Dull daily, BMW E90 320d, repair and refresh on a budget
Discussion
Car looks really good; I've got a RHD too, and regularly am asked how difficult it must be driving in a LHD country (to which I reply it's only the parking garages that are the issue). I'm interested in your PDR work. Have you tried it again after the earlier attempts?
Schöne Grüße aus Karlsruhe!
Schöne Grüße aus Karlsruhe!
No, but I'm going to have another go at the PDR with the eBay dent lifter in the spring. Madam has added to its collection of parking dings with a couple of her own.
The key is the IPA spray to both release the glued-on noggin, and to get the surface absolutely clean for the next one. Patience is key, probably another reason why I'm a bit s
t at it.
There's a Dellendoktor in the next village so I might stick my hand in my pocket for once and get it done properly. He's bloody good but not cheap, I s'pose it's worth it if I'm going to give it a full machine polish to get the dings knocked out whilst I'm at it. We'll see!
Your E46 looks a cracking example. I assume you get the same double takes at the traffic lights etc when other drivers realise you're in the 'wrong' place? The best is when my 9-year old is in the front seat, people freak out.
Grüße aus Frankfurt!
The key is the IPA spray to both release the glued-on noggin, and to get the surface absolutely clean for the next one. Patience is key, probably another reason why I'm a bit s
t at it.There's a Dellendoktor in the next village so I might stick my hand in my pocket for once and get it done properly. He's bloody good but not cheap, I s'pose it's worth it if I'm going to give it a full machine polish to get the dings knocked out whilst I'm at it. We'll see!
Your E46 looks a cracking example. I assume you get the same double takes at the traffic lights etc when other drivers realise you're in the 'wrong' place? The best is when my 9-year old is in the front seat, people freak out.
Grüße aus Frankfurt!
Springtime. Dull update time.
Well, two years in and it's TüV time (german MoT equivalent).
It failed. Leaking rear shocks, so it's off to get those sorted out on Monday, along with a gearbox oil change to see if the shift improves, and he'll change the rear diff oil too.
Now approaching 198,000km / 123,000 miles. No squeaks, clunks, rattles or bangs anywhere. I put on a nearly-new set Goodyear EfficientGrip (7mm) summers for €80, oil changes every 12k km as it gets lots of shortish journeys in the winter, that's about it really. The latest stone chips have been touched in and the paintwork sealed with Bilt Hamber Autobalm. It's come up OK.
Still very happy to sit at silly speed on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Stuttgart, where I am currently working!
Well, two years in and it's TüV time (german MoT equivalent).
It failed. Leaking rear shocks, so it's off to get those sorted out on Monday, along with a gearbox oil change to see if the shift improves, and he'll change the rear diff oil too.
Now approaching 198,000km / 123,000 miles. No squeaks, clunks, rattles or bangs anywhere. I put on a nearly-new set Goodyear EfficientGrip (7mm) summers for €80, oil changes every 12k km as it gets lots of shortish journeys in the winter, that's about it really. The latest stone chips have been touched in and the paintwork sealed with Bilt Hamber Autobalm. It's come up OK.
Still very happy to sit at silly speed on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Stuttgart, where I am currently working!
Currently approaching 209,000km and still running sweetly.
Changing the gearbox oil has made no difference to its reluctance to go into first gear when cold, so the routine of second->first at standstill remains. No big deal.
We've had a couple of electrical gremlins - a short-circuit in the LH rear door meant the electric window stopped working. I replaced the regulator to no avail, admitted defeat and took it to the mechanic. Turns out the old regulator was fine and it was a split wire in the loom somewhere.
€50 and a crate of beer for about 2 hrs work seemed fair!
The other thing is that it bongs on start-up to tell me a bulb has gone, but none are out. Possibly a control module on the way out?
Anyway, I'm in Cardiff at the moment so had the BmW remapped by Paul at Cardiif Remap on the Whittle Road. I requested a 50/50 map, so taking it to about 190bhp (they will map to over 200, apparently) and hopefully improved economy.
