P_Roloff

America gets shafted with our model line. That is all.

Jeez, I’m bad about updates here. I put maybe 500 miles on it this fall, and installed factory rubber engine mounts the day I parked it to tone down NVH. The 95A poly ones were too harsh for my liking. Also installing a new Z3 shift lever and a completely refreshed OEM shift assembly with DSSR before the warm weather comes back - the garagistic shifter doesn’t have enough throw for my liking. Way too notchy. Black Friday sales were good this year too, so I bought a Continental/VDO Bluetooth head unit and will be installing that before spring as well. Super pumped to have a more OEM looking radio finally! Some pics: Just this last week, I took the time to pull the driver’s seat out so I could replace the driver’s bolster. I bought like 3-4 junk seats from someone on here a few years ago (turbo S5x in the fox valley area?) for one single bolster, and honestly, well worth it! I still need to correct the rear seatback tear but the driver’s seat is more important to me at this point. I used a cheapo hog ring kit off of Amazon and it worked surprisingly well - start to finish it probably only took me an hour or a little more including pulling the bolster off the old seat.

145,621 Installed the rear subframe inserts last night - no pics unfortunately, but I discovered that the E91 has a different rear subframe bushing than the sedans and coupes. The lower insert still went in fine but the upper was completely different. Some googling showed me that while FCP claims it’s for all chassis, the E91 does in fact have a slight bushing difference. Oh well, 6/8 isn’t bad and there was a very definite difference before and after. Firmer ride, but only because the rear shocks were now attenuating bumps instead of the subframe. No notable NVH increase, just better ride (IMO) and the car feels way more planted in really all cornering, but especially sweepers. Good bang for the buck I’d say! Ordered what will hopefully be my last set of front tension struts for awhile from FCP today - the M3 TRW struts had a COO change to Malaysia and ever since have had major ball joint failure problems that are being widely reported. Both pairs I bought failed within the first 5k or so. Going to try Meyle M3 arms to see if that fixes it permanently; if not, I think I’m just gonna light it all on fire 😂

Nice score, by far my favorite of all the factory spoiler options! Want to sell me your old IS spoiler now?

145,383 Picked the car up today from International Autos, they went in and did the PCV and VANOS recall work - they noted the exhaust adjuster already had the bolts replaced, and just did the intake ones as a result (which checks out from Joe’s thread). I’ll gladly take the free VCG! Changed oil tonight - Liqui-Moly Special Tec 5W-30 and a Mann filter. While I was down there, I pulled the belly pan off and replaced the primary ground strap - old one was original I believe and getting gross. I found a seeping PS line while I was under there, not leaking much but I’ll add it to the list. Looks like the return line from the cooler to the reservoir. I also found blue fluid down in the PS pan, but I’m pretty sure it’s washer fluid since I accidentally filled to the brim last time and it’s still basically that full. I’ll keep an eye on it just in case.

145,xxx - I have hardly driven this car now that it’s snowy, I find it hard to justify when my truck already has surface rust and is more tolerant of starting in the cold. Replaced the rear license plate frame; it already had one snapped bolt and I broke another this year when putting on my new registration sticker so I figured it was time for a new one. No more rattles when closing the hatch!! Also bought a new cabin air filter (Hengst), really high quality with the foam seal around the outside. Took the opportunity to wipe the engine bay plastics down while I was in there. Also replaced a few fender liner pop rivets that I lost the center pins for when fixing the leaking washer fluid pump seals. Next up is confirming whether the whining I’m hearing is indeed the PS pump (going to pull the serpentine belt and see if it goes away) or if it’s the A/C compressor or alternator. I still have rear subframe inserts to install this spring, and a new ground strap to go on at the next oil change, which will hopefully happen this week or next. Debating on what tires to get this spring - the summers need replacing. I’ve heard good things about the DWS06, but it has 300TW tires on it now and they aged/wore out at the same time, so I don’t think I need anything that’ll wear harder. Leaning PS4S unless anyone has something else they love and would recommend over it?

