Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

I've never seen a pin thingy like this before. Where do you screw it into?

The E46 M3 had one but not sure if your CSL even has a tool kit?

Did it? i don’t remember ever seeing one in any of my bmws tbf!

I've seen one - had one - but I'm sure they didn't come in *all* BMW tool kits, and I can't remember which one(s) it was.

[Sundayjumper]

Actually, partly ignore me, I was thinking of the Cayenne one. It's much nicer than the BMW one

Second from top:

[V8Granite]

Must be a GT3 one, it has swapped knurling for a speed hole.

Dave!

[Carlos]

The E46 M3 had one but not sure if your CSL even has a tool kit?

Did it? i don’t remember ever seeing one in any of my bmws tbf!

I've seen one - had one - but I'm sure they didn't come in *all* BMW tool kits, and I can't remember which one(s) it was.

Like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364529865758 ... 54dfac541e

Hardly any used tool kits on there have them though!

[integrale_evo]

E30,36,46 all had one, doubles as a handle for the spark plug wrench. I assume all other BMWs of the era also had one

[mik]

I've never seen a pin thingy like this before. Where do you screw it into?

Just saves you having to do the usual “find the aperture” dance for the first bolt.

Added drama of a shim in this vid.

I wouldn’t ever allow the dugga-dugga to do any duggas without the other bolts being nipped in though

[Matty]

Never seen one or used of those before. Obviously for the beta* BMW drivers who need help locating the hole.

*Is that's still an insult or have things moved on. I've no idea.

[integrale_evo]

[Rich B]

E30,36,46 all had one, doubles as a handle for the spark plug wrench. I assume all other BMWs of the era also had one

aaah, i’d always seen it described as the handle for the spark plug wrench! Of course it’s a wheel alignment tool!

Carlos is CORRECT!

[Sundayjumper]

E30,36,46 all had one, doubles as a handle for the spark plug wrench. I assume all other BMWs of the era also had one

aaah, i’d always seen it described as the handle for the spark plug wrench! Of course it’s a wheel alignment tool!

Carlos is CORRECT!

Yeah... that

[Jobbo]

I'm starting to have doubts that the Porsche sales experience is great because "give us your money" but that its lacking in the aftersales...

A couple of months is a long time - I really hope you have it back soon and particularly by May...

Aftersales at Tewkesbury Porsche Centre has been excellent but if there are no window mechanisms available in the UK I'm not sure they'd be any better than Perth. Surely it must be possible for Porsche to get them within a couple of days from Germany?

[Swervin_Mervin]

E30,36,46 all had one, doubles as a handle for the spark plug wrench. I assume all other BMWs of the era also had one

aaah, i’d always seen it described as the handle for the spark plug wrench! Of course it’s a wheel alignment tool!

Carlos is CORRECT!

Got me wondering now whether the E91 has one...

[Mito Man]

They're good for those skinny spacers which are more like a shim otherwise you'll be bent over like a whore for 30 minutes trying to get the hole in the wheel to line up with the spacer which must also line up with the hub.
I first became aware of them after seeing something about having to have them on Porsches fitted with ceramic brakes because the slightest bump with the alloy wheel will chip the disc and cost £££££

[mik]

@Ascender The Audi dealership for mrs mik's car always initially offers a slot with no courtesy car available, but I always tell them we need one, which generally means a slot that's about 3x as far in the future. When you have a courtesy car - they have a far greater impetus to effect a speedy repair.

Are you saying you left the car with them and made your way home? Or that you drove it home and aren't sure when it'll get fixed.

If it's the former, and the item is confirmed as a warranty repair but they don't have the bits,don't they provide a hire car if no courtesy cars are available?

[Ascender]

So, apparently for parts going to Edinburgh, they come into the UK, go to a distribution centre, then go to Glasgow, then go to Edinburgh. So the earliest it was going to arrive was going to be tomorrow.

They could have given me a loan car until Tuesday, but they don't know if the part will arrive tomorrow and even if it does, they probably won't have time to do the work until after Tuesday. So I'd have to drive back down to Edinburgh with the loan car, drop it off and then come back home... and then go back down to pick it up.

A driver can only deliver a car up here if there's a way of them getting back down - i.e. a loan car.

Which is all fine, but I first emailed Edinburgh about this and needing a loan car on the 11th of January.

Perth wouldn't have been any quicker to get the window repaired, but I hoped they might have had a loan car given similar notice. The fact I was promised a call back twice to get it booked in with them and never heard back is pretty shitty service to be honest.

So yes, I've left the car with them, got a lift home and at the moment, have no idea when it will be fixed or how to get it back without taking a day out from work at a cost of X and having to drive for 8 hours in a day

[Jobbo]

That's somewhat inconvenient Mike. Does sound like it will be fixed fairly soon at least.

Our Cayenne was built last week and is at the port in Emden awaiting being loaded onto a ship to Sheerness. Anticipated delivery date to the dealer is 31 March, so we have provisionally booked that as the collection date - it needs to be registered by that day to avoid the increased first registration VED which goes up about £2000 on 1 April. Hoping we'll achieve that but it's out of our hands. And apparently a ship went from Emden to Sheerness with 1400 empty spaces on it due to some sort of logistical cock-up, so I hope it isn't delayed.

MX5 recall notice received yesterday; some sort of re-programming required for the electronic safety systems when using park assist, I think. Sounds like guff but I've got it booked in to be done at the same time as the lowering springs are fitted on 27 March. Busy end to the month.

[Mito Man]

Autel worked for resetting the service interval on the XJ

It reported oil dilution of 3% which is either below normal, normal or excessive depending on what you read online…

Also let it do a full scan. Which was not a good idea.



The only actual thing on that list that doesn’t work is the automatic high beam camera, however I don’t think it’s a dead camera, as it’s the same camera which does the speed limit recognition and that bit works. Might just need a recalibration which the Autel can do.

For fun I plugged it into my shonky old BMW to see what list of horrors that would generate

Just the codes for the misfire and parking sensor and the cabin filtration bad smell sensor which I’m sure I replaced a few years ago but it’s dead again.
One interesting thing I didn’t know is that all BMWs have a little siren with rechargeable batteries inside, just like a house alarm. I just assumed they sound the horn.
Not my picture:

[Mito Man]

Found my cylinder 6 problem





I checked my invoice, the rocker gaskets are only 25,000 miles old and not leaking externally but there’s oil in the spark plug wells.
Looking online it seems the rocker gasket is sold in 2 parts with the exterior and the spark plug well gaskets a separate part although the Febi part has both in the kit.
My tuna couldn’t have been such a cunt as to not replace the inner gasket? How can all 8 be leaking?!

[mik]

Found my cylinder 6 problem

I see it - bit of cardboard on the spark plug end.

[Mito Man]

Found my cylinder 6 problem

I see it - bit of cardboard on the spark plug end.

Aren't you a bright spark.