E46 325i Sport
Discussion
It was time to sell my E90 M3 and move on to something else. I still don't know what that car is, so I bought this in the mean time. I absolutely love E46's and wanted a cheap car to run around in. This one popped up and was in an actual colour rather than the boring silver or shades thereof that most seem to be, with a cloth interior and a straight six engine. I wanted a sport spec too because I prefer the wheels and sport seats. Enter the 325i Sport. I bought it completely unseen but trusted a friend to view it for me and drive it 200+ miles home as he happened to be a five minute walk from the car while working away for a few days.
I picked it up the same evening he drove it home and this is what I was greeted with:
Not too bad in first impressions. There's a bit of rot that was known about beforehand but hopefully it's not too serious. I'll have to find some repair panels and fire up the welder in due course. It desperately needed a really thorough clean inside and out, so I got on with that. Mechanically everything seems ok, if a little 'old' feeling. No doubt I'll go through the suspension and anything else that needs attention. It likes to give low oil and low coolant lights on the dash randomly while driving. Both levels are absolutely fine so I'll be ordering a new expansion tank and oil level sensor soon.
It's been through this car dealer in the past. Rather than use a sticker, they've spray painted their details on the inside of the rear screen. I had to use 2000 grit sandpaper carefully to remove it, but it's all gone now. Mid way though:
A quick wash and brush up made it look much more presentable:
It's going to need a lot of cosmetic work to make it really nice, but what do you expect for 20+ years of use? Almost all of the plastic exterior parts have lacquer peel so I'll have those sprayed at some point to tidy it up. Headlight lenses need replacing as usual, along with the rear inner lights.
The interior looked a lot better for some cleaning too:
Driver's seat is the worst bit. I'll need to find a replacement seat or someone who can stitch in some Alcantara and make the current seat look new again. The soft touch plastics are all scratched which is very normal. I'll have a think about what to do there.
I didn't clean the engine bay. It was surprisingly clean already. I can't even see any oil leaks. I'm sure there are some, because BMW, but on the face of it it's dry as a bone.
I scanned the car with DIS and INPA. I cleared some historic faults and then rescanned, which only left the oil level sensor reporting faulty. Interestingly the AC doesn't seem to work yet I have no fault codes for low gas pressure or broken compressor. Possibly the system pressure is just high enough not to trigger a fault but won't make cold air in the cabin? I'll have to have a look at that.
Assuming it stays reliable then I've got a big road trip planned for it in the summer. 400 miles covered in the first five days of ownership and not a hint of any issues, so my gut feeling is that it's a good one. I do love a BMW straight six...
I picked it up the same evening he drove it home and this is what I was greeted with:
Not too bad in first impressions. There's a bit of rot that was known about beforehand but hopefully it's not too serious. I'll have to find some repair panels and fire up the welder in due course. It desperately needed a really thorough clean inside and out, so I got on with that. Mechanically everything seems ok, if a little 'old' feeling. No doubt I'll go through the suspension and anything else that needs attention. It likes to give low oil and low coolant lights on the dash randomly while driving. Both levels are absolutely fine so I'll be ordering a new expansion tank and oil level sensor soon.
It's been through this car dealer in the past. Rather than use a sticker, they've spray painted their details on the inside of the rear screen. I had to use 2000 grit sandpaper carefully to remove it, but it's all gone now. Mid way though:
A quick wash and brush up made it look much more presentable:
It's going to need a lot of cosmetic work to make it really nice, but what do you expect for 20+ years of use? Almost all of the plastic exterior parts have lacquer peel so I'll have those sprayed at some point to tidy it up. Headlight lenses need replacing as usual, along with the rear inner lights.
The interior looked a lot better for some cleaning too:
Driver's seat is the worst bit. I'll need to find a replacement seat or someone who can stitch in some Alcantara and make the current seat look new again. The soft touch plastics are all scratched which is very normal. I'll have a think about what to do there.
I didn't clean the engine bay. It was surprisingly clean already. I can't even see any oil leaks. I'm sure there are some, because BMW, but on the face of it it's dry as a bone.
