Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,883
Club RR Member Number: 39
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I know very little about BMW's never owed one - I have driven the lads M2 and that's a nice thing to drive - quite quick as well it must be said. Closest I got was my Alfa Giulia 2000 Berlina which many people asked if it was an old BMW - even the tool who ran into the back of it! The big end thing may explain the YouTube I found when looking up what an E46 M3 was - it was discussing the efficiency of the con-rod operated combined crankcase ventilation and sump drainage system or something like that  First mod - cup holders ....... Go give yourself a stern talking to. |
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That 8000+ RPM 6 pot sounds like it should be a bit of a hoot to go rev limiter searching on. I have no doubt that if I had that redline looking at me it would have to be bounced off very time I took it out. Eight thousand is quite an entertaining place to go I must admit but I haven't been there too often just yet. I don't know if you are aware but these, and some other M-engines, are prone to big end bearing problems and the consensus seems to be that they should be regarded as a service item with a life of 70-100K miles. Mine is heading towards that so I have been getting financial palpitations whenever I bury the throttle. I'm have no doubt that I once I have banged some new shells in there I will be visiting it more frequently. I just had my bearings done at 117k. And they were looking a little worn. £1200 to do them. But you get new engine mounts, sump gasket, and oil and filter change too Vanos, and boot floor problems are the other issues, but maybe just panic at one at a time though lol.  |
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2022 3:48:53 GMT by pauly22
1994 BMW 525i touring
2004 BMW Z4 sorn and broken
1977 Ford Escort
1982 Ford Capri getting restored
1999 Mazda B2500 daily driver.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,309
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Indeed!
The truth is, every car has its issues. But at least the M3 has fixes that are established, as do other marques. What problems?
Porsche 944
-Sill rot and subframe mount rot with patchy parts supply. Porsche make the parts in batches now. Last I heard, wings were around £700 each at least.
-Rotten fuel lines ; this can be made worse to change if the subframe bolts are seized in place
-Ruined bores ; it's not common, but it happens often enough. My S2 had this issue
Merc W124
-Wiring Harness issues ; Around £600 to buy, probably more now, since the looms come from the EU.
-Subframe mounting rot issues
-Estates can be pricey to weld in the rear
-Getting good fitting wings is hard now. Mercedes no longer make wings anymore for these. So your choices are a pattern wing which will not fit as well, and rot out faster than a genuine item. getting a secondhand genuine wing, which now obviously go for more money than they did before in good condition, or finding a fabricator to repair your wings well if they are saveable.
MGs
-Rot
-Engine issues on 1500s (big ends)
-Prices of some parts. MGB wings are now over the £600 mark each!
-Carbs ; Most SUs I've worked on had spindle wear to the point where spindles alone won't resolve it ; they need reaming out and rebushing. That's pricey, as it's basically you putting your faith into Burlen.
But I digress.
Out of the big 3 (big end bearings, VANOS, and the RACP), I'd say two of the three you can monitor.
1) RACP (aka Boot floor) cracking. You'd have to drive on it for ages for it to be unsaveable. Someone like ourselves can check the floor for cracks with some ramps and tray disassembly
2) VANOS. Solenoid packs failing are the most common along with the valve block gumming up. These tend to throw up a code, and bar buying new seals and a refurbed solenoid pack, a home mechanic can easily do these. The tabs can break on the oil pump disc, yes, but this can be checked at each Inspection when the valve clearances are done.
The Big ends are something I'd do on any E46 M3, where the use (i.e thrashed from cold), maintenance, and age can play a par.
Mine were similar to Paul's at 138k. Only one of mine was beginning to show copper. In my car, that's the 3rd set of bearings the engine has seen, as mine had a set replaced under a recall back in 2004, so the bearings had most likely around 118k on them.
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2022 23:01:10 GMT by ChasR
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
Member is Online
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Jan 10, 2022 22:04:28 GMT
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I'm not really enjoying the cold weather very much, despite having an extensive collection of long johns at my disposal. This Sunday despite being a bit fresh the sun was out and it was dry so I thought I should get my large stash of fire wood cut up to help me to survive until spring. This was the first time that I had used the table saw since chopping my fingers up last year so I was bricking it the whole time. As a reward I promised myself that I could go for a spin in the M3 once I had finished, as long as the weather stayed good. Four hours cutting and stacking wood and I still had all my limbs attached so I'm calling that a win. Washed and changed into my favorite driving long johns I jumped into the heavily bolstered nappa leather driver's seat which has been perfectly adjusted to suit me. I sat there for a moment thinking, 'I can't believe how lucky I am to have an M3' Poised for action, I inserted the key and depressed the clutch pedal... The pedal flopped to the floor like a diarrhetic cowpat. So much for my plan to get a working car. Anyway, here is a view I might have seen had my top quality German automobile not failed to proceed.  |
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Jan 10, 2022 22:14:57 GMT
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Like a diarrhetic cowpat….. ooh err…. That not how you want your clutch pedal…… is there a puddle of fluid under it?
Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend)
1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing)
1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,951
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Jan 10, 2022 22:19:16 GMT
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Should have stuck to oil tanks. P.  |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Jan 10, 2022 22:25:04 GMT
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Like a diarrhetic cowpat….. ooh err…. That not how you want your clutch pedal…… is there a puddle of fluid under it? Nick There is no puddle inside the car, I haven't looked underneath but the fluid in ther reservoir is down to just above 'MIN' so I'm suspecting the slave cylinder |
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Jan 10, 2022 22:45:29 GMT
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Sounds like a sound first theory to me.
A reasonably easy fix hopefully….
Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend)
1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing)
1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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ooooh - I got all excited about an update on an oil tank but......  |
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Three random pages between #1 and 40something scanned; bookmarked for a decade of catching up as and when. I have to know what happened to the 911. No spoilers please.  |
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Three random pages between #1 and 40something scanned; bookmarked for a decade of catching up as and when. I have to know what happened to the 911. No spoilers please. Ha! There’s a 911 ? Forgot about that Hope clutch is an easy fix James |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Jan 11, 2022 21:54:06 GMT
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Three random pages between #1 and 40something scanned; bookmarked for a decade of catching up as and when. I have to know what happened to the 911. No spoilers please.  Ha! There’s a 911 ? Forgot about that Hope clutch is an easy fix James I like 911s, I should probably crack on and build one... one day... |
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Pushing my own projects, and trying to catch up on years of other fascinating missed RR threads, it's taken me 12 days to reach the halfway point where the oil tank seems to fit in a satisfactory manner. I thought that I was OCD about hidden work, but now realise that I am a mere bodger by comparison with your goodself. Aside from the superb quality of work, it's great to find others taking flawed manufactured compromises, and making them into what they could, indeed should (imo), have been when they left the factory.
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I know how you feel about fingers and saws. My mate tried to give me a manicure with a hatchet a while back and now I'm a bit cautious around the things. Luckily everything grew back more or less as normal and I've only lost a very minor amount of sensation. I have a fear of table saws after I cleverly got my hand pulled over the top of one as a younger man doing the wrong thing. I was very lucky to end up with a nick out of my thumb and a bloody bruise in the shape of the strip of timber that tried to impale itself in my stomach. Perhaps you need to build an oil tank for the clutch so it doesn't lose its fluid? Glad you've got a bit of mojo back, one way or the other. |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Feb 11, 2022 22:09:15 GMT
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What's happening, dudes? I have to say that my previously chopped up finger does not like the cold weather, it really hurts, especially when one is under a car in the middle of winter trying to bolt something together. The clutch not working problem was fluid leaking from where the hose connects to the rigid pipe coming out of the bulkhead. It doesn't have a proper screwed together connection, it's a push fit into a plastic thing and is held in with a metal clip. I could have got away with just replacing the O ring, probably, but I had already ordered a new hose and slave cylinder before I'd even looked at it because they weren't a fortune and I wanted to fix it without having to wait for bits.  The old slave doesn't look too bad so I have saved it for emergencies.  Whilst I was under there I drained the gearbox. There is a sticker on there which tells you not to change the oil because it is 'lifetime oil'. Personally, I don't really think it is a good idea to not change it at some point, it can't hurt. The gearchange was really horrible and obstructive, I mean really bad, so I did some research into gear oils. What I discovered was that a version of the E36 M3, which had the same Getrag six speed box, was specified with auto transmission fluid. They changed the spec later on because it caused gear chatter in neutral. What I decided to do was to go half and half auto/manual fluid. The result? Well, there is no gear chatter. The gearchange? Absolutely transformed, it is so much better the difference is amazing. There I was, thinking what a clever boy I am, then someone posted an eBay link for this on a FB M3 page.  Looks like I'm not the first person to think of this after all. I just used normal good quality oil though, not that expensive stuff. Whilst we are on the subject of gear changing, someone told me that my gear knob should light up but it doesn't. A quick look soon showed why.  The strings had snapped off flush with the plug. What I wanted was some new pins for the plug then I could just crimp them on and re-pin the plug, easy peasy. The problem was, I couldn't find the part number for the pins. I ordered some off eBay which looked right but they didn't fit. In desperation, I asked on the above mentioned FB page if anyone knew the part number. The reply I got was, 'just cut off the plug, twist the wires together and tape them up'. So that's what I.... Of course I didn't, what an absolutely chavvy bodge job that would be. A pal of mine is building an E46 M3 track car which is having a race shifter, so he cut me the plug out of his donor car.  I soldered it in and heat shrink sleeved it.  Wrapped the wires in Tesa tape to try to protect them a bit.  And yay!  My knob glows in the dark! I don't know how I lived without it... |
