Hi All, I hope your holiday season is going fantastically well! Recently, I need to have the car’s passenger cabin heater/air conditioning blower motor replaced. The 30 year old electric motor simply seized. When the mechanic replaced the electric motor and its regulator, this solved a number of other electrical issues: -The driver's instrument cluster left side lights now work a
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi All, I hope that you and your loved ones are well! Yesterday I read an email from Photobucket, the online photosharing and photo hosting website, which told me that free account photo sharing will end on March 30, 2020. In years past, many of users on the now dark bmwe30.net website posted photos on Photobucket. We posted photos to the old BEN forum using Photobucket. I mention thi
Forum: Community Forum

Hi Dave and Bob, I hope that you are well. I PMed you my phone #. Did you receive? I'm happy to chat. If I send a PM, it does not appear in the Sent Items. Thanks, Kelly
Forum: Community Forum

Great! The site's current hosing location sounds great to me. I have much to learn about administering in general. I welcome all offers of help. Mostly I want to avoid the site going dark. :-)
Forum: Community Forum

Hi Dave, I tired to PM you - not sure if the message sent. There are no sent messages in my Sent Items box. I'll try to keep up the fantastic work that you've done here. That said, I'll need to learn as I go. I'm not a internet pro. That said, I was a pretty decent math student in college. Pls PM me. I'm happy to share my phone # in a PM. Best, Kelly
Forum: Community Forum

Hi Bob, Thanks for asking good questions. I don't think there is any radial play between the fan's central shaft and the motor. If I wrap one hand around the motor's outer cylidrical housing and the other hand around the fan blade's outer round side, the center shaft is stable around the spinning axis. The fan rotates easily and freely in a circle around the center ax
Forum: Community Forum

Hi, In case you have ever wondered what a cabrio's fan motor and housing look like, here your go. This is the fan from my 325i 1989 car. :-) Now you knnow what it looks like! Mine is making a noise. Bob is helping me wih this a bit. :-) I removed the motor from the housing. This is about as far as I can proceed with out being damaging the part.
Forum: Community Forum

Hi John, Here are the pictures. Might you have one? Can you PM me? Thanks, Kelly
Forum: Community Forum

Hi All, It's been a while - too long! Last month, the San Francisco Bay Area BMW dismantlers and salvage shop closed. I pray they reopen in San Jose. Until then, I'm reduced to online options for parts. Do you have any favorites? While my car was parked, someone hit it. Miraculously the only damage was a broken side marker light enclosure in the rubber/plastic bumper en
Forum: Community Forum

Hi Ferd and Bob, Great Info! I too have this problem. Thanks for posting. :-) Kelly
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteBob in Everett It is pretty easy since these cars handle well to begin with. If your previous owner has replaced the front suspension control arms and shocks you are well on the way as that is most difficult part. I have not done this to my convertible but many will lower the car an inch or so with new springs. If you do replace the front springs then the Koni or Bilstein shocks will be
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi again All, Here is the video of the seized universal joint. I highly recommend that you check your cars for this same bad steering joint. If the part had fully broken, I might have lost steering control on the highway. E30 failed Universal joint in Steering Pls check yours for your own piece of mind. Be safe my friends, Kelly
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi All, Here is the problem from the driver's perspective. The tapping noise was much louder that it sounds on my computer speakers. Note that my left hand is shaking rapidly as I try to manage the steering wheel. e30 steering shake video The vibration started suddenly at about 65MPH. I slowed to 55 which did not help. I exited the highway which solved the problem for the short te
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteBob in Everett Kelly, I am a bit suspicious of the "rust" leading to a failure. I have three E-30s and have changed the racks in two of them. No rust was seen on either but the important part is that the bearings for these are sealed and lubricated for life. There is no maintenance required for them. Even if they were coated with rust, it would not likely affect the function.
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi e30 Friends, A rather SCARY thing happened. One of the 2 lower steering column universal joints almost seized with rust in my '89 e30. The BMW mechanic said this was the second e30 they have seen with this problem in the last 2 months. My car has spent its operational life in coastal California. We have moist, cool air but do not salt the roads for snow melting. Had the joint bro
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi Jay, I can only comment on the engine oil light. I drive the car almost everyday. If I park uphill, the low oil light often persists for a couple days regardless of parking orientation or oil level. If it persists for 5 days, then I check the oil level with the dipstick. I think my car can be "emotionally needy" at times. I sense that it wants to be fussed over and electrical
Forum: Technical Forum

Well, l am embarrassed to say this is the first time I've seen this posting. Yes, it is a terrible loss. I did meet him once in Long Island maybe eight years ago or so. I was visiting some family members who have a place in eastern Long Island. He and I had lunch at a sandwich shop. I remember him speaking about his daughter and his former landlord who Rick can help to care for quite exte
Forum: Community Forum

Hi All, I hope your fantastically well! It's certainly been a while since I have checked in with you all. I'm having an unusual steering issue, and I hope you can offer me some suggestions. I had the steering rack replaced probably three years ago. While I certainly do not do any precision driving, I parallel park usually twice a day. Over the last month or so, when I turn
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi All, Hope you're well! It's been a while. :-) Recently my cork throttle body gasket failed after ten years. Usually I have the timing belt replaced every 4 years. I'm wondering if I should have the gasket replaced on an 8 year cycle because it would be easy to add to the To Do list during the timing belt change. Thoughts? Cheers, Kelly
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotefporro Aloha, long time no see, hope everyone is well. Posting update as I been trying to find the cause of "random no start when hot" condition. The problem was a crimp connector on YL/BK wire under steering column, probably for p.o. alarm system. It seems that the one strand of wire left was enough to send signal to starter when cold, not so when wire got hot. It's
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi All, Thanks for the awesome advice as always. My current Harmony tires are showing many micro-cracks in the side walls, but there is still a lot of tread remaining. Do micro-cracks (about 2mm long as a rough estimate) mean that I should replace the old tires quickly? If I were to buy new tires and store them in the basement (as a back up plan) will storage this affect their life? I&#
Forum: Car Talk

Hi Bob, Thanks for your answer. Very helpful. I ask some of these questions because I have a e30 owner friend who has tires (the manufacturer name starts with a U) that she truly hates. Clearly I don't want these. So I'm trying to understand what tires would be good replacement for the Michelin Harmonies. Because I don't know these things: Is there potential for mechani
Forum: Car Talk

Hi All, I hope that you are doing well! Things with me are a bit better than in years past. you may recall that I've been in the middle of a tech industry building boom. It's been a challenge to manage the demands. Good news is that the boyfriend, from Ottawa, is quite awesome. My main question is - what tires are you running these days? Do you know if your tires are availabl
Forum: Car Talk

Hi, Well, this post is a couple months late and hopefully not to off topic. In fact, I might not even post this here except for the fact that the Canadian Delegation is a terrific presence on this site. I feel an emotional connection to the group - in spite of my lack of postings. I now have a boyfriend from Ottawa. (I've been single for 8+ years. Mostly out of fear and perhaps an over
Forum: Community Forum

Hi All, Yet again it has been ages! The good news is that I have only good news! Well, I think I told you that last year one rear wheel bearing was replaced by the BMW specialist mechanics. All was well until Jan 2015 when the rear end whirl or whine returned. I notice this most when driving up or down helical parking garage ramps. Finally this month I had time to return Beemie the the BMW
Forum: Technical Forum

Yep, an awesome gift! Happy New Year!
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteLe' Hello Everyone, Thinking of purchasing a 1990 BMW 325IC with 52K miles ~ Any thoughts about this vehicle would be greatly appreciated THANKS Ellie' Hi, I hope that you are well! Welcome to the awesome e30 forum! By 325iC, are you saying that the car is a convertable? I have a 1989 325i convertable, and I love, love, love it. That said, it requires some mainte
Forum: Technical Forum

Hi Michiel, By now your house is probably settled into a comfortable pattern! Huge congrats! Kelly :-)
Forum: Community Forum

Quoterkj I don't know if anybody is interested in these races but they have been quite something... The final race is today on the west coast but you can watch it on the AC's website the evening after the race (that's how I've been following it), just go to video and I'm pretty sure all the races are there to see, it's a youtube thing. Cheers, Rick Hi, Well,
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteBob in Everett The BMWCCA put on quite a party for Oktoberfest even if it was in August. Four track days at Laguna Seca, a Concourse with some really nice BMW iron. Some nice prizes provided by corporate sponsors and good food all around. My youngest son brought his E-36 325i with some track tires and let me take three sessions in D group. I must have done about 20 laps or so all toget
Forum: Community Forum