Faith in humanity restored

More often than not when buying a used car these days it's pot luck whether you'd get both keys with it (especially true when buying a car that has been part exchanged to a dealer). Now imagine how less likely it is when buying a salvage car. Most of these cars are recovered at the accident scene and go straight to auction/salvage when insurance company is through with it. The owners get paid out and most never bother to send in spare key.

I only got 1 key with the M135i.

New keys supplied and coded by BMW are approximately £160.

On the F series car you can programme your own keys.

So I thought just buy a used key for cheap (you know one of these spare keys that never key returned). and programme it and get as new blade cut. Job done.

But there's the idea that someone has a key to your car. Hmm.

So, One day, whilst rummaging through the car after I first got it I find a motorbike part with a note stuck to it saying "Jamie" along with a phone number.

I think to myself I wonder if this is the previous owner, so I WhatsApp him and ask if he used to own the car. It turns out it was and after explaining who I was and how I got his number.

I asked him how the car was damaged - He was driving in heavy rain and he aquaplaned and hit a concrete bollard.

Anyway long story short - He had the spare key and offered to send it to me for free.

I received it today

Thanks Jamie

The Air Compressor Gamble

So in an effort to only get genuine bmw parts and keep to the budget, i took a gamble when sourcing a replacement air con compressor.

As you've probably seen in the previous posts, the impact damage bent the chassis leg into the air con compressor, busting it and the bracket in to process.

As the N55 engine was used in a number of engines you'd expect to be able to find a used compressor fairly easy. turns out there was a number of configurations of aux belt on these engines depending on model used in. As such there are a few different compressors available. And sod's law the one i needed wasn't that common.

To add to this from 2013 BMW had moved to the new refrigerant R1234yf ahead of the EU regulations to mandate the use.

Quick background: The older R134a had been found to be contribute towards global warming.

The compressors listed above are for a pre-LCI car. There are two listed as they switched to R1234yf.

The compressor listed above is for the LCI car which was only offered with R1234yf.

I'm told there is some slight differences in the pipe work between R134a and R1234yf due to operating temperatures and pressures. But on the whole near identical.

The compressor is made by Denso and by checking the compressors model and series you can see they are the same type and rated for same use.

So seeing as a new one was a £1k and the newish one was £300 I opted for the LCI model going cheap for £150 after confirming fitment.

Here's what it looked like after i removed the old compressor

(Above) As you can see the alternator needed some cleaning up

(Below) Side by side comparison of old and LCI compressor

I cleaned up the alternator pulley and vibration damper with a wire brush tool on a Dremel.

When I mounted the bracket I realised I was missing 2 long bolts to hold compressor in place securely and ordered new ones to pick up after the weekend. Only to find them a day later but couldn't cancel order. £5 wasted. Top tip, do not throw anything away when stripping down the car (more on that another time).

Below is my first attempt at routing the belt.

A quick Google, and got the correct routing.

Below you can see new compressor in situ with minimum clearance.

After this I cleared the fault codes & attempted to fire her up - No joy. Also I could see the vibration damper had a slight wobble too. Double No Joy. That will need replacing too and they aren't cheap.

Surgical precision compressor removal

So now the elusive headlight has been found and i have the whole front end in parts and have fixed the steering, it's time to send the car to the body shop right?

Eh, not quite.

As much as the engine cranks strong and I think the problem is ECU telling the car not to start due to certain parts not being connected. The fact the engine will be taken out  to repair body has left me with the niggling feeling that I'd like to hear the engine start before it goes in.

To achieve this at the bare minimum i need to fix the accessory belt. This involves replacing a few broken pulleys and belt along with the broken air con compressor  and bracket.

The Problem

As detailed in previous posts, the bent chassis leg has pinned the compressor in place. Meaning I can't remove the old one.

So I got to thinking could bend the leg over enough to release the compressor? NO CHANCE!!!

2-3mm thick steel strengthen structure that was already crimpled was not going to budge by hand unless I spontaneously developed super human strength. Which is why body shops use hydraulic rams to push and pull.

My neighbour then suggested I cut a small piece off to release the compressor. But the gap was tight and couldn't get the dremel in their and didn't fancy using an angle grinder as I'd probably chop my arm off somehow. In the end I was able to cut the smallest piece off using nothing but a hacksaw and a lot of elbow grease.

An hour later and this was the result...

 

As you can see from the pics, only a small sliver of a piece was needed to be cut to free the compressor. You can see how much the leg had been bent in that cross section. This is why we would straighten the leg as much as possible then cut and replace.

Also you can see the compressor and the bracket took the brunt of the impact and broke their mountings. This is actually a good thing and testament to good engineering. As if they didn't break I could be looking at engine block damage instead. As it stands all the block side mounting points look fine.

