The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[Integroo]

Sardonicus said:

he type R is a fantastic car but I would describe one compared to the compact as go-kart like ride and that engine that always whats to play I would say a complete contrast to the compact more like the Type R mans later life kind of car both good cars at their own side of the street however

I liked my Type R (apart from the one I owned being a dog, hence why I sold it), but it was much too stiff for what it needed to be (on 19" wheels and low profile tyres the ride was back breaking) and the engine needed thrashed, which you didn't always want to do (good when you did want to however). Compact appeals as it's rwd and six pot, neither of which I have owned before, similar power output to the Type R (though will be a reasonable bit slower I imagine), but a little bit comfier and easier to get along with for the sort of driving I do (50/50 country lanes at weekends and long motorway / A road road trips).

[PaulGT3]

Passed the mot today with 140k miles on the clock, car rides and handles great with the Bilstein & eibach pro kit setup. Still fancy a 130i but struggling to justify it when this 325ti is such a pleasure to own yet is worth about a grand!

[Mr Tidy]

PaulGT3 said:

Passed the mot today with 140k miles on the clock, car rides and handles great with the Bilstein & eibach pro kit setup. Still fancy a 130i but struggling to justify it when this 325ti is such a pleasure to own yet is worth about a grand!

Great news on the MOT.

I know what you mean about the 130i - I missed a local one, but it was just over £4K and had done more miles than my Compact!

I've ended up going down a different route with an E91 325i with even more miles!

It's way more refined than my Compact, but I quite like that as it makes it a relaxing place to be when that's what I want - and when I don't want relaxing I use my Z4C.

[Deptford Draylons]

Finally got around to booking the car in with BMW for the airbag recall. The recall notice said just the drivers side was needed, but on booking it in with BMW, they said both front airbags are needed.
When booking the car in I was told it was approx a 90 min job and opted to wait at the dealership. The job was done in just over an hour and included a wash and clean inside of the car. All free of charge of course, and great service by BMW.

[Sardonicus]

Deptford Draylons said:

Finally got around to booking the car in with BMW for the airbag recall. The recall notice said just the drivers side was needed, but on booking it in with BMW, they said both front airbags are needed.
When booking the car in I was told it was approx a 90 min job and opted to wait at the dealership. The job was done in just over an hour and included a wash and clean inside of the car. All free of charge of course, and great service by BMW.

You may of missed the previous bulletin/recall mine goes in shortly for the O/S bag but went in previously for the N/S bag about 18 months ago they vacuumed and cleaned it even though I told them not to

[Mr Tidy]

Deptford Draylons said:

Finally got around to booking the car in with BMW for the airbag recall. The recall notice said just the drivers side was needed, but on booking it in with BMW, they said both front airbags are needed.
When booking the car in I was told it was approx a 90 min job and opted to wait at the dealership. The job was done in just over an hour and included a wash and clean inside of the car. All free of charge of course, and great service by BMW.

You must have missed one - my passenger airbag recall was done in June 2015!

I didn't get notified of the driver airbag recall until late 2017! Got it done in October 2017.

Both done on a waiting appointment while I drank their coffee, read the paper and watched the TV for about an hour each time - very civilised!

But I specifically asked them not to wash it - I figured I'd just end up waiting longer!

I was also very impressed with the service - after all my car was over 15 years old when the 2nd one was done.

[anonymous-user]

Finding an alpine business CD unit compatible with AUX is proving to be quite difficult, anyone have a unit in good condition kicking around?

[JakeT]

I bought an MD player for mine.

Fortunately I kept my MD collection, and it still works fine with the CD changer. Why not get a tape player and use it with the CD changer? Or get a non-aux head unit and get a CD changer replacement one. They're very good too. Even display track info on the little screen.

[Cheapstraitsix]

10 points to all that said an injector was at fault on my friends car.

Managed to find some time to start fitting the M3 rear end to mine.

Also found the cause of an occasional clunk whilst on track..

[anonymous-user]

JakeT said:

I bought an MD player for mine.

Fortunately I kept my MD collection, and it still works fine with the CD changer. Why not get a tape player and use it with the CD changer? Or get a non-aux head unit and get a CD changer replacement one. They're very good too. Even display track info on the little screen.

I have the standard business radio w/ 6 cd changer, I only want the AUX functionality to stream music and dab radio from my phone. My music collection will not fit on 6 CD's
The later Alpine units are also supposed to have improved sound quality over the other head units. If im going to buy one why not spend a few extra quid and get the best one.