I scanned the car with DIS and INPA. I cleared some historic faults and then rescanned, which only left the oil level sensor reporting faulty. Interestingly the AC doesn't seem to work yet I have no fault codes for low gas pressure or broken compressor. Possibly the system pressure is just high enough not to trigger a fault but won't make cold air in the cabin? I'll have to have a look at that.
Assuming it stays reliable then I've got a big road trip planned for it in the summer. 400 miles covered in the first five days of ownership and not a hint of any issues, so my gut feeling is that it's a good one. I do love a BMW straight six...
Mr Tidy said:
That looks great. 
There is something so right about a manual E46 325 Sport in Imola Red - I still miss my E46 325ti. Soon after I bought it my nephew decided he wanted one too so I found him a black one, but then in 2016 he became a dad for the first time and it wasn't much good for child seats. So it got replaced by an Imola Red 325i Sport Touring.
The Sport seats are just so much better, although both of ours had full leather.
Cheers! My number one preference on colour was blue, but red will certainly do. It does mean that I own two bright red cars now. See my thread on the Audi A4 Avant. I wouldn't have minded a Touring but it felt like overkill as I've already got the Audi. This saloon came up and it was the kind of thing I was after so I went for it. Talking of child seats, we found that the Small One has more room in the back of the 325 compared to the Audi with the front seats in their usual positions for us both. I wonder if I can persuade LadyGPM in to an E46 Touring in the future... Agreed on the sports seats. I deliberately didn't want leather this time around. I reckon cloth seats are more comfortable overall. One of my E46 M3's had the rare half leather/alcantara interior and I absolutely loved it.There is something so right about a manual E46 325 Sport in Imola Red - I still miss my E46 325ti. Soon after I bought it my nephew decided he wanted one too so I found him a black one, but then in 2016 he became a dad for the first time and it wasn't much good for child seats. So it got replaced by an Imola Red 325i Sport Touring.
The Sport seats are just so much better, although both of ours had full leather.
Court_S said:
Aside from the hole, it looks smart enough. It’s a great colour too and as you say, it’s not silver, grey or black.
As Dan said, I’d be tempted to strip the soft touch plastics off.
I think the 2.5 is a great engine having had a 325ti - I always thought that it sounded sweeter than the 3.0.
Have you sold the M3?
Thanks! It's a bit rough around the edges at the moment but it's in 'cheap old car' territory for most people. I'll go through it as I usually do and it will be better in time! The M3 has gone to its new owner now sadly, but it was definitely time to move on for me. I'm probably more excited about this sheddy motor than I was about the M3 for some reason. The engine feels a bit flat at the moment if you ask me. It's either in need of DISA valve and Vanos work or I'm just not used to half the power of the M3 yet. Might be both!As Dan said, I’d be tempted to strip the soft touch plastics off.
I think the 2.5 is a great engine having had a 325ti - I always thought that it sounded sweeter than the 3.0.
Have you sold the M3?
Paul S4 said:
Nice buy there. That is a model I was not aware of, looks a good spec from the photos.
I have a 2002 E46 318iS SE, which was low mileage ( 69,000) when I bought it a couple of years ago. On the original build sheet it had a cloth interior, but a previous owner swapped it out for a "sport' spec black leather one, which I prefer anyway.
Mine had the standard soft touch black interior trim.....with the infamous sticky issue. I replaced all the trim pieces ( ie door tops, fascia trims, centre console) with the Carbon Cube like yours...which looks so much better !
After I had done that, I decided to bite the bullet as they say and removed all the centre dash trim ( from the air vents down to the gear console, as well as the arm rest/handbrake surround etc.
I too had seen all of Stretton's E46 Youtube videos, and at the time I could not find any of the Goo Gone (?) stuff that he used, .... so I tried all sorts of solvents .
I cannot remember which one worked 'best', but in the end I opted for sanding all the sticky stuff off, and then used some acrylic satin black spray paint.
It all took a lot of effort, but it is well worth it IMO : not only does it look so much better, it actually feels nice ....!!
Your car looks pretty good..an Imola Red E46 is quite rare ( up here in the North East anyway !) so after you repair that rear arch ( I have had mine done as well !) it will look great
Cheers! I'll have a re-watch of Sreten's stuff on E46's and I'll most likely do what you've done with the plastics. I'm not sure if my car came with the carbon cube trim originally or not, I'll have to do a VIN decode on it and see what's original and what's not. I have a 2002 E46 318iS SE, which was low mileage ( 69,000) when I bought it a couple of years ago. On the original build sheet it had a cloth interior, but a previous owner swapped it out for a "sport' spec black leather one, which I prefer anyway.
Mine had the standard soft touch black interior trim.....with the infamous sticky issue. I replaced all the trim pieces ( ie door tops, fascia trims, centre console) with the Carbon Cube like yours...which looks so much better !
After I had done that, I decided to bite the bullet as they say and removed all the centre dash trim ( from the air vents down to the gear console, as well as the arm rest/handbrake surround etc.
I too had seen all of Stretton's E46 Youtube videos, and at the time I could not find any of the Goo Gone (?) stuff that he used, .... so I tried all sorts of solvents .
I cannot remember which one worked 'best', but in the end I opted for sanding all the sticky stuff off, and then used some acrylic satin black spray paint.
It all took a lot of effort, but it is well worth it IMO : not only does it look so much better, it actually feels nice ....!!
Your car looks pretty good..an Imola Red E46 is quite rare ( up here in the North East anyway !) so after you repair that rear arch ( I have had mine done as well !) it will look great
I'm going to build a list of parts for the car today and go through it all in a priority order. First up will be getting the engine tip top for sure. I've only got a couple of months to have as much as I can ready for the planned road trip in July.
TotalControl said:
Brings back memories of my 01 325i in boring silver I had some 6 years ago now. Great car. Got the rust sorted on the rear arches and then sold up to buy an IS200 for some reason.
Yours looks in much better condition for the year.
Thanks! I'm looking forward to sorting the rust out too. I dread to think what I'll find when I remove the side skirt Yours looks in much better condition for the year.
BTW - Anyone know where I can get ISTA from? I saw someone using it the other day and it looks a lot more modern than DIS. Might be worth trying that out instead going forward.
Pablo16v said:
Good luck getting all the jobs done. Will follow with interest as I had a '53 plate 325i M Sport Touring back in 2009/10 which my wife and I realy liked.
I've just been making the list of everything I want to sort out. It's looking like a few hundred pounds already just on giving the engine bay and brake hydraulics a really good going over!E90_M3Ross said:
The question is where do you draw the line? If you really wanted to you could easily spend over £4-5k on it I reckon, depending how rusty it is underneath.
I guess I'll see how I feel about it as I go. If it turns in to a long term vehicle there's no problem spending a bit on it. If it's only a 6-12 month deal then I'll probably stop after the above service items.Ianbe46m3 said:
E46 sport 4 doors look great, sorry if I missed it but guessing it's Imola red, was it a standard colour or an Individual? Really like the cloth/Alcantara interior.
These sound so good compared to e46 M3s , none of that tinny, raspy sound!
Have you checked the underside/rear subframe yet?
Yep I'm pretty sure its Imola Red. It's not an Individual spec AFAIK. Agreed on the cloth seats too. I've got to get that driver's seat repaired and make it look pretty, its really comfy!These sound so good compared to e46 M3s , none of that tinny, raspy sound!
Have you checked the underside/rear subframe yet?
I noticed just how quiet this is compared to either the E46 or E90 M3's I've had. I really like the sound of the E46 M3, but 325's also sound great with a sportier exhaust.
Not been underneath yet. Fingers crossed it's not too bad!
Thanks Ross!
I've just done a VIN decode on my car. The seats should be black Montana leather sports! That would explain why the wiring under the seats has been messed with as I discovered when cleaning it out. I prefer the cloth/alcantara anyway, and I've just found a website that sells the perfectly matching material to repair my driver's seat. I don't think it'll be too difficult to have it looking like new now
I've just done a VIN decode on my car. The seats should be black Montana leather sports! That would explain why the wiring under the seats has been messed with as I discovered when cleaning it out. I prefer the cloth/alcantara anyway, and I've just found a website that sells the perfectly matching material to repair my driver's seat. I don't think it'll be too difficult to have it looking like new now
Ianbe46m3 said:
Not sure where you are, but saw recently someone had the seat bolster in their Clio redone, looked great, may even be on here, I will try to find it.
Edit -
Here it is, looks good as new
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I wonder if one a 4 door you can use the covers from a passenger seat as they don't have the tilt handle, as would be easier to find a good condition one.
Thanks, I'm not a million miles away from Brands Hatch so that's useful to know. I think finding a second hand seat with perfect material will be nigh on impossible. I've ordered a sample from the place I found online that I believe to be a perfect match, so we'll see when it turns up!Edit -
Here it is, looks good as new
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I wonder if one a 4 door you can use the covers from a passenger seat as they don't have the tilt handle, as would be easier to find a good condition one.
Fabric sample appeared in the post. It's a perfect match as far as I can tell. Really happy with that. I'm formulating a plan involving stripping the seat myself and employing my mother's upholstery skills. That does potentially mean a 1400 mile round trip though, so it might not happen for a little while yet.
In other news, £600 worth of parts are somewhere between Europe and my house. It's going to have one hell of a service soon!
In other news, £600 worth of parts are somewhere between Europe and my house. It's going to have one hell of a service soon!
It's just an accumulation of all of the standard servicing parts, plus a Vanos rebuild kit and associated gaskets, plus a new DISA valve, rear brake pads etc. It soon adds up to give the engine and brakes a decent refresh! However, once I've been through it this time it should only need basic servicing for several years afterwards, with the exception of a couple of things I've not touched yet.
I ran a Vanos test to see whether I'd need to rebuild it or not. The intake side was looking good:
The exhaust side failed though. I wasn't expecting the intake side to pass either!
I did some other investigating too. Here's the DISA valve. I was expecting the flap to have fallen off so was surprised to see it intact. It looks like the diaphragm has broken on this one as it doesn't seem to hold the flap in position so that's why I need another one.
I also fixed the broken passenger electric window switch. Slightly annoyingly for my inner BMW geek the new switch feels slightly different to use to the original switch, and the driver's side switch that I've not needed to change. I took them apart to find out why:
The design is totally different. I couldn't use bits of the new switch to fix the original so I've put the new one on the car. If I want to be really geeky then I'll have to find a replacement switch with exactly the same part number as my original!
I'm looking forwards to all my service bits arriving and getting stuck in. While the car's in the air I'll make a list of anything required on the suspension. If I want it all 100% then that might not be cheap either! Everything's 'ok' in the usual 'old second hand car' sort of way, but we all know that might not be good enough for an enthusiast. Time will tell
I ran a Vanos test to see whether I'd need to rebuild it or not. The intake side was looking good:
The exhaust side failed though. I wasn't expecting the intake side to pass either!
I did some other investigating too. Here's the DISA valve. I was expecting the flap to have fallen off so was surprised to see it intact. It looks like the diaphragm has broken on this one as it doesn't seem to hold the flap in position so that's why I need another one.
I also fixed the broken passenger electric window switch. Slightly annoyingly for my inner BMW geek the new switch feels slightly different to use to the original switch, and the driver's side switch that I've not needed to change. I took them apart to find out why:
The design is totally different. I couldn't use bits of the new switch to fix the original so I've put the new one on the car. If I want to be really geeky then I'll have to find a replacement switch with exactly the same part number as my original!
I'm looking forwards to all my service bits arriving and getting stuck in. While the car's in the air I'll make a list of anything required on the suspension. If I want it all 100% then that might not be cheap either! Everything's 'ok' in the usual 'old second hand car' sort of way, but we all know that might not be good enough for an enthusiast. Time will tell
Court_S said:
And so it starts! 
It’s a slippery slope isn’t it? The only good thing is that E46 parts do seem a bit cheaper than the later cars.
It’s a slippery slope isn’t it? The only good thing is that E46 parts do seem a bit cheaper than the later cars.