I haven't done enough miles since to comment on fuel use but there is certainly a lot more wallop in-gear. Bloody hell. Paul's a nice bloke and I would recommend him.
Remaps start at €500 in DE so to get it done for £140 was a result.
No photos, it still looks the same.
Changing the gearbox oil has made no difference to its reluctance to go into first gear when cold, so the routine of second->first at standstill remains. No big deal.
We've had a couple of electrical gremlins - a short-circuit in the LH rear door meant the electric window stopped working. I replaced the regulator to no avail, admitted defeat and took it to the mechanic. Turns out the old regulator was fine and it was a split wire in the loom somewhere.
€50 and a crate of beer for about 2 hrs work seemed fair!
The other thing is that it bongs on start-up to tell me a bulb has gone, but none are out. Possibly a control module on the way out?
Anyway, I'm in Cardiff at the moment so had the BmW remapped by Paul at Cardiif Remap on the Whittle Road. I requested a 50/50 map, so taking it to about 190bhp (they will map to over 200, apparently) and hopefully improved economy.
I haven't done enough miles since to comment on fuel use but there is certainly a lot more wallop in-gear. Bloody hell. Paul's a nice bloke and I would recommend him.
Remaps start at €500 in DE so to get it done for £140 was a result.
No photos, it still looks the same.
Edited by Barchettaman on Friday 6th October 11:27
Barchettaman said:
It does seem that many bread &butter cars are designed around a failure point of about 7 years /120k miles.
I've been told that most if not all cars are designed for a life of 10 years/120k (ie average of 12k/year). Obviously some go on far beyond that point better than others. My concern with that is round things like the automatic gearboxes where they are "filled for life". That's great until they go bang at 140k because the manufacturers idea of "life" is different from yours!
helix402 said:
Bulb warning will be a faulty frm. You can turn off individual bulb monitoring with Carly for BMW app and dongle.
Thanks Helix, I'll look into that. Much appreciated.JakeT said:
As something to do 120mph on an autobahn, something like this would be ideal. Almost invisible, so no unwanted attention, too!
It does sit very nicely at about 170km/h, but weight of traffic and a lack of derestricted sections on my usual routes mean that Autobahn speeds for me aren't that much higher than in the UK or France I suppose. I tend to only blast when heading home after a show.Once you get above 160km/h the fuel consumption seems to jump, too.
So, now at 216,00km/134,000 miles and still running very sweetly indeed.
I'm currently in Strasbourg on a job during the week, but had to detour through a wintry Stuttgart to pick up some parts last weekend - RWD, winter tyres, no problems at all in 10cm+ of fresh snowfall in the countryside. I wound it up to a true 237km/h on the A5 on the way back north of Darmstadt, it was solid as a rock (the 'Bahn in Hessen was cold but snow-free!)
Next job is an oil/filter change, and to swap out the pathetic light bulbs for some better NightBreaker ones. I had a go the other day but access through the wheelarch is so bloody awkward I think I'll wait until the summer tyres need to go back on.
This car will be run into the ground, I think. It's just too bloody good at what I need it to do, and worth more to me than anyone else.
I'm currently in Strasbourg on a job during the week, but had to detour through a wintry Stuttgart to pick up some parts last weekend - RWD, winter tyres, no problems at all in 10cm+ of fresh snowfall in the countryside. I wound it up to a true 237km/h on the A5 on the way back north of Darmstadt, it was solid as a rock (the 'Bahn in Hessen was cold but snow-free!)
Next job is an oil/filter change, and to swap out the pathetic light bulbs for some better NightBreaker ones. I had a go the other day but access through the wheelarch is so bloody awkward I think I'll wait until the summer tyres need to go back on.
