Central Coast of California BMW Drivers: March 2011

For those going on Saturday's tour of the Mullin and Murphy museums in Oxnard, here's a link to the lunch menu at Yolanda's:

http://www.yolandasmexicancafe.com/menu/lunch/

They will do separate checks, so a suggestion from Captain Obvious - bring ca$h. Easier and faster for everyone plus you'll get to the Mullin sooner.

>> Our next GGC chapter event is May 22, a tour of northern SLO County ending at McPhee's in Templeton for lunch. An E-vite will be sent with all the details - meeting time is 9:30 at Tina's in Santa Margarita.

>> There is a local event I encourage you to support, the MS car show at Jason Lenn's ranch in Arroyo Grande, 1771 Corbett Canyon road, on Sunday, April 10. The show starts at 10:00, so I will to be at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Pismo Beach at 9:15. We can have a coffee and hang out for a while, then head for the show, about 15 minutes away. Admission is $10 and there is also a $15 BBQ lunch, all proceeds going to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. It is an eclectic collection of everything from classics to hot rods, motorcycles, and there have been rare models where only a handful still exist. Jason is the proprietor of XK'S Unlimited, and there will be an open house at his shop on Friday, April 8. It is located at 850 Fiero Lane, just north of the airport.

Notes from March 5 Service Seminar

>> We were well served by Rob Rogers and assistant Glenn, and Coast provided donuts and coffee.

>> Their preference in the Perpetual Saga of Auto Trans Servicing is to leave it alone if it already has significant mileage - 60K+? They've had trouble with the high mileage ones they have serviced at the owner's request. Another thought to consider is doing what a writer to Roundel has done with his '95 525ia still on it's original trans. He does a "service lite" every 30K, simply draining and replacing the fluid instead of several flushes to completely change it. And of course he cleans the filters and screens.

>> The subject of oil capacity on M-cars was brought up, not unknown by a couple of our group to have them over-filled. The capacity for the V-10 is 10 quarts, and the S54 (6 cyl.) is 6 quarts.

>> The factory actively reviews major warranty issues, with link from each dealer to Munich. They have a significant computer setup to make this possible.

>> The tech inspection of new member Stephen Thompson's 335i coupe consisted of checking tires, brakes, suspension bushings, axle shafts and for any oil or fluid leaks from the drive train. They did the inspection gratis, and also ran through the Porsche Club list which is 5 pages (BMW's is two).

>> And finally we were reminded to take our cars and really drive them when the situation permits. They are designed and built to be driven hard, and can actually suffer from too much chugging around town.

>> Pictures of the tech seminar from Frank Cowan's blog (if you look through the archives you can find pix from last year's MS car show): http://ccbmwdrivers.blogspot.com/

One more thing - how many would be interested in getting together for breakfast roughly once a month? The 356 group meets at Scottie's in Pismo Beach on the 3rd Saturday of the month, pretty central for our group. We could have our own table on the same day since there's nobody else in the place at 9:00 when they open. Let me know..........

Cheers, Dennis