The Scarlett Thread, part Deux.... Wisco's project and maintenance thread

[az3579]

Do the Biltsteins have a warranty?

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Certain Bilsteins have a lifetime warranty. I believe all the shocks fall into that category, but worth confirming the model. The warranty only applies to the original purchaser, however.

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[Wisco]

From my reading, I Sh*t out of Luck on this one as I'm not the original purchaser and the B8 shocks seem to have only a 90 day warranty period:

Separate Warranty Period for Products from the Clubsport, Motorsport, B8 5125/5165/8125/9200/9300 Series and Control Arm Category Purchased in North America:

BILSTEIN warrants to the original purchaser that products from one of these categories will be free from defects in design, material, and workmanship for a period of 90 days

Source: https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/produ...ices/warranty/

[Wisco]

Another short project, this time a DIY cosmetic fix: replacement of BMW Windshield Wiper Cowl (E46) - Genuine BMW 51718208483.

My original one is faded, cracking at the top edge and is starting to warp at the corners. So I should be able to replace things all by my lonesome, right? Sorry no photos, but it's easy enough to describe.

1. Gently pry plastic bolt caps off each windshield washer arm bolt. I found it easier to do with the hood up.One of the two had a small crack, so I popped some super glue into the gap and pinched the piece together to fix the small crack in the cap.
2. Remove the cover bolt with 15mm socket wrench. The torque spec is 30nm, so not too hard to unscrew that.
3. The first fun part is getting the arm off. I found it easy enough once I figured out the trick: gently push down on the wiper arm section closest to the bolt. This unweights the arm from the bolt and I was able to simply pull them off the mounting post with my fingers.
4. Gently pry up the old cowl with a plastic pry tool popping the snap in plastic fasteners along the base of the piece. Remove the whole plastic part pulling gently and nudging over the washer arm posts.
5. Get some glass cleaner and a rag and clean out the dirt and grit at the base of the window.

Installation is the reverse order with the new part. Be patient to align the snap in fasteners and note that they have some L/R play to align them to the car attachment points. Don't forget to align the wiper arms to the appropriate spot low on the window and torque the bolts to spec.

It's pitch dark outside right now, but I can take some pics of the final results tomorrow morning.

[az3579]

90 days??? That sounds way too short. My Bilstein Sport shocks had a lifetime warranty, as do my PSS10 coilovers... that's weird.

[Chaplian]

90 days??? That sounds way too short. My Bilstein Sport shocks had a lifetime warranty, as do my PSS10 coilovers... that's weird.

I have Bilstein B8s that I bought through shockwarehouse.com, and they for sure have a lifetime warranty (I had one leak and lose dampening capabilities.) I was told, however, that a leaking Bilstein won't be warrantied, it must have lost its dampening ability.

[Wisco]

So it's been awhile, but that's what you get when you are driving such a fun and reliable car. Some fluid change PM and such, but otherwise flawless at 121K miles on the ODO. Until now.

I have been hearing a noise from behind the driver that I thought might be driveshaft and or rear differential related. I'm not a sophisticated not experienced DIY guy, so my ears are all I have to diagnose. Daniel, the previous owner of Scarlett, had installed an aftermarket M Factory Helical LSD (3.46) and it's been flawless and with regular Red Line fluid changes. However a noise is a noise so I took Scarlett into my local trusted Indy for some other PM and to take a look. Here is the report:

"The noise is coming from the rear differential itself. I drained a slight amount of fluid off the top through the fill plug and saw a lot of metal particulate (and this is off the top of the fluid after just running it on the hoist for a bit. Left driveshaft inner joint appears seized on one of the tripods, so not allowing full plunge and causing the driveshaft to rotate off-center, possibly creating a vibration. This may have contributed to the diff failure, or it might be a completely separate issue. Either way, I would recommend replacing or rebuilding the diff, and getting a couple of higher quality drive axles to replace the originals in the rear."

So what to do? I am not selling or junking this car. Period. And I know this is going to be a few thousand to resolve, but I can handle the price as I love Scarlett and can't find anything from BMW that I love driving as much as Scarlett. I will say the directness of the 6MT transmission with 3.46 gear ratio is awesome, but not ideal for a daily driver focused car. It's frosting on the cake in my opinion.. and on a very nice cake. So I am debating whether to go back to the factory 3.07 gear ratio diff.

Any advise or thoughts on paths forward with this sort of diff / drive shaft issues?

Gratuitous Scarlett parking lot shot from this morning.

[Vas]

Did Daniel give you the m-factory warranty card when you purchased the car ? The diff has a lifetime transferable warranty but that card is the ticket.

Personally I would pull the diff and send it out to m-factory for inspection and rebuild.

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[t.er]

Interesting how the tripod bearing seized... was the boot torn, or was there grease slung on surrounding components? If no, then it seems odd that the bearing would seize with it still greased.

[ZHPizza]

MFactory had a lot of issues with the bolts working themselves loose over time (they didn't use loctite - oops). This doesn't sound like that failure, but may still be. Definitely worth pulling it out and inspecting/sending in to MFactory.

Maybe swap in a stock diff while you sort it out? 3.07 or 3.38 would have the right input flange. I swapped the input flange onto a 3.23 from a Z4 and it is **chef's kiss** for a daily driver.

[Wisco]

Did Daniel give you the m-factory warranty card when you purchased the car ? The diff has a lifetime transferable warranty but that card is the ticket.

Personally I would pull the diff and send it out to m-factory for inspection and rebuild.

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Our mutual friend Daniel is nothing but thorough, so yes I did find the warranty card among the file I received with the car purchase. I will contact M Factory tomorrow and see if we can get some resolution. Still till have to deal with the drive shaft out of pocket, but a warranty cover would be nice.