BMW USED CARS

This is the wiring procedure to make your sidemarkers blink. When your parking lights are off, the sidemarkers will blink at the same time as the turn signal. When your lights are on, it will make your sidemarkers blink alternately with your turn signals. Not only does it look cool, but it helps to alert other drivers as to when you are making a turn or lane change. Safe and effective.

Tools Needed:
You'll need a piece of electrical wire (10/15 cm) to serve as a jumper wire.
According to Patrick Farrel, a BMW master tech working at a dealer in MD, you should always use a fused jumper wire.

First, locate de diagnostic socket, at the engine compartment.
There are two different types: up to 1987, it's located near the intake manifold, and has a red cap:

This a quick summary of how to change the batteries for the service interval processor on E30 325's. I don't know how much is different with the 5/7 series, but I have a feeling is basically the same. You can also find an article on this is the November '91 Roundel, but what follows is from my experience.

The processor is on a board mounted in the instrument cluster. The batteries are soldered to the board, and a dealer wants ~$200 because he replaces the whole thing.

When the glove box no longer opens it is time to change the latch. Other accounts on this topic that I have read were a bit vague so I tried to clear up a few things by writing this. The parts for this job should only cost about $20 (or equivalent), this is for the latch mechanism. If you go to the BMW dealer however, they will give you a price for the latch mechanism and opener handle with key, these cost approx. $60, so ask them for just the latch mechanism. I used a second-hand item for now (cost me equivalent of $3), but I would strongly recommend buying new. I got two units but before I even got the job completed the first unit gave up! (I have ordered new part).

Here are the procedures I used to completely flush and refill the cooling system on my car. BMW recommends that this be done every 2 years. I used BMW anti-freeze (at a hefty $14.75 per gallon) as this is highly recommended and I'm not one to be penny wise and pound foolish on these matters.

This information applies to a 1993 325iC E30 with a M20/B25 engine.

Tool's required: a 8mm wrench, a 10mm wrench, a 19mm wrench, a screwdriver, 2 gallons of anti-freeze, and a shallow pan that'll hold at least 4 gallons. (you'll have right much anti-freeze left over. 1 gallon is not _quite_ enough for a 50/50 mix, and 2 gallons is way too much)

jack up the front of the car and set jackstands, or drive up on ramps. You need room to maneuver. Put some newspaper or cardboard under the trans because it will drip ATF.

The trans has a small drain plug at the rear of the pan. Set the drain pan under the plug, open the plug with the hex key and drain the fluid. Now you can drop the pan. Notice there is a tube connected to the front of the pan. This is the fill tube, where the dipstick is. It tries to get in the way when you are replacing the pan; but disconnecting it could be more difficult.

There used to be a rumor that the differential cover from the new M-Roadster/Coupe would bolt on to an E30 M3 differential housing. Jimmy Pettinato was the first enthusiast to actually go out and tackle the install. I have since followed suit, as have some other list members. This write-up is a combination of the experiences gained by Jimmy and I during our install procedures. You may be wondering; "Why the heck would I want all those fins hanging down under my rear end?" Well if you track your E30 then that limited-slip clutch pack will generate some serious heat. And the ultimate enemy of any clutch is heat. The fins on the M-coupe diff' cover reach down into the air flow underneath the car and should therefore help bring about lower operational diff' temperatures. Furthermore, since the diff' cover only costs about $140 and can be ordered right from the dealer, I cannot see any reason not to do it - this mod should be on every E30 owner's "to-do" list.

One of the easiest and best bang-for-the-buck suspension modifications to do on an E30 is a strut/stress bar install. There are many different companies that make strut bars such as BMP Design, Racing Dynamics, Ireland Engineering, Sparco, and many more. For our project car we chose to use the Sparco strut bar, which we purchased from Evosport. It's the simplest design out in the market and is constructed of steel, unlike most other strut bars which are made out of aluminum. Another thing that we liked about this particular bar is that it's a solid design that isn't hinged or adjustable design (such as BMP's bar). This gives the Sparco bar an advantage over the other bars by doing what its supposed to keep the strut towers stable. Testimony of users is that there is no bar better than the Spacro bar. It's the most popular bar in the E30 world, and it also fits the Ground-Control's front camber correction plates, which is the new favorite along with Ground-Control's coil-overs for E30 fans on tracks everywhere. Now that you know what we picked and why we picked it, lets see how the heck to put it on.