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With OEM systems, you aren't paying for the navigation, you're paying for the vehicle integration and durability (the electronics that go in to cars are engineered to a much higher reliability standard than anything going into consumer electronics)
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Apr 14, 2011 05:07
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About what's a 2004 330Ci, 6-speed manual, ~92k miles worth? Let's assume good but not showroom condition, and likely minimal records. I'm thinking I'm going to go test drive one of that description, but without any real intent to buy yet. It's at some podunk potentially-shady dealer, so I don't feel guilty about it. I think it'd be a good benchmark for my E46 330 shopping.
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Apr 14, 2011 05:39
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SlapActionJackson posted:With OEM systems, you aren't paying for the navigation, you're paying for the vehicle integration and durability (the electronics that go in to cars are engineered to a much higher reliability standard than anything going into consumer electronics) You're certainly not paying for the UI - I've never seen a factory nav system that was anything but appalling in that regard. You'd think it'd be pretty easy to just integrate Google navigation or software from one of the better aftermarket companies.
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Apr 14, 2011 05:48
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SlapActionJackson posted:With OEM systems, you aren't paying for the navigation, you're paying for the vehicle integration and durability (the electronics that go in to cars are engineered to a much higher reliability standard than anything going into consumer electronics) You're right on integration, though that is mostly due to the auto manufacturers' love of hiding the information you need to integrate with them. On reliability, I don't see it. I've used Alpine head units. The only difference I see between my Alpine-made OEM "Business CD" (around $400 or $500 depending on if you want MP3 CD playback) and a $200 DIN-sized Alpine aside from the obvious OEM fitment is that the DIN unit has Aux in, USB, iPod, and Bluetooth support without having to add over $1000 in OEM adapters or a few hundred in third party ones. As for the larger nav units, I'm fairly certain there have been quite a few reports of iDrive crashing and the latest revision of Sync is also having problems. On the aftermarket side, my $80 TomTom has been rained on, dove off the windshield dozens of times, bounces around the back seat when I'm not using it, and hasn't crashed once in the four years I've owned it. I'm sure there are plenty of lovely aftermarket devices, I'm not arguing that there aren't, but you can't claim OEM is more expensive due to it being better made. It's equal with anything else you'd expect out of a trusted brand in whatever category we're looking at. It's more expensive because most people won't look elsewhere anyways (especially on a newer vehicle) and in some modern cases there is no way to install an aftermarket replacement without losing major features thanks to secret integration. wolrah fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Apr 14, 2011 |
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Apr 14, 2011 05:55
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KaiserBen posted:Random fact of the day: S62 blocks are incredibly light. I finished the teardown of the blown one out of dad's car, and I can pick up the block at arms length without a problem (and I'm no bodybuilder). Guesstimating ~75lbs for the bare block. Not sure how much weight was dropped by the newly installed window into cyl #5 though :P How did that happen? And where do you work that you're working on one? And if it's a performance shop, can I have a discount? Also can you take some pictures?
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Apr 14, 2011 05:55
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heat posted:
Brain Issues posted:I paid $120 for a Garmin Nuvi unit with free lifetime map updates, it does the job more than well enough for me, I probably could've went cheaper even and it'd still be fine. There is no way I could justify to myself spending even $300 on built-in navigation, $650 seems absurd. Are you guys familiar with the Dynavin v5 unit? OEM fit and finish, DVD, USB, Bluetooth, 7" touchscreen, this is a full double-din head-unit we're talking about here.  Comparing the price to doing an OEM-Nav retrofit, it's very much a bargain. Free map updates, a user-community providing many different skins, ability to add a 3G modem for internet access, more than enough connections for adding in your accessories (reverse camera, ipod, etc.), simple DIY install and great customer service from a NA-based distributor. This is in a whole other league from 3" stand-alone GPS units. Don't get me wrong, I myself use Google Maps on my 3G phone, but soon I'll be picking up a Dynavin  Guinness posted:Don't all the 330s use the M54? Did they change something in 2002 to make it more reliable? Guinness posted:About what's a 2004 330Ci, 6-speed manual, ~92k miles worth? Let's assume good but not showroom condition, and likely minimal records.
