thehackmechanic

Below is an old post that lists the same problem I'm having. I can find an o-ring about the right size, but the other question is... how tight is the nut supposed to be? Is the rubber seal supposed to peak out between the base of the nut and the body of the Kugelfischer pump (in which case it never gets metal-against-metal tight) or is the seal supposed to wholly squish into the beveled crevice beneath the nut? (sometimes that's what you get for taking something that was working apart...) --Rob < http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2583&mospid=47141&btnr=13_0684&hg=13&fg=15 I temporarily fixed the leak by using some std o-rings I had, but I know this o-ring should probably be "fuel resistant". Anyone know where to find an o-ring to use on this part?...the o-ring isn't even shown on the parts diagram. Thanks, John >>

Mike and the other posters are both on the money on this, even though they sound like different answers. The short answer is do the water pump if you need to rely on it, but if it passes the tests Mike describes, it is unlikely to fail without warning.

My wife is a saint, but any hint I drop -- especially car-related hints -- is like the tree falling in the forest. I've long since given up on hints and instead just buy stuff for myself. Around the holidays this elicits some (mostly good-natured) wails, like "you're doing it again! Why don't you tell me what these things are so I can tell (your mother, my sister, etc) that you want them and then THEY'LL buy them?" Answers: 1) I find stuff cheaper. 2) I don't want to risk someone getting it wrong. 3) Like I'm really going to specify to a non-car-person a set of 2002 door sill mouldings, a through-the-wall exhaust fan, and a Pullzall. Fortunately as I've crossed big five-oh, this curmudgeonly behavior seems to be more accepted. It's taken me 30 years to train them, but it seems to be working. :^) --Rob

Yes, may we all receive the Getrag 245, crack-free dash, and uninterrupted time to install them that we crave. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men and women, and don't forget to torque those lug nuts!

When you hear that lathe-like sound, it's almost always the back of the shift platform falling down onto the driveshaft. This could be caused by several things: 1) The two 13mm nuts and bolts on the angle brace that connects the back of the trani to the back of the shift platform being loose. These are right there on the left side of the back of the trani; nothing is in the way. 2) One or both of the bushings that hold the back of the shift tower to the top of the trani. These are shown in the link to realoem in one of the other posts. Each of these has two bolts holding it in: --An 8mm allen key that faces rearward that you can reach with an allen socket and an extension --A 13mm bolt that comes down from the top held on with a nut that threads on from the bottom. These are reachable, too, with the trani in the car, though putting a wrench on the top of the bolt is a bit tricky. Worst case is the bushings themselves being bad (worn out rubber). But really, as the other poster said, this is not too hard. Jack up the car securely (always double jack, with jack plus jackstands), crawl under it with a powerful droplight, grab the back of the shift platform, and wiggle it around and see where the play is. You'll find it. --Rob

And the answer is: there is absolutely nothing wrong if the owner is happy with the car.

Mike, the short answer is "the cleanest most rust-free car you can afford." The longer answer is there is the personal taste question, the smog question, the rust question, and the price question. Although there is no accounting for personal taste, to many people, a round tail light 2002 with chrome bumpers (68 through 73) is THE 2002. Of course if you prefer the big bumpers and square taillights of the 74 through 76, that's cool too. The previous post referred to the higher level of smog equipment mandated when EPA requirements increased in 1975. I'd say cars 1975 through 1977 from ANY manufacturer are the least desirable years, as it took every manufacturer a while to get this stuff right. If you're NOT in CA, it probably matters less, as outside of CA most of these cars have been modified and very few have the original smog stuff on them. The rust question is really paramount, and ties into the price question. Any amount of mechanical work is trivial and cheap compared to any amount of body and / or paint work.

I second Matthew's recommendations. Be aware that most used bottlecaps come with 195/65 14 from their prior E30 servitude. They fit on an 02, but they don't look quite right (too tall). I've never had problems with 195/60s rubbing. I put 195/60 14 Generals on my last tii and liked them a lot. --Rob

I wanted to simply respond to Mike Self's post and say "Happy Birthday Ludwig... and many more." Then I was about to add "and may you outlive your owner," but that just sounds insensitive, and it isn't what I mean. And then I started thinking. And then it got complicated. There is the saying "a parent should never outlive his/her child," the meaning being that the crushing pain of seeing a child die should never have to be borne by any parent. But what about with cars? I wrote, earlier this week, that it is an act of violence to drive an '02 or any classic in a salty or even a wet environment, that you can almost hear the car scream. I had the body restoration work on my 3.0CSi done over 20 years ago, and I have been extremely careful with the car, so it is still in spectacular rust-free shape. But does this mean that, if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, I should've driven the car more often, and in worse weather? Should I extrapolate that to, let's see, an average male life expectancy of, say, 83 years, gee that means I should on average drive the car four times a year in the rain? If I die and the car still hasn't perforated its rocker panels, have I gotten my value out of it? So there's a part of this that's like the joke about spending your kids' inheritance (and why is that a joke? :^), and part that's about the care and respect that we show for these inanimate objects that we love. I suppose this all comes down to the question of where you derive your pleasure and satisfaction, and there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this. You'll go one way with it if you derive enjoyment out of a perfect car, and another if you're a leave-it-on-the-field guy. If I found out tomorrow that I had cancer, I think the last thing I'd do is think "guess I'd better jump in the coupe, take it out in the New England salt, do donuts in the parking lot with the twelve year old Yokohama 008s, and get some RUST on this thing before I kick the bucket!" What do YOU think? --Rob

