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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
Gavsadler’s 1st Classic, and a South African Special
- Thread starter gavsadler
- Start date
gavsadler
///Member
Update July-2026:
So, after some hooning, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Time to get back to some maintenance.
You will recall I mentioned that I had an ABS light on in the cluster. After inspecting, and repairing one of the rear sensor wires, I moved to the front. I decided to replace both front sensors, to hopefully speed up troubleshooting resolution time. One of the sensors was installed without issue. The other one (that barn find sensor), showed its age, and the surrounding of the plug crumbled upon installation.
Anyway, not the end of the world, and taped up the plug properly so it should be weatherproof going forward. The first drive was a bit of a bummer, as the light was still on. Damn. Trundled back home and proceeded with a bit of sulking and thinking.
The next day, on the next drive, no ABS light! Sorted, or so I thought. Perhaps it needed to detect the new sensor and some wheel rotations before resetting the light. To the present day, I do not know, as the light comes and goes intermittently. Oh well, more troubleshooting required...
Moving along, a week later I decided to use the car for a Sunday afternoon drive to the local shops. All was uneventful, even the ABS light was behaving. That was short-lived, as upon pulling into the mall parking lot, the car began to shake, rattle and roll like a dancer at the FIFA world cup.
I determined that something was going on with the radiator fan. I let the car cool down and headed home slowly, avoiding getting the car too hot. When it was safe to fiddle and investigate further, I found that one of the fan blades had decided to go on holiday.
Not a problem, I had 2 seperate fan housings, and 3 spare fan blades. How hard could it be to replace the fan blade? Well it was a royal PITA.
Each spare fan blade has a different mounting to the motor shaft, either oval, or different diameters, or with a locating pin. One motor was seized, and the other blade+motor combo fitted in the shroud, but the mounting points of the motor to the shroud were too shallow, causing the blade to protrude too much and touch the shroud.
Then I thought I could use the spare Astra G fan I have (for my bakkie). Nope, that fan is 15mm bigger in diameter.
So off to Goldwagen I went, and after spending an hour there, checking pictures and actual fans in stock, we determined that one specific fan for the Astra/Kadett F will fit. I would need to transfer the fan blade + motor from the new shroud, to the TS shroud. No stock at that branch (obviously), so I had to do about a 50km round trip to a branch which had one. R2050 later:
Reinstalled, tested and everything is working as expected again. I think I did 2 relatively short trips after this to make sure all is in order (one with an ABS light showing, the other with no light showing, lol).
Since then, the car has been parked off, as all my attention has been on the M3, and moreso the 130i in prep for the BMW CCG Concours.
After standing for 2 week intervals, it has started on the 1st swing, settling into a regular idle. No new issues have popped up whilst being parked off.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading.
So, after some hooning, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Time to get back to some maintenance.
You will recall I mentioned that I had an ABS light on in the cluster. After inspecting, and repairing one of the rear sensor wires, I moved to the front. I decided to replace both front sensors, to hopefully speed up troubleshooting resolution time. One of the sensors was installed without issue. The other one (that barn find sensor), showed its age, and the surrounding of the plug crumbled upon installation.
Anyway, not the end of the world, and taped up the plug properly so it should be weatherproof going forward. The first drive was a bit of a bummer, as the light was still on. Damn. Trundled back home and proceeded with a bit of sulking and thinking.
The next day, on the next drive, no ABS light! Sorted, or so I thought. Perhaps it needed to detect the new sensor and some wheel rotations before resetting the light. To the present day, I do not know, as the light comes and goes intermittently. Oh well, more troubleshooting required...
Moving along, a week later I decided to use the car for a Sunday afternoon drive to the local shops. All was uneventful, even the ABS light was behaving. That was short-lived, as upon pulling into the mall parking lot, the car began to shake, rattle and roll like a dancer at the FIFA world cup.
I determined that something was going on with the radiator fan. I let the car cool down and headed home slowly, avoiding getting the car too hot. When it was safe to fiddle and investigate further, I found that one of the fan blades had decided to go on holiday.
Not a problem, I had 2 seperate fan housings, and 3 spare fan blades. How hard could it be to replace the fan blade? Well it was a royal PITA.
Each spare fan blade has a different mounting to the motor shaft, either oval, or different diameters, or with a locating pin. One motor was seized, and the other blade+motor combo fitted in the shroud, but the mounting points of the motor to the shroud were too shallow, causing the blade to protrude too much and touch the shroud.
Then I thought I could use the spare Astra G fan I have (for my bakkie). Nope, that fan is 15mm bigger in diameter.
So off to Goldwagen I went, and after spending an hour there, checking pictures and actual fans in stock, we determined that one specific fan for the Astra/Kadett F will fit. I would need to transfer the fan blade + motor from the new shroud, to the TS shroud. No stock at that branch (obviously), so I had to do about a 50km round trip to a branch which had one. R2050 later:
Reinstalled, tested and everything is working as expected again. I think I did 2 relatively short trips after this to make sure all is in order (one with an ABS light showing, the other with no light showing, lol).
Since then, the car has been parked off, as all my attention has been on the M3, and moreso the 130i in prep for the BMW CCG Concours.
After standing for 2 week intervals, it has started on the 1st swing, settling into a regular idle. No new issues have popped up whilst being parked off.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading.
