BMW 525D - Page 3

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

"Adrian" <toomany2cvs@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:6umfmtFg7qplU1@mid.individual.net...
> PCPaul <urd3@bitrot.co.uk> gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
> saying:
>
>> As for the 40K tyres, don't 'tires' in the US have to *guarantee* a
>> mileage, and hence get made from something not entirely unlike hardened
>> teflon?
>
> Don't forget, there's precisely three roundabouts in the entirety of the
> US, and not that many more bends in the road.

Although we've employed them to confuse out of towners in Washington, DC for
a couple of centuries, we're now starting to see many roundabouts (we call
them "traffic circles") at rural intersections and sometimes in suburban
neighborhoods. Their purpose along with the ubiquitous "speed bumps", is
usually to promote slower vehicle speeds (so called traffic calming).
Tom

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

"Adrian" <toomany2cvs@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:6umj1oFg7qplU8@mid.individual.net...
> "tom_k" <tkorth1@comcast.net> gurgled happily, sounding much like they
> were saying:
>
>>> Don't forget, there's precisely three roundabouts in the entirety of
>>> the US, and not that many more bends in the road.
>
>> Although we've employed them to confuse out of towners in Washington, DC
>> for a couple of centuries, we're now starting to see many roundabouts
>> (we call them "traffic circles") at rural intersections and sometimes in
>> suburban neighborhoods. Their purpose along with the ubiquitous "speed
>> bumps", is usually to promote slower vehicle speeds (so called traffic
>> calming).
>
> Odd. The purpose of roundabouts here is to enable traffic to flow better.
>
> Or were you referring to bends in the road?

Nope, when we want traffic to flow better, we often widen the road to 6
lanes, straighten it, slap a 30 mph (50 kph) limit on it, install speed
cameras, mail out the speeding tickets and wait for the money to flow in.
This is done in the name of safety but it is really fund raising for the
state or municipality.

Seriously though, some of the rural intersections where traffic circles have
replaced stop signs are now much easier to negotiate and are a great deal
safer.
Tom

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

Chris Bartram <news@delete-me.piglet-net.net> gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

> Is this the one where there's no change interval and no capacity stated?

Coo, narrow it down a bit... That's most autoboxes made in the last
decade.

"Sealed for life". Yep, the life of the autobox is exactly how long the
oil lasts...

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

tom_k <tkorth1@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>Although we've employed them to confuse out of towners in Washington, DC for
>a couple of centuries, we're now starting to see many roundabouts (we call
>them "traffic circles") at rural intersections and sometimes in suburban
>neighborhoods. Their purpose along with the ubiquitous "speed bumps", is
>usually to promote slower vehicle speeds (so called traffic calming).

The Washington DC ones were originally installed by a Frenchman, however,
in an attempt to confuse drivers who thought they were on a numbered street
and suddenly find themselves on one named after a state. On the other hand,
they work somewhat better than the ones in Paris from which he got the idea.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

"tom_k" <tkorth1@comcast.net> gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

> Nope, when we want traffic to flow better, we often widen the road to 6
> lanes, straighten it, slap a 30 mph (50 kph) limit on it, install speed
> cameras, mail out the speeding tickets and wait for the money to flow
> in. This is done in the name of safety but it is really fund raising for
> the state or municipality.

Dunno about 6 lanes, but the rest of it you learned from us...

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

"Scott Dorsey" <kludge@panix.com> wrote in message
news:gm55os$1ba$1@panix2.panix.com...
> tom_k <tkorth1@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>Although we've employed them to confuse out of towners in Washington, DC
>>for
>>a couple of centuries, we're now starting to see many roundabouts (we call
>>them "traffic circles") at rural intersections and sometimes in suburban
>>neighborhoods. Their purpose along with the ubiquitous "speed bumps", is
>>usually to promote slower vehicle speeds (so called traffic calming).
>
> The Washington DC ones were originally installed by a Frenchman, however,
> in an attempt to confuse drivers who thought they were on a numbered
> street
> and suddenly find themselves on one named after a state. On the other
> hand,
> they work somewhat better than the ones in Paris from which he got the
> idea.
> --scott

Exactly.

Didn't the ones in France formerly require drivers who had already entered
the circle to yield the right of way to those who were trying to merge into
it, rather than the other way around? In DC, that would have resulted in
instant gridlock as one couldn't exit the circle until rush hour wound down
at about 10 PM!