I've had this happen in the past. The angled metal rod that comes through the pedal bucket is attached to a lever via a 10mm bolt and nut. This lever is then, in turn, attached to a long rod that goes up to the linkage that comes out of the carb. You can loosen the 10mm nut and bolt, and pivot the lever on the end of the rod, if you see what I'm saying. In this way, you can adjust it so that the lever is never above the clutch piece it's catching on, so when you depress the accelerator, it can't catch on it. Now, this may screw up other things, like it may cause the accelerator pedal to be at an odd angle, or at least a different angle at rest than it was at before. It will also likely change the degree to which the carb butterfly will fully open up. All of this needs to be checked. Almost certainly you will need to adjust (loosen) the top of the long vertical linkage rod to compensate for the change in position of the lever. --Rob

I've had this happen in the past. The angled metal rod that comes through the pedal bucket is attached to a lever via a 10mm bolt and nut. This lever is then, in turn, attached to a long rod that goes up to the linkage that comes out of the carb. You can loosen the 10mm nut and bolt, and pivot the lever on the end of the rod, if you see what I'm saying. In this way, you can adjust it so that the lever is never above the clutch piece it's catching on, so when you depress the accelerator, it can't catch on it. Now, this may screw up other things, like it may cause the accelerator pedal to be at an odd angle, or at least a different angle at rest than it was at before. It will also likely change the degree to which the carb butterfly will fully open up. All of this needs to be checked. Almost certainly you will need to adjust (loosen) the top of the long vertical linkage rod to compensate for the change in position of the lever. --Rob

Any woman who drives a stick: keep her! Any woman who PREFERS driving a stick: marry her! Maire Anne drove the kids around in my 2002 for a number of years, but child seats in ANY two-door car is a pain in the ass... she gave it up. 2002s are basically gone from the Northeast, so whenever I see one it turns my head. And if I see a woman driving one, I would think... who IS she and what IS her story?

I did for many years, but living in the Northeast, it is now an act of violence to expose a rust-free 2002 to moisture, let alone snow and salt. I think that, if you're attuned to the car, you can actually hear it scream. I saw what happened to ex-Roundel editor Yale Rachlin's 74tii when it was sold to someone who didn't give a crap -- it was like someone set a rust bomb off beneath the car. 18 months later the thing was unrecognizeable. That having been said, after many 2002-less years, I now, incredibly, own two. One is a '73 and something of a rat rod -- solid but certainly not rust-free, and with totally oxidized and flaking Agave paint. I like it. And I'm not sure that I hear this one scream if I get it wet. In having been away from '02s for nearly 20 years, and then coming back, it is like coming home. They're so damned simple, it just makes your automotive brain sigh with contentment. The single biggest thing, for me, in taking a 2002 and making it usable, is putting in real seats. This 50 year old guy with a bad back can no longer take those unbearable, flat, support-less seats. The rat rod has 320i Recaros in it, and I slide into the seats and go... ahhhhhhhhhh. --Rob

<> Oh, is that ever the God's honest truth. (Same goes if you sell anything, by the way...) So... to make the obvious joke... crap my ass!

Mike, you know me well enough to know that I NEVER clean anything unless the crap is so think I can't see what I need to remove! :^) You're generally right on the phillips-in-the-little-ratchet-driver thing; these things are usually worth their weight in gold. But for some reason, for certain kinds of screws, I still think that nothing works as well as a vice grip on a real phillips handle. You can lean into a real phillips handle in a way that you can't with a ratchet with a button and a reverse switch in the middle.

