New BMW owner here too...

New BMW owner here too...

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Pilgrimage

Original Poster:

29 posts

213 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
quotequote all
I bought a E93 330d convertible on a 58 plate last week.

Got a few questions if anyone can help:

1) Its blowing a little smoke (sometimes) on hard acceleration. I know diesels do this but there seem to be conflicting views on whether the smoke increases or decreases upon more frequent hard driving. Any guidance?

2) The under-seat subs don't work - can anyone think of a reason why they would've been disconnected? Stereo sounds awefull atm.

3) Its due a big service - quoted £600 by local BMW dealership. Any issues with getting it done at say Halfords Auto-Centre (who are apparently BMW trained now) or the like?

4) It was sold with no warranty - is one really necessary? It's only done 38k miles.

Thanks.

Pilg (Gav)

Pilgrimage

Original Poster:

29 posts

213 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all
Thank you all.
No - if anything paid a touch over. It was the combo I wanted and low mileage. They seem in high demand too.
I'm shopping around for service now.
Happy enough with smoke - it seems to be reducing considerably.
Going to get under the seats this weekend and will then look at upgrading - no tweeters in window frame... yet!
I'll post some pics when I have it polished up.


Pilgrimage

Original Poster:

29 posts

213 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
quotequote all
Thanks again - went to a 2nd BMW dealership this weekend (one close to home rather than close to work).
Same service, same work, same parts - £100 less. Pays to shop around...
The oil definitely needs changing - although it's running fine its clearly not been run much/ often and the oil itself when I picked it up was very black and heavy.
Hopefully MPG will improve with a full service too.
As to sound system the mystery deepens - the subs under the seat appear to be there - although there is too much under seat cabling to get to the back screws of the grate to be sure ATM.
I haven't been able to tell if they're connected yet - to be honest i'm not so good on electrics so may have to pay someone to have a look.
I had a quote from an ICE independent for £40 labour to take it apart and put it back together and as I have noticed that the brushed alloy dash front has been off (and a lug on the left snapped) i'm thinking someone must have had a look at it before. All very strange as behind there is just the vents and some buttons isn't it?...
So if all plans out as I hope then I think it'll be a case of connecting/ replacing the subs (assuming they are OK) and then simply replacing the door speakers all round with something like 2-way JBL 10cm:
JBL GTO 428 4" (100mm) 2-Way Coaxial Car Hifi Speakers (105W, 90dB), Black
£40 - £50 for a pair.
The next job would be tweeters if I can be bothered.
Would be good if I could connect my phone too... but that's a job for another day.