Things to look for when you're E30 is dead!

I had a YouTube subscriber inquire on what caused my starting/driving/idling issues.

The symptoms were that the car would stall and buckle while driving. I'd lose power at times and it would come back. Sometimes I could start it again and drive off for a few miles without issue.

It came to a point that I couldn't start it. It would crank but that's it. Then sometimes it was nice and start but then die. This was totally frustrating.

I looked at the basic stuff first. The fuses! I didn't see anything wrong. I read about relays. Again I tracked them what I thought could be the culprit but no go. Maybe it was a fuel issue so I thought since the inline pump was really loud that was it. Or perhaps the fuel filter got clogged.

I changed both and thought it was the issue but nope! I did even did a video on it.

Well to say the least I was frustrated! I gave up and decided to take it to a specialist.

They spent several hours and figured it out! It was a fusible link! Basically it's a wafer that's inline with the wire that blows like a fuse but isn't replaceable. 

It was located under the rear seat and it ran from the battery in the trunk all the way to the ECU by the glove compartment. I had no clue the car had one.

Well $350 later it's running without issue! I hope you guys can find your problem on the cheap. 

That is the culprit!!!!

I'm a Wolfgang fanboy - My BMW E30 is shiny and slick!

This weekend I decided to wash my wife's car then after get into cleaning up my Bimmer. It's been sitting for weeks collecting dirt. I have plantar fasciitis in my left foot so I've been avoiding the heavy clutch. My Taco is stick but it's just way too easy and painless but that's another story.

So this Wolfgang sealant does not clean up the paint in any manner. It's a straight sealant that lasts longer than a wax but gives that deep shine. You can in fact put wax over it.

The key is curing time. You need to let the car sit as long as you can up to 14 hours to really cure and away from moisture. My cars are outside so I have no choice to be less time. My Taco has a coat of that stuff and it's been 3 weeks. It's still super slick.

I got it on Amazon in case anybody wanted to order some click to go to Amazon

I put it on the windows and if you have any chrome put it there too. I also added them to the wheels. Just a fyi, Ronal LS or other BBS mesh style suck to clean. Major PITA to get all areas free of brake dust.

Check out my video and some unaltered pics of the shiny beast!

My 2 cars are manuals and boxy

I guess I like straight lines a lot.

They're exactly 30 years apart but both have a straight hood and 'trunk.'

The Bimmer has "massive" 15 inch wheels and the Taco has "tiny" 16s.

Both are stick shift but the E30 has a aftermarket short shifter while the Taco has a somewhat longer throw but it's actually smoother.

E30 clutch is like doing a leg press. I actually got foot pain (plantar faciitis) from driving it straight for 2 months. I do have to admit wearing slip on shoes didn't help. The Taco clutch is light as a feather.

Bimmer has a single piston front brake while the Taco has 4 of them instead like you see in Brembos.

All in all they're different and I wouldn't have it any other way. I may need an automatic in my life though. lol

At the end of the day I'm a car guy. It will never end until the day I die but I think my kids will continue the legacy.

E30 is back and I cleaned her up!

After 2 months of letting it sit due to stalling issues, she's back home and running.

This pic is when the flatbed took her home. I didn't have time to sit in 2 hours of traffic to pick it up. AAA is my best buddy. haha

I washed her up before the sunset! My new Samsung S8+ really picks up low light well.

So I came home today and rushed to polish the hazy hood, roof and trunk. Took me 30 minutes to handle this. I think it did a good job.

Tell me your thoughts.

White smoke pluming out our BMW??!!! Don't fret it's just a gasket.

I've noticed white smoke coming from my engine when I would be at idle. It finally got so bad the smoke was really getting noticeable.

I decided to look around and noticed oil on the downpipe then discovered oil pooling on the head (see video).

I followed some instructions on e90 post which helped a lot but I went to aggressive with the putty knife to loosen the valve cover. Well I broke it!!! GRRRRRR.

Grrr! cracked the cover!

broke this too!  new one on bottom

Ordered a new one and bolted it all up. I no longer see smoke!

It's not a hard job but you need to unbolt a lot of things and some areas are hard to reach. The biggest pain was trying to get the big tube off the rear of the cover which I couldn't and ended up breaking!

So if you're not a patient person I do not recommend you to do this. Try a independent shop versus dealer as price quotes can be astronomical!

changed the sparkplugs since already opened up and coil packs removed

bungee cords to move wires out the way. makes things easier!

everything put back!

Great day to work on the Bimmer! It was just like summer.

It was mid 70s here in SoCal today and it felt like a summer day. But wait...it's November!!!

My goal today on the E90 was to do a drain and fill of transmission fluid and the rear end. Why did BMW use only 1 opening? I really hate the smell of gear oil. Even fresh oil stinks.

Transmission fluid wasn't as bad but still stinks. Look how awful the fluid color is. Glad I changed it.

