Beemer is in hospital

That annoying crashing sound that we first heard coming up the mountains up in North Queensland failed to get better by itself, so off to Advanced Tech Automotive in Philip in Canberra it went. You may recall we bought a turbo charger in Melbourne last trip as that was their first suggestion. Alas, it was not to be. The noise persisted. Russell was almost convinced that it had to be a broken vane in the torque converter, but if you pull the gearbox out, you can't mount the starter motor and hence you can't start the engine and listen for noises. But wait, the cunning sod dreamt up a way to disconnect the torque converter from the engine and leave the gearbox in place. The noise persisted. They disconnected the belts and pulleys and things from the front of the engine. Still noisy. In desperation, someone stuck a screwdriver behind the harmonic balancer (remember that? we had it replaced in 2012 at the end of our first big trip) and lo and behold, it moved in a way it wasn't supposed to move!

The only thing to do was to replace the $700 after-market special with a $1200 genuine BMW part. Problem solved. Russell is yet to have deep and meaningful discussions with the original supplier.

Meanwhile Tony, the other partner in Advanced Tech Auto determined that the engine mounts (two at the from and one at the transfer case at the rear) needed replacing as well as they appeared to have collapsed. The front ones were done the next day, the rear one had to wait until the day before we left as it had to come from Singapore. They have certainly changed the characteristics of the car, it's much quieter and smoother, an underlying grumble and vibration has gone.

Now, I spent my life troubleshooting problems, the more obscure the better and I ask myself, and Russell and Tony, the question as to why I have destroyed a new harmonic balancer in such a short time. I'm happy that the original ones last about 180-200k and it's a know problem, but the replacement only had about 50k on it. Just a 'bad' part? They tell me that they have replaced heaps of them and this is the first one to breakdown. It occurred to me that perhaps if the rear engine mount allowed the gearbox/engine to actually sit on the chassis, that might be enough to cause the vibration/harmonics in the engine to all be focussed out through the front of the engine, i.e. right out through that harmonic balancer. Who knows? Anyhow, I'm very grateful for all the work and care that Advanced Tech Automotive have taken with my car.