Another silver BMW - 2005 330i Touring

[Boobonman]

An elusive manual 330i touring! My Le Mans blue one is on a similar mileage and I love it.

Anyone got any idea how many manual, 3.0 petrol M Sport tourings there are out in the wild?

[JakeT]

Almost at 158,000 miles now I believe. There's not many at all. Even when you group SE and M Sport variants together it's low numbers. Most 330/335i models were Coupe and Convertible models, with the odd saloon thrown in. Big engine estates are rare.

[Mr Tidy]

Manual 330i Tourings definitely seem hard to find, fetch good money and sell in no time!

Which is why I ended up with a 325i Touring in 2018, and replaced it with a 330i Saloon last year. I decided the 330 bit was more important than the Touring bit!

But they are the last iteration of N/A straight 6 petrol 3 Series sadly.

[JakeT]

Another 'big' update

While many readers rides threads are a fun mix of owing a mega car and doing mega things to it, This is neither (apart from the cost involved).

Normally, I try and do the vast majority of work on my own cars, but two things I hate are:

• Replacing brake lines and hoses
• Dropping subframes while lying under the car

The most recent MOT highlighted that the rear brake pipes are starting to swell up in their protective coating, and that the brake flexy hoses were starting to perish, too. In addition to that, I've been keeping an eye on an oil leak recently.



This is a common one for the N52, N53, and N54 as these engines age. The sump gasket. Mine is on 158,000 miles now at nearly 15 years old. Mine's at the point where it's going to start leaving marks on the floor soon, which is no good.

Now I'm not driving very much as I'm working from home and business travel is light, it seemed like a good time to tackle these jobs. I sent the car off to Amersham for these, and a couple of other 'while you're there' bits. While the front subframe was down, a pair of engine mounts were fitted too.

The total bill? Have a guess.

£1411

Eek. Oh well. I wanted gen BMW bits to be used, since the original items lasted for this mileage and time. Hopefully we're not in here until 316,000 miles.

[fastbikes76]

I’ve got a sump leak on my N52 and it’s only coming from one bolt but nothing I’ve done has cured it ! Car looks to have recently had a sump gasket too but old bolts were reused, I ordered genuine new bolts and the leak still comes passed one bolt head. Doing my nut in !!


Hope yours had new bolts fitted as they are single use and come with some snot on the threads to seal any leaks I believe.

[JakeT]

I believe it did, owing to the fact it's a well known BMW specialist that undertook the work. Being the nosey one that I am I'll get it up in the air soon and have a look. If it's a gentle weep I'll take it, but leaving spots on the floor isn't my style.

[fastbikes76]

JakeT said:

I believe it did, owing to the fact it's a well known BMW specialist that undertook the work. Being the nosey one that I am I'll get it up in the air soon and have a look. If it's a gentle weep I'll take it, but leaving spots on the floor isn't my style.

I’m stuck between being a gentle weep that will eventually leave drips. Doing my bloody head in and in the back of my mind know it’s going to end up as a sump reseal. Bolts are only £27 a set for genuine so no reason a BMW indie wouldn’t have fitted them.

Hope yours stays nice and dry now

[Mr Tidy]

These N52 engines do seem to like to leak!

My current 330i Saloon had a new cam-cover gasket just before I bought it, but it's still leaking from the oil filter housing.

I'll just keep topping up until the next service next year as it's going to get new rear shocks and a suspension bush later this week!

I might have liked silver for a change - both my 325i and 330i were Sparkling Graphite and it's fair to say I'm not a fan. But with manual 6 cylinder petrols being so hard to find I figured I'd live with it.

[JakeT]

A boring update

Nothing of note particularly the past couple of months. Since the last update, I've serviced it, with the usual oil and filter, along with an engine air filter, microfilter, and spark plugs. Not quite all of the pink coolant was out so I also drained the rad, and refilled with more BMW coolant. Nice and dark blue now.

Brakes still have 50,000 miles left on the fronts, and 70,000 miles left on the rears.

