Discussion
GregorFuk said:
andyman_2006 said:
As Pidsy said, Head Gasket is an issue, had mine done a couple years ago at 82K miles.
Also look out for:
-Cracked rear springs (common just had 2 more last month!)
-Rear trailing arms bushes worn (Common)
-Milky lacquer on the alloys or them being totally shot! (Around £550 to refurbish correctly)
-Clutch slip - new one is around £600 fitted
-Check Discs (around £800 to replace all round)
-VANOS issues (£799 to put right) http://www.mrvanos.com/
-Rust on the front wings and rear tailgate
-Make sure its had running in service done around 1200 miles
-Make sure its had inspections 2 service done and generally regular services
-Interior mirror bleeding out (they are not cheap - unless you find a used one)
-Check it has decent tyres fitted as they are around £150-200 a corner especially rears.
I could go on...
Anyway finally good luck and happy hunting. Hope you find a good one.
Andy
All i was saying its another tick in a box not sure i'd personally buy one without. Agree far more important things to worry about like HG! It would make me wonder what else was missed if it hadn't been done given they were done early in the cars life,under warranty and at time when you'd have thought it would be serviced correctly.
Andy
Edited by andyman_2006 on Thursday 24th November 16:06
^^^^^^
For me the first service tells me that the original owner was at least concerned enough about his/her car to have the work carried out. Lack of first service, for me, indicates an original owner who didn't give a flyin fig.
Any way off to look at a car tomorrow, it's at 'bespokesportscars' on the south coast area. Car reads very well ticking my boxes, just hope it turns out a good'un.
For me the first service tells me that the original owner was at least concerned enough about his/her car to have the work carried out. Lack of first service, for me, indicates an original owner who didn't give a flyin fig.
Any way off to look at a car tomorrow, it's at 'bespokesportscars' on the south coast area. Car reads very well ticking my boxes, just hope it turns out a good'un.
crankedup said:
^^^^^^
For me the first service tells me that the original owner was at least concerned enough about his/her car to have the work carried out. Lack of first service, for me, indicates an original owner who didn't give a flyin fig.
Any way off to look at a car tomorrow, it's at 'bespokesportscars' on the south coast area. Car reads very well ticking my boxes, just hope it turns out a good'un.
For me the first service tells me that the original owner was at least concerned enough about his/her car to have the work carried out. Lack of first service, for me, indicates an original owner who didn't give a flyin fig.
Any way off to look at a car tomorrow, it's at 'bespokesportscars' on the south coast area. Car reads very well ticking my boxes, just hope it turns out a good'un.
I hope its a good one for you.
Any links to the advert/car?
Andy
.www.bespokesportscars.co.uk
A choice of sub 15k BMW and I hope they may have the one I seek.
The car I am looking at is shown on the top row right hand side, blue with grey interior.
A choice of sub 15k BMW and I hope they may have the one I seek.
The car I am looking at is shown on the top row right hand side, blue with grey interior.
Edited by crankedup on Friday 25th November 10:25
It's getting really tough now, seems so many inherent faults with the design of this car that I am starting to ask myself why is it that I am interested in buying this classic"
Hopefully the early design faults are resolved, but thank you for the heads up and I will definitely be looking very closely at the history.
Strangely my old Vauxhall (1928) and my Volvo (1968) seem unremakeably strong, robust and a good turn of speed for there era. This I was hoping to find in a e46.
Hopefully the early design faults are resolved, but thank you for the heads up and I will definitely be looking very closely at the history.
Strangely my old Vauxhall (1928) and my Volvo (1968) seem unremakeably strong, robust and a good turn of speed for there era. This I was hoping to find in a e46.
There is no reason why you can't find just that on the E46 as well. The majority of common E46 issues either can be fixed cheaply with DIY, or there's an aftermarket solution that's also cheap.
Look at the exhaust backbox flange brackets for example. BMW use bare metal ones that rust and break apart from corrosion. Going to BMW to get this replaced will cost several £hundred, because the OE brackets are attached to the centre exhaust piping, and it will re-rust again years down the line.
The aftermarket solution? stainless steel fabricated clamps that cost less than £30 for the full set.
Other items can be bought used, and are equally cheap. When my AC pump started leaking, I bought a refurbished one for under £50, been good as gold since. Door actuators are a common E46 failure item, £60 ish for a used one, and can be fitted in an afternoon on the driveway.
The community for these things is so huge, that whatever problem you have, someone has had before and found a solution almost all of the time. The only thing to be sure of is that you have a fairly local specialist indy garage that can do the inspection services properly really.
Look at the exhaust backbox flange brackets for example. BMW use bare metal ones that rust and break apart from corrosion. Going to BMW to get this replaced will cost several £hundred, because the OE brackets are attached to the centre exhaust piping, and it will re-rust again years down the line.
