Good preventative maintenance-advice needed

[Die_Miek]

car: 2003 e46 318 FL (N42)

had this car for 2years and it has 142 000 km on clock. bought it with 98000 km on clock and enjoyed 12000 km's of motorplan.
motorplan expired in dec 2009, since than serviced it once at Paarlberg BMW.

I have decided that i'm gonna keep my car, seeing i'm still satisfied with it, although it has some issues, they can be resolved. only issue I had was it looked like every other E46 FL, but that issue was resolved when i changed the mags.

what good preventative maintenace can i do to ensure many more trouble free km's?

things already changed:
-expansion tank 18 months ago
-shocks last week
-LCAB doing within the next 2 weeks, must just make time to remove arms so i can take it to polyparts

thanks in advance

 

[Pr0PheT]

Things that are usually changed at that mileage are power steering pump and water pump. You might have changed the water pump with the expansion tank. Also with the power steering you can wait until it starts whining but if you change the tierods and some of the bushings (like you said LCAB)if you do that the p/s pump may never start whining.

 

[Die_Miek]

thanks for the response.

the expansion tank was changed under MP, and they didn't change he waterpump. i havent had any overheating or waterleaks issues, so i gues the cooling system is still good.

my power steering pump buzzes Intermittently, most of the time its non existant and every other day i would hear it.

LCAB's, i ordered some MEYLE bushes from imcomex.

 

[XMAX]

When doing an oil service, Make sure to do a De-sludge. These engines have sludging issues which can cause things like the Valvetronic system to go faulty.


Do Wheel alignment.

Might be a good idea to do a power steering fluid flush. you could have some nasty kak in the system. if that doesnt sort the problem then you might have to look into replacing / reconditioning the power steering pump.

these cooling systems can be good now and pack up two minutes later. theyre pretty weak. the water pumps in these cars have plastic parts which dont last too long. its a good idea to change it before it dies on you. (it might never die, but I wouldnt take the chance).