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#1. On rear subframes.. and Mike Miller - from Don Eilenberger
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:16:08 -0400 From: Don Eilenberger <deilenberger@verizon.net> Subject: On rear subframes.. and Mike Miller Happened to wander into the Z3 section of a forum last night (it covers M-Coupes) Two threads (same topic, same car..) are rather frightening for anyone considering an M-Coupe (I'd sorta like another one..) http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=401478 and the resolution here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414054 (Which shows it is a good thing to be friendly to your BMW service department..) In this case - it wasn't a rear subframe, but the entire trunk-pan ripping out of the car. It's bad enough that there are some rather complex kits being made to "fix" the problem. I can't recall Mike Miller saying anything about these failures - but from reading the thread, it sounds like these are not uncommon... maybe he was just out of class that day. In the original thread (now killed apparently since legal action was being contemplated) - there was mention of JMK (one of the best NJ dealers according to a number of people who use them..) having done similar repairs to a E36/M3 just the week before. Scary stuff.. Don Eilenberger, AKA SquidBOOF, Spring Lk Hts, NJ JMP#1 FOT2.A deilenberger@verizon.net NJ Shore BMW Riders web page: http://www.njsbmwr.org/ Moderator - BMW E39 Enthusiasts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bmwe39 "One should do the stuff that makes you smile" - Ulf Bertilsson Hence: 1998 M3 convertible, 2003 5-touring, 1987 K75S
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#2. Crankshaft Rear Main Seal - from Neil Maller
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 10:21:27 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Crankshaft Rear Main Seal I'm gearing up to do a clutch/flywheel job, and on my list of "while you're In there" stuff to do is replacing the rear main seal. It's not leaking as far as I know, but it'd be a killer to have to go back in later. Anyone BTDT, have any useful advice regarding the seal installation? (I'm pretty much covered on everything else. At least in theory...) Neil Fort Wayne, IN 96 M3 - Bastard child 03 525iT - Sterling Grey Metallic 77 MGB - Original owner, need to sell 05 Mini - Cooper S with LSD!
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#3. Re: [E36M3] On rear subframes.. and Mike Miller - from Chester Wong
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 08:41:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] On rear subframes.. and Mike Miller I can understand all the engineers trying to optimize sheet thickness so as not to have an extremely car or optimizing wire gauge for all of the different wire looms to get the weight down, but sometimes they go too far. I'd rather have the car a bit heavier if they used thick metal in the areas where things like suspension and drivetrain pieces are attached to. It just makes sense. The rear trailing arm mount points starting to tear out of my car is just ridiculous! Chester --- Don Eilenberger <deilenberger@verizon.net> wrote: > Happened to wander into the Z3 section of a forum last night > (it covers M-Coupes) > > Two threads (same topic, same car..) are rather frightening > for anyone considering an M-Coupe (I'd sorta like another one..) > > http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=401478 > > and the resolution here: > > http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414054 > > (Which shows it is a good thing to be friendly to your BMW > service department..) > > In this case - it wasn't a rear subframe, but the entire > trunk-pan ripping out of the car. It's bad enough that > there are some rather complex kits being made to "fix" > the problem. > > I can't recall Mike Miller saying anything about these > failures - but from reading the thread, it sounds like > these are not uncommon... maybe he was just out of class > that day. > > In the original thread (now killed apparently since legal > action was being contemplated) - there was mention of JMK > (one of the best NJ dealers according to a number of people > who use them..) having done similar repairs to a E36/M3 > just the week before.
