What did you do to your E39 today ?

[Hippy 83]

Took the car for an MOT today. All that cleaning last weekend must have paid off, as it passed with flying colours and no advisories

 

The tester and the workshop manager both commented that it was one of the nicest E39's they had seen in a while. 

 

I felt like a proud father ! 

[Huff 32]

<geek warning>

 

I got INPA working, on a macbook pro, running a WinXp VM under Parallels.

 

I've had the cable a couple of years, but not had much success last times I tried. 

 

Well after finding it & drivers again during a tidy-up, and with a bit if time free this afternoon I setup a new VM under Parallels just for INPA + other tools and  - after sorting teh software side - found all that had gone wrong previous attempts was that the pins in the cable plug needed a gentle tweak/ realignment inward so they all make contact properly in the OBD2 socket (!) (the hint was, my eml327-based reader has worked just fine for all the time I've had it...)

 

Anyway - I then nerded-out, running through every engne/trans/body/chassis module:: no errors or problems logged :)

 

Starting to wonder what else I can learn to do with this stuff...

[NuckingFuts 78]

7 minutes ago, Huff said:

<geek warning>

 

I got INPA working, on a macbook pro, running a WinXp VM under Parallels.

 

I've had the cable a couple of years, but not had much success last times I tried. 

 

Well after finding it & drivers again during a tidy-up, and with a bit if time free this afternoon I setup a new VM under Parallels just for INPA + other tools and  - after sorting teh software side - found all that had gone wrong previous attempts was that the pins in the cable plug needed a gentle tweak/ realignment inward so they all make contact properly in the OBD2 socket (!) (the hint was, my eml327-based reader has worked just fine for all the time I've had it...)

 

Anyway - I then nerded-out, running through every engne/trans/body/chassis module:: no errors or problems logged

 

Starting to wonder what else I can learn to do with this stuff...

You can do Almost anything. I got it running on a 2011 MacBook Air on boot camp (now *only* boots to Windows #facepalm) but possibilities are near endless. 
 

Email the support address at cable-shack.co.uk if you get stuck with inpa itself and jimmy will help. 
 

I really should familiarise myself with parallels but honestly, I have 3/4 spare windows laptops now and only one spare Mac so no point

Edited January 18 by NuckingFuts

[Huff 32]

Parallels  is great in that it doesn't require a reboot - you can pop-up a windows session running concurrently, start it up or shut it down at will (damn fast with an ssd!) ; run it as a window in window; full screen or - in 'coherence' mode - it's seamless, looks like your Win apps are running wholly in the Finder, they 'see' all the ports, drives, directories and connectivity etc. But utterly sandboxed. Much more satisfying for the odd Win task on mac hardware, than having to reboot and hard-swap 'modes'. Oh, and on mac intel hardware, there's no speed penalty you can perceive.

 

IME - the basic application is (view after 7-8yrs of use) a very solid,, actually good-value thing.

Edited January 18 by Huff

[NuckingFuts 78]

1 minute ago, Huff said:

Parallels  is great in that it doesnt requrie a rebot - you can have a windows session running concurrently, start it up or shut it down at will (damn fast with an ssd!) ; you can run it as a window in window; full screen or - in 'coherence' mode - it's seemless, looks like your Win apps are running wholly in the Finder, they 'see' all the ports, drives, direcories and connectivity etc. But utterly sandboxed. Much more satisfying for the odd Win task on mac hardware, than having to reboot and hard-swap 'modes'. IME - the basic application is (view after 7-8yrs of use) a very solid,, actually good-value thing.

Worth the licence purchase then, just need a spare newish ssd capable Mac to run it on

[LukeH 75]

Swapped out my one ruined B8’s for a nice new pair, they only lasted 7 years and 70ish k, finally one let me down on my Boxing Day outing with a sudden complete loss of damping & very limited travel. 
I must say I just love these dampers, they’ve taken an incredible amount of (ab)use over the years and still come back for more. 

[sharkfan 1,531]

Washed it, that's all.

[BarryM 227]

Gave it the first wash of 2020, really needs a clay and wax!

 

[d_a_n1979 2,522]

10 hours ago, BarryM said:

Gave it the first wash of 2020, really needs a clay and wax!

 

 

Still looks spanking Barry  

[duncan-uk 2,793]

Parallels  is great in that it doesn't require a reboot - you can pop-up a windows session running concurrently, start it up or shut it down at will (damn fast with an ssd!) ; run it as a window in window; full screen or - in 'coherence' mode - it's seamless, looks like your Win apps are running wholly in the Finder, they 'see' all the ports, drives, directories and connectivity etc. But utterly sandboxed. Much more satisfying for the odd Win task on mac hardware, than having to reboot and hard-swap 'modes'. Oh, and on mac intel hardware, there's no speed penalty you can perceive.
 
IME - the basic application is (view after 7-8yrs of use) a very solid,, actually good-value thing.

This is on my list of jobs to do. Currently I have an old think pad that runs car soft but not enough guts to run inpa. As a mac user I've been thinking of an emulator for a while so I can ditch the think pad.

Do you have an idiots guide of what I need to do? Would be much appreciated.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Huff 32]

I am an idiot on that front, not sure I can help!

 

I've run Parallels for a long time, and once you've that up and running you can create new virtual machines - disc images, basically - and if you have a Win installer image and license (or linux, or an awful lot of other OS choices you may want) then Paralells has you pick that up, and runs it for you. Come back in 30mins or so and it'll be done.

 

After which you just pick/double click that VM in the Paralles startup browser; it boots into a Windows session in a window (or full screen) and you can then install software there just as if it was a Win PC.

 

 I'd bought a BM Cable & software pack some years ago, so that's what I did - stuffed the dvds in and let the installer run. You may have to faff separately with drivers for the usb-odb2 cable, it's essentially a UART but again, no different from installing any other new hardware to a WinPC/laptop. It 'sees' all teh macs basic ports, connectivity, devices etc transparently inc full internet connectivity so you can browse for drivers and ignore the idea its running 'on top of' MacOS.  When you've had enough you can 'sleep' or shutdown the windows session. Parallels handles writing the data to disc, and MacOS is been ticking along behind - or in front while you do other stuff on it. All-up, my VM with winXp, and a full set of INPA, TIS, NFS and a couple of other bits and bobs occupies about 16GB. You can back this up like any file - Parallels holds each VM and its data as one single consolidated file in a folder in Documents in the Finder (- i.e you're not at risk of breaking something because you now have tens of thousands of Windows files scattered throughout the mac ecosystem.)

 

Easier to do than describe, tbh.

Edited January 19 by Huff

[NuckingFuts 78]

8 hours ago, duncan-uk said:

This is on my list of jobs to do. Currently I have an old think pad that runs car soft but not enough guts to run inpa. As a mac user I've been thinking of an emulator for a while so I can ditch the think pad.

Do you have an idiots guide of what I need to do? Would be much appreciated.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have a spare ex-work MacBook Air, when I can afford a parallels license I will write a guide. If I can do it, anyone can. Won’t be tomorrow but soon enough. 

[Huff 32]

I should add, I have form in this area; the reason I bought parallels originally was owning a macbook and needing to tinker-with the Powercommander and a couple of other bits on my bike-engined Fisher Fury. -  the software for which is Windows-only. And that worked a treat, too: the laptop tends to be essential to tweaking emissions at MOT time...  (no lambda sensor you see: the R1 based engine runs a TPS & MAP based alpha-n fuel table - but has to pass the Lambda test criteria from its build date... always fun.)

