What did you do to your other car(s) today?

[OcCoupe]

I washed the coupe then took her for a drive!

[John in VA]

Got a check engine light & concomitant stumble/misfire/hesitation in the 2002 325xi that I am prepping to sell. Code indicated misfire on 1/3/5 cyl bank, so switched out bad coils 1 & 5 and threw some new NGK plugs in. Running smooth again!

[a]

Defrosted the Fridge. What else do call a big white appliance?

[Mike W.]

Did some winter prep work on the Marauder yesterday, signs of prior owner neglect are strong. The passenger side rocker needs complete replacement, I was able to pick a hole through the rust.

Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Is it actually a full frame car, not a unibody? I did not know that. Not surprised it did ok in the snow, I drove a few very full size cars of a much earlier vintage and they always did well. Although having half the HP of yours probably helped too.

[Kyle in NO]

The Panther platform has been full frame since the 1970s.

[Mike W.]

The Panther platform has been full frame since the 1970s.

Shows what I know. I thought I remembered a Car and Driver article from long, long ago, talking about how they did away with body on frame in the '65 redesign. Guess not.

[SPF2006]

Changed the oil on the X3 while it was still in the low 40s outside, will be in 20s/30s later in the week onward so had to get it done. All good until the container with the used oil spilled rounding the final corner to the local Pep Boys to drop it off, making a nice mess. Cracked cap it turns out.

[Karl Grau]

Changed the oil on the X3 while it was still in the low 40s outside, will be in 20s/30s later in the week onward so had to get it done.

You're lucky. I want to have a fire in the fireplace but I can't.

[offroadkarter]

Did some winter prep work on the Marauder yesterday, signs of prior owner neglect are strong. The passenger side rocker needs complete replacement, I was able to pick a hole through the rust.

Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Is it actually a full frame car, not a unibody? I did not know that. Not surprised it did ok in the snow, I drove a few very full size cars of a much earlier vintage and they always did well. Although having half the HP of yours probably helped too.

The panther platform was actually a scaled down variant of the full size ford's from the 70's (some suspension parts from the 98 - 02 cars will fit cars back to the 60's. My friends brother is running 98 - 02 cop car springs on his 71 lincoln mark III). The panther platform was the last body on frame sedan (GM's B body ended in 96) and ran from model years 1979 to 2012.

This thing is pretty much built like a 1/2 ton 2wd pickup truck with a car body, hydro-formed frame rails up front with a fully boxed frame, aluminum front crossmember, forged upper control arms with aluminum lower control arms.

[a]

Help my truck won't start! Just goes klick! Trouble shot the wrassenfrassen Rat in bone chilling 30F temps. This was complicated by a serviceable bodge I made to the + cable. Suspecting a loose connection , I had to unwrap my Gorilla taped insulation. No joy. Jumping the relay on the fender. No joy. Repeated soft pats with the end of a 1x3 applied to the Chinese clone starter, still no joy. Possibly a loose connection at the starter? Frozen/ ice? Gave up and plugged the inflater into the Fridge to blow up a tire to make the Borman6 a roller. While it inflated, I harvested the fuel pump. 30 yrs old and 350Kmiles , idiots delight, but I'm curious to see if it will work.

Part2 Far as I can tell,the trouble is loose connection at the starter. The plastic jacket of the cable is stiff as a board. I am gonna attempt to use an E 28 positive cable as a replacement. I also bought some external toothed washers for the 2 wires. 44 cents worth. With the starter on the radiator and everything hanging, the circuit passed an end to end circuit test. Startah works pissah with no load. 'Course that isn't a real test. Lying on a strip of commercial carpet, wearing 2 prs of wool sox, I'm comfy and the mosquitos flew south for the winter. I don't mind the cold so much. Once again , it the humidity, the easterly and NE wind off the watta ,raw to the bone. I can put the starter in and try it in a few minutes in daylight. Mean time, cables are bundled in some loom and along with the starter are on a warm air outlet. Hmmn, I can go get the wrenches and bring them inside to warm up too. I used E 28 axle bolts to mount the starter. The top one was about 8mm long so I cut it off and dressed the end until a 10mm nut worked smoothly. The socket heads add a touch of class. The Rat needs all the class it can get. I'm thinking of doing some badge engineering. Sticking the 528e on the tail gate. Get rid of the fogged head lights and graft in the 5 1/4 quads with H4s. Cable tie the kidneys and grill and slap a rondel on the hood.

Turns out there was a leak in the armature of the 38$ clone. Something got hot and some smoke leaked out. Death was instantaneous. No grind,or growl, just nothing. That isn't a starter failure mode familiar to me. The starters are virtually identical. Being hand assembled, they are idiot proofed. By the time I had taken apart 2 of them and assembled another, I was trained. Ford starter worked, but the starter drive and bushings were shot. I used its armature and solenoid to fix the clone. Franken-starter works pissa and I re-spotted the dead 528e s to neaten the yard up for company.

[SPF2006]

Battery on the X3 was dead as a doornail so I had to replace it. Had I checked earlier in the year I would have realized this was a 2010 battery and was way overdue...but I didn't. Doing this curbside in 25-degree weather and snow is almost as much as fun as trying to get the hatch open with zero power.

[bkbimmer]

I finished parting out my e12 build, feels great to move on.