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Apr 14, 2011 08:12
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While we're talking about ripping the dash apart, I've got a new blower motor resistor pack for my E46 and I'm just waiting for two straight days' rain to cease so I can install it. Reading the Bentley manual, it says to pull out the IHKA/climate control panel and half the center console to get access to the tab that holds the footwell air vent in place. Does anyone who's done the replacement know whether this is necessary, or will I be able to get at it with the glovebox out? I'd really rather avoid ripping apart the console if it's at all practical to attack it from through the glovebox compartment.
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Apr 14, 2011 12:27
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Das Volk posted:How did that happen? And where do you work that you're working on one? And if it's a performance shop, can I have a discount? Also can you take some pictures? Haha, it appears that the #5 rod bearing had a lubrication failure, overheated, and turned the #5 rod bearing into shrapnel, which soon had the same effect on the #5 rod cap and piston, which resulted in a ~3x3" window into the block in the valley. Pictures: Cylinder head (look at the back cylinder). This is probably the least-mangled part of this engine.  Draining the "oil" (~half coolant)  Window into another world  Oilpan (lower):  Oilpan (upper) note bent windage tray:  Rod bearings off of #4 (never found #5):  Bottom view of the affected area (note oil squirter):  #5 connecting rod (note heat discoloration of the bottom end):  Rod + what we found of the piston:  And a really bad picture of the sparkplug:  I work in an engineering consulting firm, we usually deal in *much* bigger mechanical disasters :P I'm just taking this apart for my dad (who gave the engine to me in exchange for me driving 600mi each way to get the car it came out of for him). It came out of an '00 M5, basically the exact same car as mine (he has the '01+ headlights + nav, and a different suspension kit though). He bought it with the blown engine and had a shop swap in a used engine from a wrecked M5 for him. BTW, if you're in NC/VA, I recommend Import Auto Works (formerly MPowered) in Cary. They've done great work on both our cars (including the engine swap).
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Apr 14, 2011 12:47
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wolrah posted:I'm sure there are plenty of lovely aftermarket devices, I'm not arguing that there aren't, but you can't claim OEM is more expensive due to it being better made. I'm not saying there aren't lovely OEM devices, particularly on the software side, but yes, pretty much all of the OEM hardware is better made. They're buying high-reliability (low defect rate), extended temperature range parts and using more rigorous design and test processes. This may not be readily apparent to any particular end users because one results in a devices that work for 10K power-on hours with 100 defective parts per million coming off the assembly line and the other works for 100K POH with <1 DPPM.
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Apr 14, 2011 13:59
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an oddly awful oud posted:While we're talking about ripping the dash apart, I've got a new blower motor resistor pack for my E46 and I'm just waiting for two straight days' rain to cease so I can install it. Reading the Bentley manual, it says to pull out the IHKA/climate control panel and half the center console to get access to the tab that holds the footwell air vent in place. Does anyone who's done the replacement know whether this is necessary, or will I be able to get at it with the glovebox out? I'd really rather avoid ripping apart the console if it's at all practical to attack it from through the glovebox compartment. I did it through the glove box area, but it could be tight if you have big arms.
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Apr 14, 2011 15:09
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tesko.pk posted:Depends on options, but ~13k or so. Private party with extensive maintenance records is the way to go IMO. Excellent, that's about what I thought. And yeah, I'd love to buy private party with records. In fact, I mostly am planning on it. But I want to get out and test drive a couple different cars just for having some data points to compare against. For that, used lots are great. tesko.pk posted:Are you guys familiar with the Dynavin v5 unit? OEM fit and finish, DVD, USB, Bluetooth, 7" touchscreen, this is a full double-din head-unit we're talking about here. Okay, I'll admit that looks pretty slick. Upon further reading, I might actually consider spending ~$600 on something like that.
