In reply to dyintorace :
Those BBS' look sharp! I like the 18" wheels, but feel like the 17" setup looks good on these cars! What widths are you running?
In reply to dyintorace :
Those BBS' look sharp! I like the 18" wheels, but feel like the 17" setup looks good on these cars! What widths are you running?
In reply to roninsoldier83 :
practically neighbors!
Ah, another E82 with water behind the taillight. At least I'm not alone lol. You've got me jealous with the lack of lights on the dash. I'm tempted to spend more money and try get rid of my airbag/seatbelt and TPMS light.
Also, random question, and maybe others with N52 experience can chime in. Does your car's idle bounce after a cold start? Until mine warms up it will hunt from 700 to 1,000 RPM and even vibrates a bit when warm despite replacing coils, plugs, and engine mounts. Just curious if you might have experienced the same thing.
white_averson said:Ah, another E82 with water behind the taillight. At least I'm not alone lol. You've got me jealous with the lack of lights on the dash. I'm tempted to spend more money and try get rid of my airbag/seatbelt and TPMS light.
Also, random question, and maybe others with N52 experience can chime in. Does your car's idle bounce after a cold start? Until mine warms up it will hunt from 700 to 1,000 RPM and even vibrates a bit when warm despite replacing coils, plugs, and engine mounts. Just curious if you might have experienced the same thing.
For me, getting rid of the airbag/seat belt and TPMS was cheap peace of mind. I think I paid $184 for the seat belt tensioner, which cleared the airbag/seat belt lights, and like $57 for a used TPMS control module. All lights gone with very little effort and not a whole lot of money. Absolutely worth it for me.
The amount of water behind the tail light was absolutely insane! It had been raining prior to me locating it, but good Lord... it makes me wonder how many months or years the previous owner never found it!
No, I can't say my N52 bounces around after cold start. It's always idled pretty well, even when I first bought it. My first thoughts would be maybe the valvetronic having an issue? Any codes?
In reply to roninsoldier83 :
No codes, though I haven't scanned it since getting rid of the water behind the taillight...
Idle of my 2007 N52 was rock steady, but the 2010 hunts a little for about the first 30 seconds.
I can't remember the last time we got so much snow in October. It's too bad my poor little E82 lives outside:
I built a set of BBS/BMW style 108 in mag blue for mine just before it got totaled. The red is good, I'm still looking for one half heartedly to fill that hole!
Great rescue story. Holy parts canon!
Did you ever figure out why it had so much water inside the trunk?
Is the 128 tall friendly? Do you fit with a helmet?
chandler said:I built a set of BBS/BMW style 108 in mag blue for mine just before it got totaled. The red is good, I'm still looking for one half heartedly to fill that hole!
I agree- the copper/red color is my favorite on the E82!
There's actually a possibility I might end up selling my E82 sometime next year. Kind of a long story: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/selling-my-ap2-s2000-to-buy-a-gr-corolla-have-i-lost-my-mind/259221/page1/
We'll see if I have the heart to sell this beloved little car if/when the time comes!
Going thru my pics I've got them from multiple years showing we got 6-12" of snow in October. Not unusual...
OHSCrifle said:Great rescue story. Holy parts canon!
Did you ever figure out why it had so much water inside the trunk?
Is the 128 tall friendly? Do you fit with a helmet?
I'm not entirely sure why there was so much water in the trunk... I have a theory: the weather stripping on the lower right side of the rear windshield is drooping/disconnected. That might have something to do with it? But I honestly don't know.
I would say yes, the 128i is tall friendly. I'm 6'2" 215 lbs and am very comfortable in the 128i. For a "smaller" sports car, I actually think it's pretty much ideal for someone my size.
I BARELY fit with an admittedly thin Bell open face helmet. I can drive the car around without constantly bumping my head on the roof with said helmet on. With a thicker helmet, I'm not sure if I could say the same. But with the OEM manual sport seats, yes, it works in my normal driving position (no additional recline is needed). For reference, my E82 has a moonroof (unfortunately).
With that said, if you can find a unicorn-status slicktop, it would be more ideal. If needed, a moonroof delete and bending up of the headliner would probably help as well. I'm not a fan of moonroofs, but unfortunately, most of the E82's seem to have one- and your field become really limited when looking for a manual (I think only like 2-3% of them were 6MT's) and the Sport Package (worth it for the seats alone!). I'm sure an aftermarket seat would also give you more than enough room, depending on your height. I needed none of the above, but my build is likely just a bit more legs than torso.
