Firstfives.org

Yes, the hoses can definitely be replaced seperately. I think BMWs recomendation is to burn them off with a soldering iron, but I have this thing about heat and fuel so I cut them off, carefully, with an exacto knife. This is one of those things that mushrooms, if one is leaking badly, by this time ...

Thanks for the info about the trim, Mike. I'll investigate closely before I go dragging any doors home from the bone yard! And I have the waxy film in mine - 2/81 528i - but it has been no match for the first quarter century it spent near the gulf coast of Texas. And now on the East Coast, no bette...

IIRC at least some Konis adjust by pushing all the way down on the shaft and then turning it. A new shock "sinking" down on it's own isn't a good sign, but perhaps if it's slow enough it might not be too big a deal. I don't think Konis are gas pressure like Bilsteins, which would indicate ...

E28 doors mount the trim differently, and I doubt you would be able to interchange the trim. As far as rustproofing, I think the problem with E12 doors is simply a drainage problem in those lower corners where they like to rust, more of a design flaw than a lack of rustproofing. By late in the produ...

Anyways, while the mech. was in there, he told me I was missing something from the underneath the shifter. The shifter mounting plate? Basically, without it, it was like the shifter, and the back end of the linkage it goes into, would go down when I went into 2nd and 4th. Would go up when I went in...

Mike W., I would LOVE to hear how to get the window chrome trim off (without destroying it) because I am thinking about doing this to get them all polished out (some are inexplicably scratched up). From looking at it, it seems possible but difficult and I'd love to hear someone else's experience/ap...

Wow, I've never seen one of them loosen up. Yes, I would use either red or I think it's green, Stud and Bearing mount locktite. I used that stuff on a FWD axle one time with worn splines and had a hell of a time when the CV joint went bad and I had to replace the axle. Sledgehammer time. I first tri...

OE cats are a wonder. My first E12 passed comfortably with the original cat at 347K, although that was before they tested for Nox. My recently sold E28 535 passed with flying colors at 330K, and even Nox at a 295K test. (Nox testing isn't required where I now live) Aftermarket ones, a year, maybe 2....

Sounds like it's out of time one way or another. If the distributor has been out it isn't necessarily where it should be. Pull the valve cover so you can see when #1 is at TCD and replace the wires in the proper order then. They might be now or might not.

ole Hank wrote:Many thanks . Pray tell ( to save a certain amount of hunting ) .... where is the oil pressure switch ? I'm using 20/ 50 oil too.

Back of the head on the intake side.

Bosch. They didn't start using Lucas stuff until much later. I've had plenty of E12 era injectors start leaking in the 200-300K range, but other than that they don't seem to wear or anything. IMO Techron, not fuel cleaner with Techron, is the best over the counter injector cleaner. It doesn't always...

I know you said to check a local muffler place, but I would assume they have to get pipes from somewhere as both pipes are completely cracked and it's something I can do myself once I get replacement parts. Not really. They should be able to bend pipe to get it close to the correct shape. But by th...

Foaming doesn't sound right. I've never seen it. First step if the light comes on when it shouldn't though is always a new OP switch. Past that, what weight oil etc. Even on very high mileage engines I've never had the light come on at idle, even in the desert with the A/C cranking. Take forever to ...

jkchappy wrote:mine turned out to be rust around where the filler enters the tank....

Ah yes, I always forget about eastern car issues.

Haynes is terrible for some of the newer cars, E28s for one, but their E12 manual is pretty good. Out of circulation for a while now, but I hear they come up on Ebay fairly regularly.