adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Update time once again The old links are now cut off the front ARB so both the ARB's are ready for cleaning, sanding and paint. As I'll probably be using POR15 for these (which tends to set rock hard if you have an open tin) I'll prep as many under car components as I can before painting to reduce wastage. I tried moving the 520i the other day as I was going to load it up with wheels for the Mazda to get some tyres fitted round the corner. But it had a flat battery! Luckily there was just enough juice to get the doors unlocked so I could jump it. It ran very oddly at first but did smooth out. I won't be using it for wheel transport but will keep starting it every other day or so to keep the battery topped up. Last weekend I was away with family so didn't get anything done on the 525i, but have made some progress today. I'd made a start on getting the exhaust off, I'd got the whole system loose from the car but it wouldn't come out as one unit as the rear manifold caught on the firewall. Bit of spannering today to separate the downpipes from the manifolds and its all free from the car! It looks as though someone has had a go at welding up a couple of holes in the centre box.. And the bolts holding the mid and rear sections together have got rounded heads so I've not split it yet. The exhaust system is different from the 520i in that on the smaller engined car, its one pipe from the middle rearwards, where the 525i keeps twin pipes. I'm undecided whether I'll bother using this as its not in amazing shape but it is free at least! I also got the exhaust heat shield out while I was under there Which allows me to see the bolts for the propshaft. Next job is to undo the diff bolts and remove that, I'm not looking forward to this as the internal hex bolts on the driveshafts not only get full of dirt but the rubber gaiters don't allow a lot of space to get the hex socket in, so it takes a bit of fighting! Once the diff is off I'll work my way forwards, taking off the prop, then gearbox before engine comes out. (I'll loosen the driveline bolts before the diff comes out so I've still got the handbrake to stop the lot from turning while I undo the bolts! We're forecast snow here tomorrow so I'll see if I get a chance to get out and work on it tomorrow
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It's all forward progress. What's a heat shield? The ones on mine disintegrated years ago!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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It's all forward progress. What's a heat shield? The ones on mine disintegrated years ago! I should be thankful of the extra heat transfer into the cabin without it really, especially when its looking like this outside.. That diff is going to have to wait
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,410
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Looking good Adam! As George said any forward progress is good progress. Keep plodding away and it'll sharp come together.
Gotta say wish we had such epic snow!
Tom
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gtiglc
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Dec 10, 2017 11:10:05 GMT
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Lovely old thing, this era 6 cylinder BMW just feel so good. Makes me want to give my 94 325i coupe some love. Do e34 wheels fit e36s?! Those dished wheels it came on would look cool on the coupe!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Dec 10, 2017 15:32:45 GMT
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Looking good Adam! As George said any forward progress is good progress. Keep plodding away and it'll sharp come together. Gotta say wish we had such epic snow! Tom Cheers Lovely old thing, this era 6 cylinder BMW just feel so good. Makes me want to give my 94 325i coupe some love. Do e34 wheels fit e36s?! Those dished wheels it came on would look cool on the coupe! E36 wheels tend to be a bit higher offset but E34 ones can fit, the old flat star staggered wheels I used to have on the 5 got bought by a chap to go on his E36
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Quick update, I've been procrastinating pretty badly on this but there are things happening First off I got the engine loom removed from the car It was a bit of a faff, and I'm 99% sure I've labelled all the plugs so that they'll go back together correctly! Nice Bosch Red label ECU to replace the Siemens one currently in the 520i The other body ECU is a Bosch model as well, I need to check what the 520i runs for the body ECU as I'm not sure how much of the rest of the loom will need changing. If the 520i has a Siemens body ECU as well as engine ECU, it could be a bit of a pain Aside from all the wiring stuff, this little lot turned up today The M54b30 bits I need to make my M50 3.0l. All currently wrapped up still as I need to go through all the parts to check them over but at first glance they seem decent. The bits I've bought are; Pistons, Rods, Crankshaft, Sump baffle, Intake Camshaft and the Cam tray, then theres loads of fixings and other bits included (will renew fixings where required). The only issue I've seen so far is the camshaft has some marks on a couple of the bearing journals, but I need to check more closely whether this is fixable or not. I think I may have a go at removing the engine tomorrow.. I was due to start at the diff and work forwards but I think one of the half shaft bolts into the diff rounded off today so I'm leaving that for the moment for the sake of my sanity
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Feb 24, 2018 16:28:50 GMT
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Been slow on updating this for various reasons, lets just say I've not had the best start to 2018 and leave it at that.. Anywho, over the past couple of weekends I've managed to drag myself outside and actually do some things. No pics as my phone has been playing up recently but last weekend saw me remove the heater matrix/box/unit which also allowed me to get the wiper linkage out as well. Very easy to type out, much more of a ballache in practice! At times it felt like the heater unit was an interference fit into the firewall I already have an AC equipped heater unit in stock but I figured it was always good to have a spare should either of them not work when swapped into the Touring. The wiper linkage did have some play in it (like 90% of E34's these days) but I shall investigate into ways of removing this play so I can have a linkage ready to swap straight into the Touring. Today saw me get back underneath the car and carry on with the halfshaft bolts. Through the use of a wire brush and screwdriver to clear out the internal hex bolt heads, I managed to get nearly all of them off. Very annoyingly, one bolt head has rounded on the nearside half shaft which is all that is currently holding it on. So I need to work out how I'm going to extract that so I can get the diff out On the Touring though, it did get revived and put back into brief use the other week. I had just been doing short journeys in it to keep the battery charged, but a mate buying a sideboard off ebay meant the cavernous boot capacity was required! Drove it to work, then to collect the sideboard and back home with not so much as a hiccup, which was a pleasant surprise However the next day, after having driven all of about 2 miles to the nearest tesco, it scared me by not wanting to start after I'd done my shopping. Eventually catching on the 3rd turn of the key, so I'm not about to press it back into temporary daily duty just yet! I'll try to keep some regular updates going forwards (I always say that but we'll see how much life wants to interfere!)
