What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
Soldato
Drove it through the deepest puddle I've ever driven through, scary stuff. Car didn't fill with water AFAIK so that's a small win 
I hope you haven't affected your belly pan. The bolts cost a fortuneDrove it through the deepest puddle I've ever driven through, scary stuff. Car didn't fill with water AFAIK so that's a small win
Soldato
It's ok, I have a regular relationship emailing my dealership once a week for just such an occasion.
Associate
I had to wash my car after Mr seagull used my car for target practice (yes, bird muck is not fun to wash off, especially once it has gone dry in the heat) 
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Soldato
I had to wash my car after Mr seagull used my car for target practice (yes, bird muck is not fun to wash off, especially once it has gone dry in the heat)
I feel you, man. This was this morning.
Man of Honour
Interesting but with a bit of faff changing the heater control valve today.
I learned some new things that no guide or video seemed to show, which was confusing at first.
There seems to be three variations of heater control valve from BMWs of this era. The one with a single solenoid as found on the CSL and non M3 E46s. The one with auxiliary "pump" which is actually a solenoid too, and the third which has the same aux section but that is a magnetically induced spinning blade like a water pump.
Everything I read online about these pointed to the type 2 variant for the E46 M3, the part numbers matching up too. But having just opened up my old one, I saw the pump part on the larger cylinder, it's closed up in the pic below as the gasket looked brand new still and no coolant had leaked inside so this part seems fine. The solenoid though has coolant on the inside and feels gunky moving it in and out so the gaskets here need repaving, can then sell it:
Only had to top up some coolant as managed to shimmy in a desk C clamp made for monitor arms to pinch both hoses together reducing the loss of coolant when detaching them from the old valve. I could not see any other way to do this that didn't mean flushing the whole coolant system, and I didn't want to do that having only recently had a coolant flush when the AC compressor was replaced. And the amount of room to move the hoses around is basically a few cm at best.
Connected all back up and into key position 2 and heard it whirring away. Bled the air bubbles then started it up to let the coolant get to temp and re-bled and put the rest back together:
I learned some new things that no guide or video seemed to show, which was confusing at first.
There seems to be three variations of heater control valve from BMWs of this era. The one with a single solenoid as found on the CSL and non M3 E46s. The one with auxiliary "pump" which is actually a solenoid too, and the third which has the same aux section but that is a magnetically induced spinning blade like a water pump.
Everything I read online about these pointed to the type 2 variant for the E46 M3, the part numbers matching up too. But having just opened up my old one, I saw the pump part on the larger cylinder, it's closed up in the pic below as the gasket looked brand new still and no coolant had leaked inside so this part seems fine. The solenoid though has coolant on the inside and feels gunky moving it in and out so the gaskets here need repaving, can then sell it:
Only had to top up some coolant as managed to shimmy in a desk C clamp made for monitor arms to pinch both hoses together reducing the loss of coolant when detaching them from the old valve. I could not see any other way to do this that didn't mean flushing the whole coolant system, and I didn't want to do that having only recently had a coolant flush when the AC compressor was replaced. And the amount of room to move the hoses around is basically a few cm at best.
Connected all back up and into key position 2 and heard it whirring away. Bled the air bubbles then started it up to let the coolant get to temp and re-bled and put the rest back together:
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Caporegime
Some good ingenuity there. Nice work. 
Caporegime
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- 13 Nov 2006
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Why bother refurbing a spare? As long as it holds air, does it really matter?
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Associate
Cleaned it... turns out light evening drives out get all the bugs 
Took my Clio to have the aircon regassed and no bueno, apparently wouldn't even build the slightest amount of pressure so a huge hole somewhere. Probably the aircon rad has been hammered by stones or similar so will have to check that out / order a new one then that can be added here instead
Took my Clio to have the aircon regassed and no bueno, apparently wouldn't even build the slightest amount of pressure so a huge hole somewhere. Probably the aircon rad has been hammered by stones or similar so will have to check that out / order a new one then that can be added here instead
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It has been strapped to the bottom of the vehicle exposed - originally I thought it was in worse state than it is but in theory as it is the same alloy as the OEM set I'd rotate it in to even tyre wear.
Soldato
Replaced the pollen and air filter after the emissions light came on yesterday, replacements cleared it.
Hoping to replace rotors and pads on Sunday.
AC is not getting cold enough in the car, checked gas using a guage says plenty, the compressor seems to engage but just not getting a very cold temperature from it.
