Trigger's Broom

Rambling from the Sage of Oxford
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Charles
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Trigger's Broom

Post by Charles » Tue Aug 02, 2016 7:33 pm

As the unofficial - and self-appointed - long-term tester of the B3S, I thought I might update interested readers on the status of my car.

I have just returned from 3 weeks in the States - DC to NY to Cape Cod to Boston - during which time my car has been up at CPC for some TLC.

Just before the end of term, having nursed the gearbox for the last few weeks, it finally decided enough was enough and went into permanent safe mode. Prior to this I had been experiencing a flaring as the box tried to shift from 2nd to 3rd straight after a rapid drop down the box, as if the box was really struggling to work out which of the two gears I really wanted. The plan had been to refurbish the valve chest whilst I was away and so the car was taken to Phil. At the same time, I was hoping we would finally get to the bottom of the vibration in the drivetrain by rebalancing the propshaft.

Cutting a long story short, the valve chest refurb appears to have worked wonders but the propshaft is a different story. The company reported back that the centre bearing splines on the shaft had significant wear (hence the vibration) which they had never seen before - but then again, when have they ever seen a 280k miles propshaft from a BMW? Fair point, they replied.

Anyway, it transpires that a new propshaft was available but on back order and this would have taken too long, as I need my car back this week. So the wonderful Gary Lott has been helping and ALPINA are expediting delivery of said new propshaft directly to Phil. If all goes to plan, it should be arriving at Amersham tomorrow morning and I should be back in the car by tomorrow evening. Of course, this may not happen, but at least it will all be boxed up and ready to go by my deadline of Friday.

So it transpires that the propshaft on a B3S will eventually wear but you don't need to worry until at least 250k miles. There are still a few original pieces on my version of Trigger's Broom, but I guess I am getting close to having replaced most things soon!!!

More news once I have the car back and have been able to assess the refurb on the box, but early reports are that it is changing beautifully and smoothly - and so it should!
Charles
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Post by BarryM » Tue Aug 02, 2016 10:29 pm

That B3S definitely got lucky when you bought it Charles, how many years have you owned it?
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Post by Charles » Tue Aug 02, 2016 11:49 pm

BarryM wrote:That B3S definitely got lucky when you bought it Charles, how many years have you owned it?
Bought it new on 26 March 2003 with 3 miles on the clock :D
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B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
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Post by simon13 » Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:09 am

Is the diff going strong? I think my B3S touring is next highest in use milege with 143k on it someway short of yours still.

Interesting about the propshaft, i bet that wasn't cheap!
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Post by Charles » Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:07 pm

simon13 wrote:Is the diff going strong?
The diff appears to be fine. We replaced the front seal recently as it was starting to weep but otherwise still making the same noises since new
...143k miles ...
A mere youngster at half the miles!
Interesting about the propshaft, i bet that wasn't cheap!
I am expecting something in the region of £630 +vat, which is not too bad as it is £10 cheaper than the equivalent 330d item from BMW - but it depends on how the invoice is handled as I am having it delivered directly from ALPINA.
Charles
Teacher of Chemistry and driver of ALPINAs - not necessarily in that order ;)
B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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Post by Charles » Thu Aug 04, 2016 11:11 pm

Word has reached me that the propshaft arrived at Sytner HW this morning and was picked up by CPC shortly afterwards, so I am hopeful that I will have my car back tomorrow :D

In the meantime, Phil has been investigating the old one and it appears that it is quite a "parts bin special", made up from:

- 330i auto M54 shaft
- 330d front coupling
- E46 M3 centre bearing

My analysis of this is that it needed a heavier duty front coupling to handle the extra torque and the M3 centre bearing to handle the extra power over a 330i torque/power output. Yet another example of the engineering detail that ALPINA put into their cars.

Roll on tomorrow :twisted:
Charles
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B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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Post by B10BRW » Fri Aug 05, 2016 12:05 am

Will you attend Gaydon this year, Charles

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Post by Charles » Fri Aug 05, 2016 12:27 am

Hi Brian,

Sadly not as I will be otherwise engaged at a family event.

C
Charles
Teacher of Chemistry and driver of ALPINAs - not necessarily in that order ;)
B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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Post by Charles » Fri Aug 05, 2016 6:01 pm

Car's back and the vibration has gone so the new propshaft has done the trick :D

Full tracking post suspension changes (return to ALPINA shocks) and the steering wheel is finally straight again :D

Only problem is the gearbox glitch is still there and it has really got us scratching our heads, despite having completely refurbed the valve chest. From cold, the box behaves beautifully, changing gears smoothly up and down the box, but after about 40 minutes running the box appears to slip through the gears and can't decide where it wants to be, throwing a fault P0782 relating to the shift between 2nd and 3rd.

Tends to happen when approaching a junction when I slow down, make the turn and start to accelerate again. Unless I am completely featherlight on the throttle, the revs flare up as if it cannot decide whether it wants 2nd or 3rd.

It doesn't happen from cold, only after some running, so we are trying to work out what's what. Initial thoughts are it may be to do with the friction surfaces inside the box which, once warmed up, are slipping. If that is the case, then it means a refurb of the gearbox internals, which isn't the end of the world but another cost I could do without at the moment.

So, any suggestions would be appreciated ...
Charles
Teacher of Chemistry and driver of ALPINAs - not necessarily in that order ;)
B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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Post by nealpina » Sun Aug 07, 2016 12:41 am

Charles wrote:So, any suggestions would be appreciated ...
Not heard of this happening on IL6 before, but I believe this is a common complaint with V8's of this era.

I remember that GrahamP had his 'gearbox oil temperature sensor' replaced as I believe he either had similar or the same bahviour as your gear changes
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Post by Charles » Tue Aug 09, 2016 6:02 pm

Thanks Neal but I fear it isn't that simple.

Indications are that one of the drums has a crack in it which, when the oil is up to temperature, reveals itself with a loss of oil pressure when changing from 2nd to 3rd.

Biting the bullet, the car goes into a gearbox specialist for a full refurb on Monday. Given that it is almost about 90k miles since the last one, I have decided to have the whole thing done, rather than just repairing the offending part.

I am promised that it will be better than new!
Charles
Teacher of Chemistry and driver of ALPINAs - not necessarily in that order ;)
B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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Post by ALPB1033 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:00 pm

When are you calling the day to stop spending money on your old girl? I'm thinking to put mine into a garage and find another one. :D

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Post by ALPB1033 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:02 pm

Recently spent a small fortune on it just like you. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post by Charles » Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:23 am

ALPB1033 wrote:When are you calling the day to stop spending money on your old girl? I'm thinking to put mine into a garage and find another one. :D
It might have been an expensive 15 months but I have spent less than I would have lost in depreciation on a new car and mine is still worth what it was 15 months ago.

Given that I could not justify keeping it as an occasional car and that the replacement would have to be another B3 Touring of which there are so few around, it makes economical sense to keep her going at the moment.
Charles
Teacher of Chemistry and driver of ALPINAs - not necessarily in that order ;)
B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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Post by Charles » Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:25 am

nealpina wrote:Not heard of this happening on IL6 before, but I believe this is a common complaint with V8's of this era.
A quick google for "zf5hp19 2nd 3rd flare" reveals that this is more common than you might think :shock:
Last edited by Charles on Thu Aug 11, 2016 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Charles
Teacher of Chemistry and driver of ALPINAs - not necessarily in that order ;)
B3S Touring (49/116) - been to the moon and now on the way back!
Renault Grand Espace - not mine but the wife's!

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