Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...
- Thread starter mrk
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Vibration issue found.
Propshaft bolts were loose and one had fallen out into the heatshield recess
So now I know what an unsecured propshaft vibration sounds and feels like.
I'm guessing at one point the car had work done to the transmission and whoever put everything back together didn't torque the bolts up to spec and as such they've worked loose over time.
I can only imagine the consequences of all the bolts falling off while driving...
Propshaft bolts were loose and one had fallen out into the heatshield recess
So now I know what an unsecured propshaft vibration sounds and feels like.
I'm guessing at one point the car had work done to the transmission and whoever put everything back together didn't torque the bolts up to spec and as such they've worked loose over time.
I can only imagine the consequences of all the bolts falling off while driving...
Sore bum. I've not put any motorway miles of any great value other than driving to the bodyshop and specialists not exceeding 50 miles total really. I've also been avoiding driving the car for anything but local town stuff a couple of times since discovering the vibration.
Not an area checked during inspection service and isn't an area that generally has issues otherwise to warrant having bolts checked. Probably why everyone automatically switches to the must be wheels/suspension etc mode 
The bolts would only have come loose if they were not torqued to correct values.
I've requested new bolts be ordered from bmw, and those be loctited
The bolts would only have come loose if they were not torqued to correct values.
I've requested new bolts be ordered from bmw, and those be loctited
Not an area checked during inspection service and isn't an area that generally has issues otherwise to warrant having bolts checked. Probably why everyone automatically switches to the must be wheels/suspension etc mode
The bolts would only have come loose if they were not torqued to correct values.
I've requested new bolts be ordered from bmw, and those be loctited
I told you this about the bolts because quite a lot of guys in the US with new Mustangs have experienced similar, lose bolts on brand new cars.
Clearly cars built on Friday afternoons.
Vibration issue found.
Propshaft bolts were loose and one had fallen out into the heatshield recess
So now I know what an unsecured propshaft vibration sounds and feels like.
I'm guessing at one point the car had work done to the transmission and whoever put everything back together didn't torque the bolts up to spec and as such they've worked loose over time.
I can only imagine the consequences of all the bolts falling off while driving...
Nice one! At least you've found it and it didn't actually fall off!
Oh, I also did a couple of jobs tonight..
- Fitted the rear lights, and new end covers.. the end covers are a great refresh, £16 for the pair, both my original and the new set had cracked/split rubber on the end covers.
- Gummi Fledge'd the seals, paying particular attention to the dry hood seal which actually wasn't as bad as a thought, it was not really dry, more surface crud.. so cleaned that off first, then doused the hard to reach parts and gave it plenty of Gummi, so will see how that goes, the small split which I superglued is holding and looks pretty decent now!
- I used some POR15 on the eibach springs just on the top coil where it had rubbed slightly from the 3 months of use they had prior to me buying them.
- Fitted the plugs/coils. The plugs seemed OK (Same NGK Platinums), but the coils looked a bit old, and where Bremi's, so have been replaced with Bosch.
Not sure what to do tomorrow, I might see about getting spring pads or other items that generally are best to change when refreshing the suspension, all the bushes imagineable have already been done not too long ago, so don't need to do RTABs or anything..
- Fitted the rear lights, and new end covers.. the end covers are a great refresh, £16 for the pair, both my original and the new set had cracked/split rubber on the end covers.
- Gummi Fledge'd the seals, paying particular attention to the dry hood seal which actually wasn't as bad as a thought, it was not really dry, more surface crud.. so cleaned that off first, then doused the hard to reach parts and gave it plenty of Gummi, so will see how that goes, the small split which I superglued is holding and looks pretty decent now!
- I used some POR15 on the eibach springs just on the top coil where it had rubbed slightly from the 3 months of use they had prior to me buying them.
- Fitted the plugs/coils. The plugs seemed OK (Same NGK Platinums), but the coils looked a bit old, and where Bremi's, so have been replaced with Bosch.
Not sure what to do tomorrow, I might see about getting spring pads or other items that generally are best to change when refreshing the suspension, all the bushes imagineable have already been done not too long ago, so don't need to do RTABs or anything..
As promised, here is a video of my headunit, taken with my iPotato 5
Ignore the chavtastic music in the background. That was the first radio station that came up
https://youtu.be/lotyBEix3IQ
Ignore the chavtastic music in the background. That was the first radio station that came up
https://youtu.be/lotyBEix3IQ
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That looks excellent and I can tweak the look to just like my phone nicely it would seem!
The eBay page states that it supports 32GB SD cards only, can you confirm this? Even if it works with a 64GB then it means a 128GB will be fine too. It would mean I don't need to stream music from my phone via BT any more, can plonk in a 128GB card or USB stick and leave music on that and play via GoneMAD app.
The eBay page states that it supports 32GB SD cards only, can you confirm this? Even if it works with a 64GB then it means a 128GB will be fine too. It would mean I don't need to stream music from my phone via BT any more, can plonk in a 128GB card or USB stick and leave music on that and play via GoneMAD app.
That is correct only 32GB max due to the android version if I'm correct 
At the minute I have my music running from a 32GB SD card.
If you ditch iGO that comes with the unit and opt with waze or TomTom you can use the second SD card slot for another 32GB card
The unit comes with a USB cable (which I routed into the glovebox). That can be used for a USB stick if you prefer? At the moment I'm using that to charge my phone but I'm planning to get a dongle in there so I can have internet access.
Edit: I would recommend using poweramp with this unit, if you tweak the equalizer correctly it sounds very good for standard paper speakers
At the minute I have my music running from a 32GB SD card.
If you ditch iGO that comes with the unit and opt with waze or TomTom you can use the second SD card slot for another 32GB card
The unit comes with a USB cable (which I routed into the glovebox). That can be used for a USB stick if you prefer? At the moment I'm using that to charge my phone but I'm planning to get a dongle in there so I can have internet access.
Edit: I would recommend using poweramp with this unit, if you tweak the equalizer correctly it sounds very good for standard paper speakers
Wow, that is a lot!
To be honest I haven't tried a bigger card, but I guess you could always use a usb stick and just leave it in the glove box. From what I read on forums and the BMW facebook group these units only support up to 32GB.
Just did some googling. I think it's something to do with the ROM not supporting bigger cards. So I guess if you flash it with a custom ROM you should be able to overcome that problem.
Have a look at this thread. A lot of info there:
http://www.e46zone.com/forum/topic/...ome-light-on-these-android-head-units-please/
This is a random page I found while googling
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...-head-unit-t3268023/post65836845#post65836845
To be honest I haven't tried a bigger card, but I guess you could always use a usb stick and just leave it in the glove box. From what I read on forums and the BMW facebook group these units only support up to 32GB.
Just did some googling. I think it's something to do with the ROM not supporting bigger cards. So I guess if you flash it with a custom ROM you should be able to overcome that problem.
Have a look at this thread. A lot of info there:
http://www.e46zone.com/forum/topic/...ome-light-on-these-android-head-units-please/
This is a random page I found while googling
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...-head-unit-t3268023/post65836845#post65836845
Thanks that's quite handy, can you confirm if yours has excess backlight bleed? The video shows a small amount but could be camera exposure.
My Parrot has no backlight bleed, one reason I really like using it at night with just the homescreen on or Waze in dark mode.
My Parrot has no backlight bleed, one reason I really like using it at night with just the homescreen on or Waze in dark mode.
Yes there is bleeding all around the edges I'm afraid. All the ones I've seen have similar problems like that. It's only visible when you have a black background.
I never knew it existed until someone complained about it on the forum so I went to check mine
I never knew it existed until someone complained about it on the forum so I went to check mine