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#1. Re: [E36M3] Steering wheel questions - from Peter Loron
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:34:36 -0700 From: "Peter Loron" <peterloron@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Steering wheel questions On 10/31/07, Russ Doucet <russ@russdoucet.com> wrote: > > Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:17:09 -0400 > From: "Russ Doucet" <russ@russdoucet.com> > Subject: Steering wheel questions > > My leather 3-spoke m sport airbag wheel has two issues. > > 1. Leather disintegrating on top. I think the PO gripped it from the top > all the time and wore it through. What's the best bet for fixing that > problem? Rest of wheel is fine -- thumbgrips, badging, colored stitching, > everthing. Just 3 inches on the top, disintegrating to where if your > hands > are wet it comes off on your fingers. > > 2. Squeaky noise from wheel. Is there a horn ring and contacts in there? > I had the wheel off, looks like I need to remove the airbag to get in > there > and I'm nervous about that. Any advice from the experienced? I think my > pump may be going but it also almost feels like something is binding > inside > the wheel based on the relationship of sounds to difficulty steering. > > Thanks all. > > -Russ. For Item #1, I think you're stuck getting a new wheel. For Item #2, the issue may be the lower shaft bearing outside for firewall in the engine compartment. It's a common failure point. They get loaded up with crap and dry out and start squeaking/hard to turn. The sound it makes seems to come from the top of the column, right under the steering wheel. The fix is to hose the bearing down with Tri-Flow, which can be done without removing anything. Go to Bimmerforums.com and search for steering wheel squeek. There's discussions in there with copious information. My car was squeaking, and this fixed it right up. It _may_ be that the noise is coming from elsewhere (top slip ring), but this is very easy to try and if it doesn't work you're only out 5 minutes. -Pete
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#2. Re: Stripped Bolt - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:38:25 -0400 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Stripped Bolt on 10/31/07 11:44 AM, "Ahmad Lutfeali" <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> wrote: > Yes the big ass 17mm hex head is rounded off. So I guess ez-out or drilling > it out would be the only option then? Kinda sucks but oh well. - Put a torch on the bolt to help unstick it. - Vise grips? - Grind a pair of flats on the bolt head, use a smaller wrench? - You can get bolt extractors that look something like a regular socket except with internal teeth instead of a hex recess. You tap them onto the rounded bolt head and the teeth bite into it. I've never had much luck with EZ-Outs. I seem to snap them off in the bolt and then there's that to deal with too. But maybe it's just me? Neil Fort Wayne, IN 96 M3 - Bastard child 03 525iT - Sterling Grey Metallic 05 Mini - Cooper S with LSD
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#3. RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt - from Andrew Kalman
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:37:29 -0700 From: Andrew Kalman <aek@pumpkininc.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt In general, once you remove a lot out of the center of a bolt, it'll come out pretty easily. So I would drill it out to a size to fit a large Ez-Out, and it'll probably spin right out at that point ... >Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:15:00 -0400 >From: "Ahmad Lutfeali" <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> >Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt > >Chester, > >Yes the big ass 17mm hex head is rounded off. So I guess ez-out or drilling >it out would be the only option then? Kinda sucks but oh well. > >Ahmad > >-----Original Message----- >From: Chester Wong [mailto:chester_p_wong@yahoo.com] >Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 11:11 AM >To: Ahmad Lutfeali; E36M3 >Subject: Re: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt > >Meaning you rounded off the big ass 17mm hex head?!?! Or did you strip the >threads? That sounds like a big job since I wouldn't trust anything but a >big ez-out or something like that and I would imagine you'd need to drop the >tranny to do that safety and accurately. > >Chester > >--- Ahmad Lutfeali <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> wrote: >> Since there is not such thing as a stupid question: >> >> The tranny oil fill bolt has been stripped previously. (Thank God I >> didn't drain it out first). What option/method do I have to get the >> stripped bolt off? > > > > > > >************************************************* >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 >************************************************* -- ______________________________________ Andrew E. Kalman, Ph.D. aek@pumpkininc.com
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#4. Re: [E36M3] Steering wheel questions - from Ed MacVaugh
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:56:24 -0400 From: Ed MacVaugh <macvaugh@comcast.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Steering wheel questions The damage at the top is from repeated sun exposure, not from gripping at the top. There is no repair, but there are recovering services that are marginally cheaeer than a new wheel at retail. The squeak generally comes from the column bottom and is telegraphed to the top. Ed Russ Doucet wrote: > Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:17:09 -0400 > From: "Russ Doucet" <russ@russdoucet.com> > Subject: Steering wheel questions > > My leather 3-spoke m sport airbag wheel has two issues. > > 1. Leather disintegrating on top. I think the PO gripped it from the top > all the time and wore it through. What's the best bet for fixing that > problem? Rest of wheel is fine -- thumbgrips, badging, colored stitching, > everthing. Just 3 inches on the top, disintegrating to where if your hands > are wet it comes off on your fingers.
