oharab
08-22-2005, 01:09 PM
I finally got time to service the PM.
I bought Oil, oil filter, stuff that gets rid of the gunk inside the engine, air filter and spark plugs.
All was going well. Until....
Now the biggest car I've worked on in the past is a 1 litre. The more astute of you will have noticed the problem already. The oil came out of the car easily. I dropped the sump plug in the bowl but who doesn't. Picture the scene. Oil flowing gently from the bottom of the car into the little red bowl.
Picture my face as I start to realise the little red bowl is a little too little.
Now picture my face as the oil keeps gushing out of the bottom of my car and all over my Dad's drive.
Net result: 30 mins or so to change the oil & filter. 2 hours cleaning the oil off the drive.
http://robotparade.co.uk/Personal/IMAGE_010.jpg
Was not a happy bunny.
Then spent 2 hours trying to work out how to get the distributor cap off. I couldn't get the fan cover thing off to start with, so tried to get my hands and a wrench down there.
When I had some help (me under the car, guiding the fan cover thing round the fan whilst my dad pulled) I had the cap off in about 5 minutes.
Discovered I needed new HT Leads, Cap and Rotor arm.
Also discovered I have a leak at the front of the engine, behind the fan somewhere, and the diff at the back seems to be leaking too.
A neighbour who used to work for BMW for a long time, then proceeded to make me cry by listing all the things that E34s are known for going wrong.
I discovered why my heating is on all the time though.
http://robotparade.co.uk/Personal/IMAGE_008.jpg
It's not a very clear picture, but the little unit at the passenger side of the car where I guess it's supposed to be controlled into the cabin has been bypassed using a few rather spiffing plumbing connectors and a zip tie keeping it all up!
The bottom pipe has been cut, so now I need to get some new pipes to find out if the unity bit is broken. Any ideas what the part numbers for those are, I've looked on RealOEM, but can't work out what I'm looking at!
I also need the hose (rubber boot?) that goes into the carb and the connector to the idle valve as they're stuck together with electrical tape.
I'm a little disillusioned atm. Especially when you read my next post.
I know it's because it's an old car, but that doesn't stop me feeling grumpy.
Right, I'll go start a new thread.
B.
I bought Oil, oil filter, stuff that gets rid of the gunk inside the engine, air filter and spark plugs.
All was going well. Until....
Now the biggest car I've worked on in the past is a 1 litre. The more astute of you will have noticed the problem already. The oil came out of the car easily. I dropped the sump plug in the bowl but who doesn't. Picture the scene. Oil flowing gently from the bottom of the car into the little red bowl.
Picture my face as I start to realise the little red bowl is a little too little.
Now picture my face as the oil keeps gushing out of the bottom of my car and all over my Dad's drive.
Net result: 30 mins or so to change the oil & filter. 2 hours cleaning the oil off the drive.
http://robotparade.co.uk/Personal/IMAGE_010.jpg
Was not a happy bunny.
Then spent 2 hours trying to work out how to get the distributor cap off. I couldn't get the fan cover thing off to start with, so tried to get my hands and a wrench down there.
When I had some help (me under the car, guiding the fan cover thing round the fan whilst my dad pulled) I had the cap off in about 5 minutes.
Discovered I needed new HT Leads, Cap and Rotor arm.
Also discovered I have a leak at the front of the engine, behind the fan somewhere, and the diff at the back seems to be leaking too.
A neighbour who used to work for BMW for a long time, then proceeded to make me cry by listing all the things that E34s are known for going wrong.
I discovered why my heating is on all the time though.
http://robotparade.co.uk/Personal/IMAGE_008.jpg
It's not a very clear picture, but the little unit at the passenger side of the car where I guess it's supposed to be controlled into the cabin has been bypassed using a few rather spiffing plumbing connectors and a zip tie keeping it all up!
The bottom pipe has been cut, so now I need to get some new pipes to find out if the unity bit is broken. Any ideas what the part numbers for those are, I've looked on RealOEM, but can't work out what I'm looking at!
I also need the hose (rubber boot?) that goes into the carb and the connector to the idle valve as they're stuck together with electrical tape.
I'm a little disillusioned atm. Especially when you read my next post.
I know it's because it's an old car, but that doesn't stop me feeling grumpy.
Right, I'll go start a new thread.
B.