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Following on from this post. I had a chance to investigate this today. Jack up and remove nearside front wheel. While I did so, I noticed water appearing on my dry driveway. As the angle of car changed water dripped out from the joints in the underbellies. That's not ideal, water is clearly lying on the underbellies creating a damp environment. Starting to remove the rear part of the wheel arch liner. Loads of fixings, see TIS You will see now a trickle of water running out from a bolt hole. That's not good. Also note the darker (wetter) lower part of the wheel arch liner, you will see why later. As I start to remove the liner away from the inner wing, the trickle from the underbellies gets worse. As I remove the liner it reveals a puddle behind it. This is the source of the dark wet patch seen earlier. The liner returns at the bottom and goes towards the rear of the car, leaving a trap for wet debris. I remove the rear section of the wheel arch liner completely and clean it. I then remove the panel above the heater/blower unit, more expanding rivets I can see water dripping from the grommet around the three pipes from where the blue trim tool is pointing too. I then poke my finger into the grommet where the blue trim tool is pointing at, which then dislodged a load of leaf mold and a couple of litres of water! That's really not good to have all the water sloshing around on there. Its atleast out now! I clean up the bodywork and investigate the grommet, I can pull it out its hole to reveal what's going on. It must have be blocked as water was running out of the bolt hole above this grommet. There are two flaps, you can see one at the outer most edge of the grommet. There is one on the inner edge of the grommet too. I gave the grommet a scrub to clean it of slime from the leaf mould and make sure the flaps are free to move. I then flushed out the scuttle area above this/below the beater/blower unit with a garden hose. It's difficult to see from the photo, but there is no standing water now and considerable less leaf mould. This is what came out. There is a white vertical drain pipe from I'm assuming the base of the heater/blower unit which also drains via its own hole in the grommet, make sure it goes back on properly. Push the grommet back home again. Make sure its seated correctly and the white pipe is protruding. I could feel the flaps open clear to ensure water will drain out in the future. The water comes out from this black grommet and runs down the back of the wheel arch liner and then onto the underbellies, channeling the water rearwards. On my car the top of the underbellies are wet and so is the main longitudinal chassis rail. This is not ideal. But hopefully now that I've cleared out the grommet it will run out far quicker rather than slowly drip out so the water stands a better chance of draining away far quicker. Put the wheel arch liner back in and wheel back on. I'll need to do the same on the offside another day.

Hi all, my names Dave, from Worcestershire, just bought my very first bm today, not even driven one before , it’s a 520d 2012 with what seems a lot of extras, not sure if it’s standard , heated electric memory seats, electric rear blind, etc etc , the is in mint condition with 108k on the clock, had a new clutch and flywheel replaced last year , lots of history etc, and I’ve throughly enjoyed driving it home, it’s got a certain feel about it I’ve never had in other cars , one little issue I’ve found is the parking sensors, it says the parking aid is not available and to contact the service dept, then it kind of works??? There is a chip on one of the front sensors, prob a stone chip, could that cause it ???? Wish I’d bought a bm sooner I’ll post a couple of pics , I know it’s just a520d nothing special but I think it will lead to others in the future

Colour coded the bumper trims

Can i come and park mine along side? in case you have some more free time

Sup Dan, Recently hardwired a NextBase 412 into my 525 touring, which is running from the glove compartment fuse box. Ran the cable into headliner alongside rear mirror support, along to near side, down the A pillar and had a bastard of a time fishing for the end behind that glovebox. Agro but found it in the end, and fed it in through the open back of the fuse box. Used the NextBase kit which has the piggyback fuse adaptor. As mentioned above, fusebox is tight due to design, but managed to find the ideal slot and not dislodged despite having fusebox down several times since. In the centre of the trim above the glovebox (well, mine at least, I'm assuming that your Nippon export is the same) there is a cut out section, runs from fuse 20 to 26/27ish. Fuse 21 lines up perfectly to fit without catching when closed. Fuse 21 is for rear view mirror dimming, drivers seat adjustment and garage opener. Only live when key in accessory / engine running position. It's a 5A fuse, from memory I think NextBase recommend no higher than 10A? Worked like a charm, no issues. Attached pic of mine below... Final note - the actual body of the piggyback fuse which they supplied is a fraction wider than the body of a fuse. REALLY tight fit, at first I thought it wouldn't fit at all, just took some persuasion.

Hi! New to the forum, jumped across from babybmw.net after selling my e81 123d. Found this gem of a car and one test drive later it was mine. I think it's a pretty nice spec, individual azurschwartz paint, oyster interior, panoramic sunroof, 360 cams, paddles, shadow line pack ect ect. Gave a proper machine polish and detail to get the amazing paint to pop and I have just put the black grills and wind deflectors on to add a couple of personal touches. Look forward to getting my hands on it! Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Found a random pic of the M5 on my laptop

Ah got you... If you're main home address is PO Box Home Office and you're weekend pad is PO BOX GCHQ, do we just call you Sir?!

