Over the last week I have had another batch of fixes done on Sergio. They were done at FRAU, a noted Euro car service located in San Juan near the Greenhills area. FRAU is run and owned by a fellow BMW enthusiast and is quickly gaining an awesome reputation as the shop to bring Euro, even special exotic cars to. True enough during my visit, also checked-in were a Lamborghini Diablo, the only Dunkervoort in the country, a couple of Porsches, an M3 Evo, along with a few other Bimmers and Mercs. The shop can only accomodate a dozen or so cars at a time and therefore accepts jobs on an appointment basis.
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| Sergio with some FRAU roomates |
The automatic transmission fluid together with the filter and gasket, were changed as I do not know how long it has been since the last one was done. Again, this was really more of a preventive measure than anything else.
Ever since I got the car, there always have been warnings given out in the control panel about various electrical system faults. It apparently senses that some lights are out, the oil level sensor needs attention, and the all-encompassing "owner's manual" tattle-tale flashes. Well, let me start off by saying that I do have an Owner's Manual and I have read it from cover to cover so I don't know what the reminder is all about! For another, all the lights are working properly so there should be no reason for any warning to come up. It probably was caused by the installation of HID headlights by the previous owner as the electrical load from them is less than factory spec. This leads the control panel to conclude that since there is less current drawn by the system, therefore one or more of the lights must be out. As for the oil level sensor, this was found to be in good order too and the oil level is certainly correct. In fact, I had already bought a new sensor to be used as replacement but because its not needed, I will just sell it on at some point. In short, the warnings are not really indicative of anything wrong. Unless I want to change the control panel, an unecessarily expensive exercise, I will leave it as is. Others have told me that this is a very common BMW problem and is better left alone since the cost far outweighs the benefit.
On a more advanced level, I wanted to have Sergio's VANOS seals replaced. This is something not normally done unless something goes terribly wrong and even then, the replacement used is normally still the OEM part. FRAU specializes in VANOS repairs which is why I bothered to go all the way there in the first place. I actually could have had the other things done in the usual shops conveniently located nearer to me but they do not do VANOS seals made with an upgraded material. I don't want to delve too much on the technical side of this, but more info can be found at:
http://www.beisansystems.com/index.html
FRAU is the exclusive distributor of Beisan here in the Philippines and several BMWCCP members have reported positive experiences in doing the replacement. I will say its a little bit pricey which is probably the best reason to put it off, but I also will say that there is a lot of work involved. For instance, the whole valve cover needs to be removed and will require to have the gasket and grommets changed too. There has been a slight oil leak into the spark plugs (indicating that a valve cover gasket replacement was needed anyway) and by doing the VANOS, I was able to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. There is also some comfort in knowing that the timing chain mechanism is fine; another oft neglected item which can result in serious engine failure if something gives out.
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| Inside Sergio's M50B25TU: still clean, no sludging |
And so, after another tidy sum was spent, the results? One word: great!
Before heading home, I asked Sammy, the owner and main technical guy of FRAU if there was any precaution or otherwise special break-in procedure to go through with the seals. He said to just drive normally and when given the opportunity, drive hard. I am one who takes this kind of advise to heart. Taking on the newly extended SLEX Skyway, Sergio and I hit a new high of 185kph. Low end torque was noticeably improved, a/t shifting smoother, and engine performance did not feel strained. Best of all, it gives me the feel of what driving a BMW should be: quick, responsive and stable.
It reminded me once again of how far we have gone. My first drive with Sergio had a maximum speed of less than 100. I was not confident of going any more beyond that as there was already a lot of vibration and engine strain at that level. During my Subic track outing, I was able to reach a little over 140kph on the SCTEX which was after the first set of engine refurbishments were completed. And now at 185, performance is double from where we started! To think that this was achieved even though everything has been kept stock. Taking into account that not even the spark plugs nor exhaust system were upgraded, I am very pleased, to say the least.
After more than a year of working on the car, all of my planned tasks are now complete and thus ends this blog on a high note.
P.S. After around 300 km of use, my first refuelling yielded an average consumption of over 7km per liter (7.2 to be exact). While this was roughly the same as before the repairs, it has to be borne in mind that overall performance has been higher than ever, effectively improving fuel efficiency. At FRAU, I was asked about my average fuel consumption and they were surprised when I mentioned 7. Apparently, this is way above the norm for a 6-cylinder engine but noticing how quiet my engine ran, Sammy commented that I do seem to keep the car in very good condition. By comparison, my 323 goes at around 6.5 km/l of city driving, about the same as my Tucson SUV.
P.S. (2) Early March 2011, a cheap thrill! As required for annual registration renewal, I brought Sergio for an emissions test at the usual shop I go to in Alabang. It was late afternoon and the typical early crowd had already gone so I was able to drive straight in for the test. I left the engine idling for the technician to do his thing while I went inside the office to attend to the paperwork. After a couple of minutes, the technician requested me to come out, surprisingly asked if my engine was gas or diesel, and made me step on the gas pedal so the engine would idle higher at around 1,500 rpm instead of the usual 700. Soon enough, he told me it was okay to shut off the ignition. I was curious on why I had to do this, thinking that maybe there was a failure on the emissions level being put out. On the contrary, the technician replied it was because the levels were very low at normal idle and therefore the engine needed to be speeded up. In fact, he initially thought he had made a mistake in the settings of his sensor which is why he clarified with me on whether I had a gas or diesel engine. He asked me what I had done to get this kind of result considering that under the test scale specified by the LTO, Sergio even fell under the normal emissions level of a brand new car. I replied that aside from just reconditioning the engine, there really was no special modification or adjustments from the norm. A cheap thrill indeed, but above all, its good to know that my contribution to global warming is kept to an absolute minimum.
