New addition to the fleet

[Karl Grau]

Rain delay
It hasn't rained in like 127 years but it's raining today.

And oh Lawdy is it raining! Monsoon like remnants of Tropical Storm Dolores.



We're having thunder and lightning too which is extremely rare.

[Karl Grau]

I got a solid thirty minutes in today before it started raining again.

[Coldswede]

The worst part is, now you will have to mow your yard!!

[SPF2006]

Great thread for those of us in the e39 boat. I have the hunting idle on my 00 e39 which I had attributed to failing VANOS seals (cf. Beisan Systems' write up) and was preparing to replace them. Hadn't thought about the DISA valve per se, I'll check into that.

-Charles.

I have some hunting idle issues on my new-to-me E46. Thanks for the reminder about the DISA and I also grabbed the cooling system cap for my order.

How much time did the DISA upgrade take you? I read through the instructions and it looks straightforward, just a lot of steps and small parts to work with.

The idle on mine bounces too, and the DISA valve didn't fix it (the fix took me a couple of hours, including the time to take the valve off the intake, and I kinda dawdled.) I've heard from a few sources that the CCV/Oil Separator is the likely culprit for the idle issue, so that's next on my list.

[Karl Grau]

The rain stopped today so I went at it after work even though it's like a 1000% percent humidity.

A little air to pop out the pistons.





I don't know how critical it is but I'm keeping the pistons and guide/slider pin thingies with their original calipers.
I'm going to go change my sweat soaked clothes and then start on cleaning the calipers so I can tart them up with some paint.

[Karl Grau]

The PO got his money's worth out of the rear pads.




I polished the pistons and guide pins.




First coat of tarting up the calipers. I think I should have stuck with Chris' bright red suggestion though.




A couple of more coats and I can start the reassembly.

[leadphut]

meh. i think red calipers are a bit played, IMHO. silver looks clean and understated!

[bkbimmer]

Time to freshen up the lawn chairs.

[davintosh]

When do the Hello Kitty decals go on?

[Karl Grau]

Time to freshen up the lawn chairs.

I'm thinking of painting them silver since they already have a head start now.


Just to illustrate how dusty the Jurid pads are, my wheels went from this:






To this in a little over 200 miles.
I assume Jurid makes different types of pads, so if you’re going to use Jurid, these aren’t the Jurids that you’re looking for.



I was really pooped after work today so all I managed was to install the “while I’m in there” sway bar links.

When do the Hello Kitty decals go on?

Well, it was going to be a surprise but since you let the cat out of the bag (ha, ha, get it? Cat!) I'll go ahead and post what I'm really doing.

[Karl Grau]

I didn't remember this job being as time consuming as it was this time around.
I just need to clean the greasy fingerprints off of the tarted up calipers and bleed the system and I'm done. (oh yeah, I have to clean the wheels too)

[Kyle in NO]

Who sprayed all the Agent Orange on your rotors? I didn't think they had that shit in SoCal.

[davintosh]

Needs moar paint...

[Karl Grau]

Who sprayed all the Agent Orange on your rotors? I didn't think they had that shit in SoCal.

The Agent Orange is from two days of Monsoon rain and three nights of pea soup fog.


This is the first time I’ve used a pressure bleeder and I immediately wished I’d bought one a 100 years ago.
I took it for a test drive and the pedal is a little soft so I guess I still have some air in the lines. I know you’re probably thinking, “gee Chuck, why didn’t you check the pedal while the car was up in the air with the wheels off?”. Well if you thought that, you’d just be showing yourself as a normal person (none technician). Duh!


I’m glad I didn’t go with Chris Kohler’s red caliper paint suggestion, I like the silver more.

these aren’t the Jurids that you’re looking for.

^^^ Okay *I* thought that was funny. This is a tough room...

[WilNJ]

^^^ Okay *I* thought that was funny. This is a tough room...

Not tough, just a little Jaded.

[tig]

Nice car. When you going to actually drive it?

[Karl Grau]

Nice car. When you going to actually drive it?

I know, right!? Since I bought it February, I'm averaging less than 100 miles a month. I wasn't expecting that a car with 55,000 miles was going to have so much downtime.

[tig]

Nice car. When you going to actually drive it?

I know, right!? Since I bought it February, I'm averaging less than 100 miles a month. I wasn't expecting that a car with 55,000 miles was going to have so much downtime.

Sucks being a perfectionist,doesn't it?

Vlad is on the lift with no tranny right now....

[davintosh]

Sucks being a perfectionist,doesn't it?

Vlad is on the lift with no tranny right now....

There's gotta be a Bruce Jenner joke in there somewhere.

[Karl Grau]

Sucks being a perfectionist,doesn't it?

I'm not a perfectionist. Hell, I'd be happy if I could get one fourth of the goddamn fucking air bled out of the brake lines.
Also, I'm retracting anything nice I said about the Motive Power Bleeder.

[Karl Grau]

I had a bit of a milestone today. I performed a task on the e39 that was actually EASIER than on an e28 .

The third brake light bulb went out so I opened the back door to look at how it's mounted and was all, "Seriously?! You're going to make me remove the whole fucking interior to replace a goddamn bulb?".

I stepped away, drank a beer, thought about it and just for the hell of it, looked in the trunk. The e39 trunk design makes 'having a look around' much easier than in the e28 trunk. When I was doing the stereo in the M5, I almost got stuck in the trunk and by all rights, my mummified remains should have been found there several weeks later.




Underneath the black plastic cover is the twist-lock bulb socket. It took one minute to replace the bulb.

[garageboy]

Congratulations. I think you have found the one repair item on an E39 that is easier than an E28.

[wkohler]

The E28 was never designed with the third brake light in mind. In fact Euro models never had them.

[garageboy]

To be fair, it's still not particularly difficult on the E28 anyway. It's just easier on the E39.

[Karl Grau]

I checked the oil today and it doesn't seem to have used any in the last six months which I guess is good for the M54.
The new battery has solved the problem of not starting after sitting for 10 days or longer so I got that goin' for me which is nice.
I also used the cruise control for the first time today.

[wkohler]

How many miles have you put on it in the last six months. My B7 Turbo didn't use any oil sitting either.

[Karl Grau]

How many miles have you put on it in the last six months

1,018 as of today but it's actually closer to seven months.

[davintosh]

About time you updated this thread. I was starting to worry.

BTW, it would take a bit longer than "several weeks" for your remains to become mummified. That said, I for one am glad you made it out alive.

[Karl Grau]

Apparently it never occurred to the PO to maybe, every few years, scrape off some old registration stickers. I peeled of 2002 through 2015 and stuck the 2016 sticker on.




The old door seal is really only bad in one spot but I think it’s the cause of some noise.







The old seal came right out but my install of the new one isn’t going well and there’s been some colorful language used.
I'm going to wait for it to fall in the shade and then get back to it.

[Karl Grau]

So I drove the car at night for the first time a couple of weeks ago and the headlamps were ‘bouncy’. 'waynet' informed me that my adjusters were broken and that this is a CFI on the e39.
I ordered the repair kit from OdometerGears.com but upon closer inspection of the condition of the lenses, I’m thinking about just buying whole new assemblies.
When I was first checking prices I was finding $700-$850 for the right and left headlights shipped, which led me to the repair kit in the first place. Upon further research, I found a set from eEuroparts for $557.98 shipped, so I may just replace them.