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Apr 14, 2011 17:47
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SlapActionJackson posted:I'm not saying there aren't lovely OEM devices, particularly on the software side, but yes, pretty much all of the OEM hardware is better made. They're buying high-reliability (low defect rate), extended temperature range parts and using more rigorous design and test processes. This may not be readily apparent to any particular end users because one results in a devices that work for 10K power-on hours with 100 defective parts per million coming off the assembly line and the other works for 100K POH with <1 DPPM. I think that 100% of users spend their time interacting with the UI and the software. So when an OEM comes up with a device that has worse UI+software but better hardware reliability for 0.01% of users, it doesn't make sense to use it. Garmin, Google and Bing just have hands-down better UIs than any other navigation software I've seen, for instance.
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Apr 14, 2011 18:48
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According to the Dynavin site, the E46 model is getting an update later this year to use Google Maps.
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Apr 14, 2011 22:49
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I'll go ahead and ask here. I posted this on another Bimmer forum and only one response. This is the driver (left) outer tail light assembly on my 2001 E46 3 series, so it does not fall under the fix for the tail light ground wire issue that the face lifted sedans have.  The one reply I got elsewhere was this may be caused by a failing resistor. I asked where this resistor is but no reply yet. Luckily though, the male side of the plug looks like the plug connector can be removed from the harness and replaced by itself, not requiring a whole new wire harness. And of course a new housing back cover would fix the female side of the connector. Any comments as to whether this is caused by a resistor, and where said resistor is? The symptoms from this are: - Fast blinker every now and then, but all lights work and no light-out indicator on the dash - Sometimes the dash indicator will tell me a light is out. When this is happening, the entire tail assembly on that side is out. I can usually pop the cover off, wiggle the connector, and the indicator goes away with all lights working again - When the dash indicator is on and when I have the HIDs on, pressing the brake pedal, or activating the blinker for that assembly, causes the HIDs to flicker repeatedly. Fermunky fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Apr 14, 2011 |
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Apr 14, 2011 23:03
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Guinness posted:Okay, I'll admit that looks pretty slick. Upon further reading, I might actually consider spending ~$600 on something like that. The thing I like about the Dynavin is that it's designed to plug-and-play with the OEM wiring harness with no hassle. Just remember that unless you have factory NAV, you need to buy an HVAC relocation bracket, which is another $100 or so. Either way, I think it makes for a pretty nice update for the car.
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Apr 15, 2011 00:28
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Since this is now a thread about GPS, I'd just chime in with a quick recommendation: If you already have a way to listen to your iPhone music through your car stereo, the couple good GPS apps are actually really great, IMO. I use Navigon, but I'm sure Tom Tom's is solid. Performance is based on signal quality, but I seldom have trouble anywhere I go. It's worth the purchase price to not have to fiddle with the phone and pull Maps up if I'm confused at an intersection. Just mentioning because the app price is like $80, which normally seems absurd, but it's quite cheap compared to dedicated hardware.
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Apr 15, 2011 01:48
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Or you could just get an android phone with google maps that has free map updates and the best driving directions I've ever seen.
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Apr 15, 2011 01:59
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Maybe someone will know this. Is there any sort of phone holder I can get that fits in the slot in the 2008 135i nearest to the passenger? I'm looking for a phone mount that would fit an galaxy s android phone specifically to use the NAV features. The phone already pairs with the stereo so the audio alerts from the Navigattion app play with music but it would be great to have a holder. edit: talking about something like this 
Nitr0 fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 05:08
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Well I did it. In an attempt to persuade myself that maybe I didn't want an E46 as much as I thought I read all 8,177 posts in this thread. It didn't work and I probably want one even more now. Unfortunately we replaced my wife's car with a Jetta TDI so I guess my dream is going to have to wait a little longer.
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Apr 15, 2011 06:41
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Fermunky posted:I'll go ahead and ask here. I posted this on another Bimmer forum and only one response. This is the driver (left) outer tail light assembly on my 2001 E46 3 series, so it does not fall under the fix for the tail light ground wire issue that the face lifted sedans have. Well, I know you mentioned the ground-issue shouldn't apply because of the year, but I can only suggest wiring in a new ground wire before you buy the new connector / housing back cover. You don't have LED (oem or aftermarket) tail-lights do you? Are your HID's OEM or aftermarket? EDIT: Add the new ground here: 
tesko.pk fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 07:30
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tesko.pk posted:Well, I know you mentioned the ground-issue shouldn't apply because of the year, but I can only suggest wiring in a new ground wire before you buy the new connector / housing back cover. You don't have LED (oem or aftermarket) tail-lights do you? Are your HID's OEM or aftermarket? When adding a ground, I imagine one end of the new ground is just soldered to the back housing, and then the other end is bolted to the body? Maybe I should read up on the ground wire fix for the face lifted sedans first... On the other forum I mentioned that I am not ruling out a possible ground issue, and wasn't sure if ground problems are known for the pre-face lifted sedans. To answer the other questions: my tails are OEM and not LED, and the headlights are factory HID.
