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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
The new daily - E46 330i Touring
- Thread starter Benji
- Start date
Benji
Well-known member
The touring was the recipient of a little love this weekend after a recent trip to Europe where I did a spot of light shopping for it.
A nominee for one of the most useless purchases, a spare wheel well carpet/trim - I stand to be corrected, but I dont think local cars came with these...? Anyway, I had to cut it in half to fit in my luggage, will glue it up and give it a clean one day if I remember it is there 👀 It does neaten off the unused area considerably.
Installed a clear 3rd brake light - was quite a faf to change...
Installed a fairly mint E39 M-sport steering wheel I scored for free from a scrapyard mission 😎 It is identical to E46, might have slightly less stuffing..?
The car responded positively to all this attention by not using a noticeable amount of oil since the last service about 1500km ago. I was normally topping up every 1000km. Fingers crossed the car has miraculously fixed itself as I have done nothing different except throw in a bottle of LiquiMoly hydraulic lifter additive which drastically reduced/fixed my lifter noises. I have mostly been doing shorter trips/city driving recently, so maybe the thicker (colder) oil has something to do with this...will keep an eye on it.
Anyway, I really must get around to replacing the speakers. This audio system has a similar sound experience to those cheap in-ear earphones they give you in long distance flights. What was BMW thinking??
A nominee for one of the most useless purchases, a spare wheel well carpet/trim - I stand to be corrected, but I dont think local cars came with these...? Anyway, I had to cut it in half to fit in my luggage, will glue it up and give it a clean one day if I remember it is there 👀 It does neaten off the unused area considerably.
Installed a clear 3rd brake light - was quite a faf to change...
Installed a fairly mint E39 M-sport steering wheel I scored for free from a scrapyard mission 😎 It is identical to E46, might have slightly less stuffing..?
The car responded positively to all this attention by not using a noticeable amount of oil since the last service about 1500km ago. I was normally topping up every 1000km. Fingers crossed the car has miraculously fixed itself as I have done nothing different except throw in a bottle of LiquiMoly hydraulic lifter additive which drastically reduced/fixed my lifter noises. I have mostly been doing shorter trips/city driving recently, so maybe the thicker (colder) oil has something to do with this...will keep an eye on it.
Anyway, I really must get around to replacing the speakers. This audio system has a similar sound experience to those cheap in-ear earphones they give you in long distance flights. What was BMW thinking??
Benji
Well-known member
The sound system and interior 2-tone project are finally complete. It took much longer and cost much more than was strictly necessary, but I am really happy with the outcome. I added sound deadening to the doors, boot lid and boot area. The car feels in a class above when it comes to refinement and that general feel of solidity.
I went for JBL GTO components running directly off the headunit and a Golf 7 Dynaudio sub running off an amp. The rear tweeters are mounted in the rear doors, running the OEM 8ohm speakers that came with the car instead of the JBL tweeters. This actually works really nicely to round out the staging.
With the interior quieter, there was a very distinct noise coming from the rear of the car, it almost sounded like a door was ajar. I treated all the window and door rubbers with Liqui Moly "Gummi pfelge" rubber treatment with disappointingly identical noise levels. The rubbers look and feel awesome now though 😎 Brave pill swallowed, the SO was begrudgingly enrolled for driving duties while I, armed with a quizzical face expression, rolled around the boot area like a beached walrus in search of The Noise. The culprit was duly identified as the rear air vents and decisively dealt with by isolating them with closed cell neoprene by creating a "pathway" for the air/sound to travel into the cabin. Serenity awaits.
Except not, as the once distant whistling from the drivers mirror had now taken center stage. It is a distinct whistle and only occurs around 60kph. I brought out the big guns for this one - electrical tape, and proceeded to wrap bits of mirror in the stuff until the whistle went away. It turned out to be the mirror stalk (the thin bit) which luckily is black and is now neatly wrapped in black tape until I have the inspiration or time to come up with a better solution. Serenity awaits...
Work in progress - I didnt take many pictures as most of the work was completed in the dark. Note "tweeter" on the door handle for testing purposes.
Version 1 of the 2-tone doorcards. I first decided on this as I have the black extended leather door handle and black nappa door insert which I wanted to keep. I did not like the look of this at all
Much better...I never liked the "black cube" fake carbon fibre, looks-like-plastic-but-isn't trim
Cheeky BMW Individual door sill trims. I feel the car can now pull it off...
I thought I would need to replace the grey door sills and B-pillar trims with black, but I actually quite like the way it looks and it contributes nicely to my 50 shades of grey interior.
In other news, I replaced the rear shocks (car still had OEM BMW shocks from 2007!) with Bilstein B4 and Meyle HD shock mounts which immediately started rattling! Stark reminder why I always use OE parts
The previous owner supplied the car with new Meyle HD rear shock mounts and engine mounts so I figured I may as well use them, how bad could it be? Pretty bad as it turns out. Does anyone want the engine mounts before I chuck them into their rightful home? I'll be replacing the engine mounts at some point with OE mounts since there is a vibration around 2000rpm.
I have come to the conclusion that the check valve in the oil filter housing is bad; The car has a loud lifter tick on startup and the oil pressure light takes 3 or 4 sec to switch off after startup. I'll import a replacement from Vanos-bmw. Also, the car has resumed its oil drinking habits 🤷♂️
Old BMWs hey, always something else needing attention
I went for JBL GTO components running directly off the headunit and a Golf 7 Dynaudio sub running off an amp. The rear tweeters are mounted in the rear doors, running the OEM 8ohm speakers that came with the car instead of the JBL tweeters. This actually works really nicely to round out the staging.
