For some time now, I've known that the front of my car needed some work. I knew I had a number of wearing joints, and that it needed some serious TLC. It wasn't until yesterday when I had my tires changed, and the "mechanic" (or perhaps better referred to as a "tire dude") asked me to come outside and show me something, that I realized exactly how bad it was. It is fby Earendil - Technical Forum
PS I had just learned that about "warping a ship" in the last few days as well. I don't know when I'll ever need to use it, but it has been stored away in the "neeto" category of my brain :-)by Earendil - Technical Forum
It seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong Archeo, that when we talk to are mechanics, and they tell us our rotors are warped, we should ask them in what fashion they are warped. If they proceed to tell us that our metal rotors have scientifically warped out of plane that we go find a new mechanic. If they tell us that we sat at an intersection at the bottom of a steep hill with our foot onby Earendil - Technical Forum
Quotedaniel QuoteEarendil In any case, spokane/written language is terribly inaccurate most times at describing the ideas that reside in our heads. someone is used to typing Spokane an awful lot... god I hate this city... apparently it has seeped into more than just my pores... Perhaps I meant to do that as a demonstration of how poor language is? Would you buy that? No? It's too lateby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteArcheo-peteriX Did you mean to say "As a vessel is warfed to a pier" ? As to the mechanic who says my rotor is warped...he is more often than not trying to sell me something I don't really need. ' Actually, it's not what I mean :-) I actually mean to warp a ship as to anchor it. QuoteArcheo-peteriX Once language looses it's structure and words lose theby Earendil - Technical Forum
An additional question: What do you guys have to say about different tire sizes than the stock 195/65? Physics intuition (and not just the street look) tells me that more surface contact increases traction (to a point), and that less distance between road and wheel is also beneficial when turning is concerned. In that case, does putting a 195/60 on the car make sense? I'm even seeing aby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteArcheo-peteriX This whole discussion is about the incorrect use of a single word. If we can't use language properly then we might as well speak in grunts And THAT is the reason I stay out of these arguments, because it's quite obviously a word definition that you are all arguing about, and not the actual state of the rotor. Merrian Webster says that the word means "by Earendil - Technical Forum
So, in the end I think I've decided to wait and "do it right". My girl here is going to become a true project car as soon as I get a job and a daily commuter, so perhaps expensive modifications that only encourage me to drive her harder are not a good idea ;-) That said, I'm not going to put a crappy set of rubber on the only thing between her and the road. The old forum hby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteCab Treadway Quotedaniel To add music to your ipod, you must tell it to sync with certain playlists, which you have to create. At least that is how mine works if I don't want it to take a random sampling from my whole library until the player fills up. Maybe iTunes plays better with XP compared to Vista? Like I said, it's been a long time since I actually moved songs on or ofby Earendil - Community Forum
Thanks guys! I've actually been able to match about half the wires. However, I don't really want to get even a single wire wrong for fear I may fry something :-) I'll give the diagrams a looksee, and my car again. The process is not helped by the previous owner having installed an alarm system, re-ran some of the speaker wires, as well as, no joke, installed what appears to beby Earendil - Technical Forum
Well, after about 10 ebay purchases, I finally get burned. Well, perhaps not burned, but mislead. I bought a 13 button OBC with "Wiring harness". Well when I hear wiring harness I think connectors with wires in between. I am now the owner of an OBC and 8 inches of wire. Does anyone have any pictures of which wires are which? I'm not afraid of my soldering iron, but I'm havby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteKelly QuoteEarendil It could be useful in a number of ways, mostly trouble shooting, but there is certainly a fun factor as well. Oh yeah, and self education ;-) Good for you! I know this is dumb - How about some audio signal attached to the warning lights? Like a chime for the oil pressure light? (OK, I know it's not sexy, but it is practical.) Or if you were feeling really feiby Earendil - Technical Forum
It could be useful in a number of ways, mostly trouble shooting, but there is certainly a fun factor as well. Oh yeah, and self education ;-) Personally, my poor baby has seen 250+ thousand miles, and a problem I'm finding is that the wiring isn't holding up real well. I'm starting to see some really quirky behavior that is extremely hard to diagnose. One of the reasons it is soby Earendil - Technical Forum
Daniel... Why did you have to go and get an E30 that is the exact same color as mine? Now not only is it an "is", have an s52, and friggin maps lights, it also has a better paint job in myyyyy color! I guess there is only one thing I can do! Be a better driver ;-)by Earendil - Registry
QuoteAndy 90 325i Also, the antenna gasket can become hard and brittle and crack, allowing water in which will run right down the wheel well inside the trunk and into that well. Which is exactly the problem I was having this winter, and fixed last week. If you want to avoid irony, do not store your Bentley under a water leak if you may want to use the Bentley to try and repair said leakby Earendil - Technical Forum
