My midlife crisis purchase; E86 BMW Z4 Coupe

[Court_S]

In celebration of getting the car working (other than the check engine light), I gave it a clean to remove this week’s dust and bird poo collection.

[jasonrobertson86]

Loving your work, looks great. Wish I had your patience for tinkering!

[Court_S]

jasonrobertson86 said:

Loving your work, looks great. Wish I had your patience for tinkering!

Thanks. It’s fair to say my patience has been tested a bit this week! Albeit it was user error.

[Gallons Per Mile]

Court_S said:

Cool, I was just wondering.

You were right re the vacuum leak it just wasn’t from where I expected. Just need to get rid of the bloody check engine light.

If you're working in my area in the near future and driving here then I can clear it for you

[Earthdweller]

jasonrobertson86 said:

Court_S said:

Yes. The previous owner fitted B4 dampers with Eibach springs.

I think the B12 kit is quite harsh albeit my only experience is in a friends 125i on 17 inch wheels.

I’ve fitted Powerflex RTAB bushes and front ARB bushes.

Ah thats a shame, have you driven a coupe with standard shocks and springs for comparison? Interested if it is an 'improvement' with B4's / eibach.

It’s absolutely an improvement *

I’ve B4’s on mine which replaced the OEM set and they are much better giving more control and seemingly more suppleness in the ride, of course upgrading the top and bottom mounts also will have helped

• Caveat being that when replaced the original suspension was a bit tired so it’s not a comparison of “new v new”’ if that makes sense

Personally though I’d recommend the B4’s for general road use

[Earthdweller]

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread and I have to admit the gold wheels are growing on me

[Court_S]

Gallons Per Mile said:

If you're working in my area in the near future and driving here then I can clear it for you

Cheers, I’m on site again next week but will be training it because it’s so easy.

My cheap Creator 410 arrived this morning courtesy of Amazon and I’ve cleared the codes and the check engine light seems to have gone. Hopefully it’ll say that way.

[Court_S]

Earthdweller said:

It’s absolutely an improvement *

I’ve B4’s on mine which replaced the OEM set and they are much better giving more control and seemingly more suppleness in the ride, of course upgrading the top and bottom mounts also will have helped

• Caveat being that when replaced the original suspension was a bit tired so it’s not a comparison of “new v new”’ if that makes sense

Personally though I’d recommend the B4’s for general road use

I’d free with that; for normal use the B4’s are indeed a really good buy. I’ve not been disappointed with them on any of the cars that I’ve fitted them to.

[Court_S]

Earthdweller said:

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread and I have to admit the gold wheels are growing on me

Cheers.

I love them; they look better in the flesh than in pictures to be honest.

[jasonrobertson86]

Earthdweller said:

It’s absolutely an improvement *

I’ve B4’s on mine which replaced the OEM set and they are much better giving more control and seemingly more suppleness in the ride, of course upgrading the top and bottom mounts also will have helped

• Caveat being that when replaced the original suspension was a bit tired so it’s not a comparison of “new v new”’ if that makes sense

Personally though I’d recommend the B4’s for general road use

Super. I will get ordering shocks and brakes. Any more specifics on mounts you moved too please? (I am going to order soon as I can)

[Court_S]

jasonrobertson86 said:

Super. I will get ordering shocks and brakes. Any more specifics on mounts you moved too please? (I am going to order soon as I can)

I’d get on RealOEM and order some of the bolts / nuts too. Depending on the age of your car, some might be a bit crusty and be better replaced.

How many miles has your car done? Might be worth doing the RTAB while your replacing stuff and it saves paying for another alignment.

[jasonrobertson86]

Court_S said:

I’d get on RealOEM and order some of the bolts / nuts too. Depending on the age of your car, some might be a bit crusty and be better replaced.

How many miles has your car done? Might be worth doing the RTAB while your replacing stuff and it saves paying for another alignment.

Thanks...
Its an 07, about 84k miles, more than certainly could use fresh nuts and bolts but I'll be handling this all over to local indie.

[Court_S]

And the check engine light has made a reappearance….

I’m left with four codes that all relate to the Lambda sensors. If I clear the codes and start the car the light stays off but if I clear them and leave the car for a while the light comes back with the codes. The car is driving fine.

What are the chances of all four sensors dying at the same time?

[Court_S]

So, after some googling, it looks like the chances of all four O2 sensors stting themselves at the same time are skim to none. Which is good, my wallet can breathe a sight of relief.

One thing that did come up was the possibility for a blown fuse. There are a couple of fuse boxes in my Z4 but annoyingly only the main one in the glove box has a diagram and there seems to be limited information online about the one others but I did find a website and pulled fuse number four in the engine bay box…



This responsible for crankcase heating and all four O2 sensors.

Annoyingly, I’ve not got a spare 30A fuse but will grab one tomorrow and see what happens.

[Gallons Per Mile]

Court_S said:

Cheers, I’m on site again next week but will be training it because it’s so easy.

My cheap Creator 410 arrived this morning courtesy of Amazon and I’ve cleared the codes and the check engine light seems to have gone. Hopefully it’ll say that way.

Awesome, come say hi if you're about, I'm around in the afternoons next week!

[Court_S]

Gallons Per Mile said:

Awesome, come say hi if you're about, I'm around in the afternoons next week!

Will do.

[Gallons Per Mile]

Court_S said:

Will do.

Brilliant! Looks like you've found the culprit to the lambda codes giving you the eml. New fuse and clear the codes, that should be sorted.

[Court_S]

Gallons Per Mile said:

Brilliant! Looks like you've found the culprit to the lambda codes giving you the eml. New fuse and clear the codes, that should be sorted.

Fingers crossed.

I was thrust all four dying at once seemed a bit odd (the pre-cat ones in my car are at least dead easy to get to). The post cat ones would have been horrible because access to stuff under the Z4 is nasty. Even the diff drain plug is horrible to get at.

[Court_S]

And I still have an intermittent check engine light…

Started the car this morning and there was no light on. Drove to ECP to grab a pack of fuses, started the car and the warning light came back on along with the same four codes.



The car seems to drive just fine other than a slightly lumpy cold start idle; it doesn’t feel down on power and economy is as expected.

I’m trying to find a local indy who can have a look but the nearest guys are booked until 23rd July.

[d_a_n1979]

Bloody hell Sam; can the codes be cleared? Or do they clear and then come back?