DIY: How to Remove the Struts in a BMW E36

1. Raise the front of your car by positioning the floor jack underneath the jack points under your car behind each of the front wheels. Loosen, but do not remove, the lug nuts on your front wheels.
2. Raise a corner of the car and position a jack stand underneath the subframe to support that corner of your E36. Repeat the process on the other side to raise the front of the car.
3. Loosen the lug nuts and remove both front wheels.
4. Disconnect the ABS brake wear sensor that is connected to the brake wear housings on both sides of the car.
5. Remove the sway bar link from the bottom of the strut housing. Repeat on the other side of the car.
6. Unscrew the two screws that mount the strut assembly to the wheel hub on each side of the car.
7. Remove the two bolts that connect the lower shock mounting bracket and the wheel hub assembly on both sides of the E36.
8. Open your BMW's hood and loosen and remove the three nuts on top of both strut towers to drop the strut assemblies.
9. Pull the strut assemblies directly down and out of the wheel wells on both sides of your E36 to complete the removal.

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How to Program a Key to a BMW X5

1. Enter the BMW X5. Shut the door. Put the key in the ignition and turn it to the 'ACC' position on the lock cylinder.
2. Move the ignition key to the 'OFF' position. Take the key out of the ignition. Press down on the key's 'Unlock' button. Release the 'Lock' button. Do this three separate times within five seconds. Let go of the 'Unlock' button. The locks on the car door will now unlock.
3. Press down on the 'Unlock' button if you wish to reprogram another new key. Let go of the 'Lock' button. Again, do this three times inside of five seconds. Let go of the 'Unlock' button. Confirm that the locks on the door unlock and lock on your command.

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How to change gears from 5th to 3rd quickly in a Mercedes Benz equipped with SpeedShift

1. You should be at cruising speed around (50~60mph) with RPM around 2000~3000.
2. Step up the gas aggressively while dropping the gear from D (drive) to 4th. This combination will cause the gearbox to drop to third. You'll be near redline with full HP.
3. Be aware that while this technique provides quick acceleration, it does take some toll on the powertrain.

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How to Repair the Window Regulator in a Benz

1. Open up the door with the damaged regulator and locate the screws which attach the door panel to the inside of the door. Use a Phillips-head screwdriver to remove the mounting screws. Lift the door panel away from the door. Use a trim tool if necessary.
2. Remove the screws for the door handle trim and the door handle with a screwdriver. Then remove these elements from the door. Lift them both from the door by hand. This will provide better access to the window regulator.
3. Locate the hex bolts which connect the window to the window regulator. Use a hex wrench to remove the bolts from the regulator and pull it away from the window. Either brace the window with a block of wood or tape it to the top frame with duct tape to hold it place.
4. Unhook the electrical connector which joins the motor to the regulator. Do this by pulling it from its connector with by hand. Remove the lower mounting bolts from the regulator and pull it away from the door.
5. Attach a new regulator to the door by securing the lower mounting bolts. Line up the window with the regulator and reattach the hex bolts. Remove the bracing or tape, and reconnect the rest of the door assembly by following the removal steps in reverse.

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How to Install Hood Struts on a BMW 3 Series

1. Open the hood. Prop the hood up with a baseball bat or something stiff and long enough to safely support the weight of the hood while you replace the hood shocks.
2. Remove the right side hood strut by removing the small pin that holds the hood strut to the hood. You can use your fingers to pull the pin out or use needle-nose pliers to remove it.
3. Remove the pin that holds the hood strut to the engine compartment. Set the pins somewhere that you will not lose them.
4. Fasten the new hood strut to the hood, replacing the small pin to hold the strut in place. Install the pin that holds the hood strut to the engine bay. Repeat the procedure for the other side of the car. Close the hood and ensure that the hood struts allow it to close fully with no interference from the struts.

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How to Replace the Oil Pan Gasket on a BMW E39

1. Raise the BMW with your car jack and place 2 jack stands below the vehicle to keep it raised and stable.
2. Locate the oil pan--a large, gray box below the engine--and drain the oil from it into a drain pan placed below the drain plug on the oil pan. Clean off any oil that gets on you with soap and water.
3. Remove the six bolts holding the oil pan to the vehicle using your socket wrench. This part may take some muscle, because the bolts can become quite stuck in their place.
4. Wedge the flat end of your large, flat-head screwdriver between the mating surfaces of the oil pan and the vehicle. Strike the butt with the mallet to pry off that section of the oil pan. Continue to do this all around the pan to remove it from the vehicle.
5. Take off the old gasket and clean off the surface it was on. Lay on the new gasket and reinstall the oil pan using the mounting bolts.