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Apr 15, 2011 15:16
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Nitr0 posted:Maybe someone will know this. Is there any sort of phone holder I can get that fits in the slot in the 2008 135i nearest to the passenger? I'm looking for a phone mount that would fit an galaxy s android phone specifically to use the NAV features. The phone already pairs with the stereo so the audio alerts from the Navigattion app play with music but it would be great to have a holder. Why don't you want a windshield/dashboard mount? Having a gps system that requires you to look to the passenger footwell would be very frustrating and dangerous, especially with that small of a screen.
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Apr 15, 2011 16:25
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Nitr0 posted:Maybe someone will know this. Is there any sort of phone holder I can get that fits in the slot in the 2008 135i nearest to the passenger? I'm looking for a phone mount that would fit an galaxy s android phone specifically to use the NAV features. The phone already pairs with the stereo so the audio alerts from the Navigattion app play with music but it would be great to have a holder. ProClip makes this exact thing: http://www.proclipusa.com/home/home.aspx
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Apr 15, 2011 16:32
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Going to go look at a 2006 330 ZHP coupe with full service history (performed at local BMW dealership) and just shy of 30k miles on the clock. Looks fairly immaculate inside and out but I won't know until I see it in person. I though it was a little overpriced but given the used car prices thread on here and some of the asking prices on the zhpregistry site perhaps it's a reasonable starting point. I'll get a PPI done before considering parting with cash but what kind of price should something like that fetch, assuming everything is up to snuff?
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Apr 15, 2011 17:13
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ynotony posted:Why don't you want a windshield/dashboard mount? Having a gps system that requires you to look to the passenger footwell would be very frustrating and dangerous, especially with that small of a screen. I mostly use audio and don't actually look at the screen. I think it would be fine. Thanks for the link heat.
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Apr 15, 2011 17:51
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Fermunky posted:toasted tail-lights... For the DIY, disconnect the battery, cut the old ground wire from the male connector say 2" back, add a new section of wire say 6-8" long (14ga is what I used iirc, shouldnt matter too much), solder & heat-shrink it, bend up a bit of that metal tab on the area in the picture, wrap the bare wire around it a few times and solder. Wouldn't hurt to dab a good amount of that liquid electrical tape stuff on the newly soldered area. ozmunkeh posted:Going to go look at a 2006 330 ZHP coupe with full service history (performed at local BMW dealership) and just shy of 30k miles on the clock. Looks fairly immaculate inside and out but I won't know until I see it in person.
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Apr 15, 2011 17:59
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tesko.pk posted:Minty-fresh ZHP's are sadly worth quite a bit, if it's seriously excellent condition with good options, then $25k. If it's not quite perfect and not fully-loaded, $22~23k. Honestly, you should have no trouble finding an '04 M3 with 60-70k miles for a couple grand less than that. I just picked up a 05 ZHP with 59k on the clock and it ran me 19.8k before tax and title. This was after negotiating for 45 days. However the car is literally immaculate with a fully documented service record so I thought it was a decent price. You will pay a premium for a manual ZHP, that is if you can actually find one.
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Apr 15, 2011 18:22
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Chinatown posted:I just picked up a 05 ZHP with 59k on the clock and it ran me 19.8k before tax and title. This was after negotiating for 45 days. However the car is literally immaculate with a fully documented service record so I thought it was a decent price. You will pay a premium for a manual ZHP, that is if you can actually find one. Maybe I should hang on to my 6-Speed ZHP sedan for a little longer then. Should hit 80k by the end of the year. Every time I think about replacing it I think: with what? Nothing seems worth it.
