by "afca" (afca)
Published 03/31/2017 at 19:58
by "afca" (afca)
Published 03/31/2017 at 19:58
Tags: 987
; 987.2
; boxster
; porsche
STARS: 1
Let’s talk about your car’s first maintenance.
When I was shopping for a new car the sales person at Carmax proudly told me that they do an oil change on every car they buy for their lot (as opposed for selling at an auction). For most cars this is probably a good thing, if the car will sit for a while on the lot it is better to have fresh oil than used oil. But I was concerned by the idea of them doing this on the Boxster that I bought. What if they used the wrong parts or messed up the installation? Perhaps I was overly cautious but I decided to do an oil change as soon as possible. And the photo above is what I found.
This is my first car that uses a cartridge filter so maybe this is typically happens when removing them, but I think that it was installed wrong. Either way I quickly removed it and installed a new one with the help of a work colleague who is much more comfortable wrenching than I am. I was able to get pretty much all of the bits from Pelican parts but the oil had a long lead time so I decided to get it locally. The strange thing is that the only place to get Mobile 1 0W-40 was Wal-Mart. Who would have thought they would carry an oil with such limited applications?
How did the first time you wrenched on your car go?
Update:
Hat tip to AMGtech for reminding me that the crushed filter was not OEM. The correct part is from Mahle and has a supporting internal plastic lattice that the crushed part lacked. Now it is back to stock and running fin. :)
"e36Jeff now drives a ZHP" (e36jeff)
03/31/2017 at 20:06, STARS: 1
That’s not normal for a cartridge filter. They should come out looking the same size and shape as the one going in, just soaked in old oil.
The first thing I did on my ZHP was replacing the rear shock mounts or replacing the cooling system. I got it at 102k miles and the cooling system had never been serviced, so I replaced the radiator, pump, hoses, and thermostat. I replaced the rear shock mounts because they are known failure points on the car and I wanted to put the reinforcement brackets in and replace the stock mounts with billet performance mounts(that also had replaceable bushings, saving me $$$ down the road). Both were easy tasks as I had done them on my e36 and they were largely the same for the e46. the water pumps are actually 100% the same and I used one that I bought for the e36 before I decided to just get a ZHP instead.
"afca" (afca)
03/31/2017 at 20:20, STARS: 0
Yeah my engineer sense was tingling especially when my colleague who has built a few BMW race cars was concerned. I think they must have misaligned the filter and then just crushed it with the housing.
Who do you pick for aftermarket radiators? (I work for a heat exchanger manufacturer)
Do you have any picks of the billet mounts?
"facw" (facw)
03/31/2017 at 20:26, STARS: 0
That’s most definitely not what my cartridge filters look like when used. From what I’ve seen, they only get like that if they’ve gone a long time between changes. Wondering if they didn’t have the appropriate filter or cartridge socket and so just left it (possibly still changing the oil if that looked fresh). I’d complain to CarMax, and probably also plan on doing another change soonish to make sure things still look ok.
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
03/31/2017 at 20:36, STARS: 1
The first thing I did on the Galant was replace all the soft brake lines, pads all around, and front rotors, along with all the regular maintenance filters, fluids plugs. But it all took so long that when I went to bleed the brakes I couldn’t get anything out from the rear. Turned out the proportioning valve had rusted up from sitting so long with no fluid in it. It took 3 nights to figure that out and another week to get the part.
"interstate366, now In The Industry" (interstate366)
03/31/2017 at 20:43, STARS: 0
The first thing I did on my 2001 Prelude was an engine swap.
But I bought it with a bad engine, so that kinda comes with the territory.
"afca" (afca)
03/31/2017 at 20:44, STARS: 2
This post is pretty delayed, it all happened about 10 months ago. No problems so far. :)
"afca" (afca)
03/31/2017 at 20:48, STARS: 0
This must have been a project car if it took so long? Have any pics?
"afca" (afca)
03/31/2017 at 20:50, STARS: 0
Did you do a straight replacement or go for an upgrade?
"interstate366, now In The Industry" (interstate366)
03/31/2017 at 21:08, STARS: 0
Upgrade. Went for a JDM engine that has an extra .1L of displacement. In stock form it makes about the same horsepower as the old engine (200), but when connected to a 99-01 Prelude ECU it goes up to 215.
"e36Jeff now drives a ZHP" (e36jeff)
03/31/2017 at 23:38, STARS: 0
If you don’t think you’ll put more than 120k on the car(cooling system is due every 60k or so) Behr, costs about $140. if you plan on going for more than that or if you just want to not be bothered, Mishimoto makes an all aluminum one that doesn’t need to be replaced(stock ones need to be replaced due to the plastic end caps getting brittle and leaking). As for the water pump, just use the most recent BMW OEM pump. Don’t get the one with the white plastic impeller or the metal impeller. the white plastic(gen 1) one breaks after a few years and the metal(gen 2) one eats its bearing due to extra weight. the newest(gen 3) one has a black plastic impeller and is pretty much bulletproof. Should cost you $60-80. Mishimoto also makes an aluminium expansion tank to replace the stock plastic one, you need to replace the coolant tank when you do the rest of the cooling system as its plastic as well, but the price difference between the stock plastic one and the AL one is big.
As for the mounts, Turner motorsports makes them: https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3666-rear-shock-mounts-rsm-hp-aluminumrubber-e30-e36-e46-z3-z4-pair/
the reinforcement plate is here: https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3440-e36-e46-rear-shock-tower-mount-reinforcement-kit/
the mount goes under the sheetmetal, the reinforcement goes on top, so they sandwich the mounting point.
Collapsed filter like that usually means it’s been run for way too long. hopefully they just didn’t replace it after the last oil change rather than skipping an oil change. You might want to run a short interval and get a magnetic drain plug to be safe. If you really want to be sure, you can get an oil report from blackstone labs.
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
03/31/2017 at 23:59, STARS: 0
I really didn’t take many pics. I had s moped an my wife’s old car so yeah it was a project it took 2-3 months to get it on the road. Then another month to do the timing belt and a few other things, that was mostly procrastination because I was scared of putting it back together wrong.
"AMGtech - now with more recalls!" (amgtech)
04/01/2017 at 04:01, STARS: 0
That happens when the filter can’t maintain the flow rate the pump is putting out, so it basically gets crushed by oil pressure. It happens due to at least one of two main reasons. The filter had been run too long and is clogged. Or, the filter is poorly designed and built (shitty aftermarket part).
"afca" (afca)
04/01/2017 at 09:19, STARS: 0
Ah, that could be it. The OEM part is from Mahle and the one I pulled out had no markings. It has been quite awhile since this happened but I also recall a difference in the internal structure. The Mahle part had a plastic lattice supporting the filter material while the crushed one did not have that.
"afca" (afca)
04/01/2017 at 09:20, STARS: 0
Why have two engines with the same power but slightly different displacements? It is an emissions thing?
"interstate366, now In The Industry" (interstate366)
04/01/2017 at 09:39, STARS: 0
Peak horsepower is nominally the same, but the new engine makes more torque and has a better powerband at the expense of losing 200 RPM at the top. It’s not a huge difference, but it is noticeable particularly in the mid-range.
"AMGtech - now with more recalls!" (amgtech)
04/01/2017 at 10:36, STARS: 0
Sounds about right. Probably had fewer pleats too. A lot of dealers will use the cheapest filters they can get for their used cars. I’m betting carmax has a deal worked out with some filter supplier to get them for something like 25¢ each. Not exaggerating on that price, and there would still be a profit for whoever made them.