BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
Car and Driver just published its 2013 1o Best Cars list, and the new BMW 3-Series made the cut. The BMW 3-Series has done so an incredible 22 straight years. The editors sound like they really loved the previous E90 3-Series, because they snuck some qualifying statements into their descriptions of the F30. They weren’t […]
Today’s piece is a two-fer, bringing together both Work and Wheels. I found an interesting article about turning an old BMW E36 into a weekend track car. The story was on the Hooniverse car enthusiast site, “hoon” being Australian slang for a reckless driver/gearhead. My 1999 M3 is an E36, so obviously I was the […]
Last week BMW released its October sales numbers in the U.S. The 2012 numbers continue to be impressive, with October year to year sales up 20.9 percent, and year to date sales up 6.7 percent. (These percentages exclude the Mini brand.) Compared to the first two quarters however, the growth rate has slowed. As I […]
Beginning with the E39 5 Series in 2001, BMW introduced lighted rings around the headlights on their cars. These quickly were termed “angel eyes” and became a big hit in the market. Early BMW angel eyes were powered by a halogen bulb. This caused the color of the rings to be yellow, which didn’t match […]
This weekend the battery in my 1999 BMW M3 finally gave out. I bought the car in late 2003, so I know it was at least nine years old and probably was original equipment. The fact it lasted so long is testament to BMW quality a couple of car generations ago. When my car was […]
Last month I wrote about performing a DIY tune-up on my E36 M3. In that post I talked about replacing spark plugs and the air filter. This weekend I finished the main components of a tune-up by replacing the fuel filter and cleaning the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor. The fuel filter is a very […]
Recently I got involved in a LinkedIn discussion thread that combined two interests of mine, social media and BMW maintenance. The BMW Group on LinkedIn is a fairly active one. It’s also an open group, so this link should resolve to the thread even if you are not a member of LinkedIn. The member who […]
This weekend was BimmerFest East, a huge meetup of BMW owners organized and sponsored by Turner Motorsports. These events have been going on for a few years on the west coast, and came east for the first time last year. Like last year, it was held at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD. I caravaned up […]
My 13 year old M3 is approaching 60,000 miles. In BMW vernacular, that means the car should receive an Inspection II service. An Inspection II involves a large number of things getting inspected (hence the name), but when you look at the work actually done it boils down to a general tune-up. Spark plugs, air […]
Last week I described replacing most of the cooling system components in my M3. While doing that job, I also replaced my rear shock absorbers. My car only has 57,000 miles, but it is more than 13 years old. While replacing and reinforcing the rear shock mounts (RSMs) last year, I noticed the shocks were […]
This weekend I accomplished a preventative maintenance goal for my 1999 M3. With the help of a fellow enthusiast and E36 M3 owner, I replaced most of my cooling system with new parts. The cooling system on many modern BMWs is a known weak point. Most of the problems arise from using plastic where metal […]
Last year I wrote a post about a special warranty that covers what BMW calls Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles, or SULEVs. These cars were built with a special, fully integrated fuel tank and fuel filter to reduce accidental emissions to the atmosphere, and can’t be repaired without huge expense. Here’s a service bulletin from […]