E46 320d & MOT

[red997]

just had the 320d Touring through its MOT.

a few issues needed resolution
both rear dampers had severe corrosion on the shaft at the top - covered up buy the bump stop - one was nearly 50 % less in thickness !
I guess moisture is help by the bump stop rubber ?

Both rear springs were cracked - looking back at past MOTs this is the third set ! (in 140K miles of motoring) - I've never had a coil spring crack before - is this 'normal' at this age ?

Also had a sticking front brake caliper - garage said they had done 3 of thee in the past 2 weeks on E46's.

couple of other minor issues - not too bad in my book for a 16 year old car in daily use (20k miles PA), and 140K miles in total

[Mave]

red997 said:

just had the 320d Touring through its MOT.

a few issues needed resolution
both rear dampers had severe corrosion on the shaft at the top - covered up buy the bump stop - one was nearly 50 % less in thickness !
I guess moisture is help by the bump stop rubber ?

Both rear springs were cracked - looking back at past MOTs this is the third set ! (in 140K miles of motoring) - I've never had a coil spring crack before - is this 'normal' at this age ?

Also had a sticking front brake caliper - garage said they had done 3 of thee in the past 2 weeks on E46's.

couple of other minor issues - not too bad in my book for a 16 year old car in daily use (20k miles PA), and 140K miles in total

Brake calipers seems fairly common - I had to do one on my last E46, and both on my current E46. 3 sets of springs seems a bit OTT, (mine are just starting to show signs of corrosion), might be worth checking the general level of corrosion underneath.

[red997]

underside corrosion is minimal;
coil springs didn't look particularly corroded, but have cracked

[Touring442]

Sticking calipers and broken rear coil springs were in the original E46 brochure as standard equipment.

Have fun fitting new dampers - getting all that basdtarding boot trim out to access the top 13's is absolute joy.

[red997]

I left it to the MOT garage !

pretty good service IMHO.
Original MOT was done at 5:30 pm
left the car with them overnight
picked it up following day at 5:30 (24 hrs post MOT failure)

All issues rectified for £500 inc parts, labour & MOT

I priced up all the parts myself (ECP) and came to £370

I think £130 for garage labour cost / MOT is an absolute bargain !