BMW 330 Clubsport
Discussion
+1
I think the current phrase is WTF.
My Cosworth has had the same poly bushes on it for about 18 years and they are still going strong.
I found the passenger window not quite shut this morning which I am hoping was my teenage son not closing it properly when he got out last night and not a knackered window regulator.
Seems to have stopped the alarm sounding, fingers crossed.
I think the current phrase is WTF.
My Cosworth has had the same poly bushes on it for about 18 years and they are still going strong.
I found the passenger window not quite shut this morning which I am hoping was my teenage son not closing it properly when he got out last night and not a knackered window regulator.
Seems to have stopped the alarm sounding, fingers crossed.
helix402 said:
The photo is from another thread on an M3 CSL used for track days.
That makes sense, if it's doing track work and being slammed on the kerbs there, no wonder it failed. Plus the one used there was the fast road variant, Powerflex have a 'Black series' which is designed for hard track use, so no wonder it failed.Ruskie said:
Fellow Clubsport owner here with same trim as you but in silver and with SSG. Mine has been faultless. Are the wheels corroded? Common weak spot.
They are a bit, they have been refurbished before at some point but the laquer is starting to go again. I cleaned and smothered them in Rimwax yesterday, unfortunately the brakes are amazingly effective but create a lot of dust.Have you got any pictures of yours.
It does and that's what I bought it for. It's my daily driver so it will spend most of it's time going up and down the M40.
Got home from work and had a fiddle with the bonnet sensor to the alarm as the interweb suggests this the most common cause.
Then took more skin off the back of my hands pulling the head unit out again. All looks ok with the wiring but I insulated any connections I could find. I replaced the fuse yet again and hey presto I had a working stereo. Sat in the drive for ages listening and messing about with the wiring to try and get it to blow again. Nothing, all correct. Everything put back together and a test drive down the worst road I could find (and I have plenty to choose from) again all good.
Then I had to go shopping. Managed 1/2 a mile before it died again
I also packed out the drivers door seal a little bit, that seems to have stopped the 60mph whistle.
Got home from work and had a fiddle with the bonnet sensor to the alarm as the interweb suggests this the most common cause.
Then took more skin off the back of my hands pulling the head unit out again. All looks ok with the wiring but I insulated any connections I could find. I replaced the fuse yet again and hey presto I had a working stereo. Sat in the drive for ages listening and messing about with the wiring to try and get it to blow again. Nothing, all correct. Everything put back together and a test drive down the worst road I could find (and I have plenty to choose from) again all good.
Then I had to go shopping. Managed 1/2 a mile before it died again
I also packed out the drivers door seal a little bit, that seems to have stopped the 60mph whistle.
Nice car (I've got an almost identical car myself so a little biased!). I had a quick scan through the comments and have a few things I don't think anyone else has mentioned about these cars:
1) Arches are prone to rust, rears go near where the rear bumper meets the quarter and fronts go just behind the lip due to the arch lining rubbing the paint away and exposing bare metal. Mine's '03 with 78k miles, rears were fine but both fronts were starting to corrode (wasn't visible unless you had the wheel off and looked inside the arch).
2) The subframe issue associated with m3's can happen to any of them. Unfortunately you're out of bmw's warranty now but I'd get it checked for peace of mind (mine was just starting to show hairline cracks but wasn't deemed enough for a full boot floor replacement - instead they resin inject it for more rigidity).
3) If the airbag light comes up on the dash it's probably a faulty seat sensor on the passenger side. Rather that living with the light or paying hundreds to replace the sensor (which will just go again) you can get a £10 chip off ebay to plug in under the seat, fooling the car into thinking that there's always someone sat in it. It means that your light will turn off, airbags will operate in the event of a crash and it's something you can fit in about 5 min. Downside is that if you crash the passenger bag will deploy but that's probably the least of your worries in that instance!
Enjoy the car, they're lovely to drive and in my eyes, serious value for money
1) Arches are prone to rust, rears go near where the rear bumper meets the quarter and fronts go just behind the lip due to the arch lining rubbing the paint away and exposing bare metal. Mine's '03 with 78k miles, rears were fine but both fronts were starting to corrode (wasn't visible unless you had the wheel off and looked inside the arch).
2) The subframe issue associated with m3's can happen to any of them. Unfortunately you're out of bmw's warranty now but I'd get it checked for peace of mind (mine was just starting to show hairline cracks but wasn't deemed enough for a full boot floor replacement - instead they resin inject it for more rigidity).