I just wrote this up as part of a Roundel article; thought I'd post it here too. The doors in my ’73 2002 had this snotty little rattle – a highly annoying tinny specific sound that announced itself even over relatively smooth surfaces. I took apart one door to find out that three little plastic grommets were completely missing. When they're in place, one grommet holds the door lock plunger rod (the thing you press down to lock the door when you’re inside the car) in the lock mechanism; the other two are at opposite ends of the long hooked rod connecting the lock mechanism to the inside door handle. The grommets (part number 52 20 8 238 999) are cheap. I ordered six of them to do both doors. The repair is initially perplexing because, in order to press in the little grommets, you first need to pull the hooked rods out of their holes, and it seems like there’s no clearance to maneuver the rods out. But there’s a trick to it. First you undo the two Phillips head screws holding the door lock mechanism to the jam edge of the door. Odds are they’ve been in there for more than 30 years. You really don’t want them to strip, so I recommend taking a high-quality Phillips, putting a vice grip on the fat plastic part of the handle, and pushing in while turning so it will bite while it rotates. Above the two Phillips screws are two more screws that hold the trapezoidal plate and rubber bumper. Depending on the age of the car, these may take a Phillips or hex key. Remove these and the plate and bumper. The trick is, once the four screws have been removed, to push the lock mechanism inside the door and turn it sideways. It’ll be obvious which way you need to turn it to slide the hooked rod out of the hole. Press a new grommet into the hole, then replace the rod. You’ll immediately notice that the new grommet holds the rod upright in place so it no longer falls down while you’re trying to align it through that little hole in the top of the door panel. Next, change the two grommets on the long rod holding the lock to the inner door handle as follows. The door handle is held by two 8mm bolts. Undo them, and the mechanism will slide down inside the bottom of the door where you can see it. Rotate it to one side so you can slide the hooked rod end out of the hole. Note which side the hooked rod end goes through (I believe it’s the back), as you need to press the grommet into that side. Go back to the lock and rotate it so you can slide the other end of the long hooked rod out. Press a new grommet in there, hook the rod back through, re-attach the lock to the door with the Phillips screws, hook the other end of the rod back through the handle, reattach it to the door with the 8mm bolts, reattach the door skin, and you’re done. In my car, this completely cured all door rattles, for $3 in grommets and an hour’s work. --Rob

Thanks Tom. I tried that before I pulled the throttle body off. I pulled the top off the tuna can and lifted up on the shaft from underneath and watched the cam at the top of the shaft lift up, but it didn't lift up enough. 20 years ago I once snapped that cam off the top of the shaft doing something stupid; I think the bad memory prevented me from even attempting to lever the cam up this time.

You can probably find the number cast in the end cover of the trani. The Getrag 245s I've had have had the number vertically on the left side of the end cover, near where the speedometer drive. There is also a number inside the bell housing, but the numbers may not match. All of the 245s I've had say 242 inside the bell housing, presumably because the cases get used for multiple applications. To verify that it is indeed a 5-speed, put a phillips screwdriver into the pin hole in the shift rod so you have some leverage, and go through the shift pattern -- hard left and back (yes, back, since you don't have a shift lever on it) for reverse, then 1 through 4 in the traditional H, and hard right and back for 5th -- and turn the input shaft and watch what the output flange does. My understanding is that, if it is a Getrag 240 -- a short-cased 5-speed from a 1983 320i -- it should work, but you'll be on your own in terms of sourcing a shortened driveshaft and a shortened shifter and shift platform, since all the commercial-off-the-stuff out there for a 5-speed conversion is for the Getrag 245 with the three-piece case. This is what the previous poster was referring to -- that you'd be putting a lot of time and money to do a one-off installation. In addition, my understanding is that the 240 is a less robust trani than a 245.

Just to commit this for the ages... I loosened up all of the 10mm bolts connecting the linkage shaft to the throttle body shaft, and could skootch the shaft upward, but not enough to slip the little plastic cup underneath, so I pulled off the throttle body, which like many of these sorts of things, was less work and took less time than figuring out how NOT to do it. There are two 10mm nuts you can see on top holding the throttle body to the intake manifold, and one that's difficult to see on the underside, but they're all accessible via either a socket and extension or a small box-end wrench. I took intake runner #1 off to be able to see the depression the cup goes into. Other than detaching the springs, I basically left everything attached to the throttle body, just sliding it off the three studs until it was clear, and lifting it up just enough to get the cup under, then replacing it. Obviously the pump and butterfly need to be re-synchronized since I loosened the bolts on the shaft; whether this was strictly necessary I'm not sure, but it's quick and easy enough to do. Thanks to all for the advice. --Rob

Great, thanks Matt; I'll try that first.

The most common 5-speed conversion for a 2002 is a Getrag 245 overdrive unit from a late model 320i. These have a three-piece case -- the big front part, the rear end-cover, and a 3.5" spacer piece in the middle. The trani you show has a two-piece case, making it look like a four-speed. However, the clutch slave cylinder is bolted right to the side of the case (unlike the stock 2002 4-speed where the clutch slave is held to the edge of the bellhousing). So it is possible that this is a two-piece Getrag 240 5-speed out of a later car. My understanding is that some small number of these were in late ('83) 320is, and that they also were used in E30 318is. The "can it be made to work or can't it" issue is whether it has a mechanical or electronic speedometer drive. If does not have a hole at the back in the bottom left side to receive the speedo cable, then I don't believe you can use it. See this thread: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/topic_view,threads/p,383116/t,284775/

Yes that is correct, part #7 in the drawing, at the base of the linkage between the pump and the throttle body.

I lived in Austin for a few years in the 80s and am in Terry's debt for all of his assistance help during that time. Terry's a great guy, but you already know that. And going with someone local has enormous value when you have questions or need ancillary parts. If you have any doubt, I'd recommend erring on that side. That having been said, Dave at Aardvark is also one of the nicest guys you'll ever swap stories with, and Dave helped me out with a driveshaft problem I had during my last 5-speed installation. The main challenge for the DIYer doing a 5-speed installation is dealing with the necessary relocation of the transmission support bracket. This is a total pain in the butt, whereas the rest of the installation is basic nuts-and-bolts. I'm sure you're already aware that a 2002's transmission is secured at the back by a straight-across bracket that supports the weight of the transmission (it holds it up via the rubber bushing), and is attached to two mounting tabs welded to the underside of the tunnel. Since the 5-speed OD trani is about 3.5" longer (3.5625") than the stock 4-speed, in addition to having to shorten the driveshaft, the shifter, and the shift platform, the method by which the back of the trani is supported needs to be moved rearward as well. There are two basic ways to do this: 1) Physically move the mounting points further back (ie use a straight-across bracket but attach it to the underside of the tunnel 3.5" further back), or 2) Leave the mounting points where they are and utilize an adapter of some kind that adapts the stock mounting points to the transmission bushing, which, again, is now about 3.5" further back than it was. The kit that Dave / Aardvark sells, I believe, comes with mounting tabs that look just like the ones welded to the underside of the tunnel. There is someone on the parts page of this site selling the tabs and a bracket of the right length. I believe the OEM mounting tabs are even still available (http://www.bimmers.com/02/upgrades/transmission.html has a good explanation of the whole 5-speed conversion process, including the part numbers for the mounting tabs). You then can very carefully mount -- either by welding or by bolting, or both -- these tabs 3.5625" further back, and at the same height, as the old ones. Personally, I found this to be a difficult, time-consuming process, requiring you to drill holes, which as Mike Miller says, is like injecting cancer into a patient. Another thing to note that isn't often written about is that, since the transmission tunnel narrows toward the back of the car, when you've relocated the mounting tabs, the stock cross-piece won't fit -- it's too long, due to the narrowing of the tunnel. You need to shorten it. The crossmember / mount sold by Top End Performance (racetep.com) combines the cross-piece and the tabs into one structure, but it also requires drilling holes in the tunnel. The other way to do it is to use a mount that attaches to the stock mounting tabs. One can argue whether cantilevering the weight of the transmission in this way introduces undesirable stresses, but let's leave that aside for the moment. If you look carefully at the photos on the 2002haus web site, you'll see that they use a very simple, elegant, U-shaped mount that bolts to the underside of the stock tabs on the tunnel. I don't believe that they sell this piece a la carte. If you search on the parts page of this site, you'll see that someone was selling a similar piece. Jim Rowe at Metric Mechanic sells a more elaborate bracket for about $300 that also utilizes the stock mounting location. I used one of these 20 years ago and, like most things from Metric, it was well-engineered and fit absolutely perfectly. Since Terry's 5-speed page is generic for a bunch of models (not just 2002s), I can't tell which kind of mount he uses -- one that uses the existing tabs or one that requires relocation. There are many other pieces to these kits -- shift platform, shifter, etc. The 2002Haus stuff looks absolutely gorgeous. If you have a hard-on for gorgeous stuff under your car, who am I to try and talk you out of it? Me, none of my cars are pristine, and I would feel remiss spending a dime extra for beautiful hardware that I'd bolt up to a grimy undercarriage. --Rob

I've isolated most of the play in my tii to a missing plastic cup at the base of the linkage rod that goes up to the throttle body. The cup itself sits in a little circular holder in the FI pump. I've ordered the cup and have it in my hot little hands, but it's not immediately obvious to me how much needs to come out in order to get the cup in its little holder at the base of the linkage rod. If you loosen the two 10mm nuts holding the linkage rod to the throttle body (as you have to do in order to synchronize the pump and throttle), are you supposed to be able to you slide the linkage up enough to stick the plastic cup underneath? Or do you need to take the throttle body off? --Rob

Thanks to both of you. The brown bushing that Jim show looks exactly like what I pulled out of the center of the big hole. I think it's likely that what I thought was a crumbled spacer that ran the length of the hole was instead pieces of the original destroyed bushings, and that there is no "spacer." --Rob