Apr 3 - glass half full ?

The gang left a little after 5am and Sandy spent the day cleaning from top to bottom. I helped as best I could by staying out of the way ... going for a bike ride.

When I took the M5 into BMW Werks last week for the cam sensor replacement job, I asked him to check things out underneath. I knew that there might be some dripping from the rear end along with the power steering hoses.

Sure enough, the differential is leaking, needs a pinion seal replaced. It's a big labor item, not so much parts but must be fond of else I'll be replacing the differential.

So how much oil have I lost, is the real question. Checking underneath, I needed a 14mm Allen wrench, not exactly something I have on hand, so I checked at Advance Auto and found that I could buy a set ranging from 10-19 for about $37 ... or ... checking online I could buy the one for $6 from Amazon. Right. And free shipping.

I also needed some of the liquid good on hand, as it turns out that this stuff sells for 50-60 per 1/2 liter.

I called bmw this morning to see if they had the 1/2 liter bottles in stock (a full fluid replacement us 1.2 liters).

The girl said that it comes in liters and then went off to check. She came back and said no, it comes in pints. Whatever. So I did the 1 hour round trip to pick up the pint and found that the bottle was labeled 500 ml / 1.06 pint. I guess that she didn't know that 500ml = 1/2 liter ? How long has she been working in parts at a dealership for a car that's all metric ?

Back home with my pint, I jacked up the car and found that my 14mm could access the top / fill screen but not the bottom screw - too long / muffler in the way. That's ok, I'm only wanting to top it off anyway.

It took a little more than 100ml. Good. In many months of leaking it's not running dry. I need to schedule the work and my guy will need another liter of liquid gold to replace the oil that he drains.

Opening that top screw I immediately remembered what gear oil smells like. Ugh. The first time I replaced transmission oil was in my 68 bug. Now that's a long time ago.

Jeffrey reports that it was an uneventful trip with many people using pink ribbons. They'll need a plan B for bag ID !

Tuna is up for dinner. Mmm.

Jason expects to be here Friday.

It's appointment week - me with vision and physical, Sandy with obligatory appt with doctor who will do colonoscopy, yet to be scheduled.

Onward !

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