This car will be run into the ground, I think. It's just too bloody good at what I need it to do, and worth more to me than anyone else.
helix402 said:
If you’re keeping it till you run it into the ground get ready for to own it for a long time! It won’t suffer E46 rust or N47 timing chain probs.
I have just changed my 250k 18 year old 330d for a newer one-it wasn’t worn out but sadly written off.
Yes mate, I read both of your threads, fantastic work. I wish I had your talent for spannering on the things though! Oil changes and cleaning the thing are about my limit!I have just changed my 250k 18 year old 330d for a newer one-it wasn’t worn out but sadly written off.
I think I might ask my tame mechanic to remove the swirl flaps and fit a blanking kit, it seems to be about the only weak point on the M47 engine. Any thoughts?
The swirl flaps don’t tend to break as often as the E46. On the E90 they tend to leak with age, so it’s worth removing them. If you do the metal blanks are better than the plastic as plastic blanks tend to crack.
If you have the manifold off it’s worth changing all the vacuum pipes for silicon ones at the same time.
If you have the manifold off it’s worth changing all the vacuum pipes for silicon ones at the same time.
Barchettaman said:
Currently approaching 209,000km and still running sweetly.
Changing the gearbox oil has made no difference to its reluctance to go into first gear when cold, so the routine of second->first at standstill remains. No big deal.
We've had a couple of electrical gremlins - a short-circuit in the LH rear door meant the electric window stopped working. I replaced the regulator to no avail, admitted defeat and took it to the mechanic. Turns out the old regulator was fine and it was a split wire in the loom somewhere.
€50 and a crate of beer for about 2 hrs work seemed fair!
The other thing is that it bongs on start-up to tell me a bulb has gone, but none are out. Possibly a control module on the way out?
Anyway, I'm in Cardiff at the moment so had the BmW remapped by Paul at Cardiif Remap on the Whittle Road. I requested a 50/50 map, so taking it to about 190bhp (they will map to over 200, apparently) and hopefully improved economy.
I haven't done enough miles since to comment on fuel use but there is certainly a lot more wallop in-gear. Bloody hell. Paul's a nice bloke and I would recommend him.
Remaps start at €500 in DE so to get it done for £140 was a result.
No photos, it still looks the same.
If the bulb warnings are from the rear lights then look into fitting a beefier earth connection (google e46 rear light earth fix). It's something that I had to do on my E46, not sure if the problem exists on the E90 though. It is a common issue across a few other manufactures.Changing the gearbox oil has made no difference to its reluctance to go into first gear when cold, so the routine of second->first at standstill remains. No big deal.
We've had a couple of electrical gremlins - a short-circuit in the LH rear door meant the electric window stopped working. I replaced the regulator to no avail, admitted defeat and took it to the mechanic. Turns out the old regulator was fine and it was a split wire in the loom somewhere.
€50 and a crate of beer for about 2 hrs work seemed fair!
The other thing is that it bongs on start-up to tell me a bulb has gone, but none are out. Possibly a control module on the way out?
Anyway, I'm in Cardiff at the moment so had the BmW remapped by Paul at Cardiif Remap on the Whittle Road. I requested a 50/50 map, so taking it to about 190bhp (they will map to over 200, apparently) and hopefully improved economy.
I haven't done enough miles since to comment on fuel use but there is certainly a lot more wallop in-gear. Bloody hell. Paul's a nice bloke and I would recommend him.
Remaps start at €500 in DE so to get it done for £140 was a result.
No photos, it still looks the same.
Edited by Barchettaman on Friday 6th October 11:27
Well, the impending Dieselfahrverbot in Frankfurt city centra meant that the BMW had to go, and it duly departed this morning on a low-loader to Bielefeld, where it will be stripped for parts.
Its replacement - a Peugeot 3008 - is already on the drive. I might put a thread up for it, as it’s petrol and manual. It should fit right in on PH.
Its replacement - a Peugeot 3008 - is already on the drive. I might put a thread up for it, as it’s petrol and manual. It should fit right in on PH.
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