It appears the slick top (sunroof delete) is a pretty rarely taken option
Since I bought the 128i, I've had a hard time getting the trunk to stay closed when you shut it. I can get it to shut, but it takes some time and patience. I believed my problem was this little plastic piece getting in the way of the mechanism to shut the trunk. You can see there's a gap between part of the latch and this plastic piece:
So, I ordered a used one off of Ebay for a few bucks and swapped it in. I also had to swap in the stock cables (apparently the unit I ordered was from an E90 and the cable lengths were different. No big deal, the cables swapped over in about ~2 minutes.
The whole job took about ~15-20 minutes and was pretty straightforward.
I went to shut the trunk... same problem! Doh! Then I realized that the striker/latch wasn't lined up perfectly... fortunately, BMW made the little piece of trim in front of the striker/latch come out easily. I then spent a couple minutes fumbling around with the position of the latch/striker... I got it as close as I could... the trunk now shuts with ease and stays shut! It's actually not just a bit tough to get it to open- but that's a problem I would rather deal with vs popping open while I'm driving down the road. I suppose I can play with the position more later on to refine it a bit.
Wow, you win the Parts Cannon award for 2023! I've experienced the putting out a brushfire with my feet thing with some of my Audis but this takes the cake! Do you have an itemized list of what it took to get your little 128i straightened out?
rdcyclist said:Wow, you win the Parts Cannon award for 2023! I've experienced the putting out a brushfire with my feet thing with some of my Audis but this takes the cake! Do you have an itemized list of what it took to get your little 128i straightened out?
Unfortunately, I absolutely have an itemized list on what it took to this get thing straightened out! Although to be clear, not everything was absolutely necessary. Here's what I've got so far:
-rear towing bumper cap: $27
-rear license plate bracket: $10
-Bosch DMTL pump: $67
-OEM charcoal canister: $86
-OEM floor mats: $83
-license plate frames: $15
-front OEM license plate bracket: $68
-OEM Pierberg water pump: $340
-OEM thermostat: $141
-OEM front left OEM seat belt tensioner: $184
-used right rear knuckle: $269
-CSF racing Radiator 7002: $442
-Gates radiator hoses- upper, lower, engine to thermostat, thermostat to water pump, water pump to engine: $172
-Bosch coil packs & NGK spark plugs: $186
-OEM oil filter: $20
-Febi oil filler cap: $36
-BMW coolant: $69
-Bosch air filter: $21
-BMW/VDO fuel pump (right) & fuel filter/FPR (left), Lemforder (OEM) inner/outer tie rods, TRW (OEM) M3/1M control arms (front & upper rear), hardware (OEM): $1421
-TPMS module: $24
-wheel bolts: $40
-TPMS module 678280001 : $57
-serpentine belt kit: $90
-jack pucks: $26
-Cardone right rear axle, timken rear wheel bearing & clip: $196
-cabin air filter: $31
-ATE typ 200 brake fluid, Pentosin CHF 11s hydraulic fluid (power steering) & Redline MTL transmission fluid: $88
-front engine splash shield: $98
-splash shield bolts: $15
-front center jacking pad: $20
-Rein (OEM) expansion tank hose: $36
-Rein (OEM) lower radiator hose: $38
-BMW coolant: $33
-Bosch ABS sensor: $42
-all hardware needed for steering rack swap & oetiker tool: $101
-new BMW steering shaft: $408
-oil, transmission & differential drain plugs: $36
-BBB industries reman OEM steering rack & pinion: $526 (minus core charge return)
-Turner Motorsports intake elbow: $59
-IWIS timing chain tensioner: $80
-key fob shell: $23
-BMW VANOS solenoids (x2) & bolts: $316
-128i badge: $12
-BMW M shift knob: $122
-OEM trunk latch: $33
^^^All prices include shipping and tax!
Thankfully, I'm not paying for labor. This car is an absolute money pitt haha!
And this I think I've cooled in my recent 48 hour quest to find one of these.
OHSCrifle said:And this I think I've cooled in my recent 48 hour quest to find one of these.