The aftermarket solution? stainless steel fabricated clamps that cost less than £30 for the full set.
Other items can be bought used, and are equally cheap. When my AC pump started leaking, I bought a refurbished one for under £50, been good as gold since. Door actuators are a common E46 failure item, £60 ish for a used one, and can be fitted in an afternoon on the driveway.
The community for these things is so huge, that whatever problem you have, someone has had before and found a solution almost all of the time. The only thing to be sure of is that you have a fairly local specialist indy garage that can do the inspection services properly really.
robbiekhan said:
There is no reason why you can't find just that on the E46 as well. The majority of common E46 issues either can be fixed cheaply with DIY, or there's an aftermarket solution that's also cheap.
Look at the exhaust backbox flange brackets for example. BMW use bare metal ones that rust and break apart from corrosion. Going to BMW to get this replaced will cost several £hundred, because the OE brackets are attached to the centre exhaust piping, and it will re-rust again years down the line.
The aftermarket solution? stainless steel fabricated clamps that cost less than £30 for the full set.
Other items can be bought used, and are equally cheap. When my AC pump started leaking, I bought a refurbished one for under £50, been good as gold since. Door actuators are a common E46 failure item, £60 ish for a used one, and can be fitted in an afternoon on the driveway.
The community for these things is so huge, that whatever problem you have, someone has had before and found a solution almost all of the time. The only thing to be sure of is that you have a fairly local specialist indy garage that can do the inspection services properly really.
100% agree with the above, I have fixed most of the niggles on mine simply and cost effectively.Look at the exhaust backbox flange brackets for example. BMW use bare metal ones that rust and break apart from corrosion. Going to BMW to get this replaced will cost several £hundred, because the OE brackets are attached to the centre exhaust piping, and it will re-rust again years down the line.
The aftermarket solution? stainless steel fabricated clamps that cost less than £30 for the full set.
Other items can be bought used, and are equally cheap. When my AC pump started leaking, I bought a refurbished one for under £50, been good as gold since. Door actuators are a common E46 failure item, £60 ish for a used one, and can be fitted in an afternoon on the driveway.
The community for these things is so huge, that whatever problem you have, someone has had before and found a solution almost all of the time. The only thing to be sure of is that you have a fairly local specialist indy garage that can do the inspection services properly really.
Admittedly the bigger jobs that would require specialist tools I leave to my local indy.
Mine had the running in service and strangely two bearing recalls in its History, which must have cost BMW back in the day !!!
robbiekhan said:
Look at the exhaust backbox flange brackets for example. BMW use bare metal ones that rust and break apart from corrosion. Going to BMW to get this replaced will cost several £hundred, because the OE brackets are attached to the centre exhaust piping, and it will re-rust again years down the line.
The aftermarket solution? stainless steel fabricated clamps that cost less than £30 for the full set.
Is it worth fitting these stainless steel items pre-emptively before the rusting causes a bigger problem?The aftermarket solution? stainless steel fabricated clamps that cost less than £30 for the full set.
crankedup said:
I have found a couple of cars which I intend to 'go see'. One of the dealers talks of the vanos pipes being replaced and the rear suspension areas inspected and crack free. The second dealer talks of only the usual sales talk.
I wouldn't take any dealers word for it, be interesting if they have documentary evidence of this work/inspection. Might be worth asking for a full breakdown of the history and documents before viewing the first dealers car. The one I viewed from the same place some time ago had 2 or 3 invoices and several missing stamps despite the "massive history and thick folder full of invoices" The only person I'd trust checking the rear floor for cracks is me, nearly every advert says "floor checked" and the amount that have been checked by a man with a white stick and a Labrador are unreal. I don't care if god himself has checked it I'd be under there checking myself.
Good luck with your search they are an awesome car.
Steve
Good luck with your search they are an awesome car.
Steve
Interesting thread.
Mine is a 2003 manual coupe, with 143000 on the clock now. It's completely standard and whilst it's had a few common niggles (cooling fan seized, leaking diff, exhaust clamps), it's never handed me any big bills in five years of ownership.
It's looked after by Autokraft in Earlswood and Noel reckons it's really good underneath, with no boot floor cracks (no reinforcement carried out), and as far as I'm aware, it's still on its original head gasket.
They aren't necessarily the money-pits they are sometimes made out to be (above faults cost a total of £700 to rectify).
Great cars, I love mine!
Mine is a 2003 manual coupe, with 143000 on the clock now. It's completely standard and whilst it's had a few common niggles (cooling fan seized, leaking diff, exhaust clamps), it's never handed me any big bills in five years of ownership.
It's looked after by Autokraft in Earlswood and Noel reckons it's really good underneath, with no boot floor cracks (no reinforcement carried out), and as far as I'm aware, it's still on its original head gasket.
