October 19, 2010 01:14PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 187 : Bucharest, Romania |
also, in case you did not know, it seems that if you put a 1.6 engine in a e36, you also need to put DIFFERENT DOOR LOCKS. yes, i checked the numbers, the locks are different for 316i, only 1.8+ have the same locks. but it's the same freaking metal can !!!
-- A physics truck just turned over outside. There's physics everywhere! Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2010 01:14PM by jaffar. |
October 19, 2010 09:11PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
Oh Buddy, I feel you on this one and even though it's a Bmw it doesn't surprise me at all having a plastic thing grafted on to a piece metal of the door mechanism. I was in my wifes E30 trying to fix the glove box latch, another Bmw treat, at least it's all metal (what little of it is there) |
October 20, 2010 12:58AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 187 : Bucharest, Romania |
October 20, 2010 08:13AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 609 : SoCal |
October 20, 2010 11:43AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 670 |
I found your post very amusing to read. Your frustration is just the same as the mechanics at my employer.
The thing is, it is not only engineering. It is marketing and finance. Things have to be cost effective and easy to mount on the assembly line (eg the clips instead of screws you're talking about). To keep costs within limits, at the assembly line, the guys get just a short amount of time to mount a certain part (or a series of parts), for example door trim = 20 seconds. Why not make the lock better? Why should they? They want to sell new cars as well, instead of unbreakable or infinite repairable stuff. Premium cars from late 70's early 80's (as the E30, Mercedes W123, W124, W201) were over-engineered, they lasted too long (from an economic point of view). Ecologically, those cars were more 'economical', even with worse exhaust emissions. A manufacturer wants a car to last 240.000 km or 10 years, after that, it's dead for them, they don't care any more. It's not longer worth to keep it on the road, their reputation is made by newer cars. They don't want to keep storing spare parts, that costs to much. They'd rather sell a new one. But I understand your frustration, personally I like repairable stuff as well. Last night my mum called me to ask if it was normal for her tv to break down after 7 years. The one she had before was 25 years before it was replaced, and then my brother used it for a couple of years. The stuff our parents and grandparents bought were for life, the stuff we buy nowadays are consumption goods, it needs to be thrown away after a certain amount of time. |
October 20, 2010 02:14PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 609 : SoCal |
I still want to know how they get the windshield wiper motor in in under 20 seconds. It is obvious that the car has already been painted before the part goes in and the only way in or out is thru the cutout. Maybe they have fairies in the factory that fly in and magically snug the 3 mounting bolts down?
alan |
October 20, 2010 02:25PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
I wrote a how-to on the wiper motor, after I did three of them I had it down. There are a few tricks! I'm pretty sure Daniel put in here on this site. Rick |
October 20, 2010 02:31PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
Here it is for anybody Wiper Motor replacement This is a step by step procedure for replacing the wiper motor for an E30 Bmw 1984-1991 Remove the left (drivers) side wiper arm and blade assy. Remove left grill assy. under the wiper arm, this is done by gently inserting a thin putty knife under the top edge of the grill in several places to release the hold down tabs Pull the rubber weather strip (hood seal) up that goes around the fender and cowl area. Remove the large plate on the firewall to reveal the wiper motor access area, there’s a wiring loom on the right side and a round electrical connection (multi pin) on the left that will have to come away before the firewall plate can be removed, the plate is held on with four 7mm sheet metal screws 4. First to come off is the wiring plug from the wiring harness (that’s the lower part of the square connector that goes through the wiper frame assy.(this pulls down with a wiggling back and forth), once the lower plug is pulled out the top square plug from the motor can be wiggled out, pry one edge up and work from there Sidebar…from here on you will have to work generally up-side down and totally blind so if you’re not in a calm state of mind you might want to save this up-coming part of the job for a better time. The trick to this job is getting the wiper motor out without its plastic cover and getting the new one back in with its cover which is impossible unless you know the trick, and yes, I will give you the trick later on in this monologue….. Take the center motor (armature) link arm nut off (10mm), making note on its position (the arm) in relation to the frame/motor assy., I take this arm off and try not to disturb its position and lay the linkage arm assy. down in the well, out of the way. If you do have to move it or loose its position, no big deal, we will discuss this later on.. TIP; if you take a flat punch and tap the linkage arms side it will fall right off without fuss, just a few small taps with a small hammer and punch will do it (the splined shaft is tapered) Remove