E36 Mirror Replacement

 

 

  When I bought this car it was missing the driver's mirror. As it would turn out, she has heated power mirrors. So of course I scoured eBay, forums, and craigslist. I found a  few candidates on eBay. This is a great place to find used parts but, sometimes users don't know what they have. Always make sure you know what you need.

  When, and if, you have to source a mirror for an E36 make sure you know how many wires your mirror has. In my case, on the drivers side, with heated, power mirrors there are four wires. Power, non-heated have three wires.

  Below is my walk through for replacing the driver side mirror on a 98 328i with power, heated mirrors. The whole mirror assembly, not just the glass.

  The plastic cover was trouble some to get off. I was afraid I was going to break it. I wasn't sure if I needed to remove the whole door card. You don't need to. Just work carefully. There is one plastic pop tab on the plastic cover at the top corner. This clips into the door frame and holds the plastic cover in place.

  I used a plastic putty spreader to pop the top out. With the putty knife at the angle above, I pushed both sides at the angle shown and the plastic clip came out easily.

  Once you have the pop clip loose just lift the cover straight up. Up to the sky!

  There is also a small U-shaped channel that holds the mirror wires in place.

  Under this you will find three 10mm bolts holding the mirror assembly on to the door.

  There is a plastic seal between the mirror housing mount and the door frame itself. This keeps the water out I'm sure. 

  There was also some black foam insulation under the plastic cover. It completely disintegrated when I touched it. If this is important to you then replace this with new as well. The mirrors tend to make wind noise at higher speeds so, I'm assuming this was used to help prevent some of this? Email me if you have more details here.

  Take apart old clip.

  Plug in new clip.

  Push mirror into place. Secure 10mm bolts to some torque specification. I did a normal German spec, Guentight*.

  At this point you may want to test the mirror's operation. Just to double check things are looking good.

  Slide wiring under the U-channel on the plastic mirror.

  Snap the cover back into place and your all finished up. Now go enjoy having a mirror again.

  *Good and tight.

First Oil Change - 154687

  I knew that there was oil in my little 328 when I bought it. However I was unsure of what kind of oil (weight, manufacturer) had been put in the motor. Buying it used with as many miles as was on it I'm sure really isn't going to make a huge difference at this point but, there isn't a  I really wanted to get some fresh oil in there. I hit up the local auto parts this time around because I was impetuous this time around.

  I picked up my tried and trusted Castrol Edge. They didn't have 5w-40 on shelf. I ended up going the 10w-40 route this time around. It winter time here in SC but, it normally doesn't get that cold and this little one is garaged. At this point I was just happy to have some fresh oil ready to go in the motor. Normally they don't stock BMW oil filters. I was assuming it would have to an order, next day item. In fact this time around they did actually have 2 Bosch filters available. I ended getting both because of the oil deal that was going on. 10 quarts, 2 filters, around $100*. 

  Getting the oil out was simple. I had a hand from a seasoned oil changer and friend, Eric. Its a 17mm to remove the oil pan bolt. This 2.8 takes 7 quarts of the good stuff so, if its cold, you'll have to be patient. Not so impetuous now am I? 

  The oil filter housing is plastic with a 36mm nut molded to the cap. I found this out after the fact but, these caps are extremely tight even if using a torque wrench, set to the proper amount. It came off easy enough but, I doubt it will be easy to get off next time. 

  The new filter came with a new seal for the plastic housing. I used a small flat head screw driver to get the old one off. The new o ring just slides over the caps' threads and, stops in the groove designed for it. The filter is a cartridge style. The old one comes out, the new one drops in. Pretty straight forward.

  With the filter in place, put the cap back on the oil filter housing. Get it started by hand. We then, used a 3/8 torque wrench set for 25NM (18ft/lbs) as referenced here: Pelican Tech Article - E36 Oil Change, to secure it in place. The oil pan bolt if it is a 17mm is also torqued to the same spec. Top off your oil. Check the dipstick. And we are done.