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 11, 2018 20:28:17 GMT
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More words without photos but the donor 525i has been fighting me so was not the time to be having the camera out The diff is inching ever closer to coming out. Today I was mostly fighting with the nuts on the propshaft where it attaches to the nose of the diff. 3/6 nuts are off, and 2 more are cracked off. The real trouble was in trying to get to them all. As I've still got one halfshaft bolt left in on the passenger side, I can't just spin the diff by hand to get to all the nuts. It did turn as I was beating the spanner with a mallet to undo a couple but its making a hard job of it! I tried to drill the halfshaft bolt out but I'm not sure I've got a big enough drill bit, I'm also hoping its not going to be such hard steel that it just blunts the bit straight away but I have a feeling it might... With bolt drilled out, I can spin the diff, pop a couple bolts back in loose to hold it in place while I remove the remaining nuts. Diff out. Bolts at the prop centre bearing mount are already loosened off. Then just remove the nuts and bolts at the gearbox end of the prop and its out. Most of the bellhousing bolts are also out now, despite there not being a huge amount of space between the heads and the firewall. Once the last of those are out then I can remove the gearbox mounting bolts and thats out. Then I need to disconnect the power steering hoses from the pump, unbolt the engine mounts (and probably remove the bonnet) and its engine out. All I ask is for no more snow please!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Damn, a couple months can really fly by! Lets get this back up to date. I still have the donor, but I'm going to focus on the 520i here Back towards the end of March, I actually ended up using the 520i to help a mate move a sideboard he'd just bought. I was a bit nervous given its past issues but it handled the drive to work, picking up the sideboard and driving back home absolutely fine. Not long after that, it was time to head back home for my Dad's birthday, I'd bought him a bird table and it wasn't going in the RX-7! So buoyed by my new found confidence in the 520i I set off from the midlands, picked up my brother in Cambridge, and went on to Suffolk without a hitch. Coming back was another story though.. Got to about the outskirts of Ipswich when the familiar misfiring/lurching started, managed to limp into a Shell garage where it promptly cut out. Had a look under the bonnet and noticed cracks in the intake elbow that I'd not seen before, so managed to get it started and limped on to the Asda about a mile or so away. There I bought some duct tape and bodged it up This got us onto the A14 and all seemed well, got past Bury and the car started lurching a bit again. Pulled over, it cut out, I taped it up a bit more, got it going again and just powered on through to Cambridge. After dropping my brother off it seemed to be OK on the dual carriageway, it blipped a couple more times but I wasn't going to risk stopping so I threw a bit of mechanical sympathy to the wind and just booted it to get back home. It did make it and I parked the car up and did nothing with it for about a month. Fast forward to today, the RX-7 is sold, a Toyota Corolla T Sport has been bought to be reliable daily while I sort the BMW, which was going well until the majority of the exhaust rusted off.. I have a little 125cc Honda for work but need something a little more practical! Sorting an exhaust for the Corolla is taking longer than anticipated so my attention turned back to the forlorn looking 520i parked outside my house. I'd bought a crank sensor a while back, but wasn't quite convinced it was the issue, so I ordered a cam sensor, because I remembered back to when I had running issues right at the start of my time with the 520i, a new cam sensor seemed to sort them. I was due to fit that today, but a computer issue at GSF meant they couldn't give it to me ¬¬ so on getting home, I decided to try and get to the Idle Control Valve, because I'd always meant to give it a clean out but had been put off by lack of access to it. It wasn't actually that hard. Engine covers off, then two nuts that hold the injector loom, prise off the clip from each injector, then 7 nuts at the top of the manifold, and two bolts to brackets below the manifold and its loose. I'd already taken off the intake elbow. Annoyingly, while trying to move some hoses to get better access to the bracket bolts, I snapped off this coolant sensor thing that goes into the airbox Luckily the 525i uses an identical one so I've nicked it off the airbox Anyway, the intake manifold was loose so I was able to reach underneath and extract the ICV I gave it a good clean inside and out with carb cleaner and its looking better for it! Somewhat interestingly, the 520i and 525i have different ICV's, the 525's is bigger and has a 3 pin plug rather than a 2 pin, this must be just one of the small differences given the 520i's different management system I also re-did my intake elbow bodge, with some bodgetastic sealant and tape Tomorrow I should get the cam position sensor and be able to chuck it all back together, hopefully I'll get a working 520i again for my troubles!