Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

@greenhell time to bin the Kia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCptegOuCfM

Almost 19 mpg. That's impressively bad!

Yes, that’s worse than my E63 with three bikes on the roof.

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Well it did do 10L/100km on a run. But the 15 wasn't on a run. But I do wish I got a bit more performance for my fuel when using the accelerator.

Also, giving and working in L/100km is so much more real world usable that mpg

What I really want is miles per L, which is clearly abhorrent.

Bit of a nightmare getting an MOT booked. Be aware that because of the MOT holiday (or at least I assume that’s the cause), the garages seem to be a lot busier than normal. 10 days was the soonest I could get the e46 done at an Indy. Fortunately I managed to get it booked in for today (the actual date the MOT ran out), dropped it off before work at 6am and posted the keys, and then they even dropped it back round to my place this afternoon as I’m back from work after they shut. And to top it all off it only needed a rear coil spring.

Because they were so good, and now I’m very busy with work I’m tempted to use it as an excuse to pay them to do all the boring service items I can’t really be fucked doing.

Current list would be:
Oil and oil filter change.
Air and cabin filter.
Fuel filter.
Gearbox oil.
Diff oil.
Full coolant flush.
Full brake service - new pads and rotors, replace brake fluid, will probably need new shoes on the rear too.

Anything else come to mind? Calling the oracle of all thing BMW @Fixedwheelnut

And an inspection to see if anything else will need looking at. But I imagine that lot will cost enough of a chunk to dissuade me from getting to trigger happy with maintenance on a £2500 car.

thanks, i hate it!

Check their labour rate but a service like that on the e39 (without the brake hardware but with a new battery) + spark plugs at a bmw specialist cost me £1600. The gearbox oil filter was an expensive part, £150 or so.

Edit: Here it is. There’s 2.5hrs fixing an oil leak on there which hopefully wouldn’t apply but it’s a dear old do. Really wish I had a drive.

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Just do the brake fluid on the brakes, then examine the calipers are moving freely then condition of discs and pads.

Just do each item yourself when you've time. Do the ones you can in one hit like oils. Then the rest when you've an hour spare.

Stop it everyone, I came here for you to enable my lazy as fuck "just pay someone else to do it" attitude, not for you lot to be the voice of reason!

I paid someone to do the subaru. But the labour was 48eur /h.

I might have a chat to the mechanic and see what he says tbh.

Annoyingly things like oil changes are easy, but the hard part is the jacking the car up - you can do the rear off the diff cover, and there is a front jacking point, but it’s not really practical with my small trolley jack.

Ramps to undo the filler, if there is one.

Need to do the jag gearbox, going to fill with engine oil and hope that sorts the poor shifting issue. Pity and the mondeo didn't have that issue and was the same box. The car is so low to the ground that ramps won't fit underneath the front bumper

Then do a brake fluid change, and check that calipers all work fine.

That list sounds more than enough, rear handbrake shoes will probably be OK, they only wear out if someone drives with the handbrake on.

If you are going to do it at home invest in a decent jack and Axle stands, never trust a Jack on it's own always use stands.

The car is so low to the ground that ramps won't fit underneath the front bumper

I’ve got the same issue with the e46 annoyingly.

My E61 was the same and I didn’t think it was that low!

Mine is a standard height X type

Have two pits of wood, suspect it is decking, from a wood merchants scrap bin that I drive on to. Then but the ramps in place and drive up.

Oh and maybe spray some plus gas in to the bleed nipples once a day for a few days before.

My ST's got a leaking damper I'm going to address in a couple of weeks time.

Is it ok to replace it singularly, or should I be looking at replacing opposite sides / all four at once. The ones on the car are presumably all about 20 years old.

Asking because if I should be replacing all four it becomes a question of whether to get stock ones (c.£80 each), or make the jump to the Bilsteins (c.£700) I was going to do eventually now rather than later.

If they’re old and one is knackered, seems like it makes sense to do them both at once, particularly if it’s a car you like driving rather than a banger you’re just trying to keep on the road.

Is it front or rear? Are you doing the work yourself? Makes sense to just do it all at once if you were planning to anyway.

The damper is going to play a big part in the level of grip that the tyre it controls has.

Running one fresh damper and one with 20 years of wear, on the same axle, would not in my view* be optimal.

Plus, you're going to need an alignment after replacing the damper, which will actually be easier (and therefore potentially cost less) if you have just replaced the mounting hardware on both sides and it all actually moves when requested.

*Other opinions are available

I watched a vid on YouTube earlier and the mechanic on it recommended changing both on the same axle together.

How much do you actually make by just constantly linking to reposted videos on your site?

Thanks, helpful - I suppose I'm checking it'll be alright to not spend the money now (it's a long project, with small steps - I wanted to put a bigger exhaust on it this year, rather than the suspension).

Doing a minimum of both sides is close to the point where it's worth changing plans and putting the final dampers on now instead I think.