[tig]

I finished parting out my e12 build, feels great to move on.

What happened to the chassis?

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

Not today but sometime last week the e34 covered the equivalent distance from the earth to the moon at apogee. It took it 28 years to do it. Not a bad effort for the old girl.

[bkbimmer]

I finished parting out my e12 build, feels great to move on.

What happened to the chassis?

It's being reincarnated.

[1st 5er]

I finished parting out my e12 build, feels great to move on.

What happened to the chassis?

It's being reincarnated.

OH YEAH!!!

[tig]

I finished parting out my e12 build, feels great to move on.

What happened to the chassis?

It's being reincarnated.

What, as an E21?

[davintosh]

I finished parting out my e12 build, feels great to move on.

What happened to the chassis?

It's being reincarnated.

What, as an E21?

Or a Kia?

[bkbimmer]

As a memory.

[jca]

Had a new Walker muffler and mid pipe installed on my 98 318ti. Seems louder than the old one, but not an unpleasant sound.

[a]

Drove the SE with its new snow tires on. The effen TPMS light is on. I'm gonna check tire pressure tomorrow AM. Talk about 3rd Millennium, First World Problems

[foamy]

pulled the oil pan off the saab and cleaned the sludge out from around the oil pickup tube. ordered the pcv update witch is supposed to fix the sludge issue.

[davintosh]

Drove the F150 out to work so I could crawl under it in something a little more pleasant than -17° South Dakota air to bleed the clutch again. I've figured out that the truck is not a fan of cold weather.

[davintosh]

I had to rescue the #3 son on Monday night; he was driving the e34 home, and it overheated. Flat-towed him home, and the car sat until tonight when I had some time to check things over.

Milkshake.

Crap.

As if I have time to do a head gasket on the thing.

Anybody wanna rescue a nice bronzit/beige e34 535i/A?

[Mike W.]

I had to rescue the #3 son on Monday night; he was driving the e34 home, and it overheated. Flat-towed him home, and the car sat until tonight when I had some time to check things over.

Milkshake.

Crap.

As if I have time to do a head gasket on the thing.

Anybody wanna rescue a nice bronzit/beige e34 535i/A?

Ah yes, all part of being a dad as I'm sure you well know. I remember when my son was driving the Bav for a while, way back when. Ran it low on coolant, no milkshake but goo on the oil filler cap so it was need to do, but not right now. I was actually kind of relieved when it was rear ended while parked a few weeks later and totaled.

[SPF2006]

Man that is too bad. Hopefully the head is salvageable.

I had to rescue the #3 son on Monday night; he was driving the e34 home, and it overheated. Flat-towed him home, and the car sat until tonight when I had some time to check things over.

Milkshake.

Crap.

As if I have time to do a head gasket on the thing.

Anybody wanna rescue a nice bronzit/beige e34 535i/A?

[1st 5er]

I had to rescue the #3 son on Monday night; he was driving the e34 home, and it overheated. Flat-towed him home, and the car sat until tonight when I had some time to check things over.

Milkshake.

Crap.

As if I have time to do a head gasket on the thing.

Anybody wanna rescue a nice bronzit/beige e34 535i/A?

... or a white one?

[SPF2006]

Replaced the windshield upper molding strip on the X3, which had nearly completely disintegrated. Bit of a pain to do. Hope the adhesive holds up when the temperature drops tonight.

Next on list (when the temps rise):
- Front brakes
- Engine mounts
- Re-adhere leaky vapor barriers
- Install tow hitch and wiring harness
- Probably some other broken stuff

[davintosh]

We had a bad car day at our house today.

First, the F150 has been out of action for a few days after stranding me earlier in the week, and I haven't got around to figuring out what its problem is.

So I took the e34 to my early meeting this morning. On the way home, it's humming along nice as you please, then suddenly the tach goes to zero, and I coast to a stop. What the heck?

Crank and crank and crank, and nothing. Called my son for rescue, then after I hung up I tried the starter again and it started. Smooth as ever. Drove a block and it quit again. Couple more tries and it started; cool. Said a prayer and continued on, getting a mile closer to home before it quit again. After several more tries it started, but quit one more time before I got it home.

Once in the driveway I left it running, popped the hood and trunk, and while I'm listening to the fuel pump, the engine quits. No stumble, just like somebody turned the key off. I messed with it the rest of the morning and got nowhere. Crap.

So, since I can't have two vehicles down, and since I'm not getting anywhere with the e34, I decide to tear into the pickup to figure out what the problem is. After checking several things I discover that the distributor rotor isn't turning as it should; instead of a smooth rotation, it's jerking around like its got the hiccups. What the heck? I reached down and find that I can turn the rotor with my hand, and can hear the camshaft turning in the engine. Uh-oh. After some Googling I found this video explaining what the issue is; the teeth on the plastic timing gear(!?!?!?) on the end of the camshaft disintegrated. Just. Great. Time to cut my losses on this one. Bye, truck.

Who the heck comes up with this crap? A plastic gear on something as critical as the camshaft?

Looking back through this thread, it's obvious my "other cars" are far too interesting, and featured far too often here. I obviously need to be a bit more choosy when car shopping.

[jca]

Did some light sanding and clearcoat touch up on my silver 84 325e E30. The paint is shot on the car, but the new clear coat helps the appearance quite a bit.