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Vent??
what vent? Is that where my leaking oil is coming from? Not the shifter seal or rear seal?
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Now I just have to tackle the leaky transmission. It is tempting to take it out and replace the clutch and front seal too. I am sort of into "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode but the constant drops of oil on the parking place is annoying. If the front seal started leaking I would be really annoyed.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Yes, they do grow up soon. It will seem slow at first but accelerates rapidly after 10 years or so when they start acting like teens. Then just tell them to get jobs while they still know everything.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Community Forum
The head came from someone who claimed it is an "i" head from a wrecked car. It seems to work well. The cam is in good shape. A lot better than what I had.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Looks like a winner to me. Except for one thing...it is not an E-30...but then they are not making many of them any more.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
So, to repeat part of the story...I found when I took the thermostat housing off the original head to put on the replacement head, it rattled...it should not rattle...so I inspected all the ports and saw that a part of the thermostat had broken off and was flapping up against one of the inner ports, not sure exacly which way the water flows through the port but I suspect that the flow was not goi
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
It looks like disassembling the cam and rocker arms from an E-30 head may be impossible while it is on the engine. The directions in the Bentley manual are not very detailed about getting it apart or putting it back together. I have some interest in disassmbley of my old head just to try and find the crack, or what ever allowed the leak to occur. The cam appears to be badly worn and I am think
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Apparently when it is all bolted down on the block, it is a litlle different shape than when on the bench. Like you, I was thinking that if it is flat on the bottom that it will not be changing shape when it is bolted down. But it sure did.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
I should have known better. It just seemed like it was so convenient to adjust the valve clearance before I put the head on the car. It was on the work bench so I started checking the valve clearance, rotating the cam to the correct position and setting the clearance. Assembled the head onto the car and it ran but the idle was a bit lumpy.
After checking everything else I could think of, I
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
I will second the 18 years opinion.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
I think that the other 3 series forum, R3V I think it is, probably has more stuff on E46.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
I remember seeing a few of those back in the day. I lived in Germany for three years in the early 70s.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
Many small projects can be finished in a short time each. A large project will take weeks and is too large to ever get enough committment to start. Better to do the small ones.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Most gas pumps these days have a vapor return feature on the nozzle. The vapor from the tank is exchanged into the gas station storage tank as the car fills. Likewise when the tanker truck comes to fill the station tanks, it captures the vapor from the tank and puts it into the truck as the fuel empties into the station tank.
There is some air but the fuel air mixture in the gas tank is to
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
There is a new movie out about TWA 800 that might lead to a different conclusion. Gasoline vapor is heavier than air and the tank is full of gasoline vapor that is not a flammable mixture. Jet fuel is not very volatile so the tanks are vented with fresh air to a level below the flammabilty point.
Just saying...
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
The fuel vapor is heavier than air so it is not a flammable mixture.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Well, I hope the BMW part does better. It looks more sturdy than the chineese version.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
The contnuing saga of my leaking coolant has been diagnosed. It appears that the chinese made Stant thermostat failed in such a way that it allowed the enging to overheat while maintaining the fluid temp at the sensor at the correct level. There is an extension on the thermal actuator that closes the coolant bypass when the engine gets warm. This extension was stuck on with solder which failed
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
There was a fixer on the local club forum here in Seattle.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
The glass shop that did mine during a replacement managed to glue the mirror to the metal piece too. Got it off alright to change the window again but it was a challenge to get the whole assembly glued to the window in the right place and hold it still while the glue dried.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
The "taxi" test is one reason I do not mind buying cars with 100k on them. My cabrio had 120k on it when I got it. It has been super reliable. Just the normal stuff like a fuel pump, heater core and oil leaks. Now it has 228k on it but the interior is still in great shape and the body is better than when I bought it.
I have one head found and another possiblilty to do a swap di
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
cracked - 10 years ago
I had not considered that it might be cracked when it started leaking. Wish I had. It was a lot of work taking it off and putting it back on. There are a couple of recent suggestions I should have done, such as pressure up the coolant system with the valve cover off and look for the seepage. I suppose finding it would only confirm what I already know now is that it needs to be replaced. I ha
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Well, perhaps I am the victim of this problem. Went for the pressure cap that actually holds pressure and the next trip of about two hours total run time, lots of water lost and obvious condensation in the oil filler and breather hose. How would one recognize and / or repair this kind of crack? Is it repairable?
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Does the warning light come on during the start cycle like the other lights on the dash?
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
Unfortunately, most of what passes for legislation these days is turning us into Mexico.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Community Forum
What ever is in that Griot's formula works well on the leather and feels good on the hands too. Has kept my cabrio interior looking very nice.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
The annual E-30 picnic had over 200 fine examples of the mark in attendance and a couple that could make one wonder. Overall a very good day.
I won the dubious honor of the oldest owner in attendance. A great prize though. Some Griot's garage leather treatment supplies for the car. Probalbly should use some of it on myself as it was a hot day and I did get plenty of sun.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Car Talk
After getting the engine back together I put a new muffler on it because of a inch diameter rusted hole in the middle of the bottom it. Took a leisurely drive for a scenic tour of back roads today. I nolticed that my gas mileage seemed to be unusually low. Got to thinking about the last road trip at the end of May where I noticed that my mileage was better than it had been in a while. There
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
The water level seems to be holding. I plan to take it for a little shake down cruise on Saturday just to make sure before I head for Montana on the Independence day weekend. No evidence of water getting into the oil.
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum
After two weeks of work evenings and weekends, I got the car running again. The head gasket is changed. There was water in the low spots around the rocker arms when I took the valve cover off. Could not find any indication on the old head gasket as to where the water might have been leaking into the oil. Hope just changing the gasket solves the problem. A few days of driving should make it o
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Bob in Lake Havasu
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Technical Forum