Well, the car was cheap and it costs buttons to run compared to the M3. I want it reliable and driving nicely so why not spend a bit of money on it!And so it begins! I had a bit of time to get started on making this car 100% again. Here's a work bench full of bits to go on:
I started with the basics; oil change, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter, and a new DISA valve as it's about a five minute job to change it over. Here's a pic during the spark plug change. It was nice to find the correct spec NGK plugs were already fitted. They'd only been in there a few years but I didn't know they were decent quality at the time of doing the parts order so they've been changed anyway:
As you can see, they weren't in bad condition at all:
I ran through the jobs in a priority order that I'd made up. I'd run out of 'priority' parts in stock for the engine service so moved on to the rear brake pads. One caliper had been replaced where it had been sticking at some point, and the pads were quite low on that side. They were reasonably worn on the opposite side too, and pads are cheap so they may as well be replaced now. This was the most worn side:
Next up was the brake hoses. They looked original to the car and the rubber was hard and cracked in places, plus the brake feel wasn't especially good and the fluid was a black/brown colour. Who knows when it was last changed...
Amazingly, the rear hoses just needed a squirt of WD40 and they undid with no drama at all. From the state of them I was expecting a fight:
New ATE hoses being fitted:
Then, disaster struck! The locking wheel nut key mangled itself as I was undoing the other rear wheel:
Luckily I have some impact spline sockets and one of them was the perfect size to be hammered in. The nut came off a treat, so I undid the two front wheels' locking nuts too and binned them. I need to go to a local motor factors once the bank holiday weekend is over and buy four standard wheel nuts.
With that sorted, I got on with the job at hand and replaced the other rear hose. This one came apart with zero difficulty too. Here's the new hose in place:
Moving on the to the front hoses, I was hoping these wouldn't put up a fight either, but I was wrong. Both were stuck fast and I was going to chew the fitting if I wasn't careful. I broke out the blow torch and heated up the connection but I was slightly too successful because the hose exploded! Should've opened the bleed nipple before heating but hadn't thought about it. I'm just glad it let go when my face wasn't still in the wheel arch. A second trip to hospital in one day seemed excessive.
You can see the end of the hose still in place here. Once it cooled slightly and the smoke cleared the hard line undid easily!
The aftermath:
All back together with the shiny new hose:
I also bled the clutch and removed the delay valve as the feel was awful beforehand. The car test drove much better, but I still don't like the clutch feel. There is a single mass flywheel conversion by Valeo so I may investigate that at some point. Brakes are more positive but still not fantastic. I probably need some new calipers on the front and the remaining original one at the rear was significantly harder to rewind that the refurbished one, so I think I'll replace that too.
I've got the VANOS to rebuild next, then it'll be time to remove the inlet manifold and replace the CCV and have a general poke about to make sure all vac and coolant hoses/pipes are good.
Anyone had trouble getting an accurate oil level reading from the dipstick? Mine seems a bit all over the place. It reads half way between max and min when cold, yet I know I've added exactly 6.5l which is the stated capacity with an oil filter change. When checking the oil as per the manual (warm engine, switch off, wait 5 mins, check level) it was reading minimum. I don't think topping up with a litre is a good idea...
I started with the basics; oil change, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter, and a new DISA valve as it's about a five minute job to change it over. Here's a pic during the spark plug change. It was nice to find the correct spec NGK plugs were already fitted. They'd only been in there a few years but I didn't know they were decent quality at the time of doing the parts order so they've been changed anyway:
As you can see, they weren't in bad condition at all:
I ran through the jobs in a priority order that I'd made up. I'd run out of 'priority' parts in stock for the engine service so moved on to the rear brake pads. One caliper had been replaced where it had been sticking at some point, and the pads were quite low on that side. They were reasonably worn on the opposite side too, and pads are cheap so they may as well be replaced now. This was the most worn side:
Next up was the brake hoses. They looked original to the car and the rubber was hard and cracked in places, plus the brake feel wasn't especially good and the fluid was a black/brown colour. Who knows when it was last changed...
Amazingly, the rear hoses just needed a squirt of WD40 and they undid with no drama at all. From the state of them I was expecting a fight:
New ATE hoses being fitted:
Then, disaster struck! The locking wheel nut key mangled itself as I was undoing the other rear wheel:
Luckily I have some impact spline sockets and one of them was the perfect size to be hammered in. The nut came off a treat, so I undid the two front wheels' locking nuts too and binned them. I need to go to a local motor factors once the bank holiday weekend is over and buy four standard wheel nuts.