143,020: Replaced air filter - used a Mahle filter (P/N LX1035) in the euro airbox and it was an identical drop-in replacement. It doesn’t show up as compatible on FCP euro for the euro airbox, while the K&N does - the Mahle is 1/4 of the price and doesn’t need to be oiled or anything. Very happy. Upper control arm ball joint is already failing again after replacement earlier this year, sounds like the TRW upper control arms have been problematic since a COO change from Europe to Malaysia. They’re letting me warranty with Meyle M3 arms instead, hopefully those work better because swapping them every year is quite annoying. Pretty sure there’s either a sticking caliper (unlikely) or a failing wheel bearing on the drivers rear, it’s generating a lot of heat after even short drives. Going to temp gun it and see if I can diagnose further. Just got parts in to fix the leaking washer fluid (pump and filters), as well as rear sway links and rear subframe bushing inserts. Going to order front struts and start stockpiling all the rear suspension parts for some much-needed suspension refreshing this winter. In other news, I used the wagon for a weekend camping trip at Mirror Lake this past weekend, it was perfect for the job and never skipped a beat. I love this car.

It did! Exhaust is hitting the tunnel a little and needs adjusting, and the shifter I bought sucks (garagistic chassis mount… figured they couldn’t mess that up. I have been proven wrong) but generally it drove perfectly and ran okay once the plug was fixed. Idle is a tad low and it isn’t idling perfectly but it gets up and goes once you’re moving. Slight diff leak as well, either a halfshaft or the output seal but not worrying about that for now. That’s a winter project haha, interior reassembly and shakedown starts next week! Hoping to put on some real miles this fall before it gets parked for winter.

It drives!!!!! First time in nearly three years that this car has moved under its own power and it feels oh-so-good. Had a minor snafu with it running though on initial start. When I first lit it off last week it was idling super slow but Infigured it was just from time sitting and would quickly adjust, but no such luck. Got a CEL, read it via stomp test, and it came back as an “Injector Batch 1 Fault”. Some quick research pointed to the C191 connector under the intake manifold as a likely culprit, especially since I wasn’t able to separate it despite a lot of trying when the engine was out. I pulled the boots off of the connector and immediately saw major corrosion, and made the executive decision to just cut the connector out. It turned out to be the right call - I had to pretty much destroy the connector on the bench to eventually separate the halves. I spliced the wires back together, and lo and behold, running on all 6 again. Idle is a bit slow and it stumbles a little when recs return to idle, but I’ll chase that in time. Drove around for 20 minutes, bled the cooling system, checked function of all major systems, and it all seems OK. Next steps are interior and body reassembly, then I’ll get my skidplate welded and be good to go!

Update: It runs! I pulled the fuel pump assembly thinking I might’ve pushed a wire so it was shorting, and noticed my wires going in were opposite the ones on the pump body (brown to red, and brown to green/purple). The connector was busted partially so I just zip tied the two piles together when I put it back together; I must’ve reversed those somehow. Corrected it, was able to jump the fuel pump normally, and the car fired off almost immediately! Now for the clutch slave, driveshaft, and exhaust! Nearly there!