Cheapstraitsix said:

10 points to all that said an injector was at fault on my friends car.

Here to claim my points

[anonymous-user]

Received a bmw diagnostics cable and software today to do some coding on the car. Will be able to activate a few useful features

[Dougyd39]

Hi All

Can any off you help. My radiator fan has decided to stay on constantly. I'm guessing its some sort of sensor, and I'm a bit reluctant to leave car with garage to find fault as guy there seemed to think it could be costly and could be a number of reasons.

I'm hoping someone may have come across this problem and knows the issue.

cheers

[helix402]

Radiator fan has three wires, +ve, -ve and switched signal from DME. If all these are ok, (you need a multimeter ideally to check the DME one) the fan is faulty.

Most likely cause is fan itself. Do you have a viscous fan too? If so unplug the electric one as a temp fix.

[Sardonicus]

helix402 said:

Radiator fan has three wires, +ve, -ve and switched signal from DME. If all these are ok, (you need a multimeter ideally to check the DME one) the fan is faulty.

Most likely cause is fan itself. Do you have a viscous fan too? If so unplug the electric one as a temp fix.

What he said ^ the fan should have a module/controller attached to the cowling these can go AWOL and do just this not witnessed it on an E46 though

[Dougyd39]

Many Thanks I’ll show this to my mechanic and see where this takes me, it’s all just words to me but sounds good.

I’ve had this car about 6 months now and I bloody love it. With this forums help I’ve changed bushes mounts to fix the ride. Changed rad and expansion tank. I’ve cleaned dyed and conditioned the leather seats, there perfect. Booked it in for drivers airbag. And got BMW to give me the full spec on car. Very happy to find out its fully loaded with all the extras.

Jobs to be done.
Detail paint
Tie Rods
Refurb wheels

I’m sure there will be more, but this forum has been a huge help.

[Mgd_uk]

Check the aircon pressure switch, it lives behind the drivers side headlight.

[Mr Tidy]

Dougyd39 said:

Many Thanks I’ll show this to my mechanic and see where this takes me, it’s all just words to me but sounds good.

I’ve had this car about 6 months now and I bloody love it. With this forums help I’ve changed bushes mounts to fix the ride. Changed rad and expansion tank. I’ve cleaned dyed and conditioned the leather seats, there perfect. Booked it in for drivers airbag. And got BMW to give me the full spec on car. Very happy to find out its fully loaded with all the extras.

Jobs to be done.
Detail paint
Tie Rods
Refurb wheels

I’m sure there will be more, but this forum has been a huge help.

Lovely OP - snap! (Although I've just sold mine, but my nephew still has his Touring).

[anonymous-user]

Anyone have heated washer jets and do they work? Discovered mine does, surprise, they are not working! My passenger mirror heater seems to have packed it in as well. Waiting for it to be a bit dryer before I go pulling it apart to diagnose the problem.

In the meantime i've been having a play around with coding the car with NCSExpert & NCSDummy to activate some features normally only a dealer would be able to activate.

• Doors now lock above 16km/h (can change the speed at which they lock)
• Activated double flash hazards - May change back to single flash hazards
• Enabled the 'Panic Mode' alarm
• Enabled high beam flashing w/ alarm
• Enabled low beam flashing w/ alarm

I would like to have enabled the single tap, 3 flash indicators for lane changes but unfortunately my light control module isn't new enough for that, one can be ordered however from ebay for not a lot. For reference it only works on 2005+ modules.
I would also liked to have enabled the whale alarm sound w/ horn but for some reason it did not work, will have to look into that as the current beeping isn't very loud.

I also have yet to play around with enabling brake light flashing dependant on braking force.

There are several other features I saw whilst scrolling through the list of options including turning on the DRL's, tilting the passenger mirror down when in reverse (requires memory module in doors).

I can throw up a video of the double flash hazards & panic mode w/ alarm if anyone's interested.

[helix402]

Your n/w mirror heating will either be a wire come unplugged from the glass or a faulty mirror. If the mirror is faulty it will show open circuit on a multimeter when tested. The more common cause is a faulty mirror glass.

[PaulGT3]

Bought a cheap low mileage 330i auto today, going to use it for a month or two to monitor oil usage, if all is good then I shall be dropping the engine in my compact