I wouldn't let my list scare you away from one of these cars. Many of the things on this list were only needed because it was previously in an accident and they were just never repaired/replaced after the accident. Quite a few items were just things I wanted to do for various reasons- not necessarily things the car needed. To give a more accurate assessment of ownership, let me break this down:
List of things the car needed that were directly related to the accident -OR- things the previous owner damaged/destroyed that shouldn't need to be replaced ordinarily:
-rear towing bumper cap: it was missing when I bought the car
-rear license plate bracket: missing when I bought the car
-Bosch DMTL pump: it's in the right rear of the car (likely damaged in the accident)
-OEM charcoal canister: it's in the right rear of the car (likely damaged in the accident)
-OEM floor mats: the old ones were absolutely destroyed by the previous owner
-license plate frames: missing when I bought the car
-front OEM license plate bracket: missing when I bought the car
-OEM front left OEM seat belt tensioner: throwing a code from the accident
-used right rear knuckle: damaged in the accident
-BMW/VDO fuel pump (right): the fuel level gauge wasn't working. When I swapped out the fuel pump, I noted the level sensor appeared to be damaged... it was in the right rear of the car... I suspect it was damaged in the accident.
-wheel bolts: some were missing or broken by previous owner
-jack pucks: missing when I bought the car
-Cardone right rear axle, timken rear wheel bearing & clip: damaged in the accident
-front engine splash shield: missing when I bought the car
-splash shield bolts: missing when I bought the car
-front center jacking pad: missing when I bought the car
-Bosch ABS sensor: right rear- damaged in the accident
-OEM trunk latch: I suspect the trunk alignment was off due to the accident
-key fob shell: previous owner damaged the key fob shell
-128i badge: previous owner painted the stock badge black... I wasn't a fan.
Preventative maintenance items that I ELECTED to do (they weren't needed per se, as they were working just fine, just me erring on the side of caution as I had no records for the car):
-OEM thermostat: since I was replacing the water pump, might as well
-CSF racing Radiator 7002: the OEM radiator was just fine- I was originally prepping the car for track work
-Gates radiator hoses- upper, lower, engine to thermostat, thermostat to water pump, water pump to engine: all hoses were just fine, no leaks, more or less "while I'm in there" items
-OEM oil filter: deferred maintenance item
-BMW coolant: because new radiator upgrade
-Bosch air filter: deferred maintenance item
-Lemforder (OEM) inner/outer tie rods: I wasn't sure if this was why the car wouldn't steer straight- the OEM tie rods appeared to be okay after replacing them
-TRW (OEM) M3/1M control arms (front & upper rear), hardware (OEM): partially a track upgrade, and partially I wasn't sure if the OEM arms were causing the steering issue (they weren't)
-serpentine belt kit: preventative maintenance item
-cabin air filter: preventative maintenance item
-ATE typ 200 brake fluid, Pentosin CHF 11s hydraulic fluid (power steering) & Redline MTL transmission fluid: preventative maintenance fluids
-Rein (OEM) expansion tank hose: the fitment of the Gates hoses above was not good- caused leak(s), but the OEM hoses were fine
-Rein (OEM) lower radiator hose: fitment of the Gates hoses above was not good- caused leak(s), but the OEM hoses were fine
-oil, transmission & differential drain plugs: just to be safe when changing fluids
-Turner Motorsports intake elbow: got rid of the OEM silencer (which was just fine)
-IWIS timing chain tensioner: I probably didn't need to do this at all- there is a bit of valvetrain chattering (completely normal with these cars), I simply replaced it as a precaution
-BMW VANOS solenoids (x2) & bolts: the OEM solenoids were just fine, this was preventative maintenance
Maintenance items that were seemingly worn out as a result of use (not necessarily due to the accident):
-OEM Pierberg water pump: $340 - it was still working, but was throwing a code, so I replaced it as they're known to fail on these cars
-Bosch coil packs & NGK spark plugs: $186 - the car had an occasional stutter/hesitation, I replaced these at the same time as the fuel filter and it went away
-Febi oil filler cap: the OEM oil filler cap was leaking
-BMW/VDO fuel filter/FPR (left): the car had an occasional stutter/hesitation, I replaced at the same time as the coil packs/spark plugs and it went away
-TPMS module 678280001 : the trunk was flooded and this module was in the trunk... to be fair, this might have been accident related
-all hardware needed for steering rack swap & oetiker tool: $101 - the steering rack needed to be replace
-new BMW steering shaft: $408 - I'm unsure if this contributed to the steering rack issue, this might be more of a preventative maintenance item, but I figured I would replace it as the same time as the steering rack, just so I didn't have to do the job twice
-BBB industries reman OEM steering rack & pinion: $526 (minus core charge return) - the steering rack was bad, unsure why, this is NOT a common failure point on these cars
-BMW M shift knob: $122 - the OEM shift knob kept popping off... unsure if it was from normal wear, or the previous owner
^^^That last list is more indicative of problems you might run into. However, keep in mind, this car was wrecked and HORRIBLY maintained. I wouldn't have a problem buying a fully running version of these cars.
