P38A A series of faults

Still boggling at the cost of level and abs sensors though, they make buying parts from BMW main dealers seem like good value!

EAS cabledue toarrive around lunchtime today, so should hopefully get to learn a bit more about what's going on by the end of the day

Incidentally, Britpart service filter kits; yay or nay? In the past some of them I found were not too bad, but then other bits like gaskets sets and anything cast have been dire living up to the alternate brand name of S@#$part...

One place to check for leaks on the eas is the pipes passenger side by the exhaust, if the exhaust leaks it can melt the pipe, you will soon find out when you put the valves on and can pump it up to test
while you are under there have a look at the rear brake pipes especially over the cross member, if they have not been replaced think about doing it its not a hard job.

General service kits can be had from eurocarparts. All Bosch filters aren’t too bad wirh the voucher codes.

Yup, have been going through what ECP stock for them

Island 4x4 list a Britpart ZF service kit for 5 quid, while ECP want 60! At 5 quid a throw if it actually is that cheap, fits and seals it's almost tempting to get a couple to do a few oil changes to flush things through!

Grrrrrr said:

+1 on glows but Beru are the brand of choice and I think what went in originally.

The M51 does suffer from chain atretch but usually it results in difficulty starting hot rather than cold. Leak off pipes may well have perished (need proper Bosch stuff as the cheap stuff won't last 6 months) and lift pumps can fail but otger than that it is a pretty bullet-proof engine.

The LCD display Illumination bulbs can be had off the Bay for under a fiver delivered.

Biggest danger now is burning out the new EAS compressor before you find the leak.

Click to expand...

Beru were fitted on earlier cars, but post 95 seem to have the Bosch plugs. I run these in mine and have suggested them to countless others who have noticed an improvement over the Beru plugs.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290822504722

Will see what state the glow plugs are in when I get a chance... currently entertaining my (almost) 3 year old lad which is a full time occupation in itself!

Copy of the RAVE iso for anyone that needs it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zq31fgp8cprew6m/rave02.iso?dl=0

Is that the ~20mb 1300 odd page one?

Slooby said:

Is that the ~20mb 1300 odd page one?

Click to expand...

It's the interactive iso .

I could only get the NGK glow plugs but they cured my cold start problems
By the way welcome on board

@Slooby add your town to profile. There might be someone nearby to help with various things.

P38-DFX said:

Beru were fitted on earlier cars, but post 95 seem to have the Bosch plugs. I run these in mine and have suggested them to countless others who have noticed an improvement over the Beru plugs.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290822504722

Click to expand...

Mine's a '95 and Beru have been loads better than any others I have tried. Been on there a few years now too.

I put Beru in when I did mine. Got them for thirty odd quid from GSF. They've been fine.

Tenebreaux said:

I put Beru in when I did mine. Got them for thirty odd quid from GSF. They've been fine.

Click to expand...

That was a good price.

Grrrrrr said:

That was a good price.

Click to expand...

Managed to catch one of those 80% discount things they do periodically.

Managed to spend some time today tinkering, thankfully my son was happy enough clambering around inside the car breaking bits of trim while I poked around under the bonnet...

I'll start with some pics:























2 previous owners and the last one had owned it since 2006...

I'll have a welding/fabrication job to do on both the off side door check strap brackets as they've snapped on the pillars, front:



Rear:



Here's the damp patch on the driver's side floor:



However the BECM area under the seat seems dry:





Yes, I know about the connector, that was me tinkering last night, it's plugged back in now (battery was disconnected all the time).

I did not that the top of the outer door seal is hanging down, so that might be letting water in, and the door trim isn't exactly happy either.

These are the new(ish) heater hoses:

Not 215k mile looking ABS pump:



Same can be said for the EAS pump (a Dunlop unit):



Decent brand, and rated, battery:



Left it on charge for a few hours yesterday with my Noco battery charger which pronounced it fit and healthy, checked the voltage this morning with my DVM and it was showing 12.96 volts having stood disconnected all night, so I doubt that the battery is at fault.

As many said cycling the windows cleared the error messages about them not being 'Set', so the only message I get on the display now is: EAS System Fault

These arrived in the post this morning:



But before cleaning up around the Air Spring connections to the distribution block to connect up those valves and to my 3hp air compressor and trying to inflate them, I thought I'd have a look at my July 1995 build drier:



Hmm, don't like the look of that white powder on the driver tank walls, further backed up by finding white powder in each of the Air Spring pipes when I disconnected them.

Anyway, fitted the 'get you home' valves to the lines and tried inflating each one, offside went up ok:



Nearside front was a little reluctant, nearside rear just hissed air with no movement, so nearside rear spring or line is unhappy.

Took a look at the state of the front air springs, and they look pretty perished, I don't see them lasting very much longer, offside front:



Nearside front:



All that oil I think is coming from this transmission cooler hose: