by Chris Keefer | Oct 16, 2008 | BMW Service
Having a clean and functioning microfilter in your BMW is extremely important as it promotes clean air circulation throughout the cabin while running your A/C or heater. This filter should be changed during the Inspection II service or major tune-up on your BMW. In San Diego we see many of these filters completely clogged with dust, dirt and debris. With the wildfire season upon us in San Diego and Southern California clean air is of utmost importance. (more…)
by Chris Keefer | Sep 23, 2008 | Shop Talk and BMW Advice
While at your BMW Service Center you might have overhead a lot of “e” words, and possibly some “f” and “s” words, but terms such as e36, e60 and e28 have a distinct meaning to BMW technicians and enthusiasts. For instance, if you have a 2003 330i, it is termed an e46. These ‘e’ terms are used to identify BMW Body style design depending on the look and year of your BMW. E is short for “Entwicklung” which is the German word for development, or to link the ‘e’, evolution.
If all these terms are Greek to you, here is a list that should prove helpful in determining the code name of your BMW. (more…)
by Chris Keefer | Aug 25, 2008 | BMW Restorations, Shop Talk and BMW Advice
“Barn Finds” are talked about rather frequently amongst classic car collectors, no matter their preference in automobiles. It’s a story of driving down a country road and out of the corner of your eye you see the sun reflecting off the chrome of a car just sitting half covered in a shack. After approaching the owner you come to find that it belonged to their grandfather and has just been “sitting there” since the 70’s . . .
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by Chris Keefer | Aug 20, 2008 | BMW Service, Shop Talk and BMW Advice
Once the factory warranty expires on your BMW, it can be a scary thing. If your philosophy toward car care is the old “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” you’ll need to change your views on car maintenance or head down to trade it in for a new one.
Over the past 5 years I’ve noticed an incredible pattern with BMW owners. They have little or no problems while under the warranty, which is not surprising as today’s automobiles are usually symptom free for the first 4 years or 50k miles. They will have one or two little issues pop up from 50-70k miles which they will pay for out of pocket, and it’ll typically be expensive but not painful. Things are honky-dory for the next year or so until 80k rolls around, then the car will basically need about $3,000 in catch-up work and they wind up hating their car. Ouch!
If your warranty expires today, here’s a few starters to keep the car going strong and to keep your wallet out of harm’s way. (more…)
by Chris Keefer | Aug 8, 2008 | BMW Restorations
In my opinion, the 3.0cs/csi/csl is the most beautiful car BMW has ever built, and this 3.0csi is a really attractive example for a number of reasons. It’s owner is a really nice guy who also owns an old 2002 and happens to live right around the corner from the shop. Originally the car was not delivered to the US Market, but made its way to California early in life and has been very well cared for since. This car came into us for what I would call a day-spa treatment — none of the work being major surgery, but in the end you notice a big difference and it’s expensive.
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