E46 Tourings

[rix313]

I need a larger vehicle that I can also use for work but I don't have a huge budget. I got bent over for a van insurance quote so thats a no go. I already have 2 E30's so I recon a 3rd would be a bit extreme.

I'm looking at 320D E46's. The ones that are in my price range are all very high millage, higher than my 318iS which is 21 years old! They're all circa 140k (they're the low millage ones)!!

Any one know of any common faults which get thrown up with these?

Tah

[Morat]

Rust around the rear tailgate. BMW just can't do tailgates properly, it seems....
The E46 Touring isn't exactly massive in the boot, surely a 5 would be a better bet? (Or an old Volvo)

[rix313]

Got a slight issue with only being 21, getting a quote on a 3 series is bad enough lol! I'm a bit of a brand homo too.

[Blitz]

Have you looked at E36 tourings?

[rix313]

Was your mouth out LOL.

No I haven't to be fair, they any good?

[Jhonno]

Excellent..

[Jhonno]

This is mine:



328i on LPG

[Simon13]

nothing wrong with an e36 wagon, i use one as a daily and they're bigger and better thought out idea than the e30 touring which after all was an after thought once the E30 was in production.

Cheapest model bmw to run at the moment would be a 4 pot e36. Bullet proof diy car that can be run from the scrappy if you wish

[Ziggy]

Mine's an E36 318i on LPG. Cheeeeeeep. I'd choose another E34 again though every time...

[Jhonno]

Mine's an E36 318i on LPG. Cheeeeeeep. I'd choose another E34 again though every time...

No way. E36 is a much better car!

[capri_rob]

If you're thinking about an E46 320d just google "swirl flaps" and it will tell you all you need to know.

Easyish mod to carry out.

I keep looking at these turds but am put off by the fact that very leggy ones still seem to fetch very strong money. Good for resale - not so good when buying !

E36's tourings are very capable though - and as already said can now be had for buttons

[Simon13]

thing is if you buy the early 320d the 136 bhp one then there is no swirl flap issue as they don't have them! no direct injection and as bmw diesels go they are pretty good

[rix313]

Were the smaller engine petrols any good?

[Simon13]

early 318i uses the M43 TU i think, good if a little bland engine. Easy DIY donk though, they do the odd headgasket but aren't head crackers like M20s can be

[hennared323i]

Late E36 328i touring With Sports Leathers FTW

E46's leave me cold

[BackPeddler]

My old boy has a 53 plate 320d ase saloon, he bought it with 34000 on the clock and it's round to 90000 now.
The crank pulley has a rubber damper insert, this failed and ate the aux belts new pulley was less than £100 from the dealers.
The steering wheel squib failed, this was about £8 from eBay if I remember correctly. Both issues DIY fixed.
I changed the swirl flaps for aluminium blanks after my mate bought a 320d with 90000 miles which lasted about 200 miles before consuming a flap and it's still parked up not running. It took me about an hour and a half to swap the flaps out, well worth doing replacement blanks were about £20.
Must admit I like driving the old boys car, nicely spec'd and relaxing to drive. He gets mega mpg out of it.
The only thing I dislike is the window switches are on the centre console as opposed to the door trim, personal pet hate but if you drive an E30 it's nothing new.

[Andyboy]

E46's are nice cars, but they don't make good bangers. Coded electrical control units, alloy wishbones that you can't replace balljoints on, £140 air mass meters, electronic stats, occupancy sensors for the airbag system.....and on it goes. The M43TU 1.9 isn't a bad engine but it's not as good as the 1.6/1.8. The Valvetronic can be a nightmare - timing chain tensioners, crank sensors and oil pumps - all ££££££££££ to fix. The best diesels were the original 136 bhp 320d and manual 330d. The later ones are too much potential aggro.

For a daily driver, you can't really go wrong with an E36 318i Touring. 35mpg, tons of dirt cheap scrapyard/ebay bits, easy to fix and pretty reliable.

The 518i E34 Touring is a useful old shitter, good on fuel, reasonable performance and capable of enormous trouble free mileages.

[e301988325i]

Just put a deposit down on a 2002 manual 330i touring with 105K, bloody quick! Going to get it converted to LPG which should then amanage around 40 mpg.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[Simon13]

alot of motor for 3 large!

[Cloggy Saint]

You may get raped for most things in the UK but damn, you can get cheap cars! That 330i touring for 3000 would be closer to 8000 over here. A half decent E30 goes for 4-5000!

