The official cold weather thread

[ben wilamowski]

I didn't notice it until this morning. I had moved it around in the driveway to let the Mrs. get the 525 in and out of the garage. Two puddles about 2"diameter each. Opened the hood on the 318is and saw evidence of slung oil on the hood pad and the top surfaces of the engine. I'm guessing oil filter housing o-ring at the moment, as I have not replaced it yet. Any other guesses on the M42? Didn't seem to be leaking this morning, but I never really got it warm on my drive to work...

This is very likely to be the profile gasket on the engine which is a known weakpoint on the M42 lump.

[billb]

This is very likely to be the profile gasket on the engine which is a known weakpoint on the M42 lump.

and it's not a LUMP!

[Bill R.]

the housing oring or gasket as seen here...

and it's not a LUMP!

[billb]

the housing oring or gasket as seen here...

I stopped by Ace Hardware last night and picked up a 24x3mm o-ring, and will try to source the gasket next week. 10-day backorder on the BMW o-ring...what's so special about it? Oddly, I could not see any leakage from above in that area, but it's really hard to see I suppose. I've definitely got something going on. Last year I replaced timing cover gaskets and front crank seal, so that should be pretty tight. I've been noticing some milkiness in the oil, but I saw that last winter, and it went away in the spring, summer, and fall (and I'm not losing coolant). I'll get to the bottom of this next week, I hope (off all week and temps might be in the 60's here).

Thanks for your advice, Bill.

[granit_silber]

With the cold weather setting in (for many of us anyway) I figured I'd start a cold weather thread for all those "is this normal", "what happened to my smoothe idle", "my doors won't unlock" type questions.

I'll start it off with my own is-this-normal question, as I already know what happened to my smoothe idle When the car has sat overnight in below freezing weather, my clutch pedal feels like the fluid's been replaced with joint compound. If I stomp on it a while, it gets back to normal but it's kind of annoying. Of course the brakes feel similar but it's not such a big deal.

I also have a door lock problem that only shows itself in the cold weather. If its real cold out then chances are that when I hit the lock button on my key, the passenger door won't lock. I have to lock it by hand and tap the lock button again to lock the doors. Anyone have any ideas on this? It's as if the actuator just isnt working hard enough in cold weather.

Dennis

After owning the 525 for 6 weeks now all my problems are cold weather problems

Here's my list...
1) Fog Light message (bulb out and lens cracked)
2) Driver side low beam cracked
3) Slight oil leak (after wife confused brake and throttle while starting)
4) T-stat stuck open = overcooling = almost no heat in cabin
5) Leak in rear pass-side footwell (clogged tube maybe)
6) no smooth idle
7) nice whine when using the CD changer (cold temps only)
8) casette player eats CD Tape adapter
9) rock chips
10) rust spot below rear driver side tail light
And this morning...
11) turned on blower, squealing from dash (varied with fan speed)

On the bright side...
Love the car
Windows work
Doors lock
engine starts
tranny works
radio works (see above)
wife loves it

things could be worse, I could own a renault

-ashley

[Rory]

I stopped by Ace Hardware last night and picked up a 24x3mm o-ring, and will try to source the gasket next week. 10-day backorder on the BMW o-ring...what's so special about it? .

They rarely fail and have a BMW logo

Best,
Rory

[billb]

Of course, neither of my local dealers stock the parts, but the dealer 85 miles away have six of each...
I cleaned the oil pressure sending unit last night with contact cleaner, dried up the connections, and started her up. The OP light went out, then began to slowly creep back on at idle. I looked under the hood, and could see a stream of fresh oil coming from under the oil filter housing assembly. It was too late in the evening to begin dismantling, but that's definitely a prime candidate. Guess I know what I'll be doing next week...

[andyman32]

My oil filter housing leaks underneath, or at least, the pipes were oily. I just wiped 'em clean and moved the clamps up to the end of the pipes and clamped 'em down tight. At least so far, it appears to be holding, since the car never appears to lose a drop of oil between changes.

However, since I got the car in February, I still haven't checked the transmission oil... :-X