[Tomsontour 5]

Not so much what I've done but dropped my new front bumper and splitter off for paint this morning for my 528i, going for the m5 front bumper conversion. Can't wait to get it back on the car and finish up the front end

[d_a_n1979 2,522]

1 hour ago, Tomsontour said:

Not so much what I've done but dropped my new front bumper and splitter off for paint this morning for my 528i, going for the m5 front bumper conversion. Can't wait to get it back on the car and finish up the front end

 

Get some pics up when you're done  

 

You could get a project thread going in the Projects section further down the homepage; we like lots of pics  

[Tomsontour 5]

I'll see what I can do Dan, got a few bits I wanna do this year to the old boat

[sharkfan 1,531]

Trickled over 150,000 miles.

[NWJW 477]

Just sealed the leak in my boot (again! Water's been getting past the seal on the vent behind the battery) then had a good look underneath it ready for the mot next month and sort of wish I hadn't now..... Oh well. 

[chicaneuk 257]

E39’s cooling system strikes again

 

Very happy, after 5 months in a new home, to get the garage cleared so that I could rescue my saloon from a lockup in Coventry and bring it to the new house. 
 

Took a steady drive back and literally 60 seconds from home I got the unmistakable smell of coolant in the cabin and a lot of steam.. thank god I wasn’t on the M6 any more and had a place to pull over hastily. 

 

A quick inspection and the plastic part of the top radiator hose and simply gone brittle and come away and blown the hose off emptying the coolant all over the engine bay. 
 

AA chap turned up and he was able to affect a repair with a jubilee clip for me to make it the last mile back home. 
 

At least it’s a super easy fix and I can’t imagine a new top hose is mega money. But at least she is now home so I can work on her at my leisure! 

Edited January 27 by chicaneuk

[d_a_n1979 2,522]

11 minutes ago, chicaneuk said:

V42’s cooling system strikes again

 

Very happy, after 5 months in a new home, to get the garage cleared so that I could rescue my saloon from a lockup in Coventry and bring it to the new house. 
 

Took a steady drive back and literally 60 seconds from home I got the unmistakable smell of coolant in the cabin and a lot of steam.. thank god I wasn’t on the M6 any more and had a place to pull over hastily. 

 

A quick inspection and the plastic part of the top radiator hose and simply gone brittle and come away and blown the hose off emptying the coolant all over the engine bay. 
 

AA chap turned up and he was able to affect a repair with a jubilee clip for me to make it the last mile back home. 
 

At least it’s a super easy fix and I can’t imagine a new top hose is mega money. But at least she is now home so I can work on her at my leisure! 

Meyle or Febi Bilstein one from BMWmotormec for c£20 IIRC pal

 

Good/lucky save though  

[chicaneuk 257]

Yep was just eyeballing the part needed. Super cheap, and super easy... I have much love for BMW engineers who gave their coolant pipes clips at each end that make them a breeze to remove / re-fit! Cheers. 

[DerekJr. 256]

Fitted some BC Coilovers over the weekend. I want to raise the rear a little which will be a job for the weekend. 

 

 

[sharkfan 1,531]

On 26 January 2020 at 19:10, chicaneuk said:

Yep was just eyeballing the part needed. Super cheap, and super easy... I have much love for BMW engineers who gave their coolant pipes clips at each end that make them a breeze to remove / re-fit! Cheers. 

 

Really? I'd condemn the loon who thought these were better than a jubilee clip to the depths of hell! The failure rate of these clippy things over old fashioned  jubilee clips and normal hoses must easily be twenty fold, maybe more. 

[chicaneuk 257]

9 minutes ago, sharkfan said:

 

Really? I'd condemn the loon who thought these were better than a jubilee clip to the depths of hell! The failure rate of these clippy things over old fashioned  jubilee clips and normal hoses must easily be twenty fold, maybe more. 

Fair point well presented!  

[Loadmaster 891]

On 26/01/2020 at 19:10, chicaneuk said:

Yep was just eyeballing the part needed. Super cheap, and super easy... I have much love for BMW engineers who gave their coolant pipes clips at each end that make them a breeze to remove / re-fit! Cheers. 

Is this V42, or the wagon?