[e301988325i]

It's really good to be honest, first aid kit's missing, but the aircon works and it's got a cd changer, the harmon kardon stereo sounds fantastic! The rear tyres are splitting down the treads, so some T1r's will be on it shortly! Hope to god the Mrs doesn't put it sideways into something!

Anyway we bought the one above after walking away from the one below, battery completely dead when we arrived, 134k not 120k like he said!!! 5 not 6sp g/box, abs + traction lights on, rust on both rear arches, rot on the tailgate, cuts out on lpg under full throttle, cat D, june 2007. Would not negotiate on price at all! Plus points were Prins multi point lpg, heated leather! Speed wise it was not in the same league as the 330i which seems a little odd.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[Simon13]

i'd like a e46 wagon for a daily 330i please, sport on MV1's in black is my ideal at the moment. Manual as mucho toys!

alpina exhaust too.

That other one is noice look what £500 more gets you is how i'd look at it

[Jon_Bmw]

E39 tourings are now peanuts and cheap ish to insure as all the kids want a 3 series.

You probably would want a decent code reader to help diagnose problems and be able to reset things. Probably the same applies to an e46 though.

Big vehicles. Choose how many cylinders you can afford to run then buy the largest engine offered in that category.

[e301988325i]

I've seen too many rusty E39's to go near them, anyone else have the same feeling?

The 2.5k one proabably needed a grand on it, the one we've looked at is going to cost an additional £1,500 for a good gas conversion, no comparison really!!!

[BackPeddler]

I've seen a fair few rusty ones, mainly the 520i's and the 525tds. they seem to get the most miles put on them and the least looking after.

[Fushion_Julz]

I was offered a decent, if high mileage (180K) E39 520i SE Touring, manual with climate, sunroofs, towbar, etc, etc...good condition (no rust) but paint could do with a tidy-up for £1200 a little while ago...

There are cheap ones out there and 5s are cheaper to insure than 3s

[Brianmoooore]

I've seen too many rusty E39's to go near them, anyone else have the same feeling?

The 2.5k one proabably needed a grand on it, the one we've looked at is going to cost an additional £1,500 for a good gas conversion, no comparison really!!!

You should have bought both, relieved it of the Prinns kit, and served it on.

[chewy320]

I have an e46 320, 05 and only done 56000 and it has gone wrong more times than I can remember. Good cars but be prepared. Unless I just got a bad egg

[e301988325i]

I haven't got the time at the moment for a diy install, I would have given 2k for it but he wouldn't budge so walked away.

[e301988325i]

Just put a deposit down on a 2002 manual 330i touring with 105K, bloody quick! Going to get it converted to LPG which should then amanage around 40 mpg.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

I've just driven it back today, the trip computer says 35.3mpg and there's half a tank left after 250miles so it can't be that optimistic! How is that possible, I wasn't driving slowly! M20's are so thirsty.

[Simon13]

M20's came out in 1977?

[fixedwheelnut]

E39 tourings are now peanuts and cheap ish to insure as all the kids want a 3 series.

You probably would want a decent code reader to help diagnose problems and be able to reset things. Probably the same applies to an e46 though.

Big vehicles. Choose how many cylinders you can afford to run then buy the largest engine offered in that category.

If you have an old laptop with an RS232 port running Windoze XP get some
BMW INPA software & leads from E-Bay

I can't vouch for the USB version cables but the RS 232 port ones work fine.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-INPA-EDIA ... 2028wt_829

BMW INPA software & leads from E-Bay

[e301988325i]

Hmm, anyone know about M54's?

Sticky oil film coming out of the oil filler cap going backwards along the rocker cover, I assume excess crankcase pressure and it's being pushed out of the filler cap, possibly a blocked breather hose?

[Brianmoooore]

If you have an old laptop with an RS232 port running Windoze XP get some
BMW INPA software & leads from E-Bay

I can't vouch for the USB version cables but the RS 232 port ones work fine.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-INPA-EDIA ... 2028wt_829

BMW INPA software & leads from E-Bay

I did have such a laptop, bought the ebay stuff, and laptop promptly died! Tried it on a USB covertor, using a newish laptop, and my LPG software worked perfectly, but absolutely nothing from the BMW stuff.
I now have a fresh laptop with a serial port (writing this on it now on holiday), and will try the BMW stuff when I get home.
No doubt I'll be contacting you a few times asking for help to get it to all work!

[Morat]

USB to serial can be a black art but there are adapters that are designed to be perfectly compatible. I bought one recently to do firmware upgrades and it worked very well. If anyone would like me to dig out the details just pm me.