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#4. Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal - from Jamie Howton
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:02:56 -0500 From: Jamie Howton <jhowton@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal I replaced the Rear main seal on my 95 when I was in there doing the Lwt flywheel and clutch. There's not much to it really, just use a seal puller to lever the old one out, I think I used a large socket as a drift to pound the new one in. You probably want to think about a new pilot bearing WYAIT and of course all of the new clutch parts. Maybe a new clutch slave and hose. I also replaced all of the seals in the transmission which ended up causing me all kinds of problems but only because I was too cheap to buy the $90 tool to install the input shaft seal (the first three times that is). I then spent the $90 and the seal went in without issue the fourth time I pulled the transmission out. You might also want to do the fix to prevent the tranny from resting in fifth gear when cold that has been talked about here and was written up in Roundel. The fix can only be done with the tranny out, so you might as well do it then too. It's also a good time to refresh shifter bushings and/or install a SSK if you haven't already. Regards -- Jamie Howton 2000 M5 1995 M3 Hampshire, IL
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#5. Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal - from Neil Maller
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 11:19:56 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal on 9/16/05 11:02 AM, Jamie Howton at jhowton@gmail.com wrote: > I replaced the Rear main seal on my 95 when I was in there doing the > Lwt flywheel and clutch. There's not much to it really, just use a > seal puller to lever the old one out, I think I used a large socket as > a drift to pound the new one in. Good - it looks straightforward, but you know how that goes... > You probably want to think about a new pilot bearing WYAIT and of > course all of the new clutch parts. Maybe a new clutch slave and > hose. All on the list (and in the parts box). > I also replaced all of the seals in the transmission which ended up > causing me all kinds of problems but only because I was too cheap to > buy the $90 tool to install the input shaft seal (the first three > times that is). I then spent the $90 and the seal went in without > issue the fourth time I pulled the transmission out. Think I'm going to leave the transmission alone, since these don't seem to be common failure items. > You might also want to do the fix to prevent the tranny from resting in fifth > gear when cold that has been talked about here and was written up in Roundel. > The fix can only be done with the tranny out, so you might as well do it then > too. I've thought about this too, but with almost 90K miles on it my shift action has always been fine, so considering that this fault, while known, isn't widespread, I'm probably going to leave it alone too. > It's also a good time to refresh shifter bushings Also on the list. BTW, Pelican Parts has a package kit with all these pieces and parts, see: <http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/catalog/shopcart/BE36/POR_BE36_Tshift_pg1.h tm#item0> and <http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/images/BMW_pedals/SKSBE36.jpg> > and/or install a SSK if you haven't already. Had that since Shifter Fest days. Thanks for the info Jaimie. Neil Fort Wayne, IN 96 M3 - Bastard child 03 525iT - Sterling Grey Metallic 77 MGB - Original owner, need to sell 05 Mini - Cooper S with LSD!
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#6. Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal - from Chester Wong
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 09:33:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal My car with 112k miles has a leaky gearbox. I guess you've been under the car recently so you'd know if the back of the tranny was wet. Chester --- Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> wrote: > Think I'm going to leave the transmission alone, since these don't seem to > be common failure items.
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#7. Re: [E36M3] On rear subframes.. and Mike Miller - from Don Eilenberger
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 12:20:23 -0400 From: Don Eilenberger <deilenberger@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] On rear subframes.. and Mike Miller The photos of the damage, which unfortunately were in the original now deleted thread were frightening. The entire differential mount was ripped free of the car and the trailing arm mount points were dangling on sheet-metal not really attached to much. There was talk of NHTSA, and a class-action suit (which I imagine BMW would REALLY like to avoid, bad publicity and might be very expensive.) The car that had the damage was a 1.9L Z3 roadster - pretty much stock from what the guy said except perhaps aftermarket rims/tires. He does live in NJ which may be a contributing factor (in NJ we GROW the potholes NYC uses for speed control on their streets, and most highways now have an interesting collection of potholes and speed-bumps made from normal highway expansion joints. Some of these are enough to knock me 3-4" in the air on my 2-wheeled BMW..) It does seem like the engineers really went more