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Apr 15, 2011 19:49
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tesko.pk posted:I'm pretty sure that toasted connection on the harness is the ground, and I've heard of several pre-facelift owners on E46fanatics with the same issue, even described the flickering xenons and said that adding the new ground fixed the issue. So something like this?  (My electrical work is much better than my mspaint work)
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Apr 15, 2011 19:50
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Fermunky - Yep, definitely try that first before buying new connectors and a housing back cover.
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Apr 15, 2011 21:04
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Fermunky posted:(My electrical work is much better than my mspaint work) I'm sure you're bright - but for the love of your car, please solder an inline fuse, just in case.
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Apr 15, 2011 21:07
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Viggen posted:I'm sure you're bright - but for the love of your car, please solder an inline fuse, just in case. Good tip, except for the part where you don't put fuses on ground wires.
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Apr 15, 2011 21:19
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tesko.pk posted:Fermunky - Yep, definitely try that first before buying new connectors and a housing back cover. Well, a new connector and housing might be needed since it is already burnt out. I will install the ground fix when I can, but I might still have the symptoms since the connections are fouled, so I might just source them from junk yards. Viggen posted:I'm sure you're bright - but for the love of your car, please solder an inline fuse, just in case. You give me too much credit. However, an inline fuse was in the plans, and I was just going to get the same size as the glove box fuse for the rear assembly... Do you think that would be sufficient? I was guessing it would as that fuse is for all the tail lights, so figured the same size would be plenty for one light assembly.
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Apr 15, 2011 21:21
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wallaka posted:Good tip, except for the part where you don't put fuses on ground wires. If it's something outside of 'testing/something's wrong', yes, you want the positive lead - but when you're loving with something and not sure what you're doing - why the hell would you just jump straight across with no protection? That's just dumb. Fermunky posted:You give me too much credit. However, an inline fuse was in the plans, and I was just going to get the same size as the glove box fuse for the rear assembly... Do you think that would be sufficient? I was guessing it would as that fuse is for all the tail lights, so figured the same size would be plenty for one light assembly. I'd check to see what your draw was, and change accordingly - but always better to have /some/ protection than none. As mentioned by pedantic above, you generally want the fuse to be on the plus/positive (or non-ground if you're oddly posgrounded), but I wouldn't try this without having a cheap 'oops I hosed up' during the initial testing. Fuses are cheap. Other things, not so much.
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Apr 15, 2011 22:29
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We'll isn't this cool. I've been hoping someone would have any more insight on my clutch issue, and here you guys go and potentially solve my phantom blinker that sounds out rarely but isn't. As far as the clutch goes, I still have no idea if its the master or slave sucking, but I know they're both 170k old so I guess replacing them isn't an awful idea. It'll just be frustrating if it doesn't do anything. E: nope, mine doesn't look like that at all, what else could it be? Deceptor101 fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Apr 16, 2011 |
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Apr 16, 2011 00:03
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Doh, my '99 M3 just started having problems idling today. I'm guessing it's an O2 sensor problem, so I suppose there could be a vacuum hose problem somewhere. It's idling at a lower rpm than usual, then when it drops really low, revs back up to 1k before dropping down near 500. O2 sensor?
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Apr 16, 2011 00:43
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IACV?
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Apr 16, 2011 01:54
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Anyone tried the new hankook evo v12's? Thinking of getting a set for my M coupe
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Apr 18, 2011 18:20
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I tried to compromise with the wife on a new car (she wants AWD and non-trunk storage, I want something that is fun to drive), and started trying to track down a 2008 535xi wagon. Turns out, they seem to command a pretty significant premium over the sedan on the used market. Dammit. I'm totally going to end up with an SUV. gvibes fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Apr 18, 2011 |
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Apr 18, 2011 19:12
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gvibes posted:I tried to compromise with the wife on a new car (she wants AWD and non-trunk storage, I want something that is fun to drive), and started trying to track down a 2008 535xi wagon. Turns out, they seem to command a pretty significant premium over the sedan on the used market. Dammit.
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Apr 18, 2011 19:26
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