That was a long day to only manage 218mi total, 7hrs & 44m with the engine running, several of which were sat on the M11 both ways 🙃 I’ve now personally done 4271 of the 4499mi this particular V300d has on the odometer since 4th Jan this year 😃

What would you rather do? 🤔 1. Self Employed, guaranteed a minimum monthly income/retainer that covers what you need from one particular client but have the potential to earn 30-50% of that figure on top every month via them and other clients alike. BUT you have to deal with your own Tax/NI affairs out of that money earned and responsible for your own accounts. or 2. Employed, Full Time working for a Company doing something completely different. Earn the guaranteed figure from above plus 25% AFTER Tax & NI is taken every month but have no time for a side hustle or really additional earnings. Set hours, home for Dinner every night with the family but you are no longer your own boss….

Got caught up in a certain Ukrainian 🇺🇦 Presidential Visit today and the outrageous security and Police presence that demands ✈️ It was all very professional and I’m not complaining but I’ve been security checked, had my personal details taken, the V-Class has been inspected (and wowed over by several Police officers 😆), there was no word of lie 50 Police Officers Air-Side including 5 sharpshooters/spotters I counted up high and Police in every building around that I could see. Most of them scanning every door, wall and cupboard in sight I guess for suspicious devices. The thing is, I was there to drop my client off who couldn’t have his Jet come to him due to all of this going on (I know, I’ll get the tiny Violin out 🎻), all extra hours I’m paid and was quite exciting, especially as at one point I was 50 or so feet away from the 🇺🇦 Aircraft itself. Strangely I wasn’t allowed to hang around and see him turn up and then take off 🤔😆 but that all happened around 4pm apparently. I get to do some unexpectedly cool stuff in my job, this was definitely one of those things!

Stansted, Cambridge and Central London in the V-Class this week coming so it was due a good valet. Also the new Tracker is being set off by the Auxiliary battery being low, which is due to lack of use and the iPad in the rear needed a ginormous update to control the multitude of things, of which relies on the auxiliary battery to charge it 🙃📱 Thought I’d clean the X5 whilst I was at it (It was shamefully dirty) I’ve found a lower mileage, nicer and better spec X5 I want so needed to get some photos to help sell it hopefully 🤷‍♂️

Remembered I had a fairly new 95Ah 850Cca AGM Battery in the garage and one of you guys had reached out recently to say how insane E65/66’s will get with the slightest of battery issues. Did a diagnostic check prior to changing the battery and tested the Alternator which thankfully is all good. Old battery out, new battery in and Diagnostic back on. Went into register the new battery and from what I can tell the old battery was never registered to the car so potentially could have caused various issues 🤷‍♂️ Need to use it tomorrow so I guess we’ll see if the various codes disappear with a drive🤞

The weather has been a bit rough in East Anglia this week but you’d think he’d have his Land Rover cleaned before going out in public, look at the state of it 😳

263 miles done in the 3.0 Petrol E66 this evening. Every time I do a big journey in it I fall a little bit more in love but the amount of issues building up is a little overwhelming to be honest to the point I just keep wanting out 😖 Did fix a big one today though, have been banging my head against the wall wondering why my Comfort Access (Keyless) won’t work despite me replacing the antenna and it fixing everything else related that wasn’t working. No fault codes on the doors or anything either - then had a brainwave. What if I can get into the Comfort Access module with my Diagnostics and it just needs resetting? Only bloody worked! So thats one thing ticked off the list for no extra cost 👍

I really want to own one of these and see what they are like 🤔

Comments off……….what a surprise 😂

Bitter sweet day with the E66. Soldered the new Steering Angle Sensors on which is genuinely the first thing I’ve soldered since 2006 so please no judgement 😂 Then began to put it altogether and the thing that took the longest? The bloody plastic trim around the steering wheel, just would not click in properly but my Wife’s calmer and feminine touch assisted in that being sorted 🙋🏻‍♀️ Once it was all back on and I switched the car on and……….the light was still on and the ‘Drive carefully’ message still coming up too. Kingbolen plugged in, low and behold it’s a different fault that wasn’t there before 🤦‍♂️ Upside being all of the effort hasn’t gone to waste as the brush contact/SZL fault has completely disappeared and the car now knows that the steering wheel is being turned, only being 1.01% out which I’ll take. It’s now saying there is a Dynamic Stability Control fault which is switching between a Rotation Rate Sensor fault and just not being able to communicate with the DSC itself 🤷‍♂️ I took it for a drive down the road, hoping the wheels actually turning might reset it but unfortunately not the case. Strangely though my indicators are now auto cancelling and I think my Adaptive Cruise is working too which is obviously great news. Guess it wouldn’t be an old BMW if I wasn’t constantly chasing faults 😅