They aren't necessarily the money-pits they are sometimes made out to be (above faults cost a total of £700 to rectify).
Great cars, I love mine!
I've had mine for 4 years as a daily. I have spent prob around 2k a year in maintenance.
It's a fantastic car, but I do think you have missed the boat on these cars. They are getting old and to be honest I am considering upgrading to an F80 M3 soon.
I paid 8k for mine, in Silver Grey with Imola Red leather and a manual. Probably the most desirable colour combo for this car.
The mileage has crept up to 95k now and it amazes me to think in the private market it's worth roughly 10k now.
Best car I have owned in terms of driving pleasure and all round experience. It's like an old school race car. They don't make em like they used to.
That reminds me. I need to sort my leaking diff out
It's a fantastic car, but I do think you have missed the boat on these cars. They are getting old and to be honest I am considering upgrading to an F80 M3 soon.
I paid 8k for mine, in Silver Grey with Imola Red leather and a manual. Probably the most desirable colour combo for this car.
The mileage has crept up to 95k now and it amazes me to think in the private market it's worth roughly 10k now.
Best car I have owned in terms of driving pleasure and all round experience. It's like an old school race car. They don't make em like they used to.
That reminds me. I need to sort my leaking diff out
HannsG said:
I've had mine for 4 years as a daily. I have spent prob around 2k a year in maintenance.
It's a fantastic car, but I do think you have missed the boat on these cars. They are getting old and to be honest I am considering upgrading to an F80 M3 soon.
I paid 8k for mine, in Silver Grey with Imola Red leather and a manual. Probably the most desirable colour combo for this car.
The mileage has crept up to 95k now and it amazes me to think in the private market it's worth roughly 10k now.
Best car I have owned in terms of driving pleasure and all round experience. It's like an old school race car. They don't make em like they used to.
That reminds me. I need to sort my leaking diff out
Go onto M3cutters. They reckon it's worth £7k It's a fantastic car, but I do think you have missed the boat on these cars. They are getting old and to be honest I am considering upgrading to an F80 M3 soon.
I paid 8k for mine, in Silver Grey with Imola Red leather and a manual. Probably the most desirable colour combo for this car.
The mileage has crept up to 95k now and it amazes me to think in the private market it's worth roughly 10k now.
Best car I have owned in terms of driving pleasure and all round experience. It's like an old school race car. They don't make em like they used to.
That reminds me. I need to sort my leaking diff out
Maybe I was horrendously unlucky but I couldn't find one in good condition for less £11k IMHO. That is with mileage out of the equation, just a straight car and that's not tired.
I'll write up about the cars I saw one of the days. Maybe I was unlucky. I did however see 5 cars.
For the OP I can provide a blog of what I have spent which while expensive looks cheap to some! I bought it on under 123,000 miles and it is now going towards 127,000 miles. Yup, I've driven it quite a bit since May compared to some people!
http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showServiceHist...
Edited by SebringMan on Monday 28th November 11:32
Edited by SebringMan on Monday 28th November 11:32
SebringMan said:
Go onto M3cutters. They reckon it's worth £7k
Maybe I was horrendously unlucky but I couldn't find one in good condition for less £11k IMHO. That is with mileage out of the equation, just a straight car and that's not tired.
I'll write up about the cars I saw one of the days. Maybe I was unlucky. I did however see 5 cars.
Now that I am "special-car-less" with the GT3 tucked away for Winter and the 928GTS 5-spd in a million bits undergoing a factory refresh, I thought a M3 Cab can be a nice stop gap car. Before you boo me, I have done the Coupe - my dad still drives my old LHD 1 owner car, which I bought nearly new in 2002. My brother has been kind enough to lend me two cabs over the years, and given that I will not be tracking it, I thought some wind in my hair would be nice.Maybe I was horrendously unlucky but I couldn't find one in good condition for less £11k IMHO. That is with mileage out of the equation, just a straight car and that's not tired.
I'll write up about the cars I saw one of the days. Maybe I was unlucky. I did however see 5 cars.
Anyway, I digress. I started looking at the lower end of the market - after all it was meant to be a stop gap car, not something that I wanted permanently in my collection. Well, anything below £8k is an absolute dog - have seen 4 cars and all have rusty arches, tyres not fit to be drifted out, let alone be driven on, shagged and doddgy carbon fiber interiors, dubious mileage histories once the MOT history and service history was consulted. All had the subframes checked - funny, how it is not the subframe, but the boot floor which actually tears apart, and had SMG pumps giving "nice, long primes"....
One of the cars was actually a diamond in the rough, but I just could not bring myself to pay the full asking considering the amount of time needed to bring it up to scratch. Hence, unless you are prepared to DIY a lot, there are hardly any bargains left...
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