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Cam sensor And this is the old one just before I removed it. Probably repeating myself from earlier in this thread but the packaging around it is a bit of a pain, have to take out the VANOS solenoid, remove the oil filter lid and undo the oil feed to the VANOS to be able to get the sensor out Anyway I shouldn't complain too much, last time I did this was with the intake manifold in situ, its much easier doing the electrical connections with it loose! After putting all that back together, I refitted the cleaned out ICV, put new gaskets on the intake manifold and bolted it all up. On starting, I got some weird idle behaviour, firstly would barely run, then would sit at about 1750rpm with a regular dip every few seconds or so. The Bentley manual for the E34 does mention that the ECU needs to take a bit of time to re-learn a new ICV, maybe its the same with a cleaned up one? In any case, I've taken it for a little drive and it seems ok, no issues once up to speed, idle seems to be improving as well. Need to take it for a bit of a longer drive to build confidence in it, it feels very different to driving the Corolla thats for sure! Less good news is the apparent condition of my garage roof, I don't think the "Beasts from the East" did it much good.. I'm also not sure if it's asbestos.. I rent anyway so a problem for the Landlord, just so long as they fix it before the roof collapses on my stuff!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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So after the last update I took the BMW on a bit of a shakedown run to Milton Keynes to see some mates, on the way there it drove fine with no dramas. There was a little hiccup after I stopped for some food though, on starting it settled into a smooth idle, then suddenly cut out, started again and all was well. The next day when it was time to leave, turn the key and the engine spins over but no firing. Try it again, same thing. Third time I let the key rest on ignition for a bit before turning, spins, splutters a couple times then fires into life. Decide to make a fairly hurried exit before it gets a chance to play up and all seemed ok, stopping at a traffic lights on the outskirts of MK saw it cut out again, so I decided for any stationary stuff after that, I'd hold the revs up a bit with the throttle. Drove back up the M1 and M6 fine, did have one little blip on the M6 which was reminiscent of the old breakdowns so it wasn't an entirely anxiety-free drive back! As it clearly wasn't as complete a fix as I thought, I decided to go ahead and fit the crank sensor I'd bought a while back as this was touted as being a likely culprit First off I had to buy a big spanner. 32mm to be exact and its required to remove the viscous fan. I tried the 'shock it off with a hammer' method but it wasn't working, so I got a pry bar in against one of the smaller nuts on the pulley and the main nut eventually let go. With fan and shroud out, you get a much better access to the CPS The screw holding the CPS came out relatively easy (always nervous with a tight hex head) but the CPS itself is stuck fast. I've bathed it in penetrant and tried to twist it with molegrips to no avail. I can just about get my smallest pry bar between the sensor head and the trigger wheel but I don't want to bend anything out of alignment. I'm going to keep on with the penetrant and molegrips but I might have to resort to a bit of heat. I've always fancied buying a little blowtorch...
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gazjon
Part of things
Posts: 632
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May 10, 2018 18:12:38 GMT
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Man was born to play with fire! Just caught up on this thread. Good stuff!
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Mk2 Cavalier saloon Mk4 Astra Van z20let
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,197
Club RR Member Number: 170
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1995 BMW E34 520i- End.. 05/03ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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May 10, 2018 23:11:04 GMT
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I'd change the intake link. Even with tape they never ever seal right. I had many issues with Pug 205 and the link pipe leaking between the AFM and throttle body. We taped it on the way to Spa, did all sorts but it always idled like a sack of curse word and it was dreadful around town; it was always trying to cut out. With a used good K&N link (Alot of the stock air pipes were then/now unavailable and expensive) it solved alot of problems. Does it run without the MAF disconnected? It would be worth a go . With an existing fault it's always trickier to tackle the true cause. If you need a viscous water pump holder let me know. I have one .
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a little heat goes a long way!...if enough penetrant is in there, it may help boil it out.....
