2007 Jerez Black BMW E92 M3

AlpineF30

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Another small update on the M3:


The fascia around the headunit has had these weird bubbles on it since I got the car. Actually noticed it in the advert of the car im that picky.

It kept catching my eye driving and it was annoying me so it had to go.

Of course it was covered in BMW’s rubber paint again so same fix as before which is peel all the rubber off then repaint it with matte black paint.

I was going to just buy another fascia but any in the scrap yards had damage and could get a new one for £40 but thought whats the point when I can repair this one.

Fascia out of the car
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The bubbles in the rubber paint

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The fascia before painting

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Few coats of matte black

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And the finished article reinstalled its a perfect colour match and will be much more hard wearing with no silly bubbles (Excuse the dust on the console :grinning:)

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Its coming up to the year of owning the car mark and in that period i’ve put 5000 miles on it so next plan will be a full oil and filter change then send the oil away for analysis to give a look into the condition of the rod bearings.

BMW say change the oil every approx 15k according to the computer but I would be giving it an oil change every 5k and at least once per year.

I am getting married in 3 weeks so the car probably won’t move much and hasn’t give me time to mess about with it but the plans for it in the next period are:

  1. Full service as mentioned above
  2. Flash the EDC to the competition pack EDC settings to account for the Eibach springs installed.
  3. Fit LCI tails - have the lights just need to get the retrofit adapters.
  4. Fit carbon splitters on front bumper
  5. A set of competition pack wheels
  6. 2 pipe mod or some form of exhaust system
 
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AlpineF30

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Are the centre caps and M badges genuine or eBay jobs? Need both myself.

The M badges are genuine as the eBay ones never seem to be right but the centres are eBay specials and seem to be dead on quality :grinning:
 

Lyons

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Do you recall the seller or have a link? Good to buy based on experience, rather than taking a punt.

How much were the genuine badges?
 

AlpineF30

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Do you recall the seller or have a link? Good to buy based on experience, rather than taking a punt.

How much were the genuine badges?

Yeah will have a hoke for them now they should be on my ebay purchase history.

I think they were around 20 quid which was steep but worth it to keep my OCD in check lol
 

AlpineF30

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M3 has it’s MOT coming up in January.

Got it up on the lift today to give it a once over and all seems good.

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However it will fail MOT due to the windscreen washers not working. Very common problem for BMW’s of this era, had the exact same issue on an E60 years ago.

The pump that pumps the water from the reservoir to the jets at the windscreen has a small filter attached. Overtime this filter gets filled full of gunk and eventually blocks not allowing any water through.

Below is the filter. The pump plugs into the hole on the rubber bung and the filter goes into the reservoir.

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So I set about removing the water bottle and cleaning the filter.

On the M3 the reservoir is tucked into the driver’s side wing so its a wheel off and arch lining out job. Bloody hate removing wheel arch liners its not a hard job to do but its always one I hate doing.

Liners dropped and the reservoir unbolted and slid forward to reveal the two pumps.

The grey one is the offending item as i
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Pumps and filters removed from the reservoir

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I have hit a bit of a snag as the filter has been that clogged its actually separated from the rubber grommet so it can’t be used again.

The filter was stuck inside the bottle and as you can see below absolutely filthy and clogged solid guessing with the pump trying to force water through it has caused it to seperate.

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I probably could find a way to bodge it back together or run it without a filter but for the sake of a £3 filter I want to do it right so it can wait until I pop into Bavarian and pick one up.

Hopefully they have one in stock as I can get it done over the Christmas break. Thankfully its a shared component over the 3/5/6/7 series of this era so they should have one hopefully.
 

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AlpineF30

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What a PITA for a such a small fix. Bet BMW would have charged a pretty penny for that!

Total PITA even more annoying that its still jot fixed but oh well part of the fun I suppose.


I want to ring Bavarian for a bit of craic and get a quote.

Although from what I have seen on other forums £150-£200 seems to be the going rate after some negotiation.
 

AlpineF30

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Bavarian to the rescue!

Picked up a new filter this morning for £3.13

Cheapest I could find online was £10 so goes to show going to the dealer is sometimes the best option for parts.

Will get it fitted over the Christmas break.

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AlpineF30

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So got home from work early today so thought would tackle the faulty windscreen wash again.

As per usual excuse the dirt of the car roads are filthy and wanted to use the time to sort this rather than a wash.

The flow of water before hand

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Basically next to nothing due to the broken filter stopping the flow

With the filter removed much improved water flow

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Managed to get the pump wet so took it out and dried it off to ensure no water on the connections

The new filter compared to the remnants of the old filter.
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Filter installed into the washer bottle

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Gave it a test and success! Headlamp and windscreen washers now working!

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Finally greased the hubs as it was a struggle to get the wheels off

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And with that I bolted the car back up and gave it a wash and thats it parked up for Christmas :grinning:
 

AlpineF30

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So unfortunately this will be the M3’s resting spot for the foreseeable future.

