The Mean Greenie - 330d

[Luigi_S]

After hunting around for a 3.0 E46, I picked up my new 'project' car today. Was initially keen on the 330i, but when this one came up I jumped.

She's a 2004 330d M Individual as per my sig in Malachite Green with Montana Light Beige interior. One owner with a decent service history, full BMW main dealer until the motorplan ran out.

Pictures to follow........................

Shes's not perfect, far from it, but I am sure I can get her back to her good old self. Problems encountered on the way home:

1. She struggles to start and can take a number of times to actually get going
2. No power at all and loads of black smoke when you try to floor it, I mean loads
3. It needs a new v-belt and tensioner for the aircon to work
4. She's all over the road on the motorway so I am assuming she will need some new lower control arms

Things to do apart from above:
1. Full major service.
2. EGR clean and eventual delete
3. Intake clean
4. Swirl flap removal
5. Intercooler clean
6. All boost pipes inspected, cleaned and replaced as necessary
7. A bloody good wash, inside, outside and underneath

Once I have all the mechanical bits sorted out, I will then concentrate on getting the bodywork sorted. I've also got a long list of mods I want to do on her, including the Xenon retrofit and possible interior colour change, but that's some way off.

Really excited about this one. I personally think the E46 is the best 3 series ever made, but of course I am biased. This being the second E46 I've owned.

 

[flintstone]

Good luck with project. Hope it all gets sorted easily

 

[MikeR]

 

[Solo Man]

When you do the swirl flaps and egr clean/delete, please also replace or remove the oil separator filter as a blocked/dirty/hard oil separator filter is a major cause of turbo failure!

 

[Luigi_S]

Here are the pics:

 

[cOlDFuSiOn]

Nice car, it looks very clean! :coolShake:

 

[Luigi_S]

This is what the engine looked like before cleaning it:







And After cleaning

 

[michael.joseph]

1 billion times better.

Well done man
:clapper:

 

[cOlDFuSiOn]

Well done think you have a winner here, all the best with fixing things up! Engine bay looks great. :coolShake:

 

[ClaudeR]

Very nice! I agree with you about e46s. 330d manaural sin this trim are really nice.

 

[CK4LIFE]

:clapper:

 

[shiven-zn]

raise:a fantastic brother. Wish u all the best. :coolShake:

Here are the pics:

 

[nirvash]

awesome colour!!!raise:
i love oxford green, especially on an e46, whats the mileage if i may ask?

finding an oxford green/orinoco, msport, manual, 330d = unicorn:clapper:
is that colour oxford green or orinoco?

let me know if you ever want to sell:rollsmile:

cant believe how dirty that engine bay was

---

:skit:

 

[zubz.parker10]

congrats bud . shes a real beauty!

dont forget to do a decat as well .

that engine bay looks way better

 

[Luigi_S]

Thank you all. The engine bay will be better once I get hold of it properly. This was just a quick wash down so that I can work on it without getting gunk everywhere.

Stripping will start tonight, there seems to be a massive intercooler joint leak so, all that will be coming out, new seals being put in, etc. Will be taking the turbo out, the exhaust and inlet manifolds too. Replacing all the vacuum tubing with new OEM, etc. etc.

awesome colour!!!raise:
i love oxford green, especially on an e46, whats the mileage if i may ask?

finding an oxford green/orinoco, msport, manual, 330d = unicorn:clapper:
is that colour oxford green or orinoco?

let me know if you ever want to sell:rollsmile:

cant believe how dirty that engine bay was

---

:skit:

---

In BMW speak, they call this colour Malachite Green which I think is darker than the Oxford Green. Think it will probably be rarer too. The car looks almost black in colour.

 

[Nobz330i]

Congrats she looks beautiful.

 

[Nikhil]

Car looks good! On a side note your turbo manifold is cracked

 

[Luigi_S]

Car looks good! On a side note your turbo manifold is cracked

Thank you and yes, I saw that today with the cover off and the bonnet up. Revved the engine and soot coming up from the turbo manifold area.

 

[Luigi_S]

Well she's up on axle stands on the front now, ready for the long haul.

As mentioned above started her up to get her nice and hot so I could drain the old oil and noticed that wen revved a lot of soot came up from the turbo manifold area.

Apart from that, this is what I found underneath, oil sprayed over everything:




Aircon belt tensioner and belt need replacing:


Front bumper has taken some knocks over the year. Problem with car being so low.


Will also need to replace the lower front control arm mounting bushes. The arms themselves have been replaced but there is a lot of movement in the bushes.

So, tomorrow bottom covers off, then time for removing the exhaust manifold and turbo. Will be sending the turbo in to Turbo Direct for checking to make sure all is good. Will also be removing the radiator as I will be replacing the coolant, and the intercooler and all boost pipes for thorough cleaning. I will be replacing all the boost pipe seals. This should hopefully sort the leaking out.

I will also be removing the intake manifold for cleaning and swirl flap delete. Missus will be off to the UK next Friday so will be doing some shopping for her to bring the parts back.

 

[FerdiBotha]

I would strongly advise against using Turbo Direct.

Long story short my previous 320d's turbo had to be repaired by another company after Turbo Direct still couldn't repair it after the 4th time. Needless to say the car is running perfectly after the turbo was repaired by competent people.