Had an interesting issue today I’d like to pick everyone’s brains on: reconnected everything on the e30, engine back in, cranks but no start. Cool. Engine and entire fuel system have been removed and out back in, so not that surprising. I started with the fuel system because it was the fastest - I pulled the fuel return line on the FPR, and it was bone dry even with cranking for a cumulative 20+ seconds. Didn’t smell like fuel either (new lines). Tried jumping fuel pump relay, no dice, so it’s something with fuel delivery. Found that the fuse is blown. Replaced, it blew again when I cranked it. So a short of some sort or a bad pump. This is where it gets interesting. I used a Milwaukee M12 battery to directly power the pump - ran fine. I then put my multimeter in-line and got something like 2-3 amps. Cool, so not the pump? Not so fast! I then used the multimeter on both pin 87 at the relay socket (feeds power to fuse and then the pump) and tested resistance to ground (with the pump unplugged) expecting to see low resistance indicating a short somewhere. No dice - seems to be normal with no completed circuit. After a lot of double checking of that result at various locations, I hooked up a jumper wire from the power wire of the fuel pump to the positive connector on the pump itself - but NOT connecting the ground on the pump to body/harness ground. I then jumped the fuel pump relay again, and POP goes the fuse again. So it appears my pump is faulty and shorting out internally? Anyone ever experience this? I’ll be ordering a new pump from FCP tonight but just seems weird. The car did sit for three years since it last ran, but it was inside and dry. No fuel pump issues before I parked it and the existing pump has about 10 years and 20k miles on it only. No idea of brand. Anyone have any thoughts?

Update at about 140k: turning the rotors and installing EBC Yellowstuff pads seems to have completely eliminated the braking shudder issue. I’ve put a little over a thousand miles on it already after the change with no issues. I will update if anything changes. I haven’t really gotten on them yet but I have zero complaints so far. Good cold bite, easy break in, and the 335i brakes with any pads have great power - I can only imagine that these will haul the car down like the hand of god. It still has a mild vibration at highway speed that comes and goes that was improved after the front brakes were done, but I’m going to start with a wheel balance and go from there. Pretty sure there’s a bad ball joint somewhere in the rear suspension too so that likely isn’t helping. If the front pads were this prone to pad deposits it could be that too but on the rears, but since there’s no pulsing anymore when braking it seems less likely.

I believe it’s just the performance aero stuff. M sport and regular are easy to get, so not sure how many people would pay for it. I certainly kept the old one though!

138,802: Oil change completed, swapped in new wishbones on the front due to a ball joint clunk I was hearing, and found that while they definitely weren’t perfect, those weren’t the problem. After some poking around, I concluded that the 1-year old tension struts were the issue. The passenger side arm had a bad ball joint already. Brake shudder is I believe still the culprit, I replaced the drivers side rotor and it improved, but now when I spin the passenger side rotor that one has a very obvious high spot in it. For now, I just replaced both tension struts again and am going to order new brake pads (EBC yellowstuff, going to get something with more bite to hopefully keep pad material from building up) to hopefully solve this permanently. Planning to just turn the rotors for the new pads since they’re almost new still. Front shocks are mega blown out, their replacements arrived a few days ago courtesy of @patsbimmer1. Went with soemthing a little spicier than OEM, I’ll share more details when they’re installed. Oh - last update: had a semi back up into this car in traffic in April, and I was extremely disappointed. The hit wasn’t too hard but it put a large crack in the front bumper, which is NLA and basically unobtanium (genuine performance aero bumper, and would’ve made the car have an incomplete kit) Through Reddit and a bit (read: a stupid amount) of luck, I found one on German EBay of all places, bought it, had it shipped here (in only bubble wrap 🙃) and finally painted and installed a week or two ago. I managed to snag a euro model bumper too without headlight washers, so I got to delete the ugly covers and the ugly side markers all in one fell swoop.

131,050 Well, my time with this car has come to an end. What a wonderful car and one I’ll truly miss, but it was time. It sat nearly all summer and was just getting to be a pain to maintain on top of the truck, e30, and e91. It went to a local guy who was looking for a neat older car to learn to wrench on, so I think it’ll suit him well. It remains the quietest, most solidly built car I’ve ever owned, it was seriously a tank. Hung the tail out in the snow pretty impressively too. Replaced the blower motor before I sold it, and sent two sets of wheels and most of my e34 spares along as well. I’m excited to have the space back, one less project, and to be able to focus more on the E91 and E30. I still have the MOMO Heritage 6’s and the m-systems, if anyone was wondering haha. MOMO’s will be listed as soon as I wash them, and the M-Systems will hopefully get their restoration completed once the e30 is back on the road. Farewell to the E34 club, it’s been a good ride!