SilverJohn

Hi Tony Check on the Newtis site to see if the same part number is listed for both cars. Hope this helps John

Hi Alp Are you looking to buy privately or through a dealer? I bought privately last year and although I love the car, it wasn't problem free. Both rear tyres had cuts in them which necessitated immediate replacement, one of the front shock absorbers was leaking and both of these faults / problems were almost impossible to see with the car on the ground. I guess I spent about a grand post purchase in getting the car up to 100% and that's on a £10K car. Just as a niggle, the Sat-Nav had never been updated from new, 7 years previously but fortunately I was able to get this from www.satnavupgrades.co.uk without spending a fortune for official and expensive BMW updates. Had I bought through a dealer, I may have had some sort of guarantee which would have covered the tyres and shock absorber replacement but may have had to pay a higher price. Pays your money and takes your choice. Good luck with your search. John

Hi Stu After 60+ years on the planet, involvement in the DIY and Motor trade, I thought I had heard of most things but "Helicopter" tape was a new one on me. Gaffer tape, Duct tape, Masking tape, Insulating tape etc are all tapes that I've used over the years so now, having done a bit of on-line research, I'll know what Helicopter tape is used for. Curious to know it's origins though, presumably some function in the aeronautical industry. Cheers, John

Hi Tony Chopsticks can be useful for this too ! John

Hi Phil Glad to hear you got it sorted but I would strongly recommend you find a local BMW Specialist rather than a main dealer for future work. Their labour rates are usually far lower. Check out any reviews available. A basic search on Google comes up with the following:- Ray Phillips Cars BMW Specialist Cattedown Roundabout (E-bound, 4 Tothill Rd Open ⋅ Closes 4PM · 01752 224466 RL Motor Services 12 Galileo Cl Closed ⋅ Opens 8:30AM Mon · 01752 336666 Boringdon Manor Garage 7 Valley Rd Closed ⋅ Opens 8AM Mon · 01752 343737 Hope this helps, John

Hi Paul Should be pretty swift after the ECU work, will you need to notify your insurers as the car will be modified over and above standard specification? Perhaps would have preferred a soapless pic to show the full glory !! I'm guessing you're not the world famous hypnotist though. 🙂 Good Luck John

Hi Ben A guy I know quite well at Tyre City recommended a Tyre Distributor named Camskill when I was needing some tyres last year. Their prices were very competitive and what I ordered were delivered in just a few days. Tyre City then fitted and balanced them for me for a reasonable price. I won't tell you the guy's name or which depot he works at just in case a Tyre City Manager is a BMW fan as well !! Hope this helps. John

Hi Dylan Good series of pics, shame about the rain. I would agree with Greydog about the increase in muck down the side of the car though. I'm also not so sure about the claim that these "Greatly" improve the appearance and stability. Sounds like a bit of Sales talk to me !! Curious as to the cost also ? Each to their own. . . . . . . . Stay Safe John

Hi Sandra As Dave says, difficult to know without more information. A picture or series of pictures would be ideal. Am also curious as to why you want / need to know this. Happy to help. John

Hi Roland Welcome to the Club. I have no direct experience of tow bar fitting but £800 sounds a lot more reasonable than £2500. The company quoting £800, are they a specialist tow-bar company? Do they have a web-site with customer reviews? Have they confirmed the price in writing with an outline specification of what they will install? Have they got experience of fitting to BMW's? Do you know approximately the weight of the trailer / caravan and have the tow-bar company confirmed this is in-line with the specification of what they will fit? A lot of questions but ones that I feel you need to be comfortable with the answers before entrusting them with the job. As far as I know, there's nothing in the engine management software to worry about. Towing a trailer or caravan should be no different from filling the car with Rugby players. The tricky part as far as I know is integrating the lighting circuits so that when towing, certain lights such as the rear fog lights don't operate on the car, just on the trailer / caravan. Hope this helps John

Hi Martin Car looks well for it's age, you should have no problem moving it apart from CoronaVirus restrictions. No point in mentioning Tax as that's not transferable. This ended in 2014. Good luck

