OT: Advice needed on how to get rid of a BMW

[mike92104]

[quote=jimmyle]Why the diesel version of any car costs so much more than the gasoline. The diesel premium is even more than the hybrid premium. You can understand the hybrid premium with the massive battery and additional electric motor.

2014 Volkswagen Passat Sedan–MSRP from $20,845
2014 Volkswagen Passat Diesel–MSRP from $26,295

I wonder if the out of the door differnce is much smaller than the MSRPs suggest.

[quote=AN][quote=evolusd]On the topic of cars, what do you guys think of the trend of more diesels in USA? Seems like you get the gas mileage benefit of a hybrid, but don’t sacrifice the driving pleasure as they tend to have tons of low end torque.

Audi A3 TDI sedan looks pretty cool.[/quote]I’m loving the fact that there are more diesels in the US now. Although, all of them have been gearing toward MPG instead of performance. I’d love to see one that gear more toward performance.[/quote][/quote]

Diesel engines have to be made much more robustly to handle the nearly double compression ratio. Also, most are going to Common Rail Injection which use a Bosch fuel pump that runs over $2000 (capable of producing something like 20,000 lbs of pressure), and they all need a turbo which adds another $2000 or more.

Then you have to deal with the EPA . . . . .

[paramount]

@flu/other mechanics: I’m getting a P0597 Thermostat/Heater Control circuit is open.

Also a P1777 Ignition Retard Request Circuit Fault

Mean anything to you? I really appreciate your help/advice.

Looks like the tstat is shot – that’s 200 bucks, but I can’t even see where it is.

[img_assist|nid=17673|title=BMW Engine|desc=BMW Engine|link=node|align=left|width=466|height=600]

[img_assist|nid=17674|title=328i Under Carriage|desc=BMW Under Carriage|link=node|align=left|width=466|height=600]

Part of the problem is I can’t even get my floor jack underneath the car.

Not to mention those dang covers.

Last week I replaced an EGR system on a 4.6 litre Ford – no problem.

As a comparison, my BMW doesn’t seem owner serviceable at all.

Damn…this is going to hurt, I can feel it already.

[Coronita]

*P0597 usually means your thermostat is shot. When the BMW thermostat fails, most of the time fails open so you won’t see an overheating issue. It becomes more an emissions issue on a cold start.

*You can try ramps instead of a floor jack. .And if car still too low… Do what this guy does.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1707827-Too-low-for-Rhino-Ramps
Otherwise you need a low profile jack if your car is that low..Get some jack pads otherwise you end up scaping the bottom pretty bad. I didn’t before… Oops…

*As far as changing a theromstat is concerned if a panda and do it, you can too 🙂

E90 325 (roughly the same assuming assuming you have a sedan)

Also
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/BMW-3-Series-E90/WATER-Thermostat_Replacement/WATER-Thermostat_Replacement.htm

Also, if you plan on keeping the car, invest in a nice bentley manual…

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bmw%20service%20manual%20e90

Yes, yes, it’s about $100 for the manual….Same price as for Audi or Mercedes, just eat the cost if you plan on keeping the car and servicing yourself…

..Or you could try to go with the lesser Haynes which isn’t as good, but will probably get you through the most common repairs.

Personally, I think haynes suck and you’re better off getting info from other people that’s done it on bimmerfest or youtube, etc. But your mileage may vary.. You can find haynes manuals also at Oreilly Auto or Autozone.. You won’t find Bentley manuals there…

Join Bimmerfest.com btw….Plenty of info on your car, and most likely most people already hit your problem and fixed your problem for you..

As far as tools are concerned, you’ll need to invest in a cheap set of metric sockets from Harbor Freight. Also you probably will need some torx sockets later, and then if you are REALLY unlucky, something called tripple squares… But don’t worry… When I work on anything german myself, I like think from the perspective of for the cost of getting someone else to do it, I’m building up my tool collection instead :)… Hey, my mercedes c320 is due for it’s 60k service…I bought my parts all online over the weekend. $200 total…Including the special $20 angled spark plug socket puller I’ll need to take out all 12 spark plugs wedged in…Lol….

You need some specialty tool for a german car, you can ping me first, since I might have it….

[paramount]

[quote=flu]

You need some specialty tool for a german car, you can ping me first, since I might have it….[/quote]

Thanks flu: ever seen that P1777 code – seems related to the transmission. BTW, even though I replaced the battery I never had it “programmed”.

[Coronita]

[quote=paramount][quote=flu]

You need some specialty tool for a german car, you can ping me first, since I might have it….[/quote]

Thanks flu: ever seen that P1777 code – seems related to the transmission. BTW, even though I replaced the battery I never had it “programmed”.[/quote]

No.. Do you have a stick or automatic?

What you can try to do is if you have a ecu/obd tool, you can just try to reset the fault code and see if it comes back.

My 2000 A4 had a flaky ECU and I had to reset the fault code every so often. Problem went away once I bought an ECU that was chipped by GIAC …

The other mind set is if something breaks, it makes a perfect excuse for performance upgrades…. You might be limited in what you can do with a 328, but there are options out there suspension, brakes, etc…

Also, join bimmerfest and other blogs… And do some search first there. If you can’t find it, post a question in the tech section. Usually someone went through what you go through, and if not chances are there is at least a seasoned tech on those blogs that responds to questions….

Lastly, word of advice about all those plastic cover panels…If they bother you, just leave them off. Most of them are purely cosmetic..The exception is the underbelly cover that protects your belts from road crap…They end up breaking (or at least the fasteners end up breaking) because they are mostly plastic pieces.

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