davintosh wrote: I hate the thought of sticking a pickle fork in there & ripping up a perfectly good ball joint boot. A pitman arm puller might work if I can find one that has the right gap between the arms. But dang; you wouldn't think it'd be this much of a pain to get two stoopid ball joints loose.
Nope; no Harbor Freight. Northern Tools opened a store here recently, but they don't carry much for automotive tools, and didn't have that one. We did manage to track down a set of tie rod tools at an O'Reilly's store on the other side of town, and ended up using one of these to get it out:djazz wrote:Is Harbor Freight nearby? They carry them... and at single use prices too! Wear safety glasses. The first one I bought snapped like it was made of pot metal. Oh wait, it is. Got the job done though. And harbor freight took it back for replacement as I had purchased it that day.davintosh wrote:Went to work on changing the lower control arm bushings on my son's Civic on Saturday, and we're stuck trying to get the stupid arm off of the ball joint. Grrr. I've beat on it with everything short of a long-handle sledgehammer, hit it with BFHs from both sides, heated it up with a torch, cussed at it, growled at it, but it refuses to pop. We've also tried getting a gear puller & steering wheel puller to do the job, but they can't get a decent grip on the control arm. I've checked several places looking for a lever-type ball joint separator... Nothing locally. I've borrowed the tool before from one of the Advance Auto shops in town, but their kit is out on loan right now...
No; hadn't thought of that.mechacode wrote:Have you considered slotting a washer, sliding that in between to protect the rubber boot, so the fork will be rubbing against two metal surfaces instead of the rubber?davintosh wrote: I hate the thought of sticking a pickle fork in there & ripping up a perfectly good ball joint boot. A pitman arm puller might work if I can find one that has the right gap between the arms. But dang; you wouldn't think it'd be this much of a pain to get two stoopid ball joints loose.
Must tuck that idea away for future reference though. Thanks!
I guess the others fell out somewhere along the way. 
Making them hard to fix helps guarantee an income stream for the stealerships too, Andy.a wrote:... What car companies should do is to give their bean counters a tool box and orders to R+R components and deal with repairing what they cheaped out on. Yah, like that is gonna happen. Car makers have no desire to make their products easy to fix. Bad for business. It is just a lucky accident the E28s are easy to work on. Not enough robots?
Not indeed! More like they were assembled by the spoiled brat nephews or bastard sons of Norwegian bachelor farmers. I've known Norwegian bachelor farmers and they have more pride in their work than what's shown on the average stRanger. True story; I used to work with a guy who had two uncles that were genuine Norwegian bachelor farmers. We went to their farmplace one Sunday to do some skeet shooting, and this place just blew me away. They had a skeet thrower set up in the yard that would throw the targets out toward the fields, over the tree grove. The trees in that direction had all been 'trimmed' over the years by all the shooting so there was a distinct dip in the shape of the grove when viewed from a distance. In the machine shed they had all manner of antique tractors (even steam-powered), cars , trucks, Wisconsin motors, etc... that they had picked up for a song & rebuilt over a lifetime of winters. It was amazing... You would've loved the place, Andy.a wrote:My 60s bugs were hand constructed by happy Germans using "goot Cherman schteel " . So was the E28, though to a lesser extent.. The Rangers were assembled in St. Paul by Norwegian bachelor farmers. NOT!
What engine does it have? My N52 in my E90 threw a code and started running rough. It was a misfire in cylinder #5 and a call to my shop revealed that it was likely a coil. I replaced the coil and Voila!, problem solved. Just tossing it out there.jhall wrote:Began chasing an SES light on my wife's e53 x5. I'm getting misfire codes all over the place and a random poor running condition. Whenever I run into problems like this on my non-e28 vehicles it makes me appreciate this forum so much more.
jhall wrote:Began chasing an SES light on my wife's e53 x5. I'm getting misfire codes all over the place and a random poor running condition. Whenever I run into problems like this on my non-e28 vehicles it makes me appreciate this forum so much more.
Noted, Thanks winfred and rmiddendorf. Its the M62, I've done the standard tune up stuff as its just past 100k. NGK's as always, fuel filter and whatnot. I read Mike's thread about the MAF and I'm thinking along those lines. The misfire comes and goes randomly, either at a stop light or at highway speeds. Besides the misfire codes it threw an "injector circuit open" code.winfred wrote:most common m52tu/m54 issues are air leaks
drain hose from oil separator to bottom of dipstick tube rotting off, ruptured oil separator, dead coil, intake manifold adjuster, dieing maf or cracked lower air boot
plus if its close to 100k miles it may want its plugs changed, they usually go the full 100k but i have seen them start misfiring at just over 90k (the ngk's are wayyyyyyyy better then the bosch)
jhall wrote:Began chasing an SES light on my wife's e53 x5. I'm getting misfire codes all over the place and a random poor running condition. Whenever I run into problems like this on my non-e28 vehicles it makes me appreciate this forum so much more.
WOW. That does need fixed. Stop fixing this one and buy NVfive33i's 'is' for sale in VA. That is a sweet ride.ldsbeaker wrote:Since the e28 is running like a top (FINALLY), I can dig into my 'ix.
I got SA Konis, H&R Sports, and some new brake components to install...
oh.
ummmm.....
... and... DAMN.
Soooooo, I hit up Blunt this morning (while he was still at home, and he STILL replied to my email!), and found out that the rails there in the back can be had for a little less than $250. Nice. Oh, and I'm grabbing the last driver's side rail(pictured) ON THE PLANET. (till they make more...)
Now I just have to find a shop willing to cut and paste.
Check and check, although I'm much closer to 200K. Wait a minute, I'm going to have to change the plugs again!!! Seems like I just did that, oh, say 70K or so ago.winfred wrote:most common m52tu/m54 issues are air leaks
drain hose from oil separator to bottom of dipstick tube rotting off, ruptured oil separator, dead coil, intake manifold adjuster, dieing maf or cracked lower air boot
plus if its close to 100k miles it may want its plugs changed, they usually go the full 100k but i have seen them start misfiring at just over 90k (the ngk's are wayyyyyyyy better then the bosch)
jhall wrote:Began chasing an SES light on my wife's e53 x5. I'm getting misfire codes all over the place and a random poor running condition. Whenever I run into problems like this on my non-e28 vehicles it makes me appreciate this forum so much more.
The ride is much firmer in the rear and far less squirrelly than before. Can't wait to get the fronts on too! Unfortunately I've had precious little time alone in the car since then, since it's been the primary shuttle between our house & my inlaws' house over the weekend. Driving the car with three passengers in the back seat just doesn't give the opportunity to get a good feel for how it compares to before.
