A coil pack went out on my wifes Rav4 a couple weeks back and when I swapped it (with an OE Denso, I try to baby the Rav) the retaining clip on the plug broke off. Apparently it's a common problem.

Fortunately Toyota puts the part number on all of their plugs.

https://i.imgur.com/HFAF78S.jpeg

It's kind of funny that they put the number onto the part that breaks off. All the plugs have the same first 5 digits in the part number so add 90980 to that and you get this.

https://i.imgur.com/YLi3eAl.jpeg

Again OEM Toyota for the wife. The local dealer wanted something stupid like $20 each, from Amayama they were $4. Zip ties are fine for my junk but not on here.

https://i.imgur.com/4hMJeTa.jpeg

Pop that white tab up (again Toyota being Toyota the multi-piece plugs always have multiple colours of plastic so it's obvious) and then it can be de-pined.

https://i.imgur.com/ah2em9N.jpeg

Or because the black plastic is so brittle, just rip it right off.

https://i.imgur.com/m1ucAMF.jpeg

Pop the pin out.

https://i.imgur.com/KQM21TI.jpeg

And into the new plug. One at a time cause I'm dumb and I'll forget the order if I do them all together.

https://i.imgur.com/owW0zxa.jpeg

For the last pin the retaining clip broke off and was jammed against the tab on the pin, so I just busted apart the whole thing with pliers to get it free. These must have been made with a defective batch of plastic or something because even my stuff that's 15+ years older isn't that brittle.

https://i.imgur.com/SGB40d0.jpeg

Push that white centre piece down to lock them all in and plug it into the coil.

https://i.imgur.com/95oo54P.jpeg

And done. I've got one spare coil pack on hand and 3 more connectors in case the others give me a problem (apparently the 2 brown ones aren't as fragile). Weirdly the coil looked completely fine but on very cold starts sometimes it would stop working for some reason and throw a code so I'm not sure what went wrong with it.

Some off-season projects for the BMW E46 this weekend:

- I've had a pretty bad oil leak from the valve cover area on the passenger side. Mind you, I've replaced the valve cover and gaskets, but it was still leaking. I've also rebuilt the Vanos unit on this car, but I've also snapped the Vanos studs before in a previous car, so I was too scared to use a torque wrench with the Vanos nuts when I rebuilt the unit on this car. So I finally bit the bullet and used my 1/4 torque wrench to tighten everything up. I used an OE BMW valve cover gasket and BMW rubber grommets, so we'll see how it goes this summer.

- Replaced the AC tensioner with a "Litens" branded one from RockAuto. When I opened the box, it actually was an INA unit which would have been over double in price. It's a nice surprise when that happens.

- Replaced the oxygen sensors with new Bosch ones.

- I converted the old fan clutch/rad fan system to a single electric fan. Tested the new fan using INPA and it works. We'll see how it goes this summer.

- My central locking system has been acting up for years, so I finally picked up some relays off EBay and found a local guy to re-solder the relays on the GM5. Worked like a charm when I re-installed the GM5.

- Installed a new window regulator. They're a pain to get properly aligned as they're frameless.

Next up before the summer: rear sway bar bushings, auto transmission drain and fill, and brake fluid change.

Nice update! Hope to see the car again at this summer's Stock and Noob Meet (Bring the family!) :)

You almost make me want to work on an E46 again! The memories.

What brand OE BMW VCG did you use? I remember one is particularly bad and tends to leak after a year.

I'm surprised the central locking system relay itself broke. I bought a replacement button - the rectangular piece and that was an all in one fix for $5 or smt.

Window regs I do not miss. Granted.. I did it drunk but still.

I think all BMW valve cover gaskets leak. :troll:

Victor Reinz OE Brand is the one I'm thinking of. That one is notorious for failing quickly.

It's a genuine BMW gasket. Not a Victor Reinz or Elring. I also bought genuine BMW valve cover bolt grommets to go with it.

The valve cover, which is CRP, is less than 3 years old and is flat with no cracks. We'll see how we do when I get it back on the road in a couple of months. If tightening things up to spec doesn't solve the leak, I'll be out of ideas.

Engine swap :troll:

Finally got around to getting an alignment done after lowering the car. The shop apparently posted their work on instagram https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUtio...RlODBiNWFlZA==

The M chat was just complaining about Dales this week :lol

I haven't been since 2016. How is it now? I don't have any weird and whack alignment needs when the M3 is just stock with coils.

First time there. Honda couldn’t/wouldn’t do my alignment as they were worried they couldn’t get it up onto their lift.
Not sure why I had to drop the car off when they opened, and had the work done in the early afternoon. And it was a pretty expensive alignment (2.5x Honda). But it’s done now. Don’t think I’ll be going back

Overdrive is usually the recommendation for alignments, but it is far (Richmond) if you're going to Dale's.