Work car? What the hell is it that you do?

BMWmotormec must make a fortune. Best prices on there and I used him for all of my front arms, rear arms, drop links and ball-joints, wheel bearings. Rapid delivery, awesome correspondence and best prices on the place.

If it was my car, I would ensure to always use premium unleaded. That way, you'll avoid any bad fuel issues with petrol going off overtime. Plus you'll benefit from the higher octane when you do drive the car. I know it's down to personal opinion on premium fuel benefits but I always try and use them if doing limited mileage (bit different if I'm planning to hammer through a tank of fuel in a couple of days in which case it doesn't matter aslong as it burns to an extent!)

Think you'll struggle to find one used but i can recommend the schrick one.

As per Chicane's post above (he owns the car now) it's on a standard sport suspension set up, all part of the Sport Pack that the car was kitted out with when built. That part of the Nurburgring, the Carousel, is steeply banked and therefore the car appears lower than it actually is, due to compression of the suspension.

Agreed. I'm currently in the process of attempting to register a car in France and it's a right p.i.t.a Personally I would buy a Spanish E34 rather than import a rhd car over there. Firstly as mentioned it's a pig to change documents over and secondly, it's going to be a hell of lot less corroded than most UK car of similar age/price

Hourly? FFS i expect this is rightly or wrongly what your employer demands but really ?!?!

Confused. 11.8v is only about 30% charged and you really don't want that. A fully charged battery should read 12.6v and the alternator charges it at at least 13.8v. If the system is working correctly, you should not have to charge the battery at all. But if you do, I would suggest you disconnect it from the car's system. You might think this is old school but there are that many modules on the car that you don't want to risk damaging one with a voltage spike. Have to say I agree with Pauliexjr . I'd aim to make the dash cam fit the car, not the other way round

Changed the engine oil + filter with Castrol Edge 0w30 and installed a new Varta G14 AGM battery as the original one was struggling to hold charge. Also noticed the rear drivers side spring has snapped at the bottom so will need to get that booked in. Then it needs a good wash and I might even stick a private reg on.

Took the plunge. Had this aftermarket (Xtrons) Android Head unit fitted today afterwork. Got it for a steal off eBay. Not the latest. Ive had 4 E39’s now, standard equipment is so outdated. Pixelated rubbish. Over the moon with the features. And my 3 lads will be. Stuck at junior football most weekends. Tournament tomorrow. Got the tin snips out to remove the old aluminum CD housing last weekend. Typical German over engineered. Car audio place were well stumped. Removed all the heater control unit, cup holders and cig tray etc for a good clean. Loads of cigarette bits under the lighter. Disgusting. Vacuumed. loads of air freshener happening in this car. New tray with unused cig lighter for sure. Seats are coming out next for serious clean underneath. Looked through the history last night. One owner cherished the car for 10 years. That’s why it’s in so good condition for a 1997 car.

The other day I was driving along the A40 when traffic came to a standstill. I take a glance to my left and what do I see? I see a 5 Series GT that has been debadged, probably a 520d. What did they stick on it instead? You know what's coming! An M5 badge [emoji2357] I've also seen a E60 520d with the 520d badge still on, but an M5 badge attached to the left side. Seriously, this does not look cool and it just makes you look like a plank. This has got to stop! Enough with the M badges already. Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Thanks @San75 It was more the effort of getting at the bushes than having to remove the subframe. I’ve not had a good look at the job but presumably the subframe has to be dropped a bit if only to get the tool on. What else has to be removed or loosened to get to that point? What’s the subframe made from? Will the bushes have corroded themselves into the frame? Will the old bushes put up a fight coming out? Will the new bushes put up a fight going in? What other parts am I going to discover need replacing when I’m halfway through the job? These are the kind of questions I ask myself when contemplating such a job. It’s not so bad if you have workshop facilities but lying on your back on dirty (and potentially cold/wet) concrete underneath a car that won’t play ball is something I’ve experienced far too many times. You’d think I’d have learned by now lol.

Not done today but on Friday. I had my car detailed by a pro (or at least someone who does it for a living).. The difference is huge, now mine looks as good as sll the rest of the beemers around here.....paint-wise i mean.

They get everywhere!

So.......As one who doesn't know all these abbreviated model designations; what is the difference between NBT & CIC and what is LVDs?

Looks like it staying standard then lol. Thanks for the input anyway guys. will just have to save for an m5