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Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Fri May 22, 2026 11:42 pm
by Sundayjumper
Beany wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:37 pm
Sundayjumper wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:25 pm
Funny you should mention it, the 360 was up in the air today because I was wondering why the undertray is full of oil
It's a BMW in disguise!
Sundayjumper wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:25 pm
As best I can tell, it's probably the cam cover gaskets.
It really
is a BMW in disguise
Fair. Very fair point

Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Fri May 22, 2026 11:43 pm
by mik
Capristo pipes look way better.
Are you full-time car fiddler at the moment?
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 7:36 am
by V8Granite
Sundayjumper wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 10:34 pm
Mito Man wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 10:13 pm
Unbelievable about of work for something that you’d think would be simple!
The seals are literally barely more than £1 each. There's some incidentals too of course, but it's mostly all down to the massive amount of labour, which in turn is due to it being a V8 and the heads being very close to the side of the engine bay, making access difficult. I did valve seals on one of our MINIs, they're right on the top and dead easy. Relatively.
There is a special tool kit available -
CLICK - that makes it possible to do it in-situ but it's $2k+shipping+tax, and
this very good video of it in use says it took him 20 hours
not including removing the cam covers to get there in the first place. Or putting it back together after. And he says that his 6-Series has better access than the 5-Series. Engine-out obviously gives full access to everything so overall, that's the better way to do it. Evidenced ^^^^ by that specialist that shows an engine very much not in the car.
Add in another 10 years of heat cycles to all the plastic brackets and cable runs etc and it would be a nightmare to do any work on.
Plastic of any type does suck in an engine bay.
Dave!
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 8:47 am
by Sundayjumper
mik wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:43 pm
Are you full-time car fiddler at the moment?
Not exactly full time but yeah, I guess I am. Fortunately I lost my job at the end of March so I currently have the time to tackle a few jobs without time pressure, while the weather is decent too. I absolutely would not have done the M5 if it was midwinter and I was working a full time job as well.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 8:47 am
by Jimmy Choo
After a slow driver finally turned off and let me proceed at speed I applied a full boot full of throttle and was rewarded with the pop that you get when you run over an empty bottle followed by all my torque buggering off.
My car"s turbos areTOO EXTREME for 21 year old boost hoses.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 8:48 am
by Jimmy Choo
Sundayjumper wrote: Sat May 23, 2026 8:47 am
mik wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:43 pm
Are you full-time car fiddler at the moment?
Not exactly full time but yeah, I guess I am. Fortunately I lost my job at the end of March so I currently have the time to tackle a few jobs without time pressure, while the weather is decent too. I absolutely would not have done the M5 if it was midwinter and I was working a full time job as well.
Bad darts on the job front. Good darts on the spannering.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 9:04 am
by Sundayjumper
Jimmy Choo wrote: Sat May 23, 2026 8:47 am
My car"s turbos areTOO EXTREME for 21 year old boost hoses.
Annoying but should be easy to fix. FWIW I'm using generic Aliexpress hoses. The originals had hardened and gone completely solid on the turbo inlets. I had to scrape them off. The jubilee clips feel a bit flimsy but they're doing the job OK.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010560115994.html
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 9:08 am
by Sundayjumper
Jimmy Choo wrote: Sat May 23, 2026 8:48 am
Bad darts on the job front. Good darts on the spannering.
Ta. 'tis the nature of contracting, I'm not looking for sympathy

Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 10:05 am
by Alex88
Holy moly SJ
Imagine buying one of these and being mechanically incompetent (as I am). You'd be bleeding money!
Is it me or are failing valve stem seals a bit of a BMW thing? I don't see this on other brands.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 11:16 am
by Mito Man
I don’t think it’s that bad if you go through a specialist and you’re aware of it. Say you buy one in the low teens, go through a specialist and it’s £5k to fix it and replace all the crusty hoses. Maybe it needs some brakes, bushes and tyres, and a detail. Call it £20k all in.
You’ve got a 550bhp supercar that’s sorted for a long time, and prices are at rock bottom so that works in your favour.
There’s someone somewhere in the world that will buy a new 520d for £45,000, drive it for 2 years and sell it for £20,000 and they’re happy because it did 50 mpg

Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 11:46 am
by Alex88
Fair point. Although, perhaps being somewhat pessimistic, I'd always be worrying about hearing the dreaded 'bong' every time I got in it!
Can't deny the performance for the money, though. Especially makes sense if you're handy with spanners
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 6:20 pm
by Explosive Newt
I carried out a significant optimisation of the Tesla's sporting stance by moving the steering wheel slightly lower.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 7:02 pm
by Explosive Newt
Sundayjumper wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 11:25 pm
GG. wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 10:36 pm
ETA - more importantly I presume the 360 is not in bits for Gav to use on Sunday and are you coming along? I presume the Aston needs another run out…
Funny you should mention it, the 360 was up in the air today because I was wondering why the undertray is full of oil
IMG_8637.jpeg
As best I can tell, it's probably the cam cover gaskets. Not the crank seal, fortunately, because that would end up being a new clutch.
I took the opportunity to refit the Capristo tail pipes, but still with the standard main box. After a quick drive it seems like a reasonable compromise to me, it's a bit louder but not as bad as the full Capristo system. Looks better too.
Nice.
IMG_8641.jpeg
Lame.
IMG_8642.jpeg
It should be noted that this put the 360 in Limp Home mode just as Gavin exited a motorway.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 7:04 pm
by Explosive Newt
Sundayjumper wrote: Fri May 22, 2026 10:10 pm
Funny story - I figured I'd drop a line to that specialist to see if they could put me in touch with the good owner. I have copies of the invoices but the owner's details are redacted. Turns out the specialist is dead, after a short illness in March.
In Mysterious Circumstances.
The assiduous bodger ensures a mysterious illness befalls previous owners before assuming a new identity to properly cover their bodgey tracks.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 8:37 pm
by Sundayjumper
Explosive Newt wrote: Sun May 24, 2026 7:02 pm
It should be noted that this put the 360 in Limp Home mode just as Gavin exited a motorway.
I’m not entirely sure what caused it. I strongly suspect it’s just being Italian and is jealous of the attention I’ve given to the M5. It also had a bit of a gearbox paddy the day I first went to view the M5. I drove gently for a while and explained that the M5 would be an
addition to the family and wasn’t going to replace anybody. It was then fine all the way to Bristol & back.
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 8:41 pm
by speedingfine
Sundayjumper wrote: Sun May 24, 2026 8:37 pm
Explosive Newt wrote: Sun May 24, 2026 7:02 pm
It should be noted that this put the 360 in Limp Home mode just as Gavin exited a motorway.
I’m not entirely sure what caused it. I strongly suspect it’s just being Italian and is jealous of the attention I’ve given to the M5. It also had a bit of a gearbox paddy the day I first went to view the M5. I drove gently for a while and explained that the M5 would be an
addition to the family and wasn’t going to replace anybody. It was then fine all the way to Bristol & back.
Character

Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 8:44 pm
by Explosive Newt
Sundayjumper wrote: Sun May 24, 2026 8:37 pm
Explosive Newt wrote: Sun May 24, 2026 7:02 pm
It should be noted that this put the 360 in Limp Home mode just as Gavin exited a motorway.
I’m not entirely sure what caused it. I strongly suspect it’s just being Italian and is jealous of the attention I’ve given to the M5. It also had a bit of a gearbox paddy the day I first went to view the M5. I drove gently for a while and explained that the M5 would be an
addition to the family and wasn’t going to replace anybody. It was then fine all the way to Bristol & back.
Maintaining a car is very much like making love to a beautiful woman… you open up her manifold, lubricate the seals and take back her Bristols.

Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 9:05 pm
by Sundayjumper
And hope you don’t go into limp mode

Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 9:11 pm
by DeskJockey
Re: Your fleet running reports
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 9:20 pm
by Explosive Newt