E46 330 diesel

[Kobus328i]

Guys and Gals

I have some questions on the e46 330d facelist, the ones after 2002:
1. What are the common problems on the e36 330d ?
2. What is the average consumption o these, city driving and open road ?
3. What is the average maintenance costs of these ?

Thanx :wave:

 

[zaleonardz]

Kobus.

My research at the time told me, swirl flaps and gearbox issues.

 

[shadow worrior]

1> swirl flaps also heard the snails are not that good and vanos seals and the subframe
2> My one does 850 on a tank my obc says between 7.2 and 7.8l / 100km
3> In durbs at the stealers minor service from R1400 up to R2000 < one of them said thats just oil change :dropjaw:>
major from R4000 to R5500 these all EXCLUDE extras

 

[zaleonardz]

I can guess where this is going

Look for a manual one, or when you get it, change the gearbox oil at once, remove the swirls and find one with a service record,

Also pick up the turbo history

 

[netercol]

just out of interest sake, has anyone had trouble with the 330d manual boxes?

i can add that some tuners are of the opinion that replacing the downpipe with pre-cat directly after the turbo, with a straight through pipe, will result in greatly reduced turbo temps and a longer living turbo.
that and the infamous swirl flaps are considered worthwhile preventitive maintenance ..

i also agree stay away from the auto's ,they have a bad reputation. :mmm:

 

[msm]

Sold my E39 530d at 155k - original turbo was still fine, and car had no mechanical issues (apart from suspension bits) that I replaced. Gearbox was auto and still going strong when I sold it.

Cost of Inspection service on my X5 3.0d was around R3k at a BMW stealership (last year) - no additional work was done though. I take the car to TuneTech if something is wrong, but stick with the dealer for the service.

However, I did have 2 injectors cleaned so far on the X5. Never needed to do that on the 530d though.

BTW, look for the later 150KW engine, and not the 135KW ones. IIRC, this engine update was done a year or so after the facelift.

 

[Kobus328i]

Thanx guys. If I do go for one, it will be the manual. Stupid question. What are the swirl flaps ?

 

[zaleonardz]

It is a device that sits inside the intake manifold that kinda works like the old butterflies you found in carbs.

Their focus is to smooth out airflow in the intake and reduce air turbulance throughout the rev range, the flaps open and close in order to smooth out this flow driven by an actuator.

What happens is that sometime the flaps or a rivet that mounts it dislodges, and gets sucked through the motor and the turbo, meaning that the motor is a write off.

Flaps can simply be removed and replaced with a blanking plate, and there is a source in the UK that does make these plates

so basically, a swirlalectamy :wave:

 

[Kobus328i]

Thanx LZ :wave: