BMW E46 330dA Touring

[helix402]

Sadly the 328 had to go due to a new job involving a hefty commute. I wanted another auto as I've enjoyed the last one, especially driving long distances, and I'm old.

The new car has covered 220k miles. It needs a little tlc but that's half the fun. Plus people can laugh at another old BMW thread whilst spending hundreds a month on a lease car. So far I've fixed: airbag light on-£6 resistor, oil level sensor faulty-recode cluster to not display oil level warning, tailgate glass and headlight washer n/w-used GM had been fitted, not coded, carry out full software update, sorted. Replaced original trailing arm bushes with genuine BMW M3 bushes-£17.

It's also now got the 328 suspension fitted and the purple tag rack. The lieing cluster tells me I did 45 mpg on the drive home.

Edited by helix402 on Thursday 24th November 07:06

[helix402]

There's the usual E46 rust, front wings have been changed already. Oil level sensor can be turned off using PA soft software. Also fixed the remote locking n/w, new eBay key.

[helix402]

Thanks for the tips, I found my original launch training manual in a cupboard at home. I have a set of swirl flap blanks ready to go along with inlet manifold gaskets, later crankcase breather and a good length of silicon vacuum hose.
Both thermostats will be changed in due course for a pair of Mahle/Behr ones (genuine BMW with the badge ground off).

[helix402]

Did some work on it today:

All new silicon vacuum hoses, the brakes work a lot better now! The vacuum hoses run off the main vacuum pipe from the vacuum pump to the servo, hence with a split one there was a long brake pedal.

Manifold removed and swirl flap blanks fitted. New crankcase breather and filter fitted. Found a coolant leak from the pipe from the engine to the expansion tank. Fitted a new one, bled the system via the 4 bleed screws, then found the bleed screw housing on the heater pipe was cracked. The joy of old BMW cooling systems! I didn't fancy buying another pipe just for a leaking bleed screw section. I took the dremel to the clips and replaced the leaking section with a joiner. Sorted.







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Edited by helix402 on Saturday 25th June 00:53

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 25th June 00:56

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 25th June 00:58

[helix402]

Before:



After:

At Goodwood today

Edited by helix402 on Sunday 26th June 20:00

Pesky I phone upside down pics.

Edited by helix402 on Sunday 26th June 20:01

[helix402]

Thanks for rotation!

[helix402]

This one is a little tired here and there, though I have lots of new/used BMW parts on the shelf and have been working on these since they were launched. It probably wouldn't make sense I was paying someone to tidy it up. i haven't checked a brim to brim mpg yet.
I removed all the updated suspension from my 328 and fitted it which kept costs down, despite the Eibachs not being listed for the 330d. (Hence it is a little lower than Eibach intended).

[helix402]

Re the cooling system, I would normally change both stats as a matter of course. I found the egr one is a new gen BMW one which is handy. I'll change the main one for a new Mahle/Behr one in due course. I've put one new hose on and repaired another. The expansion tank and rad have been changed for gen BMW parts by a previous owner. The bushes are all ok, I changed the original (!) trailing arm bushes for gen BMW M3 ones.
Re future plans for the car, most of the work I'll be doing will be rectifying stuff rather than modding. I'll change the gearbox and diff oil and sort the rust. I'm still considering some thicker rear Spring pads as the back is quite low. Today's job, change the rear wiper spindle. The original was seized, I tried to free it off but it wasn't playing. The old one had seized to the window switch so I had to drill through the centre of the old one to free it.

[helix402]

helix402 said:

Re the cooling system, I would normally change both stats as a matter of course. I found the egr one is a new gen BMW one which is handy. I'll change the main one for a new Mahle/Behr one in due course. I've put one new hose on and repaired another. The expansion tank and rad have been changed for gen BMW parts by a previous owner. The bushes are all ok, I changed the original (!) trailing arm bushes for gen BMW M3 ones.
Re future plans for the car, most of the work I'll be doing will be rectifying stuff rather than modding. I'll change the gearbox and diff oil and sort the rust. I'm still considering some thicker rear Spring pads as the back is quite low. Today's job, change the rear wiper spindle. The original was seized, I tried to free it off but it wasn't playing. The old one had seized to the window switch so I had to drill through the centre of the old one to free it.

