read the fumes directly from the radiator which read slightly high due to the oil in the system.
So they are now doing the flush as I directed them, and I will see what happens. I did notice that my oil level had not dropped at all from where I filled it too. but the quantity of oil in the radiator is such that it definatley would have dropped by several quarts......MY first assumption on this radiator problem is that the previous owners teenage son- accidentaly filled the radiator with oil thinking it was the oil filler cap- complete with bobbing level indicator. I bet this is what happened......It's the only thing that makes sense. I would suspect that i would have major check engine lights if I had a gasket problem or a cracked head.... I do not have any check engine lights.....but the obc does want me to set the damn clock. lol

opinions wanted......

MIke B

Thanks Terry,

The 8 is going under the knife again tommorrow to remove the crap from the cooling system. I'll have them refill her with just water, and watch for anymore seepage of oil. If there is more- then I assume I have a head gasket leak. ?

anyone have this problem before? Is it difficult to replace the head gaskets in an 850? costs?

My 93 ci began spewing crap from near the NEW secondary water pump last night. I drove her home and then checked the radiator fluid level this morning. There is a brown oily gunk in there that does not mix with water at all. Is it possible that I may have oil backing into my antifreeze? Or perhaps the PO accidentally put oil into the wrong area. Anyway- I still have a gunked out radiator, and a leak somewhere back by the drivers side firewall- which didnt seem to spew out untill things got REALLY hot from aggressive driving.

MikeB

Best of luck with that!

Mike B

Here is a copy of BMWNA's response to my request for a replacement computer screen.

If they reject my request- do I have any recourse? Anything I should mention to them in the event that they call me?

"Dear Mr. Blain:

Thank you for your response. Your information has been forwarded to a special department for review.

A representative will be contacting you within 2-3 business days. We appreciate your patience in the interim.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at 1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. Again, thank you for contacting BMW.

Sincerely,

Melissa DiMaria
Customer Relations and Services
Representative"

Terry,

Do we have a proper figure for the front camber adjustment? I will be having the tires aligned once the wheels arrive and are installed- seems a good time to correct for this problem.

I'll try the timer button thingy- but I have a very tough time reading the screen. I do know that the Auto setting is what I primarily use...since it's rarely warm enough here to warrent AC. lol

Thats good to know about the shut down timing.

Maybe I need to invest in the new computer screen. Even if it eventually goes out again...at least i'll know some of the issues going on with the basic operation of my car.

Great information, again, from everyone. I really like this list!!!

Thanks

Mike B

Thanks Peter,

As far as Sport mode, I belive that the US models may be vastly different than your Euro models. I have a selector switch that has choices for either A= automatic or M= manual
and then to get the sport mode we have to move the gear lever into 3 in the automatic mode. The readout then says S 3. This was true for my 95 740 il and it is how it works for the 93 850. Unless Im really missing something. But I see no selector switch that triggers the S in the readout.

Yeah I suspect my fan will be a problem and may be causing the drain. I have to make a concerted effort to remember and switch it off before zI exit the car. Today it shut off by itself. Sometimes it doesnt. Maybe the switch is faulty. Sounds logical to me.

As for tires. I wonder why your fronts deteriorate before your drive tires?
Ive never encountered that problem before. I really like performance and
consider the expense of tires to be acceptable. Nut I run em till they are darn near bald too. :^)

Radar detection has to do with informing us if we are in the proximity of a police attempt to catch us speeding. It warns of varius radar types, often prior to being zeroed in on. Witht the exception of laser detection- which tells you if youve been tagged and that it's too late to dao anything about it. I definately do not have any of the cicle things (proximity alert detectors) that you described. Would be nice to have on the sides of the car though, to help protect against curb rash on the wheels. :^)

Thanks

Mike B

My final update:

Ive been driving the car for three days now and finally figured out the Sport mode. YIPEEEEEE
I had a 740 with a 5 speed auto that required droping it into 4 to activate sport.
so logically dropping the 8 into 3 puts it into sport. For some reason I was looking for a button so I would have sport with 4 gears.
Anyway:
Car idle is much better! Smooth with no hesitations whatsoever.
The power is good- but I do believe this car should have naturally had much more than was supplied.

Handling is great for a car this heavy. Easy to whip the tail out, briefly, and get a little sideways in the corners (i don't do this often). I also tried to get her drift on a circular onramp slated for 15 mph by doing 70 and accelerating. She held on the road pretty well- felt very stable and the only questionable part of that test really had to do with the cheapass Fulda tires the P.O. put on her. I now have a set of nittos which should greatly improve handling and launch speeds.

One problem that exists, my mechanic did a test that showed a power drain of 600 watts/amps (whatever) whereas it should only have an acceptable drain amount of about 50. I need to source this problem (any ideas?) And to top it off I left the fan on last night which drained the battery enough that I had to jump the car this morning. (my batteries are less than 1 year old each).

One other bit that would be nice is to get my hands on one of those tail fins that come on the CSI's (in black) if anyone has one on their spare parts car LMK. OH and I need a rear view mirror that works- mine is half clouded with whatever they use to darken it at night. Tough to distinguish
if state troopers are approaching from the rear.

Lastly, The car was advertised with front and rear radar detection- is this standard? how do I use it? where the heck is it located for me to switch on or off?

Thanks all, for the help do date.

Mike B

Another rule for using a random orbital:

Practice on your wifes car!!! She'll love that you bought the buffer then and you will be able to learn what NOT to do on your own finish. But seriously- if you do not know how to use one of those things you can do much more damage than good.

Personally I suck at using them and still do it all by hand.

MB

I appreciate that and just looked there for the part numbers but it's really unclear.
I know I need the ashtry lid located in the center console towards the front.

I also need the rear view mirror off the front shield.

Both in black.

hope that helps.

Yeah, I agree Paul.

and I did do just as you described. The trouble is that the car has been polished down to just a thin layer of paint left on the primer. The last polish began exposing portions.
Ultimately, I am in need of a repaint and will not be going through that process again after my last car. If this was the last car I was going to buy for the next ten years then I would do it. But for now Im going to take meticulous care of the finish with waxes and such until it is sold.

I really like the 8s, but am begining to think that a 750 il would better suit me.... it's got style, it's got power, it's got handling, and you can have great sex in the cavernous back seats. :^)

But I do love the looks of the 8 Sooooooo much. maybe one of each?