2002 BMW E46 M3

[SweaterVest]

Lol your car seems like it looking at something interesting off camera to the left


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[kevin286]

Lol your car seems like it looking at something interesting off camera to the left

Ha!

Well I fixed it. Kinda had to rip into it a bit more than I expected to get this done. I blame the headlight squirters. I think cars without allow the lower trim piece below the headlight to come out easier. Whatever, it's done, looks fine.



Just glad to get this 'needs fixing' item off my to-do list.

[kevin286]

Trouble shifting into 1st. Seemed like it was more when cold (cold here is relative). I thought internal leak on the slave or master so replaced those, cheap and easy enough so. When replacing the slave cylinder though I felt the shift fork and it was all wobbly around the place and could pivot er... rotate clockwise or counterclockwise way more than I thought should be. Googling said common for the pivot pin to fail. Ordered up new brass/bronze? pivot pin for more burliness and then towed it over to a shop. Sorry, no dropping transmission on my chest here.
Sure enough, that was the problem. Shop said didn't look like there was any grease applied to either pivot or TO bearing. humph.


New parts in, and she's good to go. Clutch feel is way different. It's smoother and easier.
Small update,

[benno3231]

Very nice! I bet the difference is night and day

[kevin286]

I'm glad I documented this stuff and bigskyeuro is still around. I still am referring back to what I did. Helped me out when I've had to redo my window regulators several times now, how to remove the bumper, door locks, how I cleaned the air filter. Geeze, I can't remember shite.

[kevin286]

Since nothing worth poo without pics, todays project was troubleshooting a no crank no start issue that's been haunting me on this.

Wify would say, car don't start, I'd go out and check it later, vaaroom.
So yeah. after a bit though we got it stuck in the no start mode, and with her behind the wheel trying to start, there wasn't even the click click of a solenoid. (which, is what I thought it was going to be)
Told her to fiddle with the pedal, see if maybe clutch switch.
vaaaroom. She said it started when she lifted off the pedal.
hmmm
you tracking on this? so it starts with the clutch up but not when it's depressed.
that's some kind of wtf to me.
fast forward another week or so, same deal, no start.
Other issues with my swedish car so sits for a while.
yesterday I start poking at it again, looking for the clutch switch. Im all like.. the heck, no clutch switch, but hm, clearly something is switching.
internetting commences.
Germans... well of course.
So i'm partly right.
this car should have 2 clutch switches, it's only got 1 though. why. idk. my spidy senses think perhaps this was an SMG car at one point that had a manual conversion? you can code the second switch out so..
in anycase, no i know i'm looking for a non-clutch-switch-looking-thingamabobber
find it, and a janky looking jumper

Its not crimped in, not nothing. just kinda poked into the top of a connector. jesus holding it in place?
so yeah, this is the one clutch switch i do have

that's a funny looking switch you might say, and you'd be right.
it's all magnetic. and as anyone that knows anything knows, magnets are magic
it goes alongside the master cylinder.
shown with my new fancy soldered on jumper.

wheres my 'i dont always solder, but when i do i like to do it contorted under the dash' meme?
so yeah. starts with the clutch down now.

oh, side project
all this garbage wiring in my face blocking my view of the pedals. Some radar detector thing that I'm sure was cool as sh** back in 2002 but that doesnt work with our modern tech and now is more of a supermarket automatic door detector which is far less cool.
sensors in the front bumper, sensors in the rear bumper, nobs and such in the knee bolster, and LEDs up by the radio. I mean i'm sure that was a pricy install but... you sir need to go.


oh, side project #2
got to get this stupid wire thats run out the firewall and under the trim and.. now i have to remove my airbox cover. oh shoot... yeah, it has been a minute #desertlife ? legit, the sand out here gets everywhere. It's blows, mini dunes on all my window sills. piles of sand in the hamper. gritty coffee. hmm. you grow fond of it.



mkay... a good hot bath and some new oil and she's prettier than a 20 dollar who...

[Mikewire]

Great update!

Glad to hear you are still doing things to an awesome car. It wouldn't be true BMW ownership without having to turn some wrenches once in a while, right

[kevin286]

Took the car in for hail damage. Their PDR guy fukd the a/b/c trim panels. The fabric was already coming off, but they destroyed all the mounting clips slots tabs. Been on the radar anyways to replace or recover. Decided to go the replace with OE route as they are still available (mostly) . So now no more faded fabric falling off. Looking sharp again. Of course the B pillar driver side is unavailable globally atm but they can tell that BMW has more on order so .... hey 83% isn't bad. While there, replaced the shift knob/boot combo. Scookum fancy leather, lighted, weighted, ... still $$$. All cars cost and this one has surprising little wrong with it so I thought it was worth to keep maintaining it tip top.

Before


After


Before


After

[Mikewire]

Looking good! Nice to have those parts (most of them!) available and it feels great to keep your ride fresh.

[kevin286]

For Valentines day put some electricity back into our relationship


New coilpacks and plugs. The plugs I pulled out were Bosch.. original? Maybe.



Also did the fuel filter and FPR. Have to admit this was an easy job and happy to be surprised about that.
Dunno what these look like new inside, but that's what it looks like old.