  I now have piece of mind knowing the oil is fresh. Yippee! Although I need to do some more research in terms of what sort of oil is best suited. I'm sure I'll find several different answers on the web and the forums. I have some folks with applicable knowledge I need to talk to as well. I normally always use OEM fluids, just not this time around. We will see what I can come up with by the next oil change.

* Not a fantastic deal after really thinking about 

Backtracking Part 7 - The Final Descent

  After bellies full of Pizza and deliciousness. We decided to head on to home. We had about 40 minutes left in the trip. At this point I was tired of listening to nothing so, I turned on Pandora, on my phone, and sat it in the cup holder. Even at highway speeds I could still hear it with the volume up all the way.

  Things were still looking good. Aside from burnt strawberries and burning oil smell, lack of seat back adjustment, a somewhat unstable front end, and no radio, the trip back was progressing nicely.

  I was approaching a stop sign and began slowing down as normal. Everything seemed fine until I stopped all the way. Then it felt as if the whole car was rocking side to side. I'm not used to the rear wheel drive shimmy. The RPMs were low, the engine was running on, what felt to me, like four cylinders. This is concerning.

  I gave it some gas to roll away from the stop sign and it seemed to struggle. Not quite so bad now though. It was still moving forward. It just felt rough. This is when I started getting a bit nervous. After we got back up to the posted speeds I tried slowing and then accelerating a bit to see if there was any difference. Felt the same. No check engine lights or flashing warnings, I figured it can't be that bad.

  We were getting real close to home when, I missed a turn. Given this and the car running rough I pulled into a neighborhood. I drove all the way in and found a cul-de-sac*. I motioned for my buddy to come around. I told him I missed the turn and had no idea where we were. Even with GPS, a strange area at night can be disorienting. Luckily, he knew right where we were and how to get home. I asked him to drive the 328 the rest of the way. He was a man of knowledge in the e36 department. I wanted an expert diagnosis.

  Once we finally got back to my place. I opened up the garage door. We swapped spots. I parked the 328, he parked Sally (our Saturn). I asked him what he thought. He said its was running on 5 cylinders. He had the parts to fix it and was raring to go but, I was tired. It was a long drive and it was late. Tomorrow was another day. A strange saying but hey, it fits.

*There's only one way in...and one way out. :p

Backtracking Part 6 - The Eatery

  It was getting pretty late the only thing we saw in terms of a food eatery, at this point, was a Hardee's. I was hungry but, not THAT hungry. Not a huge fan of their food. We continued on. After what felt like forever to me we stumbled upon a pizza place called Pizza House. It looked a little scary honestly due to the location but, pizza appeals to me. So we stopped. My buddy called his buddy (uncles, cousin, friend :) to ask about this joint. Said it was good eats. So we went in.

Batman ever diligent. Protecting restaurant patrons.

  It was awesome in there. Casual dining of course. The atmosphere was perfect. A very nice place to hang. There were a few TVs. The most noticeable part was all the cool stuff hanging in the rafters and atop the booths.

  The waitress was really nice. She asked if we were ready, I said: "we are square." She was goofing around and said: "What not triangular, circular, or rectangular?" Given my level of distraction I missed the joke. I was definitely spacey at this point. I thought they physically made the pizza in different shapes depending on what you decided. I'm a dope what can I say.

The tigers eat any scraps and keep patrons in line.

  Once I finally caught on we ordered a House Special. The dinner conversation on my mind was of course figuring out what needed to be replaced. I had to get prices, I had to go over all the things that needed to be done, I had to figure out what I could modify first. My buddy brought me back down to earth. Being excited is a good thing but, enjoying dinner with a buddy is more of a priority. Once the pizza came out I must have eaten 8 pieces. They were decent size slices too. It was delicious. Super awesome pizza. Not too greasy. The toppings were spot on in terms of flavor and quantity.

  If you ever find yourself near this place, stop in:

 

House of Pizza

305 S Carolina 101, Gray Court, SC 29645

Backtracking Part 5 - The Return

  Title was signed, keys in hand, we were ready to roll. One problem, the windshield was looking pretty rough in terms of not being clean. Looking through a haze at dusk while not having good front headlights. In one word, scary.