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Feb 11, 2022 22:20:33 GMT
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The light up gearknobs are brilliant
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1994 BMW 525i touring
2004 BMW Z4 sorn and broken
1977 Ford Escort
1982 Ford Capri getting restored
1999 Mazda B2500 daily driver.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
Member is Online
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Feb 11, 2022 22:37:29 GMT
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The light up gearknobs are brilliant I know, I don't know how all the plebs with ordinary knobs cope!  |
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Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,883
Club RR Member Number: 39
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Feb 11, 2022 22:47:48 GMT
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Phew - good job you got that fixed - imagine the carnage of going into 4th at 150 instead of 6th because the knob light had gone out. Oh hold on - a dim knob in an M3 may explain the self ventilating blocks......  |
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ndg
Part of things
Posts: 109
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Feb 14, 2022 13:48:41 GMT
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Whilst we are on the subject of gear changing, someone told me that my gear knob should light up but it doesn't. A quick look soon showed why. The strings had snapped off flush with the plug. What I wanted was some new pins for the plug then I could just crimp them on and re-pin the plug, easy peasy. The problem was, I couldn't find the part number for the pins. I ordered some off eBay which looked right but they didn't fit. In desperation, I asked on the above mentioned FB page if anyone knew the part number. The reply I got was, 'just cut off the plug, twist the wires together and tape them up'. So that's what I.... Of course I didn't, what an absolutely chavvy bodge job that would be. For future reference I'm pretty sure these connectors are micro quadlock: RS OnlineCheers |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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For future reference I'm pretty sure these connectors are micro quadlock: RS OnlineCheers Thanks for that. Well, whilst I had my electrical stuff out I thought I would fit an internal boot release switch. I know, it's all thrilling stuff! I got a used switch off eBay with its plug and the snipped off wires still in there, and some of yer man's recommended pins.  I found a very thorough instruction on some forum on how to wire it in. They used BMW repair leads with the pins already crimped on, but as these are made with black insulated cable that obviously wouldn't do for someone as picky as me. I got the correct coloured wire and made my own leads.  In the afore mentioned guide it said you should find the wire you want to splice into, strip back some of the insulation then wrap your new bit around it and tape it up. This seems to be a common theme with BMW owners... I decided not to do it that way because I'm not too fussed about having electrical smoke pouring from under the dash. I used these.  The eagle eyed amongst you might have noticed that I had slid a piece of black heat shrink on that brown wire. I didn't notice it until I had crimped it up, which was very annoying because I had some brown stuff that I was going to use. It doesn't really matter because it got wrapped in Tesa tape and you can't see it anyway. There are only three wires to fit, one splices into the dash illumination circuit to light up the switch, one goes to earth and the other goes all the way behind the dash and plugs into a control module behind the glove box. That is the grey wire with the white trace, here.  To be honest, it was a right faff about to do and took far longer than I anticipated but I now have one of these.  Which I'll probably never use... I do find wiring so very tedious, so I was quite annoyed when my inflatable seat bolsters stopped working and I was pretty sure it would be a broken wire in the seat. Now, I really need the seat bolsters to work to grip my torso because I am likely to waste away to the size of a stick insect because my favorite cafe, JJ's has closed down.  That motley crew are, from left to right, The lovely Doctor, my eldest daughter Tasmin, my youngest daughter Esther, some handsome devil who likes tea and then the others are my mate Keith and his two grandkids. Anyway, the seat... Removing the panel at the side with the switches on it was like a challenge from the Krypton Factor, it has one screw then it is clipped on at five points which are very well hidden. It took me about half an hour to get it off because I didn't want to rive at it and snap them all off. The seat back panel has to come off which reveals a bag with a pump and some valve things in it. Once you have got to that you can unplug the wires and feed them through to see what is going on.  Several snapped wires was what was going on but it was a straightforward repair.  When it came to reassembly you have to stretch the seat cover back around then hook it onto the back of the frame. The back of the frame is pressed steel with holes in it, the edges of which are razor sharp. You notice this when your hand slips whilst trying to hook the seat cover back on...  Luckily, the trim is leather so all the claret wiped off easily. My seats now grip me like a pair of Mole grips. Something slightly less dangerous was fitting a set of replica original dealer number plates.  This is in the rear window, they are now defunct as they have been bought out. Google managed to provide me with a picture of one of their plates so I got some made up.  I had to use dental floss to cut the old ones off and that sticky stuff that they use was horrible to remove.  They are on now, so I can just enjoy driving it for a bit. Well, I could if all the petrol stations near me had any super unleaded in stock... |
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