Jayzzle

Top man. Thanks for all your help mate :)

That is good news, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend £80+ on a new one. Just a few more questions about this, am I supposed to have a middle box? Because they have taken that off too, If I put one on will it make the car quieter? Does it have to be off an E30 or can it be off a newer model? ^.^ Thanks :D

:P Thanks

Ok thanks, the previous owner took it off. :(

Does anyone know, if my car is supposed to have a Catalytic Converter on it? It's a 1990 bmw 318i touring (E30).

If you need to know anything else about it, I'll do my best to answer.

Chers, Jay

Your welcome to add my facebook (If you have it) if you need any help and no one's about on the forums at that time

Darren Harkin London

Thanks mate, appreciate it.

TBH the thermostat should open well before 93+ that is too close to boiling-point... (Sorry if i've missed earlier posts)

70-85 tops should be enough !!

So you think I should change the thermostat then just to be safe? Since I got that bolt out and gasketed that top hose housing, I put proper coolant in it, I was sat outside the house yesterday with it running for about 20 minutes while I sorted my sat nav out, it slowly creeped up and was just over halfway before I started driving, So I'm guessing the overheating problem persists but just slower lol.

Nice thanks, I'll look into that.

Thanks for your reply. I'll get to cleaning that off first thing, as for the wheels, there a nice looking set in a scappers near me I'm looking at so if it's just being caused by different sized wheels then that will also get sorted soon. Thanks again.

Jay

I <3 my E30 and wouldn't swap it for a newer version even if I was paid. The E36 I had before this hasn't got a Thing on the E30. It just feels better to drive. And through all the problems, It has still come out on top (so far) :)

Ok, it's been a while but I finally got that dead bolt out. A tonne of WD40, pair of mole grips and 3 hours later it's finally out. Happy days! So while I was messing around in the engine, I changed the plugs, sump plug, oil, oil filter, put correct coolant in instead of just water, changed the viscous unit again for a different one (because I wasn't sure if the other one was working or not) and put the fan shroud back on. Haven't checked it or driven it far yet (as it's getting dark) but I bled the system, stayed at about 1/4 on the dash gauge for roughly 15 minutes or so. A lot of smoke from the burning oil I spilled on the manifold, is that safe or should I clean it off? I got a flat one day last week so I put the spare on, it's a smaller wheel but bigger tyre, I put it on the N/S/R, but now any time I full lock, when the wheels are straight again it pulls badly to that side, any thoughts on this? I have changed the springs to some lowering springs, I couldn't live with the height the car was. If I got all the same size wheels (maybe some 16" instead of 15") and got the tracking done would that rectify this dragging after full lock problem? Thanks all and anyone who reads/responds lol.

Jay

If done correctly, It's fine. IF you do it yourself (which is fine if you want to learn) than you may have problems I guess....

Interesting. Thanks :)

How safe is it to weld a diff? Sorry for intruding but I read somewhere that if the weld breaks you're pretty screwed, is that true? I have always wanted to get that done but too scared to do it lol :S

Can't we stop them from spamming that poo? It's really annoying >.< Anyway, I was just curious about Steering Locks, as to why they need to be operational to pass an MoT. I am slightly concerned about this, as mine does not work, and I had no intention of getting it repaired or repairing it, it doesn't cause me any problems while I am driving so I'm not bothered. However now I see this I am worried about it. Any thoughts about this bit?

Gav - You said about Illuminated Warning Lamps, does this include the "Oil Service" warning lamp at the bottom of the dials? I don't know what other years it is on but it's on my E30. Thanks. John

o.0

Ah right, I didn't know lol. Thanks for the info :) As for the mot, it was lowered after the MoT, and it was the previous owner that had the MoT done, But I can take it back I guess and still get them to check it for me. Just need something to show to the next officer as proof I guess. Thanks for the suggestion. :)

Jayzzle

Ah that's pretty. I really like the look of those. Are you gonna keep that one? Makes mine look like a right Sh***er. Well ATM it is but I'm getting there lol. A friend of mine is selling a nice white 5 series (I think it's a 5 series), for only 900 nicker. It's tempting but I've poured too much money into this Tardis to waste it on another one. A nice respray and it will be right as rain :)

It would seem that way. Although I bet that the local law will still single me out. That car is nice, why did you get rid of it? :). I am considering raising the back a shade, I saw in Halfords they sell a gadget to make it a tad higher, by putting rubber strips in between the coils on the spring. I might try it. I don't know how to make my picture any bigger. Sorry :S

Front headlamp Minimum height above ground: None

Front headlamp Maximum Height above ground: 1500 mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this impracticable, 2300 mm.

Direction indicator Minimum height above the ground: 350 mm

Direction indicator Maximum height above ground: 1500 mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this impracticable, 2300 mm.

Rear lights Minimum Height above ground: 350mm

Rear light Maximum Height above ground: 1500 mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this impracticable, 2100 mm

The above is for cars first used on or after 1st April 1986

Source: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/contents/made

Hope this is of some use to you :)

Will do mate, I dunno if you can see it but the picture on the left is how low the car is now. I tried to upload one to photobucket to post here properly but PB crapped out on me.

Before you do though, make sure "everything" that supposed to be legal is legal..

...give the old bill a hard time, they will give you one!

That's a good point lol, I will do my homework on MoT standards before I attempt that. Thanks for the heads up :)

Jayzzle

I have searched the net for a 'legal ride height' but found nothing.

If its not affecting steering and handling, you not damaging the ground, whats the problem.

Me neither, not on any government owned website. And those were my thoughts exactly.

I hadn't even thought about headlight heights or anything like that, but that isn't what they said when they pulled me over. They mentioned about cos I went slow over a ramp the road workers made digging up the road. But even if my car wasn't low I would still have gone slow.

I'll have a look into the headlight height later and see if mine is legal.

But thanks for your input. It has given me confidence to challenge the police if I get stopped because of it again.

Jayzzle.

There isnt one.

My old BMW sat 50mm off the ground and past MOTs.

Is that 50mm from the lowest point on the car? If so what was the lowest point on that car? If i can find a picture of how low the car is I will post it, so you can judge for yourself if it is too low (not you specifically Gav but you as in everyone as a whole :))

Are you absolutely 100% sure that there is no such legality? If that is the case, is it more along the lines of if it damages the road then it can be taken? Because as long as I go slowly Nothing scrapes.

Many thanks for your reply.

Jayzzle

Ok so I got pulled over by the police the other day, and told that if I didn't sort my suspension out "traffic officers" would take my car. So my question is this, does anybody actually know the proper legal height that the bottom most part of the car (or any part of the car) needs to be off the ground here in the uk? I have searched and searched the internet to no avail. I have found threads for America, Australia, New Zealand, but never for the UK. I have written an email out to the MoT (Ministry of Transport) and Vosa but neither have replied yet. I would really be interested to know this as I have had cars lower than this one before and never been told this. Any proof (so I can print it and show it to the next police officer that decides he wants to have a go) will be immensly appreciated. Many thanks. Jayzzle.

Bonner - I have looked into it being the head gasket, there are a lot of checks on the internet that I did, dipstick colour, Coolant colour, that creamy gunky stuff on the filler cap, all have turned out normal. What is the chemical test you mentioned? Is it easy to do? Cheers mate. Jay