BMWLand

on Monday morning i left the east coast of Scotland and crossed the border at around midnight with around five hours of driving ahead of me and i must say it was an absolute pleasure to drive at that time of night

the driving standards are so much better at night and the motorways were so quiet it was a brilliant run, i wasnt speeding and had cruise set at 70 and in the whole five hours i only had a handful of cars pass me and nobody was driving at break neck speeds, for my run back i went down the A1/M1 to the M62 and then across the moors towards Manchester, I did have a bit of an issue around Manchester as the M62 and the M602 were both shut for a night closure and i missed the diversion route and ended up going across the centre of Manchester but as it was 3.00am traffic was not an issue with my unplanned trip across the city

in contrast the run up to Scotland was completey different surrounded by complete idiots on very busy motorways, one example was a Golf GTI driving...

Well, my neighbour came and took the e91 off my hands. I'd originally planned to keep it a couple more years, mainly due to the time I'd invested in it, that I knew it inside out and also because aside from the odd hiccup it's been very reliable.

I've been everywhere in it, many jaunts to France, two German road trips and many domestic holidays. It's never failed to start and driving it you wouldn't think it was a 10 year old car on 200+k miles as @a.s.uk could probably testify. I've used it to haul bikes, trailers, kids, logs, pets and anything and everything. It was my daily driver for work too.

However I did fancy a change and feeling the time is right that's why I plumped for the F30.

Anyway, this is the last picture I'll have of it, (sat outside the new owner's house)

The EGR valve wasn't clogged like I thought, it's damaged! I don't know if it's clear here, but one side of the lip of the pipe entering the valve that the plunger fits into (the side facing the camera) has been corroded or worn away somehow. I guess it leaked exhaust gases into the intake even when closed.
The valve is held open here using a vacuum pump.