BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
Last week I received a letter from BMW about the air bag in my 2002 M5. The driver side airbag made by Takata is potentially defective and they are instructing me to have it replaced. I wrote about this issue at length last year, when I got a letter about my 2006 M3. The problem […]
This past weekend I replaced the battery on my 2006 BMW M3. It wasn’t holding a charge well and struggled to start the car. The battery was over six years old, so it was time for a new one. My E46 M3 is the last generation of BMWs on which this is still a simple […]
2016 BMW sales numbers have been tallied for December and for all of 2016. It was a tough year for BMW in North America, and sales were down an overall 9.5 percent for the BMW brand. BMW was coming off a string of three record sales years in a row here. Globally, BMW reported that […]
Merry New Year! It’s been a great year at Work, Wine and Wheels, though the time demands of my consulting firm again cut down on the number of stories published. Before the clock runs out on 2016, here’s a final post touching on all three site topics. On the Work front, I’m thankful that StoryTech […]
Coming home from vacation this weekend my wife and I were involved in an accident. Less than two miles from home, a woman pulled out from the Walker Gate of Fort Belvoir without looking and hit the side of our 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The impact caused the vehicle to flip over and roll twice […]
As I wrote about in July, I’ve joined the National Capital Chapter (NCC) of the BMW Car Club of America. The reason I joined was the BMW DIY events they hold regularly. I was excited by the opportunity to tackle some maintenance procedures with experienced owners around me to offer advice and assistance. This past […]
Last Friday I received my official BMW air bag recall letter for my E46 M3. Both the driver and passenger air bags are subject to the massive Takata air bag recall, which has been going on for almost two years. Over 60 million air bags have been found defective and need to be replaced. It’s […]
I’ve been a BMW enthusiast for 15 years, but I had never joined the BMW Car Club of America (BMWCCA). The main reason was I did not associate BMWCCA membership with DIY work. A fellow owner who works out at my gym recently showed me otherwise. He told me DIY educations was the main reason […]
2016 BMW sales are out for April, and it’s been a tough start to the year for BMW in North America. Overall new sales are down 9.4 percent, with passenger cars down 15.4 percent. An article from The Truth About Cars reports swollen inventories at U.S. BMW dealerships. As usual, looking at BMW’s high volume […]
This weekend my wife Gabriele and I picked up a new 2015 Jeep Cherokee. She had been leasing an Infiniti FX37, but decided she sacrificed too much interior space for the sportiness. We had bought a Toyota Highlander back in 2011, which had lots of interior space but wasn’t much fun to drive. As the […]
Final 2015 BMW sales are out, and the company has retained the number one spot for U.S. luxury car sales with 346,023 vehicles sold (not including the Mini brand). BMW had a horrible December with sales down 16.6%, and that almost allowed Lexus and Mercedes-Benz to snatch the crown. Only a few thousand vehicles separated […]
Recently my 2006 E46 M3 started throwing a code signifying a problem with one of the oxygen sensors in front of the catalytic converter (pre-cat). The S54 engine in the E46 M3 has four oxygen sensors, two in front of the catalytic converter and two behind. Initially I thought this was a chance for a […]