Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

mrk · 15 Mar 2019 at 14:20

I've got a free weekend so did plan on jacking the car up and inspecting the sensor, so will make sure before buying anything!

I suppose if I can't find a genuine used ATE one, a new alt brand one will be fine as well since it's a magnetic sensor and it only has one simple job to do. All of them seem to be in the £10 region on eBay. It's an easy and quick job to do, so no reason not to check it out for myself first I guess!

-westy- · 15 Mar 2019 at 21:59

Do places like ECP not stock parts?

mrk · 15 Mar 2019 at 22:19

ABS/Speed sensor? Yeah they do.... But at £126.99

Relentlessly expensive for seemingly no reason.

Gaygle · 16 Mar 2019 at 14:20

mrk said:
ABS/Speed sensor? Yeah they do.... But at £126.99

Relentlessly expensive for seemingly no reason.

Yeh ABS sensors are stupidly expensive for what they are.

Just FYI you can get a brand new genuine ATE one for £34

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/192712918148

mrk · 16 Mar 2019 at 15:00

Given what's inside these, I fail to see why the ATE part is still over £30 when other German/EU brands are under £20 for what seems to be the exact same thing! It's not like the ATE one has thicker sheathing, or more robust terminations!

Just one of those things I guess.

It's too crap outside today to be jacking the car up, maybe tomorrow. Wish this weather would sod off. Car hasn't had a good wash in over a month!

Simon · 16 Mar 2019 at 17:17

Cheap compared to Honda ones !

mrk · 24 Mar 2019 at 19:30

Ok so this afternoon I had some time to kill and the weather was great, so jacked up the car both ends to check out both speed sensors. Under the M3 the junction box the connector sits in is behind two panels that stop water splashing up and keep the underside flat. These are somewhat annoying to remove...

Anyway, I got both sensors out and they had no signs or damage and I'd say they looked relatively recent, certainly not original items so someone has changed them in previous ownership. They both has a layer of dust/rust from the steel frame they sit in, so I cleaned them both up, as well as the frame. I'm guessing the rust layer acted like iron filings causing erratic readings hence the error codes. I also looked through the hole to the reluctor rings and they both looks nice and silver, no corrosion signs on them. So I have no idea what the scraping noise was from the rear right wheel which I mentioned above. Symptoms pointed to the ring scraping against the sensor, but this appears to not be the case.

Put the sensors back in and fired up Carly to clear the codes. Too knackered to go for a drive to test so will do that mid-week perhaps. If the errors come back the investigation continues.

For reference, these were the error codes:

Screenshot_20190324-184346_Carly%20f%20BMW.jpg

Screenshot_20190324-184341_Carly%20f%20BMW.jpg

Both codes refer to an ABS sensor issue^

Apologies for jumping the gun and thinking it was the ring(s)! All signs pointed to them!

It's been quite fun driving without DSC these past few weeks. By fun I mean no different at all

Simon · 24 Mar 2019 at 20:43

They can fail without any signs. Mine went so put it on a code reader to see which wheel. ordered a new one and replaced it in the time it takes to look at them you could have fixed it.

They will clear themselves once the abs ecu gets a speed reading from every wheel. Happens on every rolling toad day I’m sure

mrk · 16 Apr 2019 at 12:07

Simon said:
They can fail without any signs. Mine went so put it on a code reader to see which wheel. ordered a new one and replaced it in the time it takes to look at them you could have fixed it.

True, I still haven't had time to re-jack the car up to swap out the sensor since my last post, no time this month either what with shoots and other things going on.

I did however have time for a bit of a blast one evening. The carbon fibre airbox is the greatest thing ever invented :cool:

icehot · 17 Apr 2019 at 09:48

mrk said:
True, I still haven't had time to re-jack the car up to swap out the sensor since my last post, no time this month either what with shoots and other things going on.

I did however have time for a bit of a blast one evening. The carbon fibre airbox is the greatest thing ever invented

Thanks for sharing mate, love the vid and the sound

mrk · 17 Apr 2019 at 11:14

Without the noise it wouldn't be the same

I'm on the island doing a shoot this Sunday so will try something a little different then!

mrk · 22 Apr 2019 at 23:52

So I think after 4 years of regular roof down action, my roof motor has started to play up.

Pretty much this:

Another scenario:

I'm betting it's the plastic cover as per video 2, but I'll take it apart tomorrow and investigate the white plastic cog too where the drive shaft goes in.

Joys!

mrk · 5 May 2019 at 02:49

DIY modding of the hidden fast wireless charging pad is now completed. I've been up the last few hours determined to solve the challenge. I bought a couple of wireless chargers off Amazon and failed the first time as the PCB was too large. The second charger was a stand type which had a removable base cover housing plate which I re-used to make the DIY look professional. Tested in the house and all working nicely. Will fit into the car in the morning :cool:

Video

Conscript · 5 May 2019 at 09:21

Ingenious!
Would like something similar, but vent mounted so I can use the phone screen. I have been looking at vent mounted wireless chargers but they are very big and bulky.

mrk · 6 May 2019 at 00:12

I've not yet seen a vent mounted one that looks half decent. All of them as you say seem to be bulky eyesores!

My only issue now if I cannot upgrade to a phone that has a wider width than an S10e any more as no other big phone will fit

One Vision · 29 May 2019 at 08:47

Gaygle said:
Yeh ABS sensors are stupidly expensive for what they are.

Just FYI you can get a brand new genuine ATE one for £34

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/192712918148

I remember getting an ABS sensor for around 30 quid from car spares. Fitting it was a pain but once fitted worked a treat.

mrk · 4 Jun 2019 at 14:57

So now my power glovebox lock has failed! The convertibles have one for obvious reasons, think the motor or solenoid bit has worn so it just spins and makes a right racket when locking/unlocking the car. I've disconnected it so it can still be locked manually if I ever want to lock the glovebox. The lock itself is super easy to replace, 2 screws on in the glovebox and it pops right out and unplugs. I'll probably just salvage a working motor from a scrapyard one day when idly passing by or even ebay one but tbh I don't care about auto locking gloveboxes anyway so probably will leave it be.

Other than that...
Here are a few detail shots at nearly half moon mileage @ 118k

Not too shabby I reckon.

acemastr · 4 Jun 2019 at 15:21

mrk said:
True, I still haven't had time to re-jack the car up to swap out the sensor since my last post, no time this month either what with shoots and other things going on.

I did however have time for a bit of a blast one evening. The carbon fibre airbox is the greatest thing ever invented

Get your finger away from the indicator stalk

Uncle_Gravy · 4 Jun 2019 at 15:28

Bet it sounds the dogs danglies with the Eventuri intake, I imagine somewhere you have a sound clip of it, i hope?

mrk · 4 Jun 2019 at 15:51

acemastr said:
Get your finger away from the indicator stalk

I follow the Petrolicious motto and drive tastefully!

Uncle_Gravy said:
Bet it sounds the dogs danglies with the Eventuri intake, I imagine somewhere you have a sound clip of it, i hope?

I've had it installed for around 4 years now so you may have seen an older clip! Even though I'm used to it, there's never a day the burble from the Eventuri doesn't put a smile on my face

From inside the engine bay:

From Outside (@20s):