I had a look at the intercooler charge pipe whilst there and could see some tiny damage but already had decided to replaced due to intercooler side coupling damaged.

New Compressor

I actually have a new compressor already. Which I got from a breaker at a steal for £150. The only issue is the part numbers do not match exactly.

It came from an M135i LCI and the BMW part number is different. RealOEM says neither the original or newer compressor is exchangeable with the LCI version. However the look identical, have same Denso part number (albeit newer revision) and are rated the same and use same bracket.

So this will be either a moment of brilliance on my part or an exercise in futility - time will tell.

Current Plan

Next i plan to get all the pieces to repair the accessory belt. New pulleys and belt.

Hopefully after that it will just be a case of connecting up some of the front end parts like the radiator to trick the car into to starting.

But am running close to top end of budget so finances will slow things down.

If you can spare some beer tokens or click on some ads here it would be greatly appreciated and help the cause immensely.

Catch you soon

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Unicorns are real and expensive

Yes you read that title right.

The elusive passenger side F20 pre LCI adaptive xenon headlight has been found. And wouldn't you know it was in Birmingham of all places.

£400 cash (of course) including all bulbs and modules. Works a treat, although lens could use a slight polish for stone chips.

Had to drive up to drive up to Brum one Friday evening (with my 3 year old). I've been to Brum a few times in the past mainly around New St. The other parts I've been to for car parts are like the wild west meets fast and furious. Sparkhill on a Friday seemed like everyone was driving around looking for the secret race meet.

The standout example was the heavily tinted Nissan Mirca with terrible exhaust stalking BMWs. (the one pictured below was way better).

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Still Headlight problems

Update 25/07/17

I have everything i need to take car into bodyshop bar the passenger side adaptive headlight. This is important as the bodyshop need it to align the front properly (especially since that was the side that was hit)

I had already got the driver's side for the bargain price of £250 and recently found the passenger side for £400 (remember these are about £650 brand new). 

However when the passenger side arrived I tested it and it worked but there was gaps between the lens and body and excessive double sided tape, along with finger print inside the lens. Turns out the lens was replaced poorly and it was written in the listing, albeit very small. It was returned and i was fully refunded.

I found another at a breakers but they seem to think they could charge £600 for a used part, so told them where they could go with that.

So now I'm still on the hunt for a headlight. Or bite the bullet and buy it brand new.

In the meantime here's a video of these pesky lights in action (credit to IronEagle)


BMW F20 Adaptive Headlights (Xenon) from IronEagle on Vimeo.

 If you know where I can find one, get in touch. I would be very appreciate.

Catch you soon

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Buying used parts

Buying parts for this car has really been an exercise in patience. Mainly due to the M135i having an engine not shared with the the majority of F2X cars. Body parts are more common, it's just a case of getting them for the right price, colour, etc.

So far I have almost everything I need to take to body shop, except the left side adaptive headlight (I bought one the other day and paid a bit much for it, but it had had the lens replaced badly so it was returned).

Engine wise I still need a few pipes and hoses - along with the air con condenser and bracket. After that its just airbag kit and windscreen.

Where to buy?

There's only 3 places to get genuine parts:

eBay - The easiest place to search and buy parts (if you know what your looking for), from lots of different sources.

Pros:

Huge number of items to choose from.
Multiple ways to pay also including PayPal's new buy now pay later option.
Click and collect at Argos.

Cons: 

Not able to view prior to buying - Rely on accurate/truthful descriptions
Delivery charges can be costly on bulkier items
Return can be a pain.

Breakers - Specialist BMW breakers (like Quarry motors) are good places to look.

Pros:

Sites like PartsGateway can do all the leg work for you.
Specialists tend to have good knowledge of the cars.

Cons: 

Delivery costs
Unable to view parts if not local
Some breakers don't know much about the cars

BMW - Last resort, as you can imagine brand new parts can be expensive.

Pros:
Exactly the part you need

Cons:
Flipping expensive
No credit option

Other options

There are also some smaller breaker and random sellers. And whilst some of these are good, I have to say my experiences with others (sadly to say mainly from Birmingham area) hasn't been.

Rude, arrogant, unprofessional & dishonest are all words that spring to mind if asked to describe. Most of them come across as rude, arrogant and unprofessional. the genuinely lack any business experience and seem to think the world works according to them. Of the dozens I spoke to when you ask them certain questions about the vehicle they are breaking they get very cagey and all seem to be in a mad hurry to get rid.

One particular bell-end was advertising breaking M135i's and had parts available on eBay. Now unless you pay for a classified Ad your not supposed to add a contact number or email to a listing. this is eBay policy as they do not want to encourage selling outside of their bubble (buyer/seller protection and all that). 