Thanks for the great info. I need to digest this, due some looking around, and some $$$ calculations. I'll be sure to post back here or corner you on an instant messenger if I have any questions. I'll also be sure to let you know what I decide to do :-)by Earendil - Technical Forum
I'll make this post really short. I'm a soon to be graduate in Computer Science. I am not an Electrical Engineer. Due to youth, I have more ambitions than I know what to do with, or could ever archive. I'm about to replace my IS, and so will have a spare one to play around with. If I knew how to get input from the instrument cluster (or the ECU) into a computer port, I coby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteFerdinand Quotewodcutr OK so I'm an idiot...I never had a father to tell me otherwise. We never get too old to learn new stuff. I make it my goal to learn something new every day. Some days I might even accidentally learn two new things. But then I get to take the next day off. Exactly! Which is why when I graduate from Uni with a B.S. in CompSci here in a few months, I'm tby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteBob in Everett A clogged injector will lower mileage...My mileage increase remarkably after I had my injectors cleaned. A malfunctioning injector, or one that doesn't let the correct amount of fuel through I would think would do just that. However, wouldn't a completely clogged/blocked injector actually decrease power, proportional to the amount of fuel not being burned? One wouby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteMichiel 318iS iX lug is the same, though the wheel offset is different. I'd try to find stock 4-lug 15" wheels, looks the best and requires the least work on the car. I didn't think there was a stock 15" option for the 325i? And everything after the E30 was 5 lugs, right? I'll do some looking. Thanks for the info Michiel!by Earendil - Technical Forum
So, spring is finally starting to show it's face in Spokane WA (though the nights are still winter), and I'm starting to think about new tires. At the start of winter, I decided that if I could make it through winter with balding no weather tires on my car, putting off the expense of snow tires, that I could get myself a good pair of summer tires. One way or another I needed to ditchby Earendil - Technical Forum
Quotewodcutr Well then what is the purpose of buying a high performance tire? Generally the more expensive the rubber the higher the inflation pressures. If you are going to under inflate the tire why spend the money? Let me preface this by saying I am not a tire expert. Heck, I'm not even a tire novice. My guess would be that a high performance car does things that a normal car doesn&by Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteJohn Yust The numbers on the sidewall are maximums. BMW recommends 29 front and 32 rear in the book that came with my '87 325, so that's what I use. If memory serves me (and it doesn't often) that is really close to what my '89 325i says. QuoteIt does look like the front tires wear a little faster at the outer edges, which indicates a little under-inflation, but itby Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteDave_G iTunes is evil. There are better audio software packages for your computer, and MUCH better places to purchase downloads. If anyone cares for an opinion on the other side of the educated bias, feel free to PM me. Otherwise, I think I'll keep my gasoline soaked opinions away from the sparks I see flying. We wouldn't want to end up with any flames in our nice new forum, nby Earendil - Community Forum
Of Note, I did NOT need to remove my steering wheel to get the Instrument cluster out of my '89 325i. I won't pretend to be an expert on minute differences in international cars, but I would guess this is true for most if not all E30's. It make look impossible, and it is very much like a puzzle. But it is very possible to get the entire cluster out as one piece, without forcingby Earendil - Technical Forum
Found it! It wasn't on Pelican's main list of articles. The article describes a 20 LED system for monitoring the air/fuel mixture, adjusted for the none linear functionality of the O2 sensor. If I get this projected started, I'll make sure to make a more detailed how-to than the one that Pelican has posted. I should be able to take some pictures as well.by Earendil - Technical Forum
Quotejaffar i agree with the fun factor, that's why i drive a BMW. after my tests, i will get there a LOT faster with the opel or the hyundai, than with any of my bimmers ...but the car is still not nearly as stable as the FWD's in the test above. and it feels a lot more unsafe. Oh, and one more thing. Let's not confuse BMW's with "Will-perform-amazingly-in-all-condiby Earendil - Technical Forum
Quotejaffar In the past days my oppinion towards BMW (at least old ones) has changed for worse, while at the same time my oppinion for cheaper cars has changed for better. Why ? Read... Finally, it's winter, time to have lots of fun with my BMW... Then I take my g/f's car, which is a 2008 Opel Astra 1.9 diesel... Then I take a friend's car, which is a 2006 Hyundai Sonata, 2.4.by Earendil - Technical Forum
QuoteArcheo-peteriX Would a three LED display do the trick...lean ... lambda ... rich? This shouldn't be too difficult to do. I don't remember seeing such here though. The one I'm thinking of had something like 12-16 LEDs, with 3 or 4 RED on either end to indicate extreme conditions. I've looked around the standard BMW How-To articles at places like Pelican, and canby Earendil - Technical Forum
Somewhere in the long past, I remember seeing instructions for building a simple LED display that would attach to the O2 Sensor and give a simplistic idea of where the air/fuel mixture level was at. I've since done a little searching, and can't find the same simple little system. I see lots of complicated systems, and ones for sale that are already put together. In addition, I think tby Earendil - Technical Forum