Buying a 320 Diesel with big miles

[RoccoVtec]

Hi All, looking at buying an 05 E46 320 diesel, found a nice one, good spec, good looking but it has 85 grand on the clock, has a full BM service history but have these engines stil got plenty of life in them at that mileage? And also is there anything else I should look out for.

[RoccoVtec]

Thanks for that very helpful, had crossed my mind that it may be clocked but it does have pretty good history, great point about the tyres hadnt even considered that, thanks again

[Patrick Bateman]

Swirl flaps...



Mine had a new turbo at 77,000, they were known as a weak point due to the type of oil seperator (most people are led to believe anyway, there is a new separator design) that would get clogged and starve the turbo of oil. Not sure if they had the newer style separators from the factory by 2005.

[Patrick Bateman]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Blanking plates from here for the flaps- http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/

Excellent service from them.

With regards to the turbo, the thread in this link mentions pre-October 2003 cars as having the issue, I'd guess the new separator was fitted as standard from then on although it's worth looking into..

http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&...

[Jw Vw]

RoccoVtec said:

Hi All, looking at buying an 05 E46 320 diesel, found a nice one, good spec, good looking but it has 85 grand on the clock, has a full BM service history but have these engines stil got plenty of life in them at that mileage? And also is there anything else I should look out for.

Plenty of mileage left in it, full service history, sounds good! As a poster said swirl flaps will be the main issue on these. If the have not been changed do it ASAP. Otherwise they are fantastic cars!

[paprika]

http://www.swirlflaps.co.uk/

And make sure you have the plastic oil breather thing.

Other than that perfectly fine.

My 330d 2004 is on 151k

[Neil.D]

Swirl flaps were revised in 2004 to a stronger design but these have been known to fail too. Best bet is to get them blanket off.

Does the 320d have a particulate filter? If so they need changing at around 120k so factor in 1k for this.

[timwatsham]

My 320d Touring on an 03 was on 161k miles when I sold it and there didn't seem to be anything at risk of going... We now have a E90 320d (55) on 126k miles and a E90 330d (06) on 121k miles and both are just run in.

As long as they have been serviced and sensibly looked after, miles aren't too much of an issue with BMW diesels... My e39 530d had been remapped and I took it from 114k to 157k over 18 months and had no issues with it...

[briers]

That mileage really isn't a big deal these days. It's got a lot more in it.

The only things i've heard about are the turbo's going and the DPF needing replacing around 100-120k.

However, 320d's are so common that you will hear about more 320 issues in general, doesn't mean that are more problematic.

[Patrick Bateman]

e46 don't have DPFs.

[timwatsham]

Nor do the early e90s... Made me happy when I thought the conditional servicing was asking for it to be done and I found out how much they are...