Hoping to replace rotors and pads on Sunday.
AC is not getting cold enough in the car, checked gas using a guage says plenty, the compressor seems to engage but just not getting a very cold temperature from it.
Don
And of course because the air con isn't working the drivers window decided to start squeaking as well.
Apparently a common problem on the R56 that can only be resolved by taking the door completely to bits to get at the window regulator.
However I discovered if you take off the exterior chrome window trim and lower the window all the way, you can see far enough in to lubricate both the pulley and cable, and also the window runner. So liberally applied silicone WD40 and the squeak has gone!
Man of Honour
Is there anything wf40 can't do
If it has a final stage resitor, could be that, or heater control valve (like my job today), or hvac sensor which is in the dash that monitors air temps to then direct cold/hot air to the vents as needed.
Man of Honour
Noticed some utter **** end has either half heartedly keyed all down my passenger side or dragged something along it.
The most annoying thing is it only goes to the gym, the office and the local Tesco pretty much and apart from the office it's generally parked well out of the way at the back of the carpark.
Had a quick look and it seems like only part of it catches my nail and even then it's not mega deep so hoping a clean and some meguires compound will make it basically invisible.
The most annoying thing is it only goes to the gym, the office and the local Tesco pretty much and apart from the office it's generally parked well out of the way at the back of the carpark.
Had a quick look and it seems like only part of it catches my nail and even then it's not mega deep so hoping a clean and some meguires compound will make it basically invisible.
Don
I'm sure the normal one would work for a while, but I've used the silicone one which should hopefully lubricate it for a long timeIs there anything wd40 can't do
Silicone Lubricant Spray | WD-40 Water Resistant Silicone | WD-40
Waterproof and protect metal and non-metallic surfaces like rubber, plastic and vinyl with the water resistant silicone lubricant spray from WD-40. This spray is ideal for cables, valves, hinges and locks. The spray and straw allows you to apply two ways.
good stuff so aux pump comes on even without being at temp ? thought the conditions to test it might be more difficult to execute -
now wondering if failure of that pump had contribute to head gasket issue my car had had, warm climate with frequent traffic jams,
I had checked and thoroughly cleaned the viscous fan thinking it might have been that.
you crimped both hoses, or somehow butted them together ? wonder if you could bung them with a cork/similar.
Man of Honour
The aux pump (at least on this model car) is only for the heater matrix, so the head gasket should not be affected. For ref, my aux pump error code has existed for years, I just always thought it was the Carly app throwing a false positive as that is common too typically, but now that I recently had time to dig into all this and do some extended research, I realised what's what. Without the pump the coolant still flows, just slower, also keep in mind that the CSL and non M3 E46s have the single cylinder which is just the solenoid - So HGF won't be attributed to the failure of the magnetic pump cylinder section of the valve.
I should have taken a pic when the intake was out to better show but essentially this area under the intake tube:
I detached the 2x hoses from the plastic holders that are fixed to the bodywork, held both hoses together and put the clamp over both of them and began twisting the clamp to crimp them together. They are very flexible hoses and quite thick too so you get to a certain point where you block off the inner tube stopping coolant from running through and only end up with the loss of coolant that's in the tube between the crimped area and the valve itself, which can then be topped up after the new valve is installed.
You could bung them but without crimping them further up, you would have a sudden rush of coolant escaping the moment you disconnect one hose from the valve as gravity will be acting on the fluid as the outlet is the lowest part of the connection. Crimping is essential without doing a full flush of coolant really.
I should have taken a pic when the intake was out to better show but essentially this area under the intake tube:
I detached the 2x hoses from the plastic holders that are fixed to the bodywork, held both hoses together and put the clamp over both of them and began twisting the clamp to crimp them together. They are very flexible hoses and quite thick too so you get to a certain point where you block off the inner tube stopping coolant from running through and only end up with the loss of coolant that's in the tube between the crimped area and the valve itself, which can then be topped up after the new valve is installed.
You could bung them but without crimping them further up, you would have a sudden rush of coolant escaping the moment you disconnect one hose from the valve as gravity will be acting on the fluid as the outlet is the lowest part of the connection. Crimping is essential without doing a full flush of coolant really.
Soldato
Gave a lovely person some money and they gave me the V5C.
I'll be keeping the name on so say hello to Bonnie
I'll be keeping the name on so say hello to Bonnie