A couple of e39 questions

How can I tell if my car has heated wing mirrors? Also I've noticed that the drivers side on has some funny brown marks on the glass. They don't clean off and they are too regular in shape to be randon staining/damage. They are triangular going up the glass along the line where the glass bends to remove the blind spot.

Secondly, the variable intermittant speed control for my windscreen wipers doesn't work. No matter what setting it is on, they always sweep at the same frequecy, which I would guess is the fastest. Does anyone knbow what would cause this and is it an easy fix? Also the seller mentioned something about automatic wipers but I haven't noticed anything to indicate the car has them. Is there any easy way to tell?

Edited by Peter Fenwick

I allway's thought the mirror's worked off the back demister, well it has on any other car's Iv'e had inc the E34's.

Thanks for the replies.

Also does nayone know what oil I should use in my manual gear box and is it easy to drain and refill?

@SP - my indicator stalk is the earlier type - it has a wheel which I can adjust the speed of the intermittent wipers. I haven't the auto setup.

As for oil, I can't remember - I got some off Oilman and I think it was 80W90 but check with him.
I have to to my g/b. The diff was a right bugger as there is no room to fit the bottle up near the diff opening.
If you have a lift then its obviously going to be easier!

Im not 100% convinced that my mirrors auto demist regardless of whether the rear window is switched on. However, they don't take too long to demist on a winters morning. My passenger side also has a brown dot which looks like its at the back of the glass. I believe replacement glass is quite expensive.


Edited by kbannon

Its an allen/hex socket but I can't rightly recall the nut size.
#3 & 5 here, but I don't think it shows the size

What I did in the end was get an old ~250ml g/b fluid bottle and fill it full of the correct fluid. I then squeezed the bejaysus out of it. When it was about 1/2 full, I topped the bottle up again and kept at it until the diff was full.

Well the car has automatic wipers as it has the rain sensor. Now I just need to work out if and how they work.

I'm looking at the hand book and it's not too helpfull.

Activating the rain sensor:

From igition position 1 move the level to postion 1. The wipers will cross the windscreen once.

Easy enough.

You can leave the leverin setting 1 all the time, then all you need to do is activte the rain sensor from ignition kep position1. To do this:

Turn knurled wheel briefly or clean the windscreen or use the intensive cleaning programme. To vary the sensitivty of the rain sensor: Turn knurled wheel.

Deactivating the rain sensor: Move the lever to position 0.

Is is just me or is that lot a bit confusing?! 

I'm off outside now to play with a watering can and my wipers...

Ok so they automatic wipers don't work.

I set the kep to pisiton 1 and moved the lever up to position1. The wipers then crossed the screen as it said. I then used the intensive cleaning programme and hey presto my rain sensor should be activated.

Except it isn't. The wipers clear the water and then just continue in intermittant mode (1 sweep every 10 seconds). I then poured some water on the windscreen over the sensor in particular and nothing, wipers still in intermittant mode.

So I guess it broken and I suspect it not going to be a cheap/easy fix. Still it's not a great loss. IMO it's a bit of a silly idea anyway.

 

 

i'll check mine and see if it does the same thing

stephenperry wrote: turn the stalk to position 1 and click the thumbwheel on the stalk up to maximum (as high as it will go) now go outside the car, leave the engine running, and spray some water at the sensor

mine keeps wiping as long as there's water on the sensor (tested by dribbling water from a jug)

if you've got headlamp washers these only work if the headlights are on and the wipers are active, i think it's every five sweeps it gives a quick blast of the washer jets - you can test it by switching the headlights on and using the intensive cleaner button

http://www.bmwdiy.info/aspheric-mirror/index.html