  I asked if he had anything that I could give the wind shield a good wipe with. Thankfully the gentleman was nice enough to furnish a whole roll of paper towels and a bottle of Windex. Actual Windex, the normal blue kind, not some off brand. Sweet! So after half a roll of paper towels (sorry environment) and half a bottle of Windex, I could see, mostly. This of course is an exaggeration in terms of quantity. Just trying to make the point that inside the wind shield was nasty. Like hazy, smoke nasty*.

  Wind shield was clean, now we were ready, ready. I sat down in the gangster leaned driver seat, through up on hand on the wheel, posed for just a minute, soaking up the newness. The feel of a different, new to me, vehicle in hand. After a moment I started her up. She had enough gas to get us home. A short roll out of the gentleman's driveway, over the stone "road", a left on the less rocky "road." We were home bound. Sally (our Saturn, driven by my buddy) following behind. The excitement was high.

  In a few short miles I realized that my butt was cold. Not a problem, heated seats do your thing. A few moments later and the warmth was noticeable. It was wonderful. I didn't want to think about what it would cost to fix the heating coils in these if they did even go ca-put, aka bad. At this point I was just happy to be warm.

  I turned the automatic climate control on, the fans kicked on, the heat started flowing out of the vents. Along with it, a bad smell. What was that? Remember the oil leak issue from the last post? I thought maybe that was what I was smelling. It wasn't that though, something more smoky. It was sweet at the same time. It smelled like burnt strawberries. Great...this is when I finally realized, my nose finally caught on to the fact that, this car has been smoked in. Damn.

  A bummer but, I was distracted quickly by the 18 button On Board Computer (OBC) the car had. You can check full consumption, outside temps, any codes the car has thrown, such as the Brake Light Fault it was showing now. Cracked taillight, common issue. There was a trip meter, a clock and date, this section was black. It think it went bad long ago. Max speed, timers, and average speed. Pretty cool stuff. I liked being able to see the overall fuel economy. It was reading 22.1 MPG at this point. Not too bad for a 2.8 inline six cylinder.

  The motor felt great. The extra torque, in comparison to what I was used to driving, was excellent. The transmission was shifting nicely. I took off quickly a few times just to feel her out. There were even a few twisty roads. I of course had to open it up in the corners a little bit. Felt a bit wobbly but, it was planted. Not bouncy at all. A stock unmodified suspension. Exactly what I was looking for. This could be improved upon soon enough. All in good time.

  My hands were holding the wheel as steadily as I could. That flop, flop, and drag to the right was pretty bad. That worn out Kumho AST on the passenger side was letting me know it was not happy with the situation at hand. The rest of the car sounded decent. No other wobbles so far. The biggest concern for me next was, food.

*I still hadn't caught on to the fact the car was smoked in, at this point.

Backtracking Part 4 - The Dealio

  Upon the initial approach the car did not look all that bad. There were a few nicks and dings. It did have 154,000 miles on it after all. The body panels were straight. The bumpers were fairly flush. No signs of anything terrible.

  The gentleman selling the car had very little info in terms of the vehicle's maintenance. We popped the hood to have a look. It did have oil in it. The coolant looked decent didn't smell funny or look oily. The engine looked like an engine that should be in there. Stuff was fairly clean. Nothing out of place.

  The front right tire was shot. A Kumho Esta AST, right on the verge of showing bands. I asked about this. He didn't have any idea. He said the two in the back were decent. They were a General Tire. The tread looked reasonable. So two Generals in the back, and two Kumho's up front. One of which was completely shot. New tires check.

  After a twice over out front I proceeded to the interior. It didn't look terrible. The dash, door panels, and carpet was in good shape. It smelled funny, something fruity and smokey. The seats, ah the seats. These were in fact power sport seats. They were also heated. Oh yes. Powered, heated, sport seats. The leather on the driver's seat was worn and had a burn hole in it*. Passenger seat, pretty good indeed. The back seat looked at though it had never been sat in. All the leather needed a good cleaning and conditioning. The seat back adjustment was not working at all. The passenger side was stuck in constant gangster lean mode. The driver's was not as bad but I still felt like a Vin Diesel wannabe.

