Newbie E46 M3 owner questions

[gav2612]

Hi all,
Just bought a 2001 M3 this morning and have a few newbie questions. 1. What should the oil temp sit at when at operating temp? mine seems to sit in between the 75 and 100 on the gauge. 2. Is there any known issues with the manual gearbox or clutch being notchy and difficult to engage? Car drove great on the test drive, but that was nearly all at speed and high revs, trying to find 1st and second in traffic on my way into work was quite an effort and very notchy(Coming from a 996 carrera I am used to 1st and 2nd being difficult when cold) There doesnt seem to be any clutch slip present and the car changes gear well at higher revs, just in traffic its a PITA. If it was the clutch what kind of costs am I looking at?
Thanks for any replies
Gavin

[bennyboysvuk]

Firstly, congratulations on getting one.

Secondly, the temperature sounds about right to me.

These gearboxes always feels notchy, but it improves with a bit of heat in it IMO. You just have to be incredibly positive with it when changing gear around town.

Edited by bennyboysvuk on Friday 26th March 12:56

[gav2612]

Thanks for the reply. Car drives great apart from this issue. There should definately have been plenty of heat in the box by the time I hit traffic as I was driving fairly hard for 45 mins or so until I hit town. I have found a couple of threads on other E46 Bimmers that have had "catch pin problems" which can apparently cause difficulty going in to gear. Not sure if this is an issue with the M3 six speed box as well

[lazertron]

What a nice way to start a day - buying a M3 at morning

oil temp is right - mine hangs at about 90 deg when not driven hard and rises to at about 120 when pushed.

[mat205125]

Can't remember the graduations on the scale of the gauge, however my needle points just to the left of vertical in general driving conditions.

[tjw110]

I'm sure you have read up on this but remember the lights on the rev counter are representitive of water temperature not oil, it's advised to keep it under 4k rmp until the oil temp is upto +55, hope your enjoying the car

[gav2612]

Thanks Guys
Oil temp seems to sit around 90 most of the time and have seen it just over the 100 a couple of times when pushing on a bit. Unfortunately since I bought the car we havent seen much more that 4 degrees c up here in scotland, so may be a while yet before I see the oil temp up much more. Was aware of warming the car up properly before the water temp increased. The car's taking a bit of getting used to after the porsche. How does everyone find their cars for rear end grip? Been raining here for the last three days and the traction control is constantly cutting in especially coming out of slower corners/roundabouts on the throttle where the porsche would have taken them with ease. Obviously the 911 had a lot more weight over the back wheels to give grip, but didnt have any TCS(Psm) on the porsche and had to push very hard to break rear end traction. Faster corners the m3 ispires much more confidence with the DSC being a nice saftey net if needed.

[mat205125]

tjw110 said:

I'm sure you have read up on this but remember the lights on the rev counter are representitive of water temperature not oil, it's advised to keep it under 4k rmp until the oil temp is upto +55, hope your enjoying the car

The lights on the rev counter go out far quicker than I would feel comfortable revving the engine into the unlit portions.

[gav2612]

I usually allowed a ten to fifteen minute warm up period with all my cars, keeping it below 3000rpm to allow the oil temp to get up. Will continue to follow this with the M3. Useful to have an oil temp gauge now as well to let you see exactly where its at. An oil pressure gauge wouldnt go a miss too though

[bennyboysvuk]

gav2612 said:

The car's taking a bit of getting used to after the porsche. How does everyone find their cars for rear end grip? Been raining here for the last three days and the traction control is constantly cutting in especially coming out of slower corners/roundabouts on the throttle where the porsche would have taken them with ease. Obviously the 911 had a lot more weight over the back wheels to give grip, but didnt have any TCS(Psm) on the porsche and had to push very hard to break rear end traction. Faster corners the m3 ispires much more confidence with the DSC being a nice saftey net if needed.

I think it's just a trait of the 911 that it would have far more rear end traction in slower corners.

In the M3, when it's wet out I find that in slower, tighter corners the diff wants to spin the inside wheel which in wet conditions gets the rear quite mobile early on. I find it annoying and switch DSC off a lot. However, this means that you can either drive it like a hooligan or just teeter on the edge of traction which is very satisfying when you get it just right.

Edited by bennyboysvuk on Wednesday 31st March 20:01

[matt3001]

bennyboysvuk said:

Firstly, congratulations on getting one.

Secondly, the temperature sounds about right to me.

These gearboxes always feels notchy, but it improves with a bit of heat in it IMO. You just have to be incredibly positive with it when changing gear around town.

Edited by bennyboysvuk on Friday 26th March 12:56

+1

[gav2612]

Getting a bit more used to the box and it is becoming easier getting first and second in traffic now, you just have to be very positive with the change. Have read a couple of posts of people using Royal Purple syncromax in their boxes to aid smoothness of the gear change, but have also read elsewhere that this shouldnt be used in the M3 box as it is too thin. Any opinions?

The M3 in general has just taken a bit of getting used to. The porsche used to be very much slower in to the corners then feed the throttle to tighten the nose as the back loaded upwith massive rear end grip . So far with the M3 the best technique seems to be generally drive like a hooligan. The speed the M3 can enter a corner and retain front end grip seems to be higher, you then just have to be more gentle/later on the gas mid corner to save the back end stepping out or TCS cutting in. Having the TCS off has produced massive oposite lock moments which have been fantastic fun but have left me needing clean pants on occcasions. The great thing seems to be when the car does oversteer it gives you time to catch it and seems pretty well balanced.

[bennyboysvuk]

gav2612 said:

So far with the M3 the best technique seems to be generally drive like a hooligan. The speed the M3 can enter a corner and retain front end grip seems to be higher, you then just have to be more gentle/later on the gas mid corner to save the back end stepping out or TCS cutting in. Having the TCS off has produced massive oposite lock moments which have been fantastic fun but have left me needing clean pants on occcasions. The great thing seems to be when the car does oversteer it gives you time to catch it and seems pretty well balanced.