subject: Bmw Maintenance Tips [print this page] BMW Maintenance Tips BMW Maintenance Tips
These articles will be an ongoing source of BMW maintenance and tips and maybe some tricks to keep your beloved BMW in shipshape condition. I will also cover general maintenance like oil changes, brake pads replacement, etc., but as a rule these articles will inform, advise and enlighten you on some or most of the lesser known gremlins that tend to make your BMW experience unpleasant.
Lets look at the engine.
On higher mileage units the little inch vacuum pipe that connects the intake manifold to the idling speed valve tends to perish and split or even breaks off completely. This will cause your car to hesitate on pull-away and stutter and miss for a second or two but then settles down. The idling will also be erratic and the engine may even die when stopping. This is such a small item and is very easy to miss, but in the BMW maintenance tips you will always find the How to of items never mentioned elsewhere! The pipe can be found, as you stand facing the engine, with the one end sticking out of the idling speed valve. It then ducks underneath the intake pipes (on the older 1992 1993 models) to the intake manifold situated underneath the throttle cable assembly. On the newer models the pipe comes out of the intake manifold and a few inches to the left plugs into the idling speed valve. Just grab the pipe and give it a tug to make sure that it is still OK. It is simple to replace and costs only a few cents.
At the same time it will be a good thing to check all the vacuum pipes for leaks, hardening and splitting. These pipes will eventually perish and it is very tricky to diagnose an intermittent fault caused by a split vacuum pipe.
Some Interior Problems.
The electric window winder switches sometimes just stop working for no apparent reason and they can be quite expensive to replace. Carefully pry the offending switch housing out of its mounting in the centre dash and unplug the electrics from the switch. If you now have a look at the switch, you will see two steel clips on either side of the switch, holding it securely in the housing. Carefully depress these clips and pull the switch from the housing. The rocker part of the switch can now be lifted from the switch housing by lever it with a blunt knife.Just be careful not to remove or loose the inside parts, which will drop out if you turn the switch over. Now, when you carefully look at the inside of the rocker, you will notice a small ridge on either side that presses on the switch underneath it to activate the switch. These little plastic ridges tend to break, rendering the switch useless. However, dont despair, its easy to fix. Get yourself a tube of superglue and re-glue the small piece that broke off and must still be lying somewhere in the switch housing. Re-assembly is the reverse, but just ensure that the rocker is not reversed in its housing.
Your aircon is fitted with a pollen filter, which is situated on the drivers side underneath the dash. If this filter is not replaced periodically, the airflow from the aircon outlets will diminish considerably. To reach the filter, remove the lower part of the dash on the drivers side. You will see the filter nestled on top of the gearbox hump; unclip it to replace with the new one you just bought.
If you want to keep your precious BMW forever, there are certain things you have to do on a regular basis to keep it in good condition and this BMW maintenance Tips forum will help you do most of the work yourself.
by: James
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