With the whole Covid 19 crisis going on and me working from home there is currently no place to use the M3.

Decided to SORN it and park it up as the tax is 500+ a year for it so there is no point paying it to sit on the driveway.

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michelinman

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Exactly the same thing happened to my washer bottle not long after I got my e46. But the bottle is infinitely easier to access than yours and I had the filter out, cleaned and refitted in less than an hour. But the design of the filter assembly is identical and I wonder did BMW improve it in later models :eek:

EDIT: sorry, just seen that the washer bottle was months ago lol! Must read your whole thread :grinning:
 

AlpineF30

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So once the lockdown was eased the M3 was put back on the road and I sold my shed E60 530d

Enjoying being out in it again but never really washed it since parking it up.

Gave it a good go over with Articulate and Anachem Snow Foam and was gleaming. Removed and dead leaves from the boot and engine shuts which gathered over the lockdown period.

Then took it a big drive and got it filthy again 😆

Small but worthwhile job done today

Ordered new clips for the dash trim, issue the E90’s and E60’s suffer from is if the dash fascia is removed the clips tend to snap and no longer hold the fascia secure and it wasn’t sitting as fl

There is a metal grommet on the dash fascia which then pushes into the clips which have a sqaure retaining plate which grips the grommet.

Unfortunately after trying to solve the rattles when I got the car mine were past their best but I still have a rattle free E92 so it was worthwhile.

The replacement clips

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The original clips were definitely past their best



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The grommets that hold the fascia on

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New clips in and fascia reinstalled and sitting flush to the dash.
Was actually annoyingly fiddly to get them installed .

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On the lookout for another daily so plan is to bring the M3 into the shed once Winter hits.

Plans over the Winter are:

New top and bottom rear arms
Set of competition pack wheels
Two pipe or four pipe mod on the exhaust
Fluid change including diff oil
Maybe some carbon goodies.
 

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AlpineF30

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Annoying job today.

But my own fault so just have to suck it up as experience.

Had a full can of Monster in the cup holder.

A very enthusiastic set off from a set of lights and it spilled straight onto the iDrive controller.

Controller got fried and wouldn’t work.

Found one on eBay for 80 quid, annoyingly the controller from the F30 and F10 doesn’t fit even though they are identical externally.

Fitted it today and all is well again. Gave the contacts of the wires a good clean as well for good measure

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AlpineF30

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Well 2020 has been a total disaster of a year for all on the plus side got the M3 on a good few runs but with the temperature dropping and the salt lorries ready to make an appearance it's time for the M3 to sign off for the year.


m3.jpg


Will pull it out in about 6 weeks time to bring it up to the shed to get it prepped for MOT have new rear arms, brakes and various oil changes then will get stuck into the mods in the New Year but for now all duties have been handed over to my E61 520d.
 

AlpineF30

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Well that was a long 6 weeks..... Due to the ongoing lockdown there isn't much point in it moving as I am working from home, my trusty E61 is taking car of daily duties and i've yet to bring it onto my lift for a fluid change as my wife is expecting our first born so we have basically been shielding until COVID decides to do one plus it's the usual story once people hear I am in the shed working at the car the texts come thick and fast you wouldn't service my car next weekend or can I use your lift etc.

Car is still parked up I start it weekly just to get the fluids round it and to charge the battery.

As the weather is due to turn in the next few weeks thought it was about time I began to gather some bits up and as I am using this as a journal of the car's history during my ownership and due to the importance of using proper oils on these things I feel I want to have this noted.


Delivery today:

  • 9 litres of Castrol Edge 10W60
  • Brembo rear prake pads
  • Pagid brake wear sensor
  • Bosch oil filter
  • 11S Power steering fluid

Still to arrive

  • MAHLE air filter
  • TRW rear suspension arms
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AlpineF30

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Not an exciting update but an update none the less.

I keep this a log of my ownership as photos of the work being done is worth more in my eyes than just saying I done the work.

Work carried out:
Oil change with Castrol 10W60
Air and oil filter change
Power steering fluid flush

Still yet to do the rear pads but they are in okay condition and the fronts arn’t far behind so will do them both in one go.

After pulling the car out of the shed happy to say it’s running grand.

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AlpineF30

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Been having a good few drives in the M3.

Well until this bad weather goes away seen a salt lorry yesterday so it’s back in the garage until the weather clears and the salt is washed away.

Anyway was out last weekend and noticed this

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The LED board on the outer tail light has failed.

Was going to replace it but just decided now is as good a time to install LCI tails as I kept putting it off as there was nothing wrong with the pre-LCI lights in the car but as I needed to buy a new tail light may as well go the whole hog

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Can’t fit them yet still awaiting on the retrofit wiring to arrive from BMW - they do a retrofit kit which converts the old plug to the LCI plug without having to modify any existing wiring so it’s totally reversible. Shame can only really get it from BMW so just a waiting game until that arrives then will fit and code them to the car.
 
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