Hi all,

1. I only have 376 miles on my new Clubman S and I mistakenly listened to a friend of mine (who drives BMWs) about the break-in. He said that I didn't need to worry about anything except to make sure not to stay at the same engine speed for too long a period. Unfortunately I have at times revved the engine really fast and high (can you blame me?). Now I know better (don't go above 4500 RPM or accelerate too hard before 1250 miles), but will the 15 or so times I've done this so far bode badly for my engine?

2. I noticed that there's a flexible rubber dam below and slightly to the back of the front bumper. It is connected with plastic release tabs. Does this perform a significant function? I would prefer to remove it as it sits so damn low.

3. The manual does not list all of the functions under the "key/checkmark" menu. It talks about a few things such as the daytime running lights, but some of the other icons are unexplained. Is there a list somewhere of what these all are?

Thanks much for the help.

Cheers,
noah

 

Improper break-in of a gasoline, piston engine may result in higher than average oil consumption and a shorter than average lifespan for that particular engine. Unless you are driving it "like you stole it" or you plan to keep it for 500,000 miles, I wouldn't worry about it. It's likely that, even with slightly elevated wear during the break-in period, your engine will still be within the normal range for oil consumption. The normal range is pretty broad.

I have a steep driveway and that rubber skirt scrapes going in and out. At first, it was bothering me and I crawled under the car to look at it. It seems fine, a little scraped up is all. I just let it scrape.

My wife had a BMW Z3 and the similar piece was harder plastic and scraped as well. It eventually fell off and we just threw it away. BMW makes great engines, but a lot of their other stuff is pretty "crap-tastic"....

 

Thanks, Jgohike. I probably don't have too much to worry about then re: break-in, considering I've been 90% kind to it, only have 376 miles, and will be friendly to the engine from now on until 1200 miles.

As far as the "crap-tastic" part, I am inclined to agree with you. There are more than a few things about this car that make me scratch my head as far as quality vs. price of the car. Ah, well, such is life; there's always a tradeoff, and hopefully this one'll be worth it in the long run.

 

The air dam piece is part of the vehicle's aerodynamic package. I have read that it helps with properly routing the air around the engine bay.

 

Removing the Air Dam under the front bumper causes two problems.

1. Reduces air flow to the lower radiator (FMIC)

2. Increases air flow under the car resulting in reduced handling characteristics.

 

I guess it's staying on, then. Thanks for the info, gents.

 

other programable features are auto locking and three blink turn signals for lans change/passing options ... Suprised your MA didn't go over this with you ... also these follow the key fob so you have to program both

 

Cool - I figured those two out but have no idea what the feature is that shows either the driver's door open or both the driver's and the passenger's door open.

 

I think that is the unlock setup....when you press the unlock button on the fob, it can either unlock the driver's door only or both doors.

 

correct

 

i don't think this part is correct. the piece he's talking about is the plastic flap underneath. it's bolted onto the bottom of the bumper and there's no way that it directs air up into the radiator/intercooler.

 

read the manual again, it's all explained, clearly, in there.

 

The lower air dam helps create a low pressure area just behind the bumper so engine bay air pressure will more easily be extracted, below the car body, by forward motion, at speed. It is flexible, cheap $ and easily replaced by the button fasteners. I approach my steep driveway at an angle to avoid the (harmless) scrape sound.

 

It might also work as a snowplow (LOL)

 

Thanks jgohike -- I somehow missed that in the manual.

 

touche salesman. i'll buy that one.

 

Just got about 10" of snow here yesterday, it certainly does act as a snow plow... kind of annoying to say the least. Get a good set of snow tires and it won't slow you down.

Needless to say, I was scared to death to turn into (and go through) the wall a plow left at the start of a street yesterday. I got through fine, but thought I was going to break something on my front end...

 

Just got about 10" of snow here yesterday, it certainly does act as a snow plow... kind of annoying to say the least. Get a good set of snow tires and it won't slow you down.

Needless to say, I was scared to death to turn into (and go through) the wall a plow left at the start of a street yesterday. I got through fine, but thought I was going to break something on my front end...

 

It sounds crazy but it does work to increase air flow thru the FMIC. It does this by creating a low pressure area just behind the FMIC and thus causes more air flow thru the FMIC.

 

yeah, moe-jiller explained that up above.

i didn't even think about it that way, but is sounds legit to me now.