than a bit too far, and apparently QC was a problem since other threads on this mention missing welds on the trunk pan (I thought that was all done by robots now..) It does make me think about looking under the M3 (although the convertible seems to use somewhat more robust stuff back there than the non-'verts - the top shock mount point is 3 layers of steel thick.) At 11:41 AM 9/16/2005, Chester wrote: >I can understand all the engineers trying to optimize sheet thickness so >as not >to have an extremely car or optimizing wire gauge for all of the different >wire >looms to get the weight down, but sometimes they go too far. I'd rather have >the car a bit heavier if they used thick metal in the areas where things like >suspension and drivetrain pieces are attached to. It just makes sense. The >rear trailing arm mount points starting to tear out of my car is just >ridiculous! > >Chester
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#8. RE: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal - from Matthew Teel
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 08:45:05 -0800 From: "Matthew Teel" <mteel@beluga.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal Neil, I too am going to have to do the same as I am having the fifth gear problem to the point driving me insane, and my clutch is probably coming due soon anyway. Are you planning on going stock with your clutch, or are you planning a heavier duty version? There are a lot of clutch/flywheel options and I have no clue which is best. I had thought about the rear seal, but wasn't sure I wanted to fix something that wasn't broken. I definitely need to do an SSK as my linkage is completely sloppy, and I have something going on with my clutch slave cylinder that causes the clutch to begin to engage early every once in while. Final engagement point is normal, which is really strange. Hmmmm... Hadn't thought about the tranny seals. One more thing to consider. Matthew 98 M3/4 (120k) > -----Original Message----- > From: Neil Maller [mailto:neil.maller@gte.net] > Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 6:25 AM > To: E36M3 > Subject: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal > > > Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 10:21:27 -0500 > From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> > Subject: Crankshaft Rear Main Seal > > I'm gearing up to do a clutch/flywheel job, and on my list of > "while you're In there" stuff to do is replacing the rear > main seal. It's not leaking as far as I know, but it'd be a > killer to have to go back in later. > > Anyone BTDT, have any useful advice regarding the seal installation? > > (I'm pretty much covered on everything else. At least in theory...) > > Neil > Fort Wayne, IN > 96 M3 - Bastard child > 03 525iT - Sterling Grey Metallic > 77 MGB - Original owner, need to sell > 05 Mini - Cooper S with LSD! > > > > > > ************************************************* > Please help support the E36M3 list by visiting our sponsors: > > Bimmerworld http://www.bimmerworld.com > Turner Motorsport http://www.turnermotorsport.com > Eurosport High Performance http://www.eurosporthighperformance.com > Rogue Engineering http://www.rogueengineering.com > Treehouse Racing http://www.treehouseracing.com > Elephant Motorsports Inc. http://www.elephantmotorsports.com > > DIGEST INFORMATION: http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm > ************************************************* > > > > >
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#9. Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal - from Murray Roblin
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 09:48:28 -0700 From: Murray Roblin <mdrlist@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Crankshaft Rear Main Seal Neil, When I did my clutch last year, I did all the tranny seals and the rear main. As Jamie mentions, the tranny input shaft seal can be a pain, but in my case it worked out OK. My surprise was that when it all went together, my new rear main was leaking (and of course, the old seal hadn't been - I just replaced it "while I was in there." I investigated and found a (very) few references to others who had similar problems with the rear main - someone suggested that the ID might be a bit too big for the shaft. My leak seems to have gone away, so perhaps the seal finally softened (?). I'm not trying to dissuade you from doing the seals, but wanted you to be aware of my experience. You might choose to measure the new rear seal prior to installation. Murray -- Murray Roblin Palo Alto
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#10. Was ABS Light on, now Peake tool - from M540
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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:03:41 -0400 From: "M540" <m540@bellsouth.net> Subject: Was ABS Light on, now Peake tool I'm still trying to track down the cause of my ABS light and planned to get my error codes read. Both my local dealer and favorite independent want to charge a full hour ($90 and $80) just to read the codes on my '95 M3 (OBD-I). I tried the gas pedal trick and only seem to get one code (1226) repeatedly. Am I doing something wrong? All of this is leading me towards buying a Peake tool. Do any of you know if this thing reliably read all codes from this car or are there hidden ones that I'll still need to pay the dealer to dig out? Thank you again, Kevin