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Re: After Market Cruise Control, dino vs. synth oil

Brent Smith wrote:

> I'd like to put cruise on my 318 5-speed. I called the local BMW
> dealership and they said $630 for parts, plus 3 hours labor. Once I
> picked my chin off the floor, I started looking around. I called a local
> install shop and they said they couldn't do it, then I found the old
> J.C. Whitney Co. and they have several types eletronic/vacuum to choose
> from. Anyone out there put cruise on their BMW as an afterthought? I'd
> welcome your thoughts. My past experience with J.C. Whitney has been
> buyer beware. I'd like to spend around $200 - $250 if possible or am I
> dreaming?

Brent,

You're not dreaming, at least I wasn't 10 years ago.

Back in '86 I installed a $50 cruise control (from Kragen Auto) in my '81
320i just before a long road trip. Except for the cheap throttle
connection hardware (which I ended up repairing with epoxy that lasted
forever), the cruise control worked great.  The controls would allow you
to "bump" the cruising speed up or down about 1 mph by simply touching
either the accel or decel button. It connected electrically to power, the
brake switch and the coil, as well as the mechanical connection to the
throttle. The coil connection was to monitor engine(not road) speed and to
detect sudden engine acceleration (like pushing in the clutch w/o shutting 
ff the cruise). Installation was relatively simple (after all, I did it
myself), and it worked for the next three years I owned the car.

Alas, I don't remember the maker of the unit, but I'd bet that someone
makes such a thing today. I'd stay away from J.C. Witless if there's a Pep
Boys/Chief/Kragen/etc. store near you.

If your car is near-new or you are concerned with "BMW authentic" parts
and accessories, get the BMW unit from a discount house and save 20% off
stealer prices.

Hope this helps.

On the dino vs. synthetic oil debate going on, after reading about the
BMW that went 1 million miles on Mobil 1 (changed at BMW intervals) and
Mobil premium gas, I did some quick math and came up with the following:

Let's say the oil got changed every 10,000 miles (by the SI lights). That
is 100 oil changes (1,000,000 / 10,000). Every oil change with Mobil 1
costs $18 more than with dino oil (6 quarts times $3 more for synthetic).
So that's a grand total of $18 times 100 = $1800. See my point? Over a
million miles, it cost only $1800 more to use synthetic. That works out
to $0.0018 more per mile, or less than 1 cent for every 5 miles. Anyone
going to get hit in the pocket much by that?

Even for those who must change oil every 3,000 miles, its still less than
1 cent more per mile! For the miniscule increase in operating expense,
why risk your BMW's engine to anything less than the best? 

Now we can start a thread on more important things like which synthetic
oil, or which wax is best (oh I forgot, that one has been done too).

Evan
'87 325