bmwe21.net forums

Spare alternator fixed it. The one that broke is 2 years old - the spare looks 30 years old. BMW/Bosch quality!

Grounded the mystery brown wire to alternator case, I'll find out what it is some other time.

Good news.

You are right that I've been about in the Baur a bit, try to meet up when the weather picks up.

Saw a gold e21 in hospital grounds last week, seen it before on Middleton road. Looked nice - you seen it around?

drjim wrote:Good news.

Good. Still makes you curious what exactly broke!

drjim wrote:Good news.

You are right that I've been about in the Baur a bit, try to meet up when the weather picks up.

Saw a gold e21 in hospital grounds last week, seen it before on Middleton road. Looked nice - you seen it around?

No, seen a few E30's about. If I saw an unknown E21 in Manchester I'd hunt them down and stick the forum address under one of their wipers! A meet sounds good.

Jeroen wrote:Good. Still makes you curious what exactly broke!

Yeah, weird eh? Could have been a bad earth I guess.. ? Initially it was earthed to the bolt that goes through the mounting bracket on the block (not the adjustment bolt), but on the side closest to the fan. I know there's a rubber bush here that could have been insulating it? Seems unlikely tho tbh. This time I earthed it on the same bolt, but on the side closest to the engine.Either way I'm not changing it again until it breaks!