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How to Jump

1. Put your cycle close to the front portion of your automobile. Do not allow either your cycle or car to touch. Take out each set of keys and power off both your car and motorcycle.
2. Open your automobile hood and take out your motorcycle seat so your batteries lie in plain sight.
3. Attach your red jumper cable to the terminal with a positive connection on your car battery. Attach your other red cable to the positive portion of your cycle battery.
4. Attach the opposite jumper to the negative terminal of your car. Attach the opposite end of the cable to a metal portion of your cycle, like the rear axle.
5. Start your BMW 1100 LT. However, keep your car turned off, because you may harm the electrical portion of the vehicle if you turn it on. Take off all of the cables in the opposite order from the way you installed them.

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How to Bleed the Cooling System on an Audi 1.8T

1. Raise your Audi's front end by placing a floor jack underneath the jack points that are located directly behind each of the front wheels.
2. As each corner of the front end is raised into the air, place a jack stand underneath the jack point and lower the car so that it is supported on the jack stand.
3. Locate the drain plug that is positioned directly behind the radiator at its bottom end.
4. Position a drain bucket below the drain plug.
5. Grasp the latch at the middle of the coolant drain plug and twist it in either direction as you pull it down to remove it.
6. Allow the coolant to drain out of the drain plug and into the drain bucket. Replace the drain plug when the coolant has finished draining.
7. Open the coolant expansion tank located on the driver's side of the engine bay near the windshield's end of the engine bay.
8. Pour the replacement coolant into the expansion tank and replace the expansion tank's cap once you have completed the task.

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How to Make a BMW 530I Unique

1. Lower the suspension. If you are trying to simply make your 530i look unique, then you don't need to necessarily install a performance shock and spring setup, but rather just install lowering springs that will give your 5 Series a better look. If you also want more performance, than use stiffer, lower springs along with performance shocks.
2. Replace the stock wheels with larger aftermarket wheels with a more aggressive offset. Larger diameter wheels fill out the wheel wells better and make your BMW look better in the process. This also allows you to install lower profile tires, which also look more unique than the stock profile tires. The offset of a wheel refers to where the outer edge of the wheel is located. Optimally, you want a wheel offset that places the wheel right at the edge of the bodywork.
3. Install an aftermarket body kit. You don't want to go crazy here, as an outrageous looking body kit, while potentially 'unique' can also spoil the appearance of the car. But there are some subtle kits that you can get that include a front lip spoiler, side skirts and a rear wing that will make your BMW look more unique without making it look too blingy.
4. Replace the stock exhaust with a performance exhaust. This will increase the amount of power that your 530 has by letting the engine breath more efficiently, since spent exhaust gasses leave the engine more quickly. But this will also help your BMW sound more unique, since the engine note will have a more aggressive and tuned sound.
5. Supercharge or turbocharge the engine. One thing that will definitely make your BMW unique is the addition of forced induction, which literally forces more air into the motor, either on the intake side (supercharging) or on the exhaust side (turbocharging) for a dramatic power increase. Either of these are available in kit form, but should be installed by a professional for the best results.

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How to Change a BMW Z3 Flat Tire

1. Remove the tool kit under the trunk floor. Pull up the strap on the trunk floor to lift the panel, and remove the tool kit. The kit contains all the necessary tools.
2. Slide the centering pin through the aperture near the top of the spark plug wrench. You'll use this tool to loosen the spare tire at one of its mounting points.
3. Open the plastic storage bin toward the right side of your trunk. Unscrew the plastic nut at the bottom of the bin with your fingers, revealing a metal hex nut. Use the spark plug wrench to remove the metal nut.
4. Use the combined pull cord and socket wrench to release the spare tire. Thread the socket over the hex nut that protrudes from the tool kit, and unscrew it with the handle. Hold tightly to the handle. Pull on the handle so the spare wheel tray lifts slightly. At the same time, squeeze together the metal clip near the hex nut you just loosened. This will release the spare tire and its cradle, putting the weight on the handle. Slowly lower the tire and cradle to the ground beneath your Z3.
5. Push the tire wedge from the tool kit under the rear of the front tire opposite the side that you'll be lifting.
6. Pull the tire and cradle out from under the car. The tire will still be in a bin when you remove the tire from the cradle; it's connected to the bin via a pressure hose on one side. Lift it from the other side and flip it out of the bin. Quickly loosen the nut connecting the pressure hose to the tire. There should only be a quick spurt of air.
7. Remove the jack from the trunk and line it up with the jack points just in front of the rear wheel or just behind the front wheel. Loosen the lug nuts a quarter turn each with the lug wrench, then jack the car up until the flat tire is off the ground. Loosen the lug nuts in a star pattern, first loosening one nut and then the nut directly across from it.
8. Finish loosening the nuts and remove the wheel. Replace it with the spare, and tighten the lug nuts. Put all tools back in their compartments. Stow away the flattened tire until you can fix or dispose of it. You can stash the tire in the white sack from the tool kit.

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