3) If the airbag light comes up on the dash it's probably a faulty seat sensor on the passenger side. Rather that living with the light or paying hundreds to replace the sensor (which will just go again) you can get a £10 chip off ebay to plug in under the seat, fooling the car into thinking that there's always someone sat in it. It means that your light will turn off, airbags will operate in the event of a crash and it's something you can fit in about 5 min. Downside is that if you crash the passenger bag will deploy but that's probably the least of your worries in that instance!
Enjoy the car, they're lovely to drive and in my eyes, serious value for money
Op the door lock actuator is a reasonably common failure on these and would give symptoms such as yours. I had the same issue on my old e46. It'll set the alarm off as it thinks the door is open, mine also caused weird problems such as opening all windows (as if the key had been turned and held in the lock)
If you remove the door card and unplug the actuator unit you'll be able to diagnose as it should stop the alarm going. Replacement cost me around £120 from BMW and took a bit of faffing to fit but easily diy able (even with my shovel hands) and there's a fair few guides on the interweb which should take you through it without too much trouble.
If you remove the door card and unplug the actuator unit you'll be able to diagnose as it should stop the alarm going. Replacement cost me around £120 from BMW and took a bit of faffing to fit but easily diy able (even with my shovel hands) and there's a fair few guides on the interweb which should take you through it without too much trouble.
LanceRS said:
They are a bit, they have been refurbished before at some point but the laquer is starting to go again. I cleaned and smothered them in Rimwax yesterday, unfortunately the brakes are amazingly effective but create a lot of dust.
Have you got any pictures of yours.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=883933Have you got any pictures of yours.
My wheels are badly corroded and both front arches have started bubbling quite bad. I'm basically running mine into the ground now as the kids have trashed it! Engine is still sweet though after 124k.
jb2410 said:
Op the door lock actuator is a reasonably common failure on these and would give symptoms such as yours. I had the same issue on my old e46. It'll set the alarm off as it thinks the door is open, mine also caused weird problems such as opening all windows (as if the key had been turned and held in the lock)
If you remove the door card and unplug the actuator unit you'll be able to diagnose as it should stop the alarm going. Replacement cost me around £120 from BMW and took a bit of faffing to fit but easily diy able (even with my shovel hands) and there's a fair few guides on the interweb which should take you through it without too much trouble.
Thanks, I shall pull the door card apart when I find the time and check it out. The alarm issue seems to have been sorted out by some WD40 and fiddling about with the switch for the bonnet.If you remove the door card and unplug the actuator unit you'll be able to diagnose as it should stop the alarm going. Replacement cost me around £120 from BMW and took a bit of faffing to fit but easily diy able (even with my shovel hands) and there's a fair few guides on the interweb which should take you through it without too much trouble.
I have replced the bullet connectors for the head unit with soldered joins. Naturally this has made no difference and it blew again as I pulled of the drive. It would seem that I can get it to work as long as I don't drive it! I shall have to find the time to pull the dash out and trace the rest it the wiring. I think that I shall be searching out an original BMW head unit to put in.
On the plus side, the car still seems to be getting a good reaction from everyone and minor glitches aside I am really enjoying owning it.
Today has been a day of stereo fiddling. I bought an original BMW Buisiness head unit from eBay which turned up this morning. I removed the Alpine unit followed by all the after market wiring. This meant removing the dash trim, the heater controls, the glovebox and the central air vents?
After all that I was left with the original BMW multi plug and ariel. Plugged it all in, replaced the fuse and turned it on with due hesitation. Miracle of miracles I now had radio stations, a cassette player and a CD changer
Once again I sat in the drive listening to music while I put enough of the car back together so that I could drive it.
I then managed about 30 yards before the fuse blew again. Bugger!
I have checked all the wiring that I can find with nothing apparently wrong and wierdly the next fuse blew as I put it in the fusebox.
The car is now out in the drive in many pieces and I'm going for a beer.
After all that I was left with the original BMW multi plug and ariel. Plugged it all in, replaced the fuse and turned it on with due hesitation. Miracle of miracles I now had radio stations, a cassette player and a CD changer
Once again I sat in the drive listening to music while I put enough of the car back together so that I could drive it.
I then managed about 30 yards before the fuse blew again. Bugger!
I have checked all the wiring that I can find with nothing apparently wrong and wierdly the next fuse blew as I put it in the fusebox.
The car is now out in the drive in many pieces and I'm going for a beer.
Well it's been a while, but I finally have something to update.
