For those of you with a BMW N51/N52/N52T engine you will know that given the design of this motor, it means positioning the starter directly underneath the air intake manifold. Meaning that to...
What a crazy weekend! Nate Vincent and I entered an 18-hour race at a track we'd never been to, with just the two of us driving, and only FCP's own Gareth Foley on crew duties. Most teams have at least three drivers and a handful of crew, but this weekend we had to deal with the cards we were...
There are two parts of the lower control arm on E39 models like the BMW 525i that will wear out: the ball joint and the bushing. To test these parts, raise the front end of the car so that the tires are off the ground, grab the tire with your hands at the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock position and...
The vivid colors of the descending sun fade to black and are replaced by a star covered sky. The cool night air races through my fingers as I pull my hand back into my girlfriend’s Saab 9-3. The torture that has been the last hour of my life is finally nearing an end. My heart is beating like a...
Extended oil change intervals are defying age-old myths about how long oil will last. Not only do they save money by reducing the amount of oil changes your vehicle needs, but they reduce the amount of waste oil coming back to recycling facilities. When a BMW indicates its oil is spent, how do...
Cars have come a long way in the last 20 or so years. Things like OBD (On Board Diagnostics) make repairs easier to diagnose as most codes will point you in the direction of the problem immediately. There are exceptions to this of course as some problems are more complicated than others but for...
Preventive maintenance always sounds good, but when you have a failure of a worn-out part you want to be careful and review other items that might have been damaged or stressed by the initial failure. In my case, the serpentine belt broke while on the freeway. With the battery light on, the...
Power windows on the E53 BMW X5 have became known for failing with age, often leaving the window jammed in the fully down position. Earlier BMWs tended to use a 'scissor lift' style window regulator, but around the time of the X5 BMW started moving to a cable & pulley system. There are...
Drive belt tensioners are a sometimes overlooked maintenance item, and if your car has 100K-200K miles on the clock then it could need replacement. As the name suggests the job of the tensioner is to keep tension on the drive belts on the front of the engine that link components suggest as AC...
In the quest for performance, few bolt-on modifications are as universally loved as the cold air intake. Aftermarket cold air intakes can manifest in many forms, ranging from stock-like looks and performance, to complete intake replacements that utilize none of the car's original components. The...