Replacing thermostat on E46 330

[Victor8181]

Is it tricky? Mine's gone and I've done similar thigns in the past, just not for about 5 years. GSF want £40 for a thermostat. BMW want £240 for one fitted :-O

[roofer]

Easy enough, oem part for me personally.

[steve_bmw]

easy job , did mine on the z4 the last night and took an hour, did one on my 525i a month ago just as easy!
only issue i had was on the 5 series with having a viscous fan in the way, i had to remove the fan blades from the coupling, 3 or 4 allan bolts, can be done without removing the rad, i had to put my left hand in between the blades and feel for the bolts and remove the fan.
this is not a problem on the z4 as it has an electric fan.
do you have electric fan or viscous? cant remember if the auto's had viscous and manual had electric on the e46.
either way, if your handy with the spanners you should have no issues, and save the 200 quid and spend it on beer

Edited by steve_bmw on Thursday 13th January 23:50

[road_rager]

very easy, did mine on same car last month. you'll need to remove the electric fan and drain the rad first (remove the undertray also) took me a leisurely 2 hours

[Vee]

A job even I managed (along with the waterpump) on my old manual 330 - therefore a straightforward task.

I think research I did at the time showed that an auto needs the fan removing if you're doing the pump too, and the fan unscrews in the opposite direction to that you'd expect it to.

[Neil_Sc]

Piece of cake, I don't recall the genuine part costing me much more than £40 - £50. Try the genuine parts sub forum on bmwland for 10% discount and free delivery.