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Driving-wise, I think MINI did well with their CVT. There are a few things in the programming that I wish they had done differently, but in general I found it really nice to drive and it was perfect for my wife who actually owns the car. Where I think they fell down was how vulnerable it is to failure. The belt thing should have been easily found in early car testing and then there are the electronic glitches. Those are the areas of disappointment for me.
Today was doorectomy day. Overall not too bad, though the driver's door latch on the gray door fought me coming off to swap the lock cylinder. I ended up drilling the bolts and was able to extract the remainder of the bolts from the latch. Now there's fully functional power locks, no door rust, and no major door dents. Everything but the windows, mechanisms, and latches got swapped from the original doors.
So one of our customers at work spotted Grumpy and we were chatting and he sent my some inspiration to stay with the current color scheme. He said he sold this bike around 3 years ago, but Grumpy reminded him of it.
I owned this 2004 R1100S (3rd owner) and loved the look and handling but even then, I was getting too old for sporty ergos. Owned a 2004 R1150RT same time, equipped with Ohlins. I called them my "bookends". Lots of BMW motos before and after, ending with 2014 R1200RTw sold in 2017...
So Grumpy has had a CEL for at least a month, now. Just an upstream O2 sensor heater circuit fault, no biggie. Had a little time to check into it today and the heater circuit measures open, time for an upstream sensor. I'd also like to take the aftermarket header off and put the stock manifold back on. There's a nasty buzz to the exhaust note from the front of the exhaust, it doesn't line up with head really well, and it pulls the upstream sensor wiring really tight. I think I'll wait until then.
While digging the wads of RTV off the upstream O2 sensor connector (because the locking tab is broken and someone globbed it up) I noticed a gap in part of the shifter linkage at the trans. The side-to-side cable has been hanging on for all its worth since we got the car. Today I noticed the plastic guide/bushing that links to the shift shaft is hammered. While I did find them available online, shipping is more than the little plastic bushing. Fortunately I still have the trans with the broken case from Grumpy2, so I grabbed the whole arm assembly off that trans when I got home tonight. By the rust buildup on the current setup I'm a bit worried about the pin, but may just use the bushing. It may not take up all the slop (yeah, that cable end is BAD!), but it will take up more than the knackered cable end has. You can see the lip that shows how big this guide used to be. The grand canyon of shifter gap. Yaaay! Free parts!
Nice! I've been working on improving shifter feel on my GP and have replaced a lot of these parts a lot. If you're in a bind or don't want to spend the money- you can spin that plastic black square 90 degrees and it should fit into the mechanism much better - take up the gap. I think the cheapest place I found the square was from ECS with free shipping over 50 dollars. Everywhere else was stupid money including shipping.
The other parts that increase play in the shifter are the reverse mechanism - behind where that black square is - it's a white piece of teflon that wears out, and then the actual shifter box and the white plastic piece on top of the box that holds the shifter has play too.
Thanks for the tips! I did see it at ECS for just over $3, but can't justify another $47 to get that free shipping! As suspected the pin itself is worn on the old one, so even turning the block I'd be a little worried about it not having enough support. 203,499 miles at the time of repair.
Hello NAM! Grumpy is still kicking at over 206k miles and is due for inspection this month, plus the store brand alternator crapped out last weekend, so time for some love! Last weekend I was finishing up the 3.0L ZHP/6 speed swap in my E46 Touring, or it was raining, so no time to wrench on poor Grumpy. Picked up a Bosch remanufactured alternator this time. Also had a new valve cover to install as the gasket has been puking, the hardware was rusty, and the health of the PCV was suspect. New NTK upstream O2 sensor and reinstalling the stock manifold were also on the agenda. Alternator was tackled in the first hour, valve cover maybe another hour. Then it came time to rebuild the manifold (I had cut the cat off to use with the header) and make the exhaust mate up to it. All went pretty smoothly and the exhaust tone has lost the tinny, buzzy aspect I hated. Ran out of time to get the summer wheels on. Here we go again! New alternator hiding down in there. I even had the proper belt tensioner tool and it was a PITA to release/install the belt. Such a dumb design! New goodies! This engine is amazingly clean inaide for 206,xxx miles! Stock manifold and cat back together.
