William's 330Ci ZHP Maintenance and Project Thread

[BMWCurves]

Already?

Portland is good for one big snow storm a year, tops. If I have to I'll put them back on, but I'm on my family medicine rotation and have to commute 30 miles a day and would rather not do that on studs.

[BMWCurves]

Mileage: 81,515 miles

Cooling System: For the past month or so I've had an intermittent "low coolant" light on my gauge cluster shortly after start up that usually disappears after reaching operating temperature. I had this issue previously and did some basic research, resulting in me rebleeding the coolant system and topping it off. I checked the coolant yesterday and it was full in the expansion tank, so I'm not really sure what is going on?

To muddy the waters, today I had been driving it around so it was warm. When I was leaving the store, about 30 seconds after turning the engine on, the temperature gauge went to 3/4 while moving though the parking lot and merging into traffic. At the stop light it continued to sit there and then came down to normal temperature. It then rose again briefly while idling and then went back to normal. I was prepared to pull over after I had found somewhere safe, but it stayed pegged right in the middle the whole return trip. I have recalibrated the gauge to be more accurate than stock using BMW Scanner. Thoughts?

Unclear clunking sound at idle: I've noticed when I start up the car and idle for a few minutes, I'll have this quiet, low-pitch clunk that is every 5-6 seconds, and can be faintly felt in the steering wheel. Any idea what it might be?

License plate lights: One of my eBay LED license plate lights kicked the bucket so I purchased a set of these lights off of eBay that arrived today. They don't have a heat sink like my old ones do, so I'm a little worried about them. I'll see how they do over this weekend.

Finally, gave her a bath after four weeks of commuting on the highway in the rain. She. Was. Filthy.

[fredo]

Mileage: 81,515 miles

Cooling System: For the past month or so I've had an intermittent "low coolant" light on my gauge cluster shortly after start up that usually disappears after reaching operating temperature. I had this issue previously and did some basic research, resulting in me rebleeding the coolant system and topping it off. I checked the coolant yesterday and it was full in the expansion tank, so I'm not really sure what is going on?

I had a similar issue. These are the notes from my mechanic: "Low coolant warning, mostly when cold. Checked level and it's ok at this time. Expansion tank is failing internally. Replaced ET, also replaced lower expansion tank hose that was also failing. Added fresh coolant, bled air from system and replaced bleed screw. Pressure test, test drove OK."

I remember he said there's a sensor in the ET, and that was the main reason for the warning.

[BMWCurves]

Good to know, maybe I'll replace that expansion tank with *gasp* a BMW part.

*cries as flushes cash down toilet*

[John in VA]

Good to know, maybe I'll replace that expansion tank with *gasp* a BMW part.
*cries as flushes cash down toilet*

Get the genuine BMW expansion tank from FCP - it's a better fit to the mounting plate/bracket & it's the last one you'll pay for. I went through an "almost everything under the hood" refresh on my E39 last year & went with many genuine parts to avoid having to do much of the stuff again too soon!

[san]

As a thumb rule, if it’s anything to do with the engine, I use genuine bmw parts.


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[BMWCurves]

My passenger taillight died for some reason earlier this week. I swapped taillights with my father's ZHP and it worked. Very strange. Anyone have a spare coupe taillight?

[ZHPizza]

My passenger taillight died for some reason earlier this week. I swapped taillights with my father's ZHP and it worked. Very strange. Anyone have a spare coupe taillight?

I had one go out on me too, but it was intermittent. I limped it along for a few months with pieces of cardboard wedged in beside the connector to put enough pressure on the board to make it work, then got tired of playing with it and bought a new one.

They're surprisingly reasonably priced.

[BMWCurves]

I had one go out on me too, but it was intermittent. I limped it along for a few months with pieces of cardboard wedged in beside the connector to put enough pressure on the board to make it work, then got tired of playing with it and bought a new one.

They're surprisingly reasonably priced.

You bought new? I purchased a used pair to replace the driver's side a few years ago, sold the passenger. Now my passenger is dead

[ZHPizza]

You bought new? I purchased a used pair to replace the driver's side a few years ago, sold the passenger. Now my passenger is dead

Yeah looks like I paid $162.62 for an OEM one on eBay in 2018. That was worth just knowing it would work whereas any used one is a ticking time bomb.


$185 :/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-BMW-Tai....m46890.l49286

$160
https://m.eeuroparts.com/Parts/44537...gaAi-VEALw_wcB