Tom

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

In article <CaudnQW1mNpxYRjUnZ2dnUVZ8juWnZ2d@bt.com>,
Tim.. <the.farm.no@spam.btinternet.com> wrote:

> "Dave Plowman (News)" <dave@davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:5026c9447bdave@davenoise.co.uk...
> > In article <oIudnSZjp6woDRjUnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com>,
> > Tim.. <the.farm.no@spam.btinternet.com> wrote:
> >
> >> "Dave Plowman (News)" <dave@davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
> >> news:5026c1f013dave@davenoise.co.uk...
> >> > In article <6ujh0tFfojv0U2@mid.individual.net>,
> >> > Conor <conor_turton@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> >> > A friend is looking at a 2002 525D Touring auto with 118K on the
> >> >> > clock. Anything in particular to look out for?
> >
> >> Auto-box failure. Resulting from mainly no-fluid change interval.
> >
> > Care to be more specific? What fails due to 'worn out' fluid?

> Clutch material and brake bands.. All the 5 speeders are affected.

And you can be sure that changing the fluid will prevent this?

--
*Welcome to Shit Creek - sorry, we're out of paddles*

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

In article <6umjd7Fg7qplU9@mid.individual.net>,
Adrian <toomany2cvs@gmail.com> wrote:
> Chris Bartram <news@delete-me.piglet-net.net> gurgled happily, sounding
> much like they were saying:

> > Is this the one where there's no change interval and no capacity
> > stated?

> Coo, narrow it down a bit... That's most autoboxes made in the last
> decade.

> "Sealed for life". Yep, the life of the autobox is exactly how long the
> oil lasts...

It's an interesting point in that auto boxes unlike engines don't actually
cause contamination of the fluid. Or at least when they do - due to excess
wear in the friction plates etc - it's too late for changing the fluid to
help. If it did they'd be fitted with proper filters.
Sealed for life gearboxes ain't new - many final drives have been like
this for 30 years or so.
I'm just interested if anyone has proper research on whether this fluid
does deteriorate in normal use. Problems with the 5HP ZF series ain't that
common in the UK. The US GM version might be different.

--
*Caution: I drive like you do.

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

"Dave Plowman (News)" <dave@davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
news:502707ee89dave@davenoise.co.uk...

> It's an interesting point in that auto boxes unlike engines don't actually
> cause contamination of the fluid. Or at least when they do - due to excess
> wear in the friction plates etc - it's too late for changing the fluid to
> help. If it did they'd be fitted with proper filters.
> Sealed for life gearboxes ain't new - many final drives have been like
> this for 30 years or so.
> I'm just interested if anyone has proper research on whether this fluid
> does deteriorate in normal use. Problems with the 5HP ZF series ain't that
> common in the UK. The US GM version might be different.

Indeed - mine came from factory with no recommendation for fluid changes,
now it's at 30000 then every 60k thereafter or something odd like that.

--
And remember kids, RAID is safe and the UPS never fails, and Cisco routers
never develop intermittent faults, and external hard drives never fail with
only a month's use, and the DNS is reliable and resilient, and the
mailserver is protected from all forms of attack.

02-09-2009, 03:45 AM

In article <RLudnd43_KufNBvUnZ2dnUVZ8riWnZ2d@eclipse.net.uk >,
Tim S Kemp <news@timkemp.karoo.co.uk> wrote:

> "Dave Plowman (News)" <dave@davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:502707ee89dave@davenoise.co.uk...

> > It's an interesting point in that auto boxes unlike engines don't
> > actually cause contamination of the fluid. Or at least when they do -
> > due to excess wear in the friction plates etc - it's too late for
> > changing the fluid to help. If it did they'd be fitted with proper
> > filters. Sealed for life gearboxes ain't new - many final drives have
> > been like this for 30 years or so. I'm just interested if anyone has
> > proper research on whether this fluid does deteriorate in normal use.
> > Problems with the 5HP ZF series ain't that common in the UK. The US GM
> > version might be different.

> Indeed - mine came from factory with no recommendation for fluid
> changes, now it's at 30000 then every 60k thereafter or something odd
> like that.

I don't know what the current BMW situation is with the latest boxes - in
the US at least they amended the 5HP fluid change from never to about
90,000 miles. But if course it's near impossible to change the oil in an
auto anyway as so much remains in the torque convertor.

--
*Just give me chocolate and nobody gets hurt

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.