St Pete, FL seller with the cheap (slick top) 128i hasn't responded to my messages. FB profile gave me a sketchy vibe so I'm moving on.
Going to check out a 2013 128i locally tomorrow. Have exchanged a couple messages with seller and it seems like a good car. Not sure what options it has yet but it does have the comfort (non sport) seats so probably a base model. I don't want to pester the seller with endless questions... Will wait and see.
I own a basic Bluetooth OBD2 scanner. If I buy this car - will I need some kind of programmer for things like changing the battery?
In reply to OHSCrifle :
The best/easiest way to know what options the car has is to get the VIN and plug into this website:
It works for every BMW.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
It seems like many of the BMW guys recommend the Bimmergeeks app/cable, which can also be used to tune the car. I wish I would have known that before I bought my BMW scan tool!
https://www.bimmergeeks.net
roninsoldier83 said:In reply to OHSCrifle :
It seems like many of the BMW guys recommend the Bimmergeeks app/cable, which can also be used to tune the car. I wish I would have known that before I bought my BMW scan tool!
https://www.bimmergeeks.net
The Bimmergeek stuff appears to require Android device. But maybe has a PC option.
Does your BMW scan tool have write capability?
In reply to OHSCrifle :
Yeah, but Android tablets on EBay/Amazon are dirt cheap (sub $100). I'm planning on picking one up along with the Bimmergeeks app/cable when I finally get around to installing the 3 stage intake manifold.
And no, I don't believe my scan tool has write capability.
I did a "free" mod to the E82 today: I removed the OEM clutch delay valve. This is a genuinely easy job. Removing the valve itself and plugging the line back in literally took under 60 seconds.
Here's what the stock setup looks like:
You literally just remove the 2 metal retainer clips (very easy with a pick tool) and remove this CDV from the line:
Then plug the clutch line back in and use one of the metal retainers to hold it back in place:
This truly is that easy. I used a plastic pinch clamp to minimize the amount of brake fluid that escaped while I was removing the CDV, which worked pretty well. A few drops still escaped, but it wasn't a big deal.
To purge any air bubbles from the line when I was done, I topped off the master cylinder and used my trusty Motive Power Bleeder:
^^^It's been so long since I've used it, I almost forgot I still had the Power Bleeder! I didn't bother filling it with fluid, I just topped off the reservoir, hooked up the Power Bleeder, pressurized it to about ~15psi and bled the slave cylinder. There were in fact a few bubbles, but I had them all out in just a few short seconds. Easy peasy.
I will say that I'm not a fan of the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder being made of plastic... I would prefer a metal bleeder like most Japanese cars come with, but it is what it is. The plastic bleeder just felt fragile and I thought I heard the sound of plastic cracking as I was tightening the valve back up- fortunately, it tightened back up and I haven't seen any leaks, but it was unnerving nonetheless.
Driving impressions: there is in fact an improvement in the overall smoothness of the car. Is it night and day? Probably not, but it is noticeable. I noticed it as soon as I pulled the car out of the garage. It's most noticeable in 1st gear or reverse from a stop- with the CDV installed there's a slight shudder when the clutch engages, which is noticeably reduced when the CDV is removed, making the car drive slightly smoother from a stop.
Gear changes in lower gears also feel a bit smoother, as they lack the slight delay caused by the CDV.
My understanding is that BMW (and many other manufacturers) put CDV's in to protect the drivetrain from abusive owners (high RPM clutch drops, power shifts, etc). Maybe is does something more as well? Either way, the car feels slightly better without it. If I wanted to put it back in, it would only take a minute, but I certainly like the car ever-so-slightly more without it.
When I bought the E82, many things were broken... among them was the A/C. I've fixed everything else on the car myself, but not the A/C. It's been cold here for many months, so I didn't ever bother. I put some R134a in the car last summer, it worked great for a few days, but then got warm on me. This was one job I didn't want to troubleshoot myself.
So, on the recommendation of a fellow GRM'er (docwyte) I took the car to a local BMW indie shop called The Garage. Man, I've got nothing but great things to say about those guys! Very friendly, knowledgeable and several of them seem like track guys!
Either way, they said when they tested all the things, the only leaks they found were at the schrader valves. They replaced them, monitored for a bit and said all was well. I'll be honest: this resulted in a MUCH smaller bill than I was initially expecting! Nice to have A/C again headed into the warmer months!
I'll monitor and hopefully no more leaks pop up! I think the car is finally ready for full blown Daily Driver status. Knock-on-wood!
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