New Owner of a 2004 R52

Kazimierz said:

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Hey guys, picked up a gorgeous hyper blue r52 a few weeks ago, and have been tinkering away. 66,000 miles. When i bought it, it had the ASC light showing, and is back to doing it. Since buying i have:

1. Changed air filter
2. Changed pollen filter
3. Topped up oil
4. Replaced ignition leads, cleaned corroded #3 with wire brush
5. Replaced battery
6. Replaced spark plugs to NGK BKR7EIX
7. Initially ran a petrol cleaner additive from the station, then last week cataclean.

I had an infuriating issue with my interior light going on and off because a door was opened/closed. I thought it was driver door, but it turns out these doors don't cause the door light to fire on the dash (the one with hood open). As it turned out, the sensor/button on the tailgate wasn't fully pushing it down. I put a sticky furniture pad (those fuzzy ones you put under stuff to not scratch the floor) on both sides to match, done.

Non mechanical:

1. Replaced 3-piece oem wood dash with silver. Very little info on this wood stuff out there. Mixed opinions, but the silver is new looking, whereas wood could use some polish
2. Clay bar and polishing
3, Picked up the air deflector to great effect.
4. Scrubbed and cleaned roof, still needs another round.
5. Wiper fluid/blades

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The last owner for 4 years was a smoker, and did not take care of the car. It's been quite a bit of work cleaning out the interior, cigarette butts, layer of tar, but we're looking good! I also smoke, but this was... oof.

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According to the dealer, the previous owner noted that someone spilled oil over the engine. The stains show that. The engine was in general covered in oil which i cleaned away. Doesn't appear to be leaking anywhere, it was all surface. There was also oil in my rear cup holder for some reason. Lots of cleaning.

Ongoing issues:

1. Clutch rattle, as i understand this is the bearing and a feature. Slowly releasing the clutch can cause it to go away. Only in neutral, cold start louder.
2. P0430 via ODBII bluetooth dongle P0430 Mini - Catalytic Converter Conversion 2. My phone screen exploded and am without it for the time being, but i also noticed in odbii scanner there were two o2 sensors. one had stable voltage, the other bounced from 0.01 to 0.9 and everything in between.
3. ASC light
4. Driver's door doesn't lock or unlock via key fob. The lock doesn't pop up (or down later). Passenger works normal, driver needs to use key to get in. I'd also like to swap out the door cards for less used ones, so what am i looking at?
5. Glove box lock doesn't lock. Whatever
6. Passenger window does not go up automatically (does down), and moves slower than driver. It also does not go up all the way even, as driver does
7. Leaks somewhere around the front, front sides of cabrio top. Both sides drip, sometimes. Not too bad.

Infurating issue:

I cannot solve this ASC light issue. At first, it would turn on each time i would turn on the car. This was alongside the car failing to turn over on the first, sometimes second try. Cleaning up the coil and replacing leads, as well as battery seems to have solved this.

The ASC light issue disappeared for two days. After driving 160 motorway miles, it came and stayed on, though without performance drops. It now usually turns on when i start the car, or comes on shortly later. Is this P0430?!? There's nothing else in my DTCs. It's getting very frustrating, and i'm running out of "cheap" fixes it seems, as i'd like to do as much as i can myself.

When it doesn't come on immediately, i can toggle it on and off via the switch normally. It cannot be toggled off when it comes on itself.

Things i would like:

1. One ball delete. My right silencer is rusty and peeling away, seems the ideal solution is just to slice it off. Turns out that muffler shops in the UK don't weld? Where could i get this done? I am in KT2. Any MOT issues regarding this mod?

2. Local suggestions for a pulley upgrade?

3. Am i mushrooming enough to worry? I'd need to lift the car to add the reinforcement plates, so not sure if necessary atm. Eyeballing it looks ok, but what do i know?

4. Suggestions for a phone mount? I have the CD insert thing, and it not only ruins the look of the submarine dash, it also hits my hand all the time unless i keep the phone at a 45 degree angle. Need something better.
4a. Is there an easy/recommended spot to mount a usb port above the dash? Orange BMW lighted USB to match the car would be nice.

5. My cabrio roof has a small wear hole on the driver side (smaller than a pinky nail), and looks like it eventually will on the other side. Thoughts? Patching? Leave it?

6. Why is the armrest so expensive? Thoughts on those cheaper non-OEM ones? They seem to look awful

7. Weatherstripping. All around, but in particular the back two, as expected. Looks gross, also disintegrated around boot. I see used ones for sale at ridiculous prices, also cracked and peeling. Wut? Suggestions? DIY weatherstripping?

8. My tail lights feel yellowed, but have been told that's the way they came?

I'd like to restore the look of the car to as new as possible, less interested in modding and such (though that pulley seems like a cheap and useful win?). Any other suggestions? Thanks for the help, and love this little rocket ship!

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