The Beemer is Finished (Nearly)

Now I haven’t been spending every waking hour on it as there’s been quite a bit of waiting for special tools and a lot of internet research required, but finally all the things which have been bugging me are resolved.

After a complete rebuild of the front braking system, the final, usually quick job of bleeding the brakes proved to be something of a challenge. After waiting for Guy to return from a four day trip to his father’s and getting him to pump the brakes for about twenty minutes, nothing was happening. A quick look at the manual and it was stated that it is a pressurized system, which needed either a garage or a special bleeding system, and that’s not a profanity!! The garage option was favourite until I worked out that it would probably cost a hundred euros or so and the tools on the internet ranged from €80 to over €300! Then I spotted a system on Amazon – Eezibleed - cost €25.

I was a bit doubtful that it could be so cheap and work but the reviews were favorable and only four days after ordering it, a rather Heath Robinson looking device arrived and which uses the pressure from the spare wheel. Ten minutes after starting the job on my own (it’s usually a two-man job), the brakes were working. 

I’ll let J test them on the mountain road just to make sure they are ok though!

The next, and related problem, was a BMW fiddle. Even after fixing the brakes, the warning light was illuminating the dashboard and some internet research showed that you need to take it to a BMW dealership to have the system reset but a much quicker fix was simply to cut the wires leading to the sensor and connect them together. Problem solved. I look at my brakes every few months anyway so a sensor is superfluous for me.

The next and rather confusing issue was that the theft alarm kept going off. This was caused by the removal of the battery when I was working on the electrics, and like the brake warning light, the alarm, or rather, the car needs to be taken to a specialist to have the system reset. Removing the fuse wasn’t the answer as the radio was hooked up to the alarm as were the hazard lights. I disconnected the alarm box but it was full of circuit boards which frighten me to death so I simply removed all the connectors, dumped the box and hey presto – everything worked.

And that was it. You may notice that I haven’t photographed the Beemer from the side which has a large bash on it – that’s a summer job and is quite a complicated task necessitating the removal of the bumper, the lights, bonnet hinges and a few other things. I’ll order a wing on the internet, get it painted and then fit it when there’s a few warm days on the horizon.

The next thing of course is to put the Beemer through it’s Controle Technique (MOT) which is always an anxious time but we’ll see what happens this afternoon when I drive it up to the centre and hand it over. It’s worse than childbirth (or waiting for your wife to give birth), watching the guys crawl all over the car, shoving torches into every nook and cranny as they look for the slightest problem.

Given the state of some of the cars on the road over here, it always amazes me when they might fail a German manufactured, superbly built BMW 328i for a slight problem, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens.    

And after that it’s the open road. Can’t wait.


Stop Press - YES !!! It passed.