Wrenching

The shop has been really hopping the past several weeks.  And this week is no different!   Even Lucy grabbed her wrench to lend a helping paw!  😉    Reggie enjoyed his trip to Texas last weekend as a delegate representing the Hoosier BMW Chapter.   He met a lot of great people who share his passion for BMW and cars in general.
 

This 1998 BMW 323is came in for an oil change, to diagnose HVAC issues, hood shocks, to diagnose HID issue, and for a metal clanging noise in driver’s door .  The noise was caused by a loose window track.

This topasblau-metallic 2001 BMW X5, needed a new starter…among a long list of many other things.  She was brought to us late last week on a tow truck from another shop because she wouldn’t start.

This e39 was in need of a new alternator.   Here at the shop, we don’t often see e39’s in need of a new alternator…but stay tuned, and you’ll see what was causing this issue in this one!

Reggie removes the airbox to get access to the alternator:

Here’s the alternator:

When Reggie removed the alternator, there were leaves stuck in the cooling duct!

This leaf-free new alternator will take its place:

Once the new alternator is installed, the airbox is re-installed:

New front control arms were on the list for this e46:

The inner and outer ball joints had quite a bit of play in them…enough that Reggie could move them with his fingers, which should not be the case.

Shiny new control arms!

Reggie uses the shop press to remove the bushings from the control arms:

And then he removes the old bushings from the carriers, also known as lollipops,  so that new ones can be pressed in:

The new bushings and carriers are put in place on the control arm and ready for installation:

Once both sides are installed, this bimmer was off to the alignment shop for….you guessed it!  An alignment!

That’s all the time we have for this week!   Stay tuned next week when we’ll have another special interest automobile in the shop… and trust me, you’ll want to see this one!

Have a wonderful weekend!