Rav's 1999 B3 3.3 Saloon - Yes I bought it!!

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Rav
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Rav's 1999 B3 3.3 Saloon - Yes I bought it!!

Post by Rav » Sun Jun 03, 2018 12:53 pm

I am pleased to let you all know that I bought my first Alpina B3 3.3 Saloon on Friday from a freindly chap in Morecambe. It was a long couple of days as the journey was over 500 miles return. We stayed in Manchester on the first night to break the journey up.

The car will be delivered on Thursday of this week and I am so excited.

The build of the car was brilliant, with under 100k miles from new, so is a delight to drive.

Being the UK press car and the first B3 in the uk, she has lots of options ticked on the options box. All of which still work.

I will update you once the car is delivered.

Thanks for those including SPA69 and RattusM3 on here that helped me and a special big thanks to HAP for all his support - day and night.

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Post by Metrics » Sun Jun 03, 2018 4:43 pm

Congrats, and enjoy!

Was it Paul's 3.3?
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Post by Rav » Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:02 pm

Thanks Metrics.

Yes it is Paul's B3. A car well known to the forum. #32 has had loads of owners, many of them were on the forum.

I look forward to updating you all with pictures as soon as the car is delivered on Thursday.

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Post by hap » Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:47 pm

Thank rav always happy to help where I can

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Post by Rav » Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:45 pm

Some recent pictures of the car, whilst i wait for her to be delivered. She should arrive at my house on Thursday. So excited!!

Image

Image

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Post by Rav » Thu Jun 07, 2018 9:47 pm

After a long wait, my first Alpina arrived today at 15:30.

Since arriving i have beeen driving and driving. What a car......I am told that #32 B3 3.3 was the UK press car of that year. The car has lots of options.

Here she is in her new home...

Image


I have found some issues with the radio and a squeeking of belts on idle so far, but that is pretty minor...
Last edited by Rav on Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:21 pm, edited 13 times in total.
1999 #032 Alpina B3 3.3 saloon (UK Press Car) - Buchloe Beast
2000 Porsche Boxster S - Viola
2015 Audi A4 Avant Ultra - Wife's car
2002 VW Lupo 1.4 16v - Daughter's car

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Post by hap » Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:46 pm

Now where are those alpina rondals rav 😆

You need to track down if it was magazine featured unless its all with paperwork you have ?

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Post by PhillV8S » Thu Jun 07, 2018 11:07 pm

You might want to reduce the resolution of your last picture because it’s making it a PiTA to read this thread now.
Welcome to Alpina ownership, I hope you have many trouble free miles in it.great car.
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Post by hap » Sat Jun 09, 2018 10:05 am

C,mon rav itching to see the latest pics 😎

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Post by Rav » Sat Jun 09, 2018 2:46 pm

Thanks all. To busy driving the car to take any pictures!!

Some questions...

1. I topped up the oil and the squeeking noise (like belt squeel) went away. After a longer and harder drive today, the squeel is back. Any ideas?

2. I dont think that I have heard the main fan come on since owning the car. The car engine gets very hot and stays hot for a long time, but the temp needle stays put in the middle of the range. Any ideas?

3. The CD changer 6 disc will not come out and the radio in the car is stuck in a strange mode. No sound, only the consumption per mile (which would make greenpeace cry)
Update - I reasearched this fault and it seems that removing fuse number 7 and 41 cures this. I did this and hey presto - Fixed - but only for a short while.
The CD changer had no power - but this was due to the power connector being broken. Does anyone know where i can get a new connector from - like a black plastic connector with three wires going in?
What is the single wire and does the CD player need this to work? Is it a fibre?

4. The wheel centres are difficult to get on. I dont want to break any keys. Any reccomended ways to get the centres on?
Update - I have snapped a key. All keys have the same serial number - but not all keys open all wheel centres. Where can i buy new keys?


Im off to drive again! 8)
1999 #032 Alpina B3 3.3 saloon (UK Press Car) - Buchloe Beast
2000 Porsche Boxster S - Viola
2015 Audi A4 Avant Ultra - Wife's car
2002 VW Lupo 1.4 16v - Daughter's car

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Post by Charles » Sat Jun 09, 2018 9:50 pm

Rav wrote:1. I topped up the oil and the squeeking noise (like belt squeel) went away. After a longer and harder drive today, the squeel is back. Any ideas?
This may be due to a failing auxiliary belt tensioner pulley - the ball bearings start to break down due to grit getting into the grooves. It's not a difficult or expensive fix but try and locate the squeal to confirm
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Post by rc944 » Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:23 pm

for the wheel centres give the key no to your local bmw dealer and your alpina vin and they can sort it

for the fan i would get a fault code reader and pull down the fault codes before doing anything else. overheating would not be ideal

for the squeal not sure why it would go once topped up with oil. was that coincidence? when were belts last done? really easy to do and you can spin up the tensioner to see if its noisy
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Post by Rav » Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:33 pm

Spent this afternoon sorting out the CD 6 disc changer in the boot.
It wouldnt work. I stripped it out and the power conenctor was broken.
My daughter and I hardwired the power, ground and sense straight to the pcb, bypassing the connector and hey presto.

Even found a Kiss CD (the night club and not the licky band) from 2001 in there!

I will keep sorting the small issues day by day.
1999 #032 Alpina B3 3.3 saloon (UK Press Car) - Buchloe Beast
2000 Porsche Boxster S - Viola
2015 Audi A4 Avant Ultra - Wife's car
2002 VW Lupo 1.4 16v - Daughter's car

Rav
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Post by Rav » Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:12 pm

My car comes with a nice widescreen unit.

The unit will not recognize the navigation CDs - Inspecting these closely - they look fake. Does anyone have any old original ones that they could part with? I am happy to live with older CDs.

The TV unit is Analogue (boo), is there a cheap and easy way to convert this to pick up digital TV signals - it would be good to watch the football!!
1999 #032 Alpina B3 3.3 saloon (UK Press Car) - Buchloe Beast
2000 Porsche Boxster S - Viola
2015 Audi A4 Avant Ultra - Wife's car
2002 VW Lupo 1.4 16v - Daughter's car

Rav
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Post by Rav » Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:21 pm

Gary and the team at Alpina sent me a magazine article featuring my very car:

Image


Image


Image
1999 #032 Alpina B3 3.3 saloon (UK Press Car) - Buchloe Beast
2000 Porsche Boxster S - Viola
2015 Audi A4 Avant Ultra - Wife's car
2002 VW Lupo 1.4 16v - Daughter's car

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