To avoid classified listings fees, he'd list the car breaking against a wheel nut (common practice on eBay) and ask people to message him their number (which is another breach in eBay policy).

He'd then call at some random hour, basically say he has everything and get annoyed if you asked specific questions about parts. And if you didn't commit to driving several hours to Birmingham, he'd throw his toys out the cot and get all rude. This guy then decided he was going to message me insults for a week.

The flip side to this is that I didn't manage to get majority of the front end for the M135i from a similar person in Birmingham. And apart from not knowing the difference between adaptive headlights (See Headlight Fiasco post) and almost not doing a deal over £50 it turned out OK.

NB: Sorry for lack of updates, June was a very busy month with one of my madam's 1st birthday - which equated in a divert of time and funds 

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Interaction

Since starting this blog a few months back I have been amazed by how big an audience it's reached.

Above is the month view the location of people viewing. This is a top 10, but there are people as far a Chile & Japan reading.

So firstly Thank you for reading. I'm genuinely taken back by the support recieved.

However let's make this a more interactive experience. I enjoy hearing feedback, comments and ideas. So encourage you all like, comment and subscribe. Even if you just want to say hello. It will make this blog that much better.

Thanks. Speak soon

The Headlight fiasco

When I first decided to get an M135i to repair, I wanted to change the front end to a 2 series front end. I just preferred the look of that than the pre-LCI front of the F20 1 series.


Pre LCI

 LCI

 2 series

As the only difference between these is the headlights, bumper and brackets and seeing how my car was in need of all three, this was a good opportunity.

Swapped

Nice right?

This plan was put in check but the fact that my car was built with adaptive headlights. For those who don't know, adaptive headlights basically turn left or right depending on the direction of steering. The idea is to improve visibility whilst cornering.

BMW Adaptive headlights demo


As good as all that sounds, it becomes a royal pain when trying to find a replacement. As you can imagine they would be quite rare as not a commonly specified option (across the 3 front ends above).

Part numbers

So it would be challenging....

No, it would be more than that. The headlights used on most modern BMWs are made under license by Hella. And in the almighty wisdom of both companies the BMW part number is not stamped/printed on the headlight (anywhere).

Above is the label on the remnant of the driver's headlight on my car. The BMW part number for the driver's side adaptive headlight is 63 11 7 296 908. This is nowhere to be found. The 1ZS number is the Hella part number but it does not appear on their system as they are BMW OEM parts. The lower number on the right is the part number everyone else seems to use 7229694-11.

Searching the breakers & eBay gives you loads of headlights with 7229688-11 which is the standard BMW Xenon headlight - BMW part number 63 11 7 296 912 (not what I want).

FUN FACT: BMW headlight a steering side specific. The RL designates right hand drive. LL would be Left hand drive. Separate parts for each. Certain countries also have specific headlight requirements also and will also get their own part.

Because of this confusing setup many people are selling Xenon headlights as adaptive (also they think their adaptive due to the light auto levelling). I've seen a few incorrectly advertised.

Brand new the AHLs are £634 each without any modules. I managed to confirm the correct part numbers with the help of the guys on the owners group on facebook, so at least know what to look for.

As of writing this I found an single AHL advertised incorrectly going cheap so snapped that up. Just need the passenger side.

Modules

The other part of this are the various modules connected to the headlight in order to make them work.

• Driver module
• Xenon control unit (ballast)
• Xenon Bulb with igniter
• LED modules

Across the different front ends i considered, not all of these parts were shared i.e. the LED modules. All the parts i salvaged from my headlights appear to be in good working order. So with that in mine it would make sense to put the intended headlights back on the car to keep costs down.

Update 20/05/17

Finally got a set of decent sealey offset ring spanners (£25 from mano mano). Turns out that's all i needed with my socket set.

Changed lower control arm on driver's side, which was simple apart from nearly striping the torx on ball end. Now that side doesn't turn freely from the top mount and stays in positon.

Had the tyre changed also, so car is sitting properly now.

Wish i had lifts, would make everything easier.

Next was the NSF tie rod. There are special tools to take these off. One is about £60 the other £10. I couldn't really justify getting a specialist tool for a one time job. So managed to use a pipe wrench.

Access was a bit awkward but once I got a good position I was able to get good leverage.

Here you can see the damage to the subframe clearly. You. An also see it's crushed part of the OSF wishbone. That will be replaced along with subframe. I plan to do this whilst the car is at the bodyshop and engine is out of car for ease.

In the process or brokering a deal on a complete pre lci front end with the adaptive lights my car came with. Just need it at the right price, then get the front quarter and sub frame and it's off to bodyshop