With that sorted, I got on with the job at hand and replaced the other rear hose. This one came apart with zero difficulty too. Here's the new hose in place:
Moving on the to the front hoses, I was hoping these wouldn't put up a fight either, but I was wrong. Both were stuck fast and I was going to chew the fitting if I wasn't careful. I broke out the blow torch and heated up the connection but I was slightly too successful because the hose exploded! Should've opened the bleed nipple before heating but hadn't thought about it. I'm just glad it let go when my face wasn't still in the wheel arch. A second trip to hospital in one day seemed excessive.
You can see the end of the hose still in place here. Once it cooled slightly and the smoke cleared the hard line undid easily!
The aftermath:
All back together with the shiny new hose:
I also bled the clutch and removed the delay valve as the feel was awful beforehand. The car test drove much better, but I still don't like the clutch feel. There is a single mass flywheel conversion by Valeo so I may investigate that at some point. Brakes are more positive but still not fantastic. I probably need some new calipers on the front and the remaining original one at the rear was significantly harder to rewind that the refurbished one, so I think I'll replace that too.
I've got the VANOS to rebuild next, then it'll be time to remove the inlet manifold and replace the CCV and have a general poke about to make sure all vac and coolant hoses/pipes are good.
Anyone had trouble getting an accurate oil level reading from the dipstick? Mine seems a bit all over the place. It reads half way between max and min when cold, yet I know I've added exactly 6.5l which is the stated capacity with an oil filter change. When checking the oil as per the manual (warm engine, switch off, wait 5 mins, check level) it was reading minimum. I don't think topping up with a litre is a good idea...
Cheers, I'm just trying to get it nice to drive and catch up with servicing requirements at the moment. I'm trying not to go too nuts on suspension etc. The front end feels loose to me. Even though there are new Febi control arms and rear bushes on the front end, the rear bushes seem to be too soft. I might have to do something about that!
I had some time today to get the Vanos rebuild done. It's pretty straightforward to do, with the most awkward part being the cam cover bolt in the back corner of the engine bay!
I got the cam cover off which revealed a pleasant surprise. The engine is really clean inside! It seems to have had regular oil changes and good quality oil by the look of it:
The Vanos unit comes off pretty quickly from here. A few nuts and some electrical connectors disconnected left it looking like this:
Here's the unit on the workbench:
Exploded diagram:
I took the piston internals apart and replaced the anti-rattle rings and needle bearings. When testing the pistons on the car you could rock them around which you shouldn't be able to do. With the new rings on, this play was eliminated:
Once the unit was built back up again with new piston seals and gaskets where required, it just bolted back on. I used a new cam cover gasket and silicone sealant in the correct places so make sure I don't have any leaks. One thing I did notice is that oil is coming through the exhaust cam position sensor, so I'll need a new one of those before long.
The test drive showed a night-and-day difference in response and torque. It's so much better now than before the rebuild. Hardly a surprise given that the pistons were almost loose in the cylinders of the Vanos unit, but it's really perked up the engine. Apparenttly it gets better after some mileage too, as the seals wear in. Very happy with that!
I got the cam cover off which revealed a pleasant surprise. The engine is really clean inside! It seems to have had regular oil changes and good quality oil by the look of it:
The Vanos unit comes off pretty quickly from here. A few nuts and some electrical connectors disconnected left it looking like this:
Here's the unit on the workbench:
Exploded diagram:
I took the piston internals apart and replaced the anti-rattle rings and needle bearings. When testing the pistons on the car you could rock them around which you shouldn't be able to do. With the new rings on, this play was eliminated:
Once the unit was built back up again with new piston seals and gaskets where required, it just bolted back on. I used a new cam cover gasket and silicone sealant in the correct places so make sure I don't have any leaks. One thing I did notice is that oil is coming through the exhaust cam position sensor, so I'll need a new one of those before long.
The test drive showed a night-and-day difference in response and torque. It's so much better now than before the rebuild. Hardly a surprise given that the pistons were almost loose in the cylinders of the Vanos unit, but it's really perked up the engine. Apparenttly it gets better after some mileage too, as the seals wear in. Very happy with that!
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