I set the rear toe to 0 deg 12' toe in (16+_10 is the spec)with the new bushes, it was toeing out before. I'll set the rear camber to -1.5 degs unloaded when I get 5 mins, and recheck the toe.

[helix402]

Today's jobs:

New diff oil:



Changed the rear Spring pads from 5mm to 7.5 to raise the back (lifted it 8mm).





And fitted an undertray oil change flap, the original has been superceeded by a Z4 so needed cutting to fit:

Edited by helix402 on Wednesday 6th July 14:52

[helix402]

Maybe I rotated the car and used magic gravity defying oil!

[helix402]

Eibach springs work very well on the E46. Today's job, rectify rear windows n/w. I discovered that a Low General Module had been fitted instead of a high. A low one doesn't have the bits inside to control rear windows. I had a used high GM on the shelf so fitted that and coded it to my car:






Not sure why anyone would fit a low GM? Maybe is was free or maybe a mistake;

[helix402]

Cleaned it today:



Did an air mass system test as it seems a little down on power, I suspect the air mass meter. It failed the test, on egr values, boost pressure values and air mass values. Despite my earlier post I have a few vacuum hoses left to do. I'll have to sort the power loss out when I get time.

[helix402]

Car decided to become a non turbo yesterday. ☹️. Here's the cause of the problem:







I changed the vacuum hoses and did a temp repair on the alloy pipe. Road test, turbo works but not a lot at low revs. Rechecked the fault memory, no faults now (was showing egr control and boost pressure control before). Did some live diagnosis:




Air mass still too low. There is a bit of a leak from the intercooler so have one on order, will see how it is when that's done. (May still need an air mass meter, I haven't tried unplugging it for diagnosis purposes yet).

[helix402]

New intercooler on (used eBay one), still waiting for the hard intercooler pipe to arrive, but the temp repair is holding up. Cleared the adaptions and did some a road test with some live data monitoring. I found the air mass was still slightly lower than specified. I checked the air mass meter, it has the later type which should run different DDE software.
Here is my software:




And this is what it's supposed to be:



The DDE was replaced in 2001 and the air mass meter in 2002, wonder why the correct software wasn't loaded onto the DDE. When I get time I'll have the put the correct software on. When's it running perfectly maybe think about the pros and cons of egr deletes and decats.

Edited by helix402 on Sunday 7th August 00:14

[helix402]

Reprogrammed the DDE today. I am still surprised it has been running the wrong software since 2001/2. It now has the correct software and goes so much better, I'll see if the mpg is any better. Currently showing 46/47 on a hefty commute.







Pesky I phone pics! Air mass is spot on now.

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 23 July 20:23

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 23 July 21:53

[helix402]

Re the DDE software, it is needed to make the later air mass meter work properly. If the car has the new meter and old software the air mass meter incorrectly reports the mass to the DDE, hence the fueling will be out too. Whether BMW made other updates to the software I'm not sure. The car certainly goes much better with the later software.

[helix402]

Another day, another repair!

Fault: smoke on hard acceleration when hot

Cause:
Perished intercooler to egr valve hose

Rectification: new (used) hose, it's from an X5. Couldn't justify a silicon one for £40.

Edited by helix402 on Saturday 6th August 18:50

[helix402]

Also decided the egr was going, I thought of a few options:

1: leave egr in place and disconnect vacuum pipe
2: reprogramme DDE to hardly recirc any exhaust gases into the inlet
3: fit egr bypass thing

I tried 1 and it was great, more power and no change in mpg.

Decided on no 3, because it's shiny: (and also gives a smoother passage for the lovely cooler air)

[helix402]

Egr bypass fitted today:







I also looked into the knocking noise when pulling away with some steering lock, I suspected the prop centre bearing/bush:

It was difficult to photograph with the exhaust still on:



Also changed the o/s track rod end as I got a Lemforder one very cheap. Fitted it and set the total toe to 0'15" toe in. Checked the rear camber now it's had a chance to settle on the Eibachs, n/s -1.3 deg camber, o/s -1.6. Not bad, I'll tweak it another day. Prop centre bearing on order. I reckon the power of the DDE update killed the prop bearing/bush, nothing to do with 225k miles......

Edited by helix402 on Monday 8th August 18:23

Edited by helix402 on Tuesday 9th August 18:19