Mileage is up to 162,000 now, so still tramping on well. I'm back in the office now (every other week for the foreseeable). This should mean some more miles are racked up soon. My company has moved office, In classic fashion I managed to reverse into a low wall. There doesn't look to be any real damage, as it was a sloped wall, and it looks to have just pushed the rear section of the exhaust upwards a bit. I've been under it, and seen nothing badly. Had a listen at the engine end and can't hear I've ruined a manifold. I can't even say I was rushing or being reckless. I just didn't see it, and it was too low for the parking sensors to pick up. Oh well. Let's end on a picture of my (slight) misfortune.




MOT is due at the end of October, so I'll try and get it done toward the end of September, before all of the COVID extensions need testing. Worst case my friendly MOT tester will do it on a Sunday for me.

[Mr Tidy]

Low walls are such a PITA!

The good news is they look like exhaust tips which are a push-fit onto the tail-pipes with spring clips inside so you might be able to remove them, but my last effort at doing that suggests you'll need a big hammer!

[Max M4X WW]

Mr Tidy said:

The good news is they look like exhaust tips which are a push-fit onto the tail-pipes with spring clips inside so you might be able to remove them, but my last effort at doing that suggests you'll need a big hammer!

Yes they will come off easily with a rubber mallet and look like they could do with being replaced anyway. I think two versions are available, chrome and satin.

[JakeT]

That's good advice. Thanks gang.

They're really quite dirty currently, as is the rest of the car. I might get a new pair of chrome ones to go on though. The current ones come up nicely with a Brillo pad.

[JakeT]

MOT day

The day all of us dread. Did overnight all of my bulbs fail, the innards fall out of the cat, various items rust and all of the suspension become ruined?

In this case, no, just the one advisory. For one of the rear suspension arms.



The one labelled '18'. I'll get a pair of them and replace both. Otherwise, nice and happy. Handbrake was still more than efficient enough, and even on both sides, and the emissions were nice and low too.

[CB 987]

Great to hear it’s still going strong. I guess after 160k the rear arms will start to show some wear, not bad though.

[Nik Gnashers]

Great thread.

I have always thought the E91 was the best looking touring that BMW ever made, it just sit's so 'right'.
Mine was a lowly 320d but M Sport, and I do miss it in many ways as I did mega mileage in it with hardly any problems.
I sold it with 144k on and it's still going strong.

[Mr Tidy]

One advisory on a 2005 car sounds like a result!

And it's good to see it keeping on keeping on.

My 2005 E90 330i had 2 advisories earlier this year. It should have been 3 but the tester didn't spot the leaking rear shock absorber, although both have now been replaced!

[Court_S]

I’ve enjoyed this thread too.

Sounds like it’s generally been a really good car. My E90 330 was one of the best cars I’ve owned and I even escaped the dreaded water pump failure and leaks. A bit of MOT stalking reveals that it’s still going strong, passing its yearly MOT with flying colours. My mates N52 in his 125i seems to be pretty reliable too and that’s up to 180k.

[6cylGolf]

Love those seats. When you first said cloth I thought you meant the alcantara type which I am not keen on.

Those seats must be rarer than my old mk5 golf r32 cloth recaros. Never seen them before.

Nicely sorted SE. Think the black lines are my next mod too.

[JakeT]

Thanks for your kind words, all. I figured I ought to contribute to this place with a thread every so often.

I'm happy with the result on the MOT, and I've got some time to swap those arms. I'll probably stick a starter on it at some point too, since it's getting lazy.


I'm a big fan of the regular cloth on the sport seats. My E39 5 series had cloth, as did a couple of my E46s. Cloth wins for me. Lasts better than leather, cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Win all round.

[Mr Tidy]

I'd check the age of the battery before swapping the starter motor.

I bought a Z4 Coupe (so same engine) in May 2016 that seemed to have a lazy starter, but strangely it was worse when the engine was hot than when it was cold.

Anyway it threw up an amber EML towards the end of the year and while my Indy had it in for a diagnosis the battery died (it was the 10 year old original to be fair).

So it got a new battery fitted and I had it another 3 years with no starter issues.