Hi Dave 337 reports including the key words "dash" and "rattle" on BabyBMW !! Haven't read them all (life's too short) but there's a fair mixture of solutions including thumping, squeezing, light pressing, hard pressing of various parts of most of the car forward from the steering wheel. One thing I've found is that if I drive with the roof down thanks to this fabulous weather we've been having, I can't hear the rattle/buzz because of the wind noise !! Stay Safe John

Hi Darren I agree with everything Dave says as regards it being a buyers market. To specifically answer your question, £4,041.30 is the difference between the total of the Payments (£20,036.30) and the Price (£15,995.00). i.e. That's the cost of borrowing the money. My daughter bought a Mercedes back in February on PCP and they did take her old car in PX. They matched the offer made by WeBuyAnyCar. I tried to persuade her as regards her choice of car but she wouldn't be swayed. Unfortunately, as it happens, she's had a number of problems with it and was close to demanding a replacement when Covid 19 locked us all down. It's only 2 years old, less than 10K miles and is an ex-demonstrator but in the first 6 weeks, spend 4 or 5 days back at the dealership. Hope this helps. John

Hi Gavin & Dave I've got a behind the RH dash rattle/buzz on my E93 but it only starts at around 70mph which makes it a tad difficult to find and I can't take it to the specialist dealer and insist he breaks the law to fix it. !! I'll just have to stay legal and quiet. Stay Safe John

Hi John I have a 2012 3 series which uses the same USB format for updates. I don't qualify for the free updates from BMW so since having the car (bought last year and still had original maps 😞 ) I have used http://www.satnavupgrades.co.uk/ . The guy there, Rusty is very knowledgeable and usually responds very quickly, even at the weekend. Try him for you wife's car, I'd be surprised if he can't help. OK, he's not free like the BMW supplied one you have for your car but his price is reasonable. I only paid £30 for the last one as he has a special offer running at the moment. I do agree that the one you and I have is very time consuming and very sensitive to the slightest deviation from the rules. e.g. when formatting the USB, you have to do a full format rather than a quick format. I've done 3 so far and it does get easier with practise. 🙂 Hope this helps. John

Well done Warren. dealer would have charged $50 for that.

Hi Tony Sorry to hear you're having problems. You say you fitted another EGR valve. Was that a new one or one you had kicking around, possibly not new? I had EGR problems with my 325D in October last year and ended up with a new one, genuine BMW part, and have had no problems since. It was fitted by a local BMW Specialist, not a main dealer. mileage at the time was around 70,000. Have only had the car for a year so don't know if this has been replaced previously. Hope this helps.

Well done Mick, time well spent. Since acquiring my first Beemer just over a year ago, I've got into the habit of wiping round the engine compartment everytime I wash the car which is usually every 2 - 3 weeks. That way, at a glance, I can see if there are any developing problems such as minor oil or other fluid leaks. It also makes life more pleasant for anyone working on the car. Keep up the good work. SilverJohn

At least it's still on the road, taxed and MOT'd only last month. If you happen to know anybody in the police, they may be able to do a check on the DVLA database for the registered owner. Unofficially of course ! Hope this helps. John

Can't go very far at the moment due to this nasty virus so on Friday, took off the Winter wheels and tyres and put back the original Summer ones which are so much nicer to look at. Gave the whole car a very thorough wash and polish using AutoGlym Rapid Aqua Wax. She's sparkling now ! Today pressure washed the winter set ready for them to go into storage in the pit in my garage for the next 7/8 months. Stay Safe everyone.

Possible twisted chassis? 330D has a lot of torque so if driven "enthusiastically" over the years, may have deformed slightly. You'd need a fairly expensive alignment jig to check this out. Hope this helps John

Perhaps check the Manual? The following mentions the X5 possibly having an additional heater. https://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/131620-remote-pre-conditioning-heating/ Alternatively go back to the dealer and ask for a more detailed explanation or even a demonstration. Hope this helps. John P.S. There is also quite a detailed discussion on this site in the X5 forum. It's on the 8th page and is titled Aux Heating Programming, dated Oct 2012.

Good Tip, thanks.

Have a look at my posts on the 3 series forum, winter wheels and tyres. Hope it helps. Silver John

70K, 3.0L Diesel, 35MPG over last 8 months.