Hello NAM! Grumpy is still kicking at over 206k miles and is due for inspection this month…
This engine is amazingly clean inaide for 206,xxx miles!
Changing oil regularly at about 5k miles will do that. When we got our ‘04 the oil change interval was something crazy like 20k miles by the computer. Even now it reads 12k miles. Ridiculous!
Side note for working on MINIs with the CVT. If you get one that is showing “EP” in the shifter display, and is either stuck in “1st” (low range) or shifting too early, ours did both at different times, check the wiring where it plugs into the tranny. This is down under the air box and battery box. Almost impossible to see without removing either one of those 2 things and isn’t visible from the bottom. Ours was eaten by rodents (it is a nice place to nest). Lucky for us the mechanic saw it and that saved us from a transmission replacement.
Yup, we're on a 5-6k mile oil change interval using BMW/Mini filters and BMW Twin Power 5w30 oil. I learned long ago the difference a quality filter makes, and working at a BMW dealership means an oil change is as close as the parts counter. Before I worked for BMW my e46 got LiquiMoly and Mann filters. That has a built in change interval of 15k miles which I've never followed. It doesn't cost that much more and really does help keep the engine in top shape.
Here's a peak at the BMW's recent overhaul... Out with the old! 193k miles of good function. Hope to move it all on to continue functioning as there was nothing wrong when I pulled it. 0.5L more displacment, 300 rpm higher redline, one extra gear, and some sexy headers going in! Used a Valeo single mass flywheel conversion like I installed in Grumpy. Over 500 miles on it, now, and loving it just as much as we love Grumpy's. 4 solid 8-9 hour days of wrenching in the driveway culminated in 20 minutes of software updating to make it all happy. The correct 6 speed M sport shift **** atop the BMW Performance shift lever and rebuilt shift linkage is the icing on the cake!
Love me some E46 content! I too change my oil more often than what Mini, and BMW specified. When I've pulled the valve cover, there's never been any build up! Always satisfying to know that you're keeping your car healthy.
So by over 206k miles I really meant 3k miles over 206k. Yup, old Grumpy is closing quickly on 210k, at this point.
Last weekend I finally started installing the new component speakers in the doors. These have been kicking around for over 2 years, now! I started on the driver's door, because that was the side with a dead woofer and a crackling tweeter. Only got that side done before running out of time, as things always take longer than you expect. I will make final adjustments to audio settings once the other door is done. I had to adjust the tweeter mounting bar a little bit, but it still worked well. Tweeter installed in the carrier. Crossover mounted to the inside of the door skin with 3/4" wide outdoor rated 3M double sided tape. Covered for weather resistance with closed cell foam butyl taped to the door skin. All finished up. I cut the old basket apart and installed the new woofer into outer frame of the old speaker using zipties. It's amazing how solidly 4 zipties can secure something like a speaker. I also reused the original wiring harness rubber grommet and clip the route the new tweeter wiring.
I’ve seeing your gorgeous e46/3 again… my eldest son now owns my silver m56 Sulev wagon, but don’t think he has even once fired up the tv tuner in it!
never realized you were an r53 guy as well, so been enjoying the read thru.
Well hey there stranger! Yeah, this little guy kinda fell into our lap and we've been caring for him ever since. I'm surprised you let him buy a SULEV. Probably the only thing E46 hated more than the SMG is a SULEV.
Well it was MY sulev e46 so he inherited it, and it gets quite good mpg at 30+ freeway. But he may sell for a Honda when he moves out of his moms to another city and doesn’t have access to the Dad Garage…
Yup, old Grumpy is closing quickly on 210k, at this point. 
