jasecars

Hi Gav, I've just replaced these bushes on my car and the thread on one of the bolts had been destroyed because who ever replaced them previously (before I bought the car) had kindly cross threaded 1 of the bolts and now its got to go in and be have a helicoil fitted :angry:

hi gav, any chance I could get a sticker too mate :D please

Sounds good to me Gav :D

Are there any plans for a run out to the Horse Shoe pass in the new year?. I missed a few last year because of work commitents but i've got a new job now which means I have weekends back again. Let me know if so.

Thanks guys. Yeah mart our cars are very similar.

I need to change the track control arms on my 318 E46 because the balljoints are knocking like crazy. A few garage mates have said its a real pig of a job. Is it?. I could do with a brief guide on just how difficult it is please . Any info would be really helpful

Let me know the times everyone is meeting and I'll try and sort something out with work so I can go.

When is the next run to horse shoe pass planned for?

I ordered the key yesterday from knights. They kindly took £136 for my stupidity but on the up side, they're gonna reprogramme the central locking for free

Thanks mate. I'll get the hang of this forum stuff one day

Through my own stupidity I have broken the remote fob for my car and it's the only key I have, so the car is now sitting in my garage because it won't start. Does anybody know how much a new key is from the dealer or independent specialist and also do they need the car or can I just go in with the relevent proof of ID and order a key because obviously if they need the car i'm going to have to get it towed to the dealer or independent. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also if anybody knows a good indy in the Stoke on Trent area let ne know.

I've messed about with it for ages and it may be possible to do. What you need to do is take the transponder chip off the circuit board, unwrap the copper coil wire around it. There is a slot on the front if the flick key case to put the transponder. You then need to replace the rechargeable battery with a normal battery then reprogramme the remote so the remote central locking works again. I've ordered a new diamond key for my car from an indy so when that one is working I'll try the above and let you know if it works.

I've found out now why the car wouldn't start. When you put the gubins into the flick key case, the transponder chip is too far away from the ignition switch so it won't read the key. There is a place on the end of the flick key case to put the transponder chip but I don't know what would happen if I take it off the circuit board. If anyone knows if it's possible to remove the chip and it will still work let me know cus this flick key has cost me 14 quid and it's now sitting in my tool box empty and useless

Hi. Don't attempt to swap to a more modern flick key. I've tried today and its caused me a real headache I swaped all the gubins into the new flick key case and for some reason the car wouldn't start and now also the car now won't unlock off the original fob or open the boot either

A mate of mine told me about it and emailed me the instructions. The constant mpg is really confusing though lol

Today I managed to get into some hidden functions on the dash display and there is a whole host of info on their including mpg monitor, outside temp display and even a digital read out for the rpm. So I might scrap the obc upgrade now because with a few clicks of the trip reset button I can get all the info anyway.

That has brightened up my Monday morning.

I've had too many cars to list lol. The last few have been an e30 316 (lovely car), a french poo laguna, a Clio (which the wife now drives) another laguna (diesel this time) and now my gorgeous E46 318

My E46 318i gives me late 20's around town and about 40 on a run. I do drive it like an old man tho :))

Thanks for the welcome. Yeah I phoned knights and they said it wasn't possible. The reason I thought it was was I googled 'E46 OBC retrofit' and it gave me a whole list of people who said they had done it. Basically they said as long as my car had the outside temp sensor under the bumper, which it has, and the red/yellow wire for the stork, it was possible with a quick ecu flash from the dealer. Apparantly BMW themselves supply a retrofit kit for about 100 quid and will fit it all in for around 180 quid. I don't give up easily so if I get any luck i'll keep you informed.

I have got a 318i E46 built in 2000. It hasn't got the OBC (On Board Computer) fitted. I noticed through research that it was an optional extra which set my mind wondering if it could be fitted now. After more research I saw that people had done a 'retrofit' of the component which basically just needed the indicator stork with the 'BC' function switch on it as long as you have the yellow & red wire which mine has. Apparently once you fit the switch, the car needs to go to the dealer for a re flash on the ecu to activate the display on the dash. I phoned my local dealer in Stoke and they said that it can't be done. I would be interested to hear off anybody else who has done this retro fit and give the names of the dealers used to re flash the ecu, preferably as close to Stoke on Trent as possible, or any independants that could do this for me. I'm a bit of a gadget freak which is why I would love to get the obc working.

Thanks