BMW 5-series engine cooling problem

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Reputation, yes. Reality? Well, perhaps in the 1970's when many British cars were poorly made, but not now.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan
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TBH, once a car has had a few owners mistreating it, all bets are off. But BMW in general do generally know what they're doing and use quality bits. I've maintained several for people and at 10 years old bolts are still hex shaped. Unlike anything JLR ever use for example.

I'm the second owner of a 320d with 220k on the clock and cost buttons to run. Still on the original turbo, clutch & injectors.

Friend bought a fairly leggy 10YO 530i and, with a little light fettling, did him 3 years with no bother. Grumbles from the autobox got him to chop it in at 150k.

Knew someone with an P-reg 520i which needed a few minor cooling things sorting (stuck electric cooling fan for one) but was regularly overheated by the idiot owner who seemed to think steam spurting out was normal. This lasted this abuse for bloody ages before he ruined it completely.

If nothing else, they're easy to work on being RWD, have a plentiful supply of cheap parts and, best of all, a huge background of knowledge on the internet. This has always amazed me. Chapter and verse available on luxo cars but bugger all on cooking model French stuff - try finding a single mention that the crank sensor of an automatic Clio III is different to the manual version!!

Reply to
Scott M

That's the most offensive thing I've read on Usenet in a long time.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

You have underestimated the task, let me clue you up.

My 1988 factory manual contains 17 sections. GI 20 pages (general info) MA 31 (Maintenance) EM 53 (Engine) LC 15 (cooling and lube) EF&EC 136 (the ECU etc) FE 4 (Fuel system / exhaust) CL 12 (clutch) MT 29 (gearbox) AT 160 (auto trans) PD 35 (prop and diff) FA 20 (front axle) RA 25 (Rear axle) BR 63 (brakes inc ABS) ST 33 (steering) BF 40 (body / interior) HA 86 (air con) EL 108 (electics)

That's 855 pages + 2 pull outs of the ECU circuit and electrical system. Physical manual looks like a proper thick Yellow pages from 20+ years ago. The pages are so thin that the scan has imprint from back side of page. Let me rephrase, only someone very high on OCD spectrum would take on the task of scanning that one page at a time. I did try OCRing it so an index could be made but as it was scanned at 200dpi it wasn't going well and I quit 4 pages in.

My Nephew's 7th Gen Toyota Celica (1999-2006) has 2 manuals both of similar size. One manual is entirely ODBII check procedures. Someone has scanned both, I most certainly hope they had a document scanner and did it 50 pages at a time.

You can download a full Honda factory manual for the 1988 Prelude here.

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I invite you download all the sections and count the pages. Unlike all other on-line workshop manuals this is one of just 4 full factory workshop manuals hosted by the MAKER for owners to download and it is not in breach of copyright. The other 3 are. Accord 91-93
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Concerto 90
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Accord 93-96 all one manual, not split into dozens of sections, 1225 pages.
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I don't think there is any link to these from the Honda web site.

Reply to
Peter Hill

You have misunderstood what is offensive. I'll try again:

'It would need an autistic...'

Clearer now?

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I wasn't really talking about scanned manuals, just day-to-day "my car is borked" stuff on help-me-out forums. There are people with relatively new high-end cars that can give you chapter and verse on odd problems, yet an absense of stuff at the far second hand end of the cheap-and-cheerful stuff. Received wisdom would say that aspiring company directors would merely lob it at the dealer, while the hard up Peugeot owner would be wanting to avoid taking it to Bill's garage at all cost!

Reply to
Scott M

My E39 is '97 - so almost 20 years old. Zero electrical or electronic problems with the exception of the heater fan speed controller and crankshaft position sensor. Both an easy DIY job to change. And it is fully loaded.

On the oldest cars, electrics are very likely to give problems. Sensible use of electronics to replace electrics should makes things more, not less, reliable.

Of course plenty consumer electronics are built down to a price. More difficult to do that were 5 year etc warranties are the norm.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

BMW TIS CDs can be bought online for peanuts. They are illegal, but BMW don't seem to care.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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