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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May 11, 2018 10:18:01 GMT
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I'd change the intake link. Even with tape they never ever seal right. I had many issues with Pug 205 and the link pipe leaking between the AFM and throttle body. We taped it on the way to Spa, did all sorts but it always idled like a sack of curse word and it was dreadful around town; it was always trying to cut out. With a used good K&N link (Alot of the stock air pipes were then/now unavailable and expensive) it solved alot of problems. Does it run without the MAF disconnected? It would be worth a go . With an existing fault it's always trickier to tackle the true cause. If you need a viscous water pump holder let me know. I have one . Aye, ideally I would change it really as it is a dirty bodge! But since I'm still planning to swap engines (and I think the 525i intake is a different diameter) I can't be bothered ordering another 520i intake for now! Also the Corolla now has an exhaust so daily duties are back with that, rather than my Honda 125, or risking the BMW haha, I'm going to persevere with the CPS though, I've got this far so I may as well!
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May 11, 2018 10:35:34 GMT
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I used to own an E28 520i and had very similar issues and it was all down to the leaking pipe to the throttle body. Pin hole it was too!
I've just bought myself a Honda CB125F to commute on - Got my CBT at end of month and I'm scared witless of it lol.
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-( 10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily 03 Import Forester STi - Sold 98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-( 99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold 02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX 88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,872
Club RR Member Number: 58
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May 11, 2018 11:47:40 GMT
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I used to own an E28 520i and had very similar issues and it was all down to the leaking pipe to the throttle body. Pin hole it was too! I've just bought myself a Honda CB125F to commute on - Got my CBT at end of month and I'm scared witless of it lol. Ah cool, I've got a CB125F as well Been just over a year since my CBT now so I'm planning to do my direct access test at some point this summer. It's not a bad bike, but I still don't like crosswinds hitting me when I'm doing nearly 70mph on the dual carriageway
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May 11, 2018 12:31:42 GMT
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I used to own an E28 520i and had very similar issues and it was all down to the leaking pipe to the throttle body. Pin hole it was too! I've just bought myself a Honda CB125F to commute on - Got my CBT at end of month and I'm scared witless of it lol. Ah cool, I've got a CB125F as well Been just over a year since my CBT now so I'm planning to do my direct access test at some point this summer. It's not a bad bike, but I still don't like crosswinds hitting me when I'm doing nearly 70mph on the dual carriageway
I'm a big old lump to riding such a small bike but no choice as I have so little experience. I've bought a spanking new one so hoping to keep it a year or 2 whilst I do direct access and upgrade it to a 600 enduro style bike (Something like grizz has)
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-( 10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily 03 Import Forester STi - Sold 98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-( 99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold 02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX 88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,197
Club RR Member Number: 170
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1995 BMW E34 520i- End.. 05/03ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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May 11, 2018 23:17:48 GMT
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I'd change the intake link. Even with tape they never ever seal right. I had many issues with Pug 205 and the link pipe leaking between the AFM and throttle body. We taped it on the way to Spa, did all sorts but it always idled like a sack of curse word and it was dreadful around town; it was always trying to cut out. With a used good K&N link (Alot of the stock air pipes were then/now unavailable and expensive) it solved alot of problems. Does it run without the MAF disconnected? It would be worth a go . With an existing fault it's always trickier to tackle the true cause. If you need a viscous water pump holder let me know. I have one . Aye, ideally I would change it really as it is a dirty bodge! But since I'm still planning to swap engines (and I think the 525i intake is a different diameter) I can't be bothered ordering another 520i intake for now! Also the Corolla now has an exhaust so daily duties are back with that, rather than my Honda 125, or risking the BMW haha, I'm going to persevere with the CPS though, I've got this far so I may as well! I noticed the Corrola today. I could have sworn I had a stalker following me on the B4100 up to the M40 . I couldn't hear you however! As for the intake leaks they are always tricky to find. No amount of sealant would cure my 205's iffy idle or even Gaffa tape on top. It was alot nicer on the new tube. Being tight I ordered a secondhand K&N relocation item. Sometimes proof that forum how-tos aren't all they are cracked up to be; my 205 was on a badly leaking/modified air filter relocation kit. The Alfa was the one that really enforced that however, the 147 JTD. It would always smoke on throttle and it never got any better in my ownership. The pipes looked fine but I tightened the clips. When one hose went I replaced it with a silicon item. It improved the lack of smoke but it was definitely still there. It was only when I changed the final silicon pipe that it stopped smoking completely. To this day I now wonder why I was being so tight over £140 worth silicon hoses. I probably would have saved that in diesel! I went from doing low 40MPG at best (i.e what my W124 does now!) to constantly over 50MPG. I really didn't want to sell the car after that but the mega smoking and EML prior to changing the hoses didn't help the other users of the car, which again I could have avoided with changing both hoses when I should have done. But, we live and learn . it sounds like you're wanting to throw in the 2.5 already!
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