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

Just spunked a grand servicing teh family mobility devices.

Thems the brakes.

My stop/start hasn't worked since I got the car, turns out the previous owner had fitted the wrong type of battery... Correct battery installed, works great now...

Had no idea there was such a thing as a stop/start battery... It's a battery within a battery or something?

I looked at going down the ceramic coating route, you can get it done for sensible money now.

I decided i did want to do it to my genuine VW Motorsport manifold in the end.

I've not had any exhaust bits ceramic coated, just what motorbike forum have had done. Thought about ceramic coating to replace black chrome finish on bike exhausts, but was not sure the exhausts would survive shot blasting.

It’s just a much more durable/powerful battery as far as I understand it. Very different demand compared to just starting the engine just once each journey.

Halfords says a car battery has a certain number of starts

Still not had a BMW that has kept the water inside the engine. Waterpumps in particular seem to be made of chocolate. The whole system (radiators and all) seems to need doing around 80k.
98 Z3 3litre, 04 530i, 06 330CI, 11 535i.

The whole system (radiators and all) seems to need doing around 80k.

Looks at 77k on the e46 clock and starts sweating.

Ha...yeah you might just get away with the water pump. They probably run hotter here with traffic and AC all the time.

The 330ci needed coil packs about the same mileage if I recall? I only replaced the ones that went bad.

Seems odd for a radiator to fail on a modern car without some incident.

It's the plastic expansion tank that shits the bed first - I assume that has some negative effect on the rad if it's not fixed pronto.

Tbh I drive like a granny for most of the time, and it's only the 4cl diesel, so no coil packs. I do wonder if I'll need to do the glow plugs at some point.

I think it's even on the original battery! Either that or the original owner paid for a replacement BMW one.

Ah yeah - I know bugger all about diesels, you never see them here. Except the odd old hippy Merc running on sunflower oil.

That rogue Avon almost had the last laugh - I had three out of four wheels changed over to the winters, with the OSF left. Started to try to free the bolts off and they'd clearly been tightened up with Gods own rattle-gun to something like a billion Nm.

I genuinely thought I was stuck, but eventually I got them to crack. ~73kg of me and a 3' torque wrench succeeded using bouncing, of which I'm not proud, but needs must.

Anyway, done now and the car is on four Sotto-Zero, so I shall report back as to whether they improve the traction.

Using a torque wrench as a breaker bar? Brave.

It was that or have three winters and one summer tyre.

I have now purchased a breaker bar, it can live behind the stable door I've just bought as my horse escaped.

Yeah, my one of those was hopelessly outclassed.

Anyone else go round the car at least twice checking all the wheel bolts are torqued, or is that just me?

If by torqued you mean standing on the breaker bar then yes.

Glow plugs are replaced when the fail but they can be a bugger to get out of the head.

Did exactly this when I swapped the wheels the other day. The paranoia that tightening one bolt will reduce the tightness of a neighbouring bolt is strong.

Lol tork rensh go clik clik.

Wonder if it is degradation of the plastic...

Hope that is a joke.