  Missing mirror, I asked again about this. No details. He couldn't remember what happen. I'm just glad that she didn't clip the door during whatever happened. He did save the broken mirror. It was in the trunk. Glad to have that.

  The stereo was not functional. He said that the battery had died. They put a new one in there just a few weeks earlier. This 328 and most BMWs have security stereos. If the power gets disconnected you have to enter a special code in order to activate the radio. Not a huge issue. It did have a 6 disc changer in the back. That's cool.

  So, time for a test drive? Yes please. It started right up. So far so good. Once we got out to the "paved" road I opened her up just a bit. Felt powerful, it accelerated well. Wasn't smoking. There was a definite pull to the right. That Kumho that was worn to pieces up front was making a flop, flop noise. We drove for a decent distance then turned around.

  While backing up the car felt more funny. It seemed like the motor was unsteady. Sort of a misfire or something. It was very minimal. Back in drive the car still felt good. The auto transmission shifted fine. Nice and crisp. With three peeps in the car it didn't miss a beat. No strange noises from the motor or trans. Just the sweet flop-flop of the worn Kumho.

  We got back to where it was parked. I pulled it back into its spot. I smelled something like burning oil. When I got out the hood was smoking, not a huge amount but, enough to see. We popped the hood again. There was oil burning off the exhaust manifolds. :/ This was a little concerning. I discussed the causes for such with my buddy. Head gasket or valve cover gasket. Valve covers are a normally worn item on a 328i with these miles. This made me feel a bit better.

  So down to the real business. Before we left to look at this car, I only took what I was going to offer max. Which of course was not quite what he was asking. The car had been on Craigslist for 39 days. The original ad posted for $500 more. My max give was going to be $250 less than what is was posted for now. Given the 0 maintenance records and issues with it in the current I felt that was fair.

  I started $500 less than the current posting. He went +300, I countered with +250, my max give. A moment of pause, then, a head nod and a hand shake. A few moments later the title was being signed and it was mine. I was, almost, the official owner of my first BMW. Even in its auto glory. I still had to pay taxes to the state and get the official title in my name of course. Then it would be official, official.

  It was time to head back home.

*Side note: Even after seeing that I never asked if the car had been smoked in. I didn't pick up on that fact until later.

Backtracking Part 3 - The Trip to Nowhere

  I made a phone call to talk to the seller. He was selling the car for his niece. She was a college student and had bought another vehicle. The is scary and heart warming for me at the same time.

  The drivers side mirror was missing. He didn't know when or how that happened. The title was clear though. No accidents recorded. This sounded promising but, I didn't want to get my hopes too high. We arranged a convenient meeting time for a few days later.

  After an hour and some change of driving, we approached the final destination. We turned on to a roughly paved lane and half wide road. Wasn't looking good in terms of location. I was happy to have a buddy with me at this point because it was starting to feel like Wrong Turn. If you haven't seen that movie, it was just out in the middle of nowhere.

  Next turn was a rock "road" then, just a few more feet and the ending destination was on the left. After rolling for about 300 feet, the trees opened up and there, on the left, was the little 328i parked on the side of the owners stone driveway.

  The place looked decent, a normal country home. There were even chickens. I've never met an awful person, of the few people that I do know who have kept chickens. This was going from bad to better.

  I got a text from the gentleman right as we rolled in asking about our eta. We both laughed when we rolled up and he walked out on to his porch. We were in a rush to get there to the meeting spot on time so, at this point we both had to use the bathroom. I sheepishly asked if we could use the bathroom because of the latter. He directed us to run behind the shed and let if fly. We walked that way and in fact there were several toilets setup behind the shed. Odd but, awesome at the same time. 

  With that taken care of it was time to discuss car business.