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#5. RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt - from Lawrence Barbieri
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:59:22 -0400 From: "Lawrence Barbieri" <larry@logicalconclusions.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Seems to me you don't want to jump the gun here. Drilling is usually a last resort. If the head is rounded there are tools to handle that kind of thing. Sears sells some Damaged Nut and bolt removers that seem like they should be tried before you start considering the drill. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00952166000P?vName=Tools&keyword=damaged+bolt Also, you might be able to use a Dremel to grind some new flats on the head of the bolt that might take, say a 16mm wrench. I would think that if you can get a wrench on there that fits snuggly a couple of raps with a hammer (poor man's impact gun) might loosen it up for you. The small pipe wrench is also a good idea if you can get the teeth to bite well enough. Good luck! - Larry
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#6. RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt - from Ron Kirkland
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:02:37 -0700 From: "Ron Kirkland" <rlkirkland@gmail.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt The link didn't work correctly...make sure you paste the whole link into the address bar and it will work. I will give it another shot here. Ron http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/jhtml/detail.jhtml?prodId=IrwinProd10051 2 -----Original Message----- From: Ron Kirkland [mailto:rlkirkland@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 9:34 AM To: E36M3 Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:31:37 -0700 From: "Ron Kirkland" <rlkirkland@gmail.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt How about this? http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/jhtml/browse.jhtml;jsessionid=FP3AXVUAQU KEOCQHUB2CF3QKA4QGIJCK?catId=IrwinCat100511 -----Original Message----- From: Ahmad Lutfeali [mailto:m3_racer99@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 8:04 AM To: E36M3 Subject: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:55:28 -0400 From: "Ahmad Lutfeali" <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> Subject: Stripped Bolt Since there is not such thing as a stupid question: The tranny oil fill bolt has been stripped previously. (Thank God I didn't drain it out first). What option/method do I have to get the stripped bolt off? Thanks in advance. Ahmad ************************************************* 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 ************************************************* ************************************************* 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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#7. Squeaky Steering Wheel - from Matthew Finlay
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:12:20 -0500 From: "Matthew Finlay" <matthew.finlay@gmail.com> Subject: Squeaky Steering Wheel > > 2. Squeaky noise from wheel. Bimmerforums had some good writeups on solving steering wheel squeak. There are several points along the steering shaft that can squeak, and they all just need a liberal soaking with some sort of oil (I used a penetrating oil first, then a can of motorcycle chain lube). The trick is that the squeak sounds as if it is coming directly from the steering wheel, but it probably isn't. It's probably coming from under the hood, but gets transferred straight up the shaft into your hands and into the cabin. Let me see if I can find the thread: *http://tinyurl.com/36g88w*<http://tinyurl.com/36g88w> *. *Hope that helps a little. My squeak was from the universal joint on the shaft there. There's several folks who took it into the dealer, to take the steering wheel apart to replace the slip ring, only to have it start squeaking again within a couple hours of leaving the dealer. Try this oiling method first and let us know how it goes. msf
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#8. RE: [e36m3] RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt - from Marco Romani
