The Dude’s Bimmer: 2018

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Getting Help

Well I couldn’t seem to get the issue with the wipers/windows/seats figured out so I found an expert BMW mechanic to figure it out.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Fusible Link

I was counting the minutes until a new fusible link arrived in the mail. From what I read in forums I was sure that was the answer to fixing my wipers, power windows, and power seats. Apparently not.

So when I went to get the a/c charged I thought I was going for R-12. The up side of this story is the bimmer had already been converted to R-134a. However the slim shady shop I went to was trying to get more $ out of me by saying I needed a repair which is very rare and order parts at prices way higher than I could get them myself. That was the down side of today’s field trip.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

On a Positive Note

On a positive note, the Bimmer passed the emissions test today!

Rear Fuses & Relays

I finally got the rear seat off and changed out the fuses and cleaned relays I didn’t change. Unfortunately that didn’t fix the power windows / locks / wipers / power seat issues. Seems it may be a 0.33 cent part that’s gonna cost me $8 shipping. I think I will replace the rear bench 😀

Friday, August 3, 2018

Oil Change

Last evening as I was thinking about today being oil change day, the low oil warning came on in the Bimmer. I got the oil changed and I replaced the air filter. The oil filter on this engine is in a horrible location - glad I don’t have huge gorilla hands! Oh, and though I have yet to get the wipers working I do have new wiper blades.

New Tires

Well I was hoping I could get away with just 2 new tires this month but I had to have all 4 replaced.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Trunk

Like the rest of the car, the trunk, meaning the trunk pad, was pretty roach. I went by LQK You Pull Your Parts today after work. There was a BMW e34 5 series there that still had the trunk pad and it looked almost new. Along with some relays from the rear distribution box ( all the seats had been pulled) I grabbed it. Unfortunately I still can’t seem to get the rear seat in my 525i out.

OEM Air Filter

Thought it was kinda cool that Napa had a German OEM Air Filter

Sunday, July 29, 2018

First Things First

So I tried the “clean the relays” thing as well as replacing a bunch of fuses up to#29 (I can’t figure out where the rest of the fuses are). I’ll have to find a owners manual/shop book. This did succeed in the a/c blowing like a nor’easter though it needs charging. Cleaning as you can see from the pictures is going to make a big difference in appearance.

Known Issues

The issues I knew about when agreeing to buy this Bimmer were the power windows, power seats, windshield wipers, and a/c all not operating. And of course it was extremely dirty, luckily it was worse in pictures than in person and hopefully can give it a good scrubbing and it will look much better. I don’t remember which BMW related forum it was, but one owner seemed to have at least a couple of the same problems. He said on the model I have the relays could get dirty. Until replacements arrived, he found that cleaning the receptacles worked to resolve his issues. I’m gonna try that along with replacing all related fuses. Hopefully it’ll work for me.