Things have been slow on the BMW maintenance front due to the corona virus and sheltering in place. Club DIY events were canceled in March and there is no update on when they will restart. Fortunately neither of my cars require any scheduled maintenance at the moment and I’m putting fewer miles on them than usual.
I’ve done a couple of minor M car projects recently. On my M5 the driver side front turn signal failed. I use Silverstar turn bulbs in my car that are brighter and have a bluish color behind the clear plastic, while still flashing amber. This avoids what many owners call the “egg yolk” effect of a bright orange bulb behind a white lens.
The engine bay of the E39 M5 is a tight fit. To access the turn bulb it’s much easier to remove the air box directly behind the headlight. Just remove one 10mm bolt and two clips and it lifts right out.
With that out of the way the dead bulb was easy to reach and replace.
On the M3 the work was purely cosmetic. First I put a finishing touch on the stock airbox project from late last year. The top of the air box I purchased and installed did not have the oil sticker that originally came stock on the piece.
There is a guy in the U.K. who reproduces BMW decals. That’s right – reproductions of BMW decals! Brand enthusiasm can create many cottage industries. It took months to receive my order, but it finally arrived and looked good. Now the air box looks fully stock:
Then I decided to replace the lower driver side door sill. The passenger side looked perfect but the driver side had gotten scuffed up over time. Not a huge issue but something I’d notice every time I got in the car.
E39 Source founder Ryan Schultz made an instructional video on this replacement. His site and YouTube channel are great sources of BMW DIY information. This video shows the job on a 2002 330, the same E46 generation as my M3.
It was even easier than Ryan described. The replacement sill piece had the attachment pins attached, so all I did was pull the old one off, line up the pins and tap the new one into place.
Click on any image to enlarge. Small stuff like this still delivers DIY satisfaction. And it saves money for the larger issues down the line.
Stay healthy and be smart out there.