I finally managed to trace the stereo problems to some messy wiring where a random wire had been 'attatched' to the loom for the CD changer. It is the thinnest wire I have ever seen but now it is disconnected and the wires soldered up the problem has gone. I have no idea where it ends up but nothing else seems to have stopped working.
Not much else to report over the summer. I have been to a few Sunday Services where it has attracted absolutely no attention whatsoever
Next week is MOT time so in preparation ...[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/TZbcCGqh[/url
New discs and pads all round, plus some Goodridge hoses. You will notice that one caliper is shiney and new. As is always the way, having bled three of the lines, we moved onto number four. At which point we realised that someone had over tightened the bleed nipple and were reminded how soft they are!
After much effort and some colourful language we conceded defeat at removing the reminance of said nipple. Then followed some frantic phone calls and travelling before ECP relieved me of another £95 plus VAT.
We arrived back in the drive just in time for the heavens to open but we managed to get it finished.
That was most of my Wednesday gone, rather than the couple of hours that I had optimistically hoped.
Today, having learned my lesson (and being somewhat crippled at the moment), I paid someone else to fit the Powerflex bushes on the wish bones.
Hopefully I am now set for another years ticket (famous last words).
I finally managed to trace the stereo problems to some messy wiring where a random wire had been 'attatched' to the loom for the CD changer. It is the thinnest wire I have ever seen but now it is disconnected and the wires soldered up the problem has gone. I have no idea where it ends up but nothing else seems to have stopped working.
Not much else to report over the summer. I have been to a few Sunday Services where it has attracted absolutely no attention whatsoever
Next week is MOT time so in preparation ...[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/TZbcCGqh[/urlNew discs and pads all round, plus some Goodridge hoses. You will notice that one caliper is shiney and new. As is always the way, having bled three of the lines, we moved onto number four. At which point we realised that someone had over tightened the bleed nipple and were reminded how soft they are!
After much effort and some colourful language we conceded defeat at removing the reminance of said nipple. Then followed some frantic phone calls and travelling before ECP relieved me of another £95 plus VAT.
We arrived back in the drive just in time for the heavens to open but we managed to get it finished.
That was most of my Wednesday gone, rather than the couple of hours that I had optimistically hoped.
Today, having learned my lesson (and being somewhat crippled at the moment), I paid someone else to fit the Powerflex bushes on the wish bones.
Hopefully I am now set for another years ticket (famous last words).
Well it's been a while (good news for my wallet, bad news for anyone hoping that this thread would be more interesting).
The car has, so far been running fine, hence the lack of updates. I seem to have spent the last few weeks collecting sharp metal objects in the tyres. I've had punctures fixed in both front tyres and had to replace the rears. On a positive note, they need replacing anyway, so I now have a nice new pair of these to replace the Bridgestones.
While having a bit of a 'moment', I had the tracking done. Suffice to say, I shall now be taking it to my local specialist for a proper 4 wheel alignment.
The passenger door lock fixed itself for about 6 months before unfixing again. Haven't had time/can't be bothered to start fiddling with it at the moment. Like wise I still have the black grills that I don't want and the arm rest is still conspicuous by its absence.
The infamous airbag warning light appeared, resolved with a plug is gizmo for the passenger seat ( if I'm unlucky enough to hit something hard enough to set the airbags off it will be a right off anyway).
It's been to few Sunday services, where it still turns no heads what so ever
I can report that it is a big thirstier that the e36 though.
That's it I'm afraid, it had proved to be a joy to own and drive so far and everyone seems to love the colour.
The car has, so far been running fine, hence the lack of updates. I seem to have spent the last few weeks collecting sharp metal objects in the tyres. I've had punctures fixed in both front tyres and had to replace the rears. On a positive note, they need replacing anyway, so I now have a nice new pair of these to replace the Bridgestones.
While having a bit of a 'moment', I had the tracking done. Suffice to say, I shall now be taking it to my local specialist for a proper 4 wheel alignment.
The passenger door lock fixed itself for about 6 months before unfixing again. Haven't had time/can't be bothered to start fiddling with it at the moment. Like wise I still have the black grills that I don't want and the arm rest is still conspicuous by its absence.
The infamous airbag warning light appeared, resolved with a plug is gizmo for the passenger seat ( if I'm unlucky enough to hit something hard enough to set the airbags off it will be a right off anyway).
It's been to few Sunday services, where it still turns no heads what so ever
I can report that it is a big thirstier that the e36 though.
That's it I'm afraid, it had proved to be a joy to own and drive so far and everyone seems to love the colour.
|http://thumbsnap.com/p2LfVDHh[/url]Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff