E46 DIY Thread

zaleonardz

Well-known member
K forum was being dodgy last night....

Right, had her 2 days.
Done so far
4 tyres (1100 each for the Yokohama 255/45/18 I think)

2 discs and pads front
2 discs and pads rear
Rebond handbrake lining
Sensors all round
2 New complete control arms from GoldWagen including rear subframe bush
New brake fluid
Dont know the details, but this whole job was R5400 which is fscking dirt cheap....

So, aparrently the N42 motor in my E46 was not the most reliable that ever lived. No matter, she still sounds super super smooth, just that annoying 1000 to 2000 rpm thing.

For today
So, we start out with a basic service.
Got everything out already, about the hit the spares shop,
going to change out coil packs (maybe just one if they are very expensive so that I have test equipment)
Doing plugs
Oil Filter
Air filter is filthy (and well hidden, OMW)
Fuel Filter

Does anybody have that stupid 86mm oil filter housing cap... I went and baught a 36mm socket just for you BMW, and now you throw some other contraption out at me. NOT COOL....

Also, does anybody have a spare MAF that they want to get rid of for the N42

The Liqui Moly site specifies a few differant oils for this car...
5w30 seeing though its starting to become winter ?

OH ya, and rear window regulator

 

P1000

///Member
I'd go for 5w40, seeing as we don't live in Europe... So our winter = european summer, also the car has done some miles...
 

StK

New member
P1000 said:
I'd go for 5w40, seeing as we don't live in Europe... So our winter = european summer, also the car has done some miles...

5w40 is the recommended oil for this engined car in the UK...I reckon you'd be alright with 10w40 there,you want to be sure though with the N42 cause the wreong oil and you'll get the annoying N42 rattle

@ P1000-its not that bad here...we got to an amazing 21C here yesterday :banghead:
 

P1000

///Member
zaleonardz said:
2 discs and pads front
2 discs and pads rear
Rebond handbrake lining
Sensors all round
2 New complete control arms from GoldWagen including rear subframe bush
New brake fluid
Dont know the details, but this whole job was R5400 which is fscking dirt cheap....


I agree, that sounds dirt cheap, rear subframe bush is a mission. (that does not sound entirely DIY, though :mmm:)
 

zaleonardz

Well-known member
P1000,

I dont have a pressure bleeder, so I always let CBF do my brake work, and while he has it on the lift.

The arms were R1100 each from goldwagen, I went and got them myself.

The discs are aftermarket, and I am not sure what pad david used, he had to go back to goldwagen for the subframe mount...

Whole job 5400.. I have however did spend a small fortune with David this month, M5 discs and pads, as well as bucket loads of cash on my pontiac master and booster rebuild, so he coined it properly this month from me, not to mention the other 2 company cars that I had done, so i guess he did me a fav...

Anyway, its been a busy day, just in to check Nm on the sump plug quickly, which incidently is 25Nm which is the same as a 530d sump plug, just a bit of useless information.

Today I did
Rear window reg (Autofever R850)
4x coils - Imported from Bemows thats to Uber, R350 each
1xexpansion tank R650 from bemows thanks to Uber, will put this in tomorrow or next week
Liqui Moly 5w30 (agent specs, i checked) R390
Liqui Moly engine flush R50

OEM Oil Filter
OEM air filter
OEM plugs
OEM fuel filter
OEM Coolant
All of this was like 2k, with the plugs being 700, and the fuel filter being 900

So far going good, k back to work :)
 

zaleonardz

Well-known member
finsihed, car starts and runs, drives better... but annoyingly flatspot is still there.

The oil came out clean(ish) so i guess its had a recent filter change, so I dont think its sludge.

Now it could be cam or crank sensor, Vanos seals, or the Valvetronic....

These are a bit over my head, time to go to the pro's, as everything I replaced today I considered maintanance items anyway, so did not mind spending the money. To drop more cash now will just be stupid :)

Werner, you feel like lunch tomorrow :thumbsup:

Actually, I need to uplug the MAF and see if I have the same issue.

Does anybody have a spare MAF I can lend to test...
 

zaleonardz

Well-known member
Car is fixed.

So nice friendly run up to WerriesM5, diagnosis, car dead 1,000 to 2000 rpm with no low end grunt, only gets life after 3,500.

Fiddled with a couple of things, and then by stroke of genius (and what must be a lot of experiance) Werries did a resistance test on the VVT motor, and found that there is a resistance value between ground and the connections of the VVT motors, which indicates that the windings went poof.

Motor swapped, on a sunday, and now this thing is fantastic (for a 1900)

DUde, I am in awe of your BMW knowledge, thank you again, you saved my life.

Here is a pic of the motor in question, by the way, note how clean my engine is.

IMG00058-20110410-1610.jpg


I am actually not even going to bother with the second oil flush I was going to do, just time 10,000 from now, and continue a regular service interval.

So now all she needs is 4 shocks, then that car is... immaculate :thumbsup:
 

Sankekur

///Member
Yup that engine is very clean, I am glad you got everything sorted. Just a question, when you say immaculate, do you mean immaculate, or do you mean autotrader/gumtree immaculate :)
 

zaleonardz

Well-known member
I mean my immaculate, or in fscking supurb condition for a 9 year old car,

I want to just redo the interior trim pieces (actually only need to do two) and a small little nick on the front fender...

I'll bring the car on sunday so you can see what I am on about. Yehp, you heard it, LZ the torque addict likes driving a 318 :thumbsup:
 

Sankekur

///Member
lol, but its a really good thing to be driving the 318i, as it makes the M5 just so much more awesome, and you won't get so used to the amount of power at your disposal.


I just love reading some ads, "Apart from front crash damage the car is immaculate", "320, no engine, roadworthy"
 

Philip Foglar

///Member
Any further updates? How is she running?

Noticed one of the headlamp bulbs on my Wife's 320i stopped working last night - will replace both tomorrow. Still have lots of things that I want to do, maybe an engine flush - I suspect there is slight sludge build-up. So once sorted will just ensure more frequent oil changes. Also have to find what is causing a noticeable "thud" sound from the rear on some gear changes - all bushes appeared fine, unless the mech missed something...
 
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