As you may know my E30 was my main everyday run around but after becoming very unreliable i had to pick up something that the family could use in confidence... so after looking about it my price range (3k) i picked up this... 2000 E46 3.18i
For the first time ever i am the proud owner of two BMW's... Initially i was going to sell the e30 but now that i'm driving stress free(ish) i can treat the E30 as a project car and i'm enjoying it again even though i still have the Kangerooing problem!!! (nightmare that still isn't sorted)
Anyway here are my babies...
Face Off!
I really like the E46, the shape and drive - It's only a 4 pot but it does what i need it to... when money is better i'll upgrade but for now I'm happy!
It was no joy buying this car... even after doing all my research etc i still ran into problems.
On the first drive back home from the Showroom the water pump packed up. The belt came off as the bushes had gone. All of a sudden the temp went up to full, I lost the power steering. I was stuck on the busy one way system in wandsworth for hours... a complete nightmare! Lucky i had my AA membership renewed - as its an automatic i had to wait for a full tow back to the vendor. I was lucky that i managed to get it back to him before he closed for the day!
Luckily they were really cool/embarrassed about it and replaced the water pump there and then and i was back on the road. The grief didn't end there. About two weeks later the radiator blew!!!!
Tow number 2!! - As you can see i bought clear indicators and changed the rears too - Wouldn't you agree that they look really sexy with the AA board hanging off the front like that!!
It funny how you learn things... the day after i had the rad changed i nearly went mental at my mechanic for pulling a fast one as on inspection it appeared that he had left the old rad in there. How was i to know there was a second rad (look-a-likey) in front of it for the air con! - Ha Ha, Dumb i know! - You live and learn! That was a relief to find out.
Since then it's been pretty good! Until...
the Exhaust emissions value light came on... I'm struggling with this at the moment try to narrow down the cause... the ironic thing is that i'm getting very similar symptoms to the e30... Poor jumpy idle at times... unfortunately the error codes are too vague... 'fuel bank 1' comes up... i'm just learning when it comes to the E46, so i'm getting a friend to look at it this week! Fingers crossed!! I'm think the lombard sensors before and after the cat?!? We'll see...
The surprising difference between the two cars is the steering... i cant drive my E30 with one finger but the E46 is a lot heavier!!
Mods... Is there a place/knowledge bank on the zone for an E46? (lord knows i will need help at some point) Tech help etc ..or should i just keep my posts strictly E30!
Just thought I'd share.... I still may have to sell the E30 as financially i'm not sure i'll be able to run both cars but for now i'll enjoy them while I can
Jay
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