With the interior quieter, there was a very distinct noise coming from the rear of the car, it almost sounded like a door was ajar. I treated all the window and door rubbers with Liqui Moly "Gummi pfelge" rubber treatment with disappointingly identical noise levels. The rubbers look and feel awesome now though 😎 Brave pill swallowed, the SO was begrudgingly enrolled for driving duties while I, armed with a quizzical face expression, rolled around the boot area like a beached walrus in search of The Noise. The culprit was duly identified as the rear air vents and decisively dealt with by isolating them with closed cell neoprene by creating a "pathway" for the air/sound to travel into the cabin. Serenity awaits.
Except not, as the once distant whistling from the drivers mirror had now taken center stage. It is a distinct whistle and only occurs around 60kph. I brought out the big guns for this one - electrical tape, and proceeded to wrap bits of mirror in the stuff until the whistle went away. It turned out to be the mirror stalk (the thin bit) which luckily is black and is now neatly wrapped in black tape until I have the inspiration or time to come up with a better solution. Serenity awaits...
Work in progress - I didnt take many pictures as most of the work was completed in the dark. Note "tweeter" on the door handle for testing purposes.
Version 1 of the 2-tone doorcards. I first decided on this as I have the black extended leather door handle and black nappa door insert which I wanted to keep. I did not like the look of this at all
Much better...I never liked the "black cube" fake carbon fibre, looks-like-plastic-but-isn't trim
Cheeky BMW Individual door sill trims. I feel the car can now pull it off...
I thought I would need to replace the grey door sills and B-pillar trims with black, but I actually quite like the way it looks and it contributes nicely to my 50 shades of grey interior.
In other news, I replaced the rear shocks (car still had OEM BMW shocks from 2007!) with Bilstein B4 and Meyle HD shock mounts which immediately started rattling! Stark reminder why I always use OE parts
The previous owner supplied the car with new Meyle HD rear shock mounts and engine mounts so I figured I may as well use them, how bad could it be? Pretty bad as it turns out. Does anyone want the engine mounts before I chuck them into their rightful home? I'll be replacing the engine mounts at some point with OE mounts since there is a vibration around 2000rpm.I have come to the conclusion that the check valve in the oil filter housing is bad; The car has a loud lifter tick on startup and the oil pressure light takes 3 or 4 sec to switch off after startup. I'll import a replacement from Vanos-bmw. Also, the car has resumed its oil drinking habits 🤷♂️
Old BMWs hey, always something else needing attention
Having owned alot of 6 cylinder n/a beemers mostly with over 200k on them , i found half used a oil and half didnt. No smoking or leaking. Bmw tech said as long as its not excessive the motors are fine, its just different tolerances in the motor.
On the oil light , is it red or orange ? If its orange most of the time its the sensor on the sump thats faulty. I have had to replace them on all my e46's.
Car is really looking fantastic though.
On the oil light , is it red or orange ? If its orange most of the time its the sensor on the sump thats faulty. I have had to replace them on all my e46's.
Car is really looking fantastic though.
Benji
Well-known member
I very occasionally get a bit of smoke on startup, but otherwise no signs of oil burning. Im using about 1L every 1500 - 2000km.
I have the red light at startup for about 3 sec (accompanied by lifter tick), the orange light comes on a bit later for a few sec which is probably a sign of a bad oil level sensor...? Ive had the oil on the minimum line without any oil level warning, so I assume the sensor is bad, will replace it in due course.
Benji
Well-known member
Some pics of the sound "isolation" I did for the rear vents and rear lights with closed cell neoprene foam. This made a massive difference (more than sound deadening the doors) and it took all of 10min and added maybe 10g of weight. The foam over the lights is jammed in place and easily removable for maintenance. I made sure there is still a pathway for air to move through the vents, I have not noticed any difference in HVAC performance or changes in opening/closing doors. Pretty pleased with this.
Sabretooth tiger
///Member
I love the work you doing Benji. Inspirational stuff 👌
Benji
Well-known member
Random pics taken while picking up some parts at BMW Cedar, loaded up with 8 cases beer (should last a week or so 🥴) and E39 brake discs which easily weigh more than 2 cases beer 👀
There was some pretty severe rubbing on the rear wheels tho, need to investigate and rectify.
There was some pretty severe rubbing on the rear wheels tho, need to investigate and rectify.
Benji
Well-known member
Touring doing utilitarian things, it hardly noticed the trailer on the back, which to be fair, was not heavily loaded at all.
I bought this car on Black Friday last year, after one year of ownership, I am loving it more than ever! Still makes me look back at it every time I walk away
I bought this car on Black Friday last year, after one year of ownership, I am loving it more than ever! Still makes me look back at it every time I walk away
Benji
Well-known member
Oh no! The impossible has happened! An old BMW developed an oil leak, this time, imaginatively, from the diff. How shall we ever recover from this 🥴
The real question now is if I should interpret this as a sign that I should install an LSD? The one wheel peel makes it hard (but not impossible) to drift around the circle on my daily commute...
The real question now is if I should interpret this as a sign that I should install an LSD? The one wheel peel makes it hard (but not impossible) to drift around the circle on my daily commute...
Fordkoppie
///Member
I love this touring.
THe wheels, the 3.0L, the interior. So nice!!
THe wheels, the 3.0L, the interior. So nice!!