the three 10 mm bolts that hold the motor on to the frame, I start with the hardest to get at first and finish up with the easiest (it just works out easier), now the motor is loose in its mounting and this is where the “Trick” comes in, so listen carefully. The goal is to take the plastic cover off the motor while its sitting inside the well, this is done by tilting the assy. (motor and cover together) and sneaking it back further into the well area, if your in the right position the motors (armature) splined shaft will be pointing to the rear of the wells bulkhead (to the rear of the car) and at this point keeping the cover against the forward bulkhead of the well you can move the motors body away and separate the two, leaving the cover right there out of the way (very important), you can now slide the motor (on its own) past the frame and out of the bulkhead cover hole into the engine bay and out The new motor (I strongly advise a new one cause you don’t want to do this repair twice) can be moved into place and when its in position the cover can be put on to the motor (just reverse the removal procedure), when the cover is on the motor jockey them both back into place on the frame, it’s a tight fit but it will go (it came out, right?). The first hold-down bolt should be the easiest to get to and this just takes some eyeballing to get it started and once you have the first started the other two are easy, snug all three down tight At this point I plug the electrical connection together outside of the frame hole (where it will eventually go) and activate the motor from the switch so the motor parks in its right place (I do this a few times just to make sure), disconnect the electrical plug and lay the wiring aside out of the way, now comes the time for the linkage arm to-be connected to the motors shaft, if you have not moved the linkage you should be able to mount it up. If the motor is parked and the wiper arm/blade (the passenger side) is in its right place all should be well (I say, should be), my way is to tighten the linkage arm up snug but I will not bring it totally home, then I’ll try turning the wipers on (from the switch) and see if it works right, when the wipers are shut off, the blade should park in the down position and not be on the up stroke. Another words they should not jump at the bottom end of their cycle (when they are shut off) but should stop in their lower position calmly and with-out fuss. A quick note here, I take a small tie-wrap and go around the center of the two electrical block connections when they are put back into the frame hole just to keep them together, the little detents tend to wear and make for a loose fit causing the blocks to separate (cheap insurance) Replace the grill and the wiper arm/blade assy. and make sure the blades have clearance of movement, I like to set the blades up, off the bottom of the windshield a tiny bit (I think it looks cool) when their parked. Clean the gutter (fenders and cowl) and replace the firewall cover and the weatherstrip, TIP; the lower cover screws can be taped into a socket for easy starting, replace the wiring loom channel and round connector and BON, your done No need of taking the wiper transmission out or even loosening its mountings when you know the trick…….Cheers, |
October 20, 2010 02:37PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 609 : SoCal |
October 20, 2010 03:56PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,869 : Amagansett, New York |
October 21, 2010 04:28AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 187 : Bucharest, Romania |
Glad I amused you - I was also laughing between curses I understand all the marketing and finance - but come one, a door lock that breaks on purpose ? That's simply dirty... I bought a used lock from a 1992 car (1 yr older than mine), the plastic thingy looks good. Let's see how long this one lasts -- A physics truck just turned over outside. There's physics everywhere! |
October 21, 2010 11:06AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 670 |
It doesn't break on purpose. Maybe your cold winters have sped up the process.
Why plastic? For sound reasons (metal on metal or spring sounds)? For not having water freeze to it as quickly as with metal? Maybe the plastic is more wear resistant than metal? Could be anything. One thing I'm sure of: it's not been engineered to intentionally break after x times being applied. Plastic gets more brittle over time and your car is past its due date. Manufacturers don't build cars to become old-timers. |
October 22, 2010 05:16AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 187 : Bucharest, Romania |
yes, i am sure it's made to break on purpose. all other parts in the lock (that don't take as much stress as this one) are made of thick metal. they are also pressed by metal springs. they also stay in cold and may get wet and freeze. try to break open a lock and you will understand my point - it's an obvious purposely built point of failure. again, don't get me wrong, i understand WHY they do such a dirty thing, i just don't AGREE to doing it. plus, they could do something more subtle or more interesting for the car owner, like when the thing breaks, you have the opportunity to improve your car by repairing it, you don't end up with a disabled car.
i never noticed in my manual such a thing as a "due date" for my car. -- A physics truck just turned over outside. There's physics everywhere! Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2010 05:17AM by jaffar. |