I’m sure for a BMW Tech this job would of taken about 30 minutes but it’s taken me more or less all day 😆 I’d say this car has had its steering wheel replaced or something similar at some point as there were signs of previous intrusion but worst of all the 15mm bolt holding the steering wheel on was tightened WAY above the 55nm it should have been. Took stage two of an industrial impact gun to loosen it 😳 Definitely think I’ve found the issue though (see pic.4) and for once means my Diagnostic machine found the fault down to a tee. Both Steering angle sensor brushes are tired but one in particular is totally done for, upside though is there’s no prior soldering meaning they are original or the SZL was put on brand new at some point. Now just to work out how to replace them and put it all back together 😬

Another ‘small’ job done on the 7 series. Rear left passenger door upper trim had a big gauge out of it that was quite sharp (I was worried someone would cut their hand on it) and the front passenger side door bottom light was physically broken too. Looking at these pieces being sold by breakers/individuals it was going to cost me circa £50 to get them both used. Found a place on eBay that had a whole E66 rear left door trim for sale at £29.99. Got the VIN from the registration given, checked the spec to confirm it would match my car first then eBay gave me a 15% off code so got it around £25 with both parts I needed plus spares including delivery 🤷‍♂️ Safe to say it wasn’t as easy I thought and there was some blasphemous language at times, these cars so are so heavily over engineered and the 25° heat today didn’t help either but it’s sorted and back together now 👍 Hopefully going to attack the Steering Angle Sensor Brushes tomorrow which is a Steering Wheel/Airbag off job with soldering involved 😬

Suggestions?

Wife is insisting it’s her or the SL350 has to go. Both: great condition, weekend use only, maintained regardless of cost, garaged. No advisories. 43k (car). Offers for either / both

It’s my youngest’s 2nd Birthday today 🥳 so naturally we are having a party. Just turns out it’s going to be the hottest day of the year so far at 32° 🥵 Forgot just how much I hate mowing the grass or anything gardening related though 😑🏡

A year ago today we lost my best mate and a huge part of our family unexpectedly. I picked Archie up at 8 weeks old on 1st November 2013 and we unexpectedly lost him to ‘Twisted Gut’ around 2am on 24th May 2025 at 11, nearly 12 years old. By the time the Vet came out it was too late but she said 9/10 larger Dogs do not survive once that happens. His breed was ‘Alaskan Shepherd’ with his Dad being a Pedigree Alaskan Malamute and his Mum a Pedigree Long Haired German Shepherd. He was a big boy, at one point he weighed in at 48kg but was always healthy and happy. In all of those years we only had one unexpected trip to the Vets when he tried to jump up to get a Pigeon and ended up pulling a muscle in his rear right leg when he landed. Other than that he had yearly check ups, vaccinations and I still have his ‘Service History’ book fully stamped up to put it in car terms. Beautiful Dog, beautiful temperament and some wonderful memories 🐶🥺

Obligatory Snow Foam Pic. Out for a Wedding in the V-Class today so thought I’d get up and beat the heat to clean it…….18°c at 7.30am 😵‍💫🫠

Right people. One of Chumps Pups (bitch) needs a home. 10 weeks old, house trained and ready to go. Will make excellent pet or working dog. 75% Springer. 25% Cocker. Take her or she’s off down the Wye.

Been out and about in the E66 730Li today and had my first issue that didn’t technically come with the car………on the hottest day of the year so far of course 🥵 The A/C has started deciding when and where it wants to blow cold which wasn’t ideal when it hit 29°c at one point today. I have a code for the AUC sensor but I’m seeing contrasting views as to what this actually does. Some people saying it measures air quality and temps then tells your car how cold/warm the A/C needs to be and some are just saying it’s purely for air quality/smells etc 🤷‍♂️