BMWCurve's Sibling's 2003 BMW 330Xi M Sport Canadian Maintenance Ledger

[BMWCurves]

nice. BMW was super responsive on getting that done for spenser and i - i had a copy of the letter emailed to me within hours, if i remember correctly!

That's much faster than what the customer relations agent told me, something around 10 business days. Still, nice to know it wasn't difficult for you guys, so hopefully it'll be the same for my sis.

[BMWCurves]

Mileage: 85,750 miles

Not a lot of updates that I'm aware of, but my sister left town for the weekend for a college reunion, so it was a good time to change the oil. Changed with 6L of BMW 5W-30 and MANN oil filter kit (with large o-ring and crush washer).

She's moving to Chicago for a year and will probably leave this car behind. She plans to take her 2000 Jetta instead and use it as a no-fucks-given snow beater. It may become my father's snow car while she is away.

Other observations:

• A few weeks ago I installed the headlight washer cover I had bought her so the car doesn't look as much in shambles.
• I don't recall when, but the Bimmian mount with the Wiz Gear magnetic cell phone mount was installed.
• There is no high fast constant wiper speed. There's "intermittent on" with adjustable rate, then "intermittent on," "constant on," and "constant on." The second "constant on" is the same speed as the previous constant on, but it would be the rapid on for our cars. I'm not sure why that is, but it doesn't seem safe.
• My sister had mentioned an intermittent bulb out on the front driver's side turn signal, but when I went to replace it, the bulb refused to come out. Closer inspection showed that the fitting for the bulb has the slots for the bulb nubs to be 180 degrees, while the bulb nubs themselves were less than 180 degrees. The bulb number is correct, so the housing must be wrong. Anyone know the part number for a bulb with numbs spaced 180 degrees apart? I inspected the other side and it's a different color and the bulb housing is canted correctly, so somewhere along the line one of the turn signal housings got replaced with a not 100% car-correct part.
• The shifter sits up higher than in our cars. I assume that's a function of the transfer case or some aspect of the AWD system taking up extra space
• The engine seems to rev faster than my car - I have difficulty rev matching compared to my car because heel-and-toe'ing shoots the revs way past where I need to be. Did 330Xi's get a lightweight flywheel or something?
• The speakers will pop every so often when starting the car. My guess is the battery is due to be replaced. I haven't inspected how old it is yet.

[az3579]

The bulbs with nubs 180 degrees apart are 1156 / 7506. The turn signal housings don't care what kind of bulb, but the bulb itself must have been replaced with the incorrect part. The car should have 1156 / 7506 sockets as being proper equipment.

[Sockethead]

Possibilities for your observations...
The non ZHP shifter knobs are longer than the ZHP
Final drive ratio my be higher than the ZHP's 3.07 making it rev faster

[slater]

Possibilities for your observations...
The non ZHP shifter knobs are longer than the ZHP
Final drive ratio my be higher than the ZHP's 3.07 making it rev faster

he mentioned rev-matching though... nothing to do with the final drive.

you're definitely on the right track with the shifter - the M3-style knobs (which i believe he's got on that canadian car) are super tall. the shift lever itself could be taller as well.

[BMWCurves]

The bulbs with nubs 180 degrees apart are 1156 / 7506. The turn signal housings don't care what kind of bulb, but the bulb itself must have been replaced with the incorrect part. The car should have 1156 / 7506 sockets as being proper equipment.

Perfect, I'll go scoop one of those.

And yeah, whoever replaced the housing jammed the canted/offset bulbs into the socket with 180 degree slots. It would not remove and I had to pop open the socket and bend it a bit to get out the old bulb.

Possibilities for your observations...
The non ZHP shifter knobs are longer than the ZHP
Final drive ratio my be higher than the ZHP's 3.07 making it rev faster

It has a ZHP shift knob. It came with one, but it was worn has since been replaced.

I'm not sure what the final drive ratio is, but it's a non-ZHP and is a 5-speed so probably different, 2.93?

he mentioned rev-matching though... nothing to do with the final drive.

you're definitely on the right track with the shifter - the M3-style knobs (which i believe he's got on that canadian car) are super tall. the shift lever itself could be taller as well.

Precisely, I'm not sure what's causing the rev-matching difference.

And I think the shifter neck itself is taller. I'll try and take pics tomorrow for some context.

[BMWCurves]

Gave the car a bath. I think the last time it was washed Carter was when Bush was in the White House...during his first term. It's going to need a serious paint correction to get it looking good again.

I also tried replacing with a 1156 bulb but it still has a bulb out indicator so it's the wiring...somewhere. Fudge.

[az3579]

Gave the car a bath. I think the last time it was washed Carter was when Bush was in the White House...during his first term. It's going to need a serious paint correction to get it looking good again.

I also tried replacing with a 1156 bulb but it still has a bulb out indicator so it's the wiring...somewhere. Fudge.

Does the bulb socket have corrosion in it somewhere? If in doubt, swap the bulb socket with the other side to see if the issue follows. If not, then you probably do have an issue with the wiring.

[danewilson77]

Omg bro.... So sorry.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[BMWCurves]

Omg bro.... So sorry.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Thanks, Dane.

It's just a car, but sad to see it go. Thankfully no one was hurt, and the fire didn't start while someone was driving the car down the road.