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:14:34 -0700 From: "Marco Romani" <marco@corsa-na.com> Subject: RE: [e36m3] RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Sometimes you can get lucky by hammering the next smaller socket on or a standard size that is close. Then make sure you have a lot of penetrating oil on it and if possible get a impact wrench on it. You usually end up sacrificing the socket since you can't remove it after you've hammered it on. But be careful - i think the tranny case is aluminum.... Marco -----Original Message----- From: Ahmad Lutfeali [mailto:m3_racer99@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 8:24 AM To: E36M3 Subject: [e36m3] RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:15:00 -0400 From: "Ahmad Lutfeali" <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Chester, Yes the big ass 17mm hex head is rounded off. So I guess ez-out or drilling it out would be the only option then? Kinda sucks but oh well. Ahmad -----Original Message----- From: Chester Wong [mailto:chester_p_wong@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 11:11 AM To: Ahmad Lutfeali; E36M3 Subject: Re: [E36M3] Stripped Bolt Meaning you rounded off the big ass 17mm hex head?!?! Or did you strip the threads? That sounds like a big job since I wouldn't trust anything but a big ez-out or something like that and I would imagine you'd need to drop the tranny to do that safety and accurately. Chester --- Ahmad Lutfeali <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> wrote: > Since there is not such thing as a stupid question: > > The tranny oil fill bolt has been stripped previously. (Thank God I > didn't drain it out first). What option/method do I have to get the > stripped bolt off? ************************************************* 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 ************************************************* No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.12/1098 - Release Date: 10/29/2007 9:28 AM
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#9. exaust replacement - from Jay Johnson
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:21:02 -0700 From: Jay Johnson <jay@pactitle.com> Subject: exaust replacement Well my 95 M3 has 257,000 miles on it now. Original clutch but the exaust is gone. Sounded like a 430 yesterday but after hitting a small pot hole in the road it now sounds like Gordons stock car, not good. Any advice on replacements. Looking for a little better tone than stock but not loud. Jay Johnson 94//M3 Thousand Oaks CA
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#10. Re: [E36M3] Steering wheel questions - from Andrej Dolenc
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:39:04 -0400 From: Andrej Dolenc <adolenc@verizon.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Steering wheel questions Not sure if you're open to this idea or not - wheelskins. Leather steering wheel covers that you sew over the existing steering wheel leather. My steering wheel started showing signs of wear where I grip the wheel, so I got one to cover that up. The end result is fantastic. Once you sew it on (fairly easy, instructions provided are good), it doesn't slip around or anything. It thickens up the steering wheel, I actually like how it feels now a bit better. The leather won't cover the thumbgrips perfectly, but it'll come close. If you do decide to go this route, call them and ask for how to measure your steering wheel. I went through 3 different sizes before they sent me one that fit right, the last time being when I measured. Skip that headache and measure right from the start. Andrej '97 M3 Russ Doucet wrote: > My leather 3-spoke m sport airbag wheel has two issues. > > 1. Leather disintegrating on top. I think the PO gripped it from the top > all the time and wore it through. What's the best bet for fixing that > problem? Rest of wheel is fine -- thumbgrips, badging, colored stitching, > everthing. Just 3 inches on the top, disintegrating to where if your hands > are wet it comes off on your fingers. > > 2. Squeaky noise from wheel. Is there a horn ring and contacts in there? > I had the wheel off, looks like I need to remove the airbag to get in there > and I'm nervous about that. Any advice from the experienced? I think my > pump may be going but it also almost feels like something is binding inside > the wheel based on the relationship of sounds to difficulty steering. > >
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#11. RE: Steering wheel questions - from William Townsend
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:27:52 -0400 From: "William Townsend" <wtownsend@juniper.net> Subject: RE: Steering wheel questions Russ, I would try lubricating the steering column lower bearing/bushing where it comes through the firewall on the outside. Piece together some drink straws to get a spray lubricant in there and soak the bushing/bearing from underneath the car. (I used fluid film, triflo comes in a spray too) Turn the wheel back and forth to get the lubricant worked into the bushing. My 328 and M3 had this issue and I swore this would not fix it but it did. Seemed odd the noise would travel up the column and sound like it was coming from the top. You can search the archives for the original post on this. Quick and simple first crack at the issue. --Bill 96 M3 coupe 97 328i