I am not fond of raising car but I gotta do what I gotta do. Ended up doing it twice because I had to drive it around to be sure it the fluids go through the system then check the fluid levels. Geez I would die for a car lift. lol

LG V20 video test... drone / GoPro style!!! Bmw love..E30 E90

Cleaned up my E90 today and decided to try a drone style / go pro wide angle video.

The stabilization on the LG V20 is pretty decent. You can even see the smoothness when recording it live.

Here's some phone pics and my youtube vids....

Save yourself a dumb ticket and put on a front plate! Gotta make is semi decent though...

In California it is the law to have a front license plate. Lots of people still drive without one but this is just an opportunity for law enforcement to pull you over for probable cause while in disguise it's more of a 'fishing expedition' on you. Also areas like in Los Angeles have the meter maids who will just ticket you while parked. That's $20-60 gone from your pocket.

I like anybody else wants their car to look clean and modern as possible but I refuse to pay a frivolous expense.

This is the tow hook relocator  from ebay: ebay auction

it seems to be a copy of this one: original model?



Check out my video about this install.

You can see my old blogpost about the Cravenspeed model which is nicely built but not adjustable: Cravenspeed plate relocator on Golf R

I really like the option of height and angle to conform to the bumper. It just eases the pain.

Trunk slamming hard? You NEED new lift supports!!!

So my recently purchased BMW 335i needs new trunk shocks. They are officially known as lift supports but who uses that terminology? I call them trunk shocks. Others may call them dampers, struts..whatever. The point is your trunk or hood is slamming hard and could take out something you cherish.

I bought mine from eBay for $17. OEM shocks are double that so I decided since I don't open my trunk on a daily basis that I can live with a cheaper unit. They definitely made a difference.

Check out my YouTube video with my sons helping me on it. The only tool you need is a flat head screwdriver.

335i front bumper is going for a makeover

The white Bimmer I picked up a couple weeks ago had only 1 flaw. The front bumper was rashed up. It's a really good fitting M3 replica bumper too but the repercussions of highway driving took a toll on it.

I pulled it off tonight and will drop it off for it's makeover tomorrow. I should have it back by next week. In the meanwhile I'm going to change some fluids. The rear end and tranny needs to be done.

Stay tuned for a photoshoot.

Another toy..BMW 335i I have an addiction

As you may noticed, I like performance cars.

I picked up a AMG C32 that was supercharged but it just didn't feel right. I think it was due to a lack of style. Great sleeper though.

I can't resist when I see a decent deal so I pulled the trigger on this alpine white E90.

It's dropped on KW V3 suspension sitting on 19 inch real deal BBS LM wheels.

front hood and bumper as well as rear bumper and BMW Performance carbon fiber rear spoiler.

The thing I really did is that it's an auto but has an upgraded M3 steering wheel so the shift paddles are the correct PLUS/MINUS paddles versus the both sides up and down controls.

Check out my video

Quick photoshoot of the OG E30

After washing up the hooptie, I finished up polishing the roof to match the rest of the work I did last few weeks. Car really pops right now for an old worn paint!

It's not visible in the pics but the windows have some really  difficult to remove hard water stains. That's my next goal to fix.

If you've seen my past work I have a favorite spot for shooting my car at night. It's rare someone is there and it's not far away for me. Best combo!

Front end makeover on the E30. Made the box sexy

I had a good friend repaint the flaking rear spoiler and the chipped up valance. The valance was worn out over the years and also ghetto sprayed painted. I couldn't have that.

Red isn't a forgiving color over the years but I cleaned it up best I could. I'll call the worn areas "patina". lol.

I made my own DIY splitter while at it since I had some material left. I think it came out nice.

I'll have some of my pro shots soon at my favorite spot.

used valance as my template to cut the lip

friend dropped it off after repaint. so nice!

not bad after so many years

Gassy E30 stank! No its not me!

So I picked up this E30 recently. I noticed some strong fuel smell coming from the rear area and sometimes inside the cabin too.

After looking around and pulling the cover from under the rear seat I discovered the issue. The in tank fuel pump that is sealed by small rubber gasket is leaking. It's probably due to being a good 30 years old.

So I bought a new gasket for under $3 and it seems good to go.

I'm glad that there are so many nice resources on the internet. Back in the day those Chilton guides really suck badly.

You can see how wet it looks from the gas. The years of dirt on the right proves that it's been leaking for a good while.

The new gasket is on the right. You'll notice how thick that gasket is vs the old. It's due from constant pressure.

When you're in too much of a hurry and you make things worse! Arghhh!!!

So today I decided to work on my suspension for my E30 project. Well things started off ok but ended badly.  I tried to remove the tie rod link ball joint and the from the lower control arm. The BFH didn't work so I went to Harbor Freight and found a good tool. Worked great like you see in the video below.

Now I got too cocky and tried to rush things...worse thing to do. Oh the horror!!! I hope I can file it down and get it threaded. 

Fixed it!!!

I found out there's a thread file. Autozone actually rents these tools so after using that I got it working. Car is put back together and feeling good!