Is it worth it?

[Man E460 330i]

Hi there
I recently (1 year ago) bought a used E46 330i, 2003 Manual.

Car has been giving me issues ever since, already spent over R20K on it and still not in driving condition.

is it worth spending more money restoring the car? or should I just burn it?

If anyone knows a reliable place I can consult in the Northern suburbs of cape town, please let me know.

Your comments would be highly appreciated.

 

[ZaynM]

What issues are you having with the car?

 

[Nobz330i]

Hi

If you really love the car, you may proceed to restore it, if you see a loss sell it or something like that.

 

[Man E460 330i]

What issues are you having with the car?

Right now, Engine is overheating.
Mech just did a head Gasket job.
Aux fan & aircon also not working

 

[Tinuva]

What issues are you having with the car?

Right now, Engine is overheating.
Mech just did a head Gasket job.
Aux fan & aircon also not working

How much of the cooling system have you replaced?

If the engine is overheating, one or probably more components in the cooling system have failed. The parts in the E46 cooling system is guaranteed to fail, and can be a disaster for the 6-cyl engines.

Sounds like car 1st need a full cooling system overhaul (if the head and gasket and all still good, thats not needed again).
I would worry last about the aircon, unless the belts are an issue, that would also affect other systems like the power steering ect.

Even on my 318 where the cooling system is not as important as on the 6-cyl engines, I still keep the cooling system refreshed.

ps. Don't drive the car until the cooling system is fixed, even if you end up selling it, it will just cause the next owner pain.

 

[AdiS]

+1 on the cooling system. I speculate the reason that the head gasket went in the first place was due to an overheat. So that needs to be fixed immediately.

As to whether or not you should keep the car or scrap it.. that is entirely up to you. We can only give advice based on the information you give us.

Things to consider would be
-current mileage
-current condition of the car
-how much you actually like the car
-service history and hence the scope of work it might still require going forward


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[Peter@AEW]

What issues are you having with the car?

Right now, Engine is overheating.
Mech just did a head Gasket job.
Aux fan & aircon also not working

It is not uncommon for the block to warp when the engine overheats.
A head job will not fix a warped block....also an overheated aluminium block will invariably show signs on the pistons and you will likely have straight gauge marks on the bore and depending on the severity of the overheating event collapsed pistons which can be determined by an engine compression and leak down test now that it is closed.

It sounds like an engine swap. Good luck

 

[Man E460 330i]

What issues are you having with the car?

Right now, Engine is overheating.
Mech just did a head Gasket job.
Aux fan & aircon also not working

It is not uncommon for the block to warp when the engine overheats.
A head job will not fix a warped block....also an overheated aluminium block will invariably show signs on the pistons and you will likely have straight gauge marks on the bore and depending on the severity of the overheating event collapsed pistons which can be determined by an engine compression and leak down test now that it is closed.

It sounds like an engine swap. Good luck

Thank you, I'll get a different Mechanic to have at the car.
Will just prepare for the bad new.

 

[Lizzard]

OP, I had 2 of the 330i's and they are awesome cars. You have a gem there and the cooling part I can explain why it is still overheating cause it happened to me.

So when your car tells you it is low on water you dont just simply throw water into the car's radiator and go, it will overheat. You need to do a bleeding process and maybe this is what you didnt do, the car will overheat in less than 2km if this isnt done properly.

Try the bleeding process and see if it works for you.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=689618

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[Zound]

As Peter said, first evaluate the head gasket condition. This is done by performing a compression test on all the cylinders.

We had my grandmother's E39 523i sent in to have the associated repairs after an overheat event blew the head gasket. This was done by a so called "reputable" mechanic.

To cut a long story short, he did a poor job. It basically came down to cost saving by using helicoils instead of timeserts in the block. 2 weeks later after the repair, the threads had pulled and all compression was lost.

My father and I then redid the job, taking our time and doing it right. Needless to say, we used timeserts.

Once you've confirmed the cylinders have acceptable compression, you can proceed to diagnose and rectify the cooling system.

 

[Schalk94]

I would rather just dump the car. My e46 320d started having a lot of trouble and when it was eventually fixed ,I just sold it. The problem is I would never have trusted that car ever again after all the crap that I went through with it. I would not carry on driving a car for a few months or even years after it gave me so much trouble,the possibility for it to go "bang" and cost a lot of money wouldn't leave the back of my mind.
Just my 2c.

 

[tman]

I would rather just dump the car. My e46 320d started having a lot of trouble and when it was eventually fixed ,I just sold it. The problem is I would never have trusted that car ever again after all the crap that I went through with it. I would not carry on driving a car for a few months or even years after it gave me so much trouble,the possibility for it to go "bang" and cost a lot of money wouldn't leave the back of my mind.
Just my 2c.

Schalk gives some good advice here, ask yourself this question,

Even if you manage to sort out (what you presume to be) all the issues. Would you trust the cars reliability on a trip from JHB to CT with your family in the car?

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[Man E460 330i]

OP, I had 2 of the 330i's and they are awesome cars. You have a gem there and the cooling part I can explain why it is still overheating cause it happened to me.

So when your car tells you it is low on water you dont just simply throw water into the car's radiator and go, it will overheat. You need to do a bleeding process and maybe this is what you didnt do, the car will overheat in less than 2km if this isnt done properly.

Try the bleeding process and see if it works for you.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=689618

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thank you, Getting Mechanic to do the test then I'll decide from there.