E46 330 Ci - What to look for?

[furbster]

Morning,

I'm off to look at a 2002 E46 330Ci tomorrow with a mate (its for him not me).

The cars done 132k but has lots of recent BMW history.

Does anybody know if theres anything common to look for on these?

Thanks

[bss325i]

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=211342

Look for my post in this thread.

[furbster]

Cheers

[pac1982]

Watch out for cracked subframes/floorpans, BSS will confirm how common this problem is







This is what the boot floor can look like when the carpet is lifted.

[bss325i]

I have never seen or heard of it on a 330Ci as the 330 was a post 2000 model which is when the boot floor was revised. The post 2000 models i have seen or heard of it on are M3's with SMG transmission, most likely because they have been hammered with the gear change in the quickest setting all the time.

Always worth checking just to be sure before purchase though.

[Tay]

it was mainly on the 328ci's ie the early 46 coupes, rear brake pipes are an issue along with the usual trailing arm bushes, front bushes and ball joints too! other than that they are pretty solid cars............

[Andyboy]

Post 2000 cars do it, although it's very rare. The newest I've seen is a 2003 320d Touring. It's not a common problem though and the majority of early 323i and 328i cars are still okay.

On the Coupe, watch for rusty front arches - that's a far more common problem and a large percentage suffer from it, even up to 2003. If you find one with good wings, whip the arch liners out, clean out and waxoyl the arch lips. Most M54's will need the inlet manifold off to replace the breather and it's pipes which isn't too bad a job. E46 door handles go wrong if they're not used correctly, and most need a shot of spray grease into the mech with the handle pulled out.

[e301988325i]

I have a 2002 E46 330i touring. Make sure he's happy with the throttle repsonse, there's around a second delay in the fly by wire system, especially coming off the overrun onto throttle. My manual often feels like it's an auto because of this and it's highly irritating.

Any thoughts on this Barry?

At that mileage VANOS seals could start to become an issue, unstable idle, surging upon acceleration below 3.5K.

Any warning lights on the dashboard and I'd be very wary especially regards, the abs/stability/traction system.

If the engine doesn't warm up fully be warned the thermostat is electronic and will set you back £75.

Again at that mileage, Oil consumption of 1L/1000miles is not uncommon on this engine, possibly caused by blocked breather pipes and oil seperator which are around £100 in parts and 3-4 hours experienced labour, DIY would take longer.

edit - In my touring at least, the suspension carraige of the cd changer was set incorrectly causing cd's to skip all the time. Oddly I had the same issue with my E36 touring cd changer.

[Blitz]

Reset?

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=760867

[pnd]

knackered suspension, final stage resistor, dodgy windows non working cd player.

[e301988325i]

Reset?

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=760867

This works, I tend to do it every two weeks and is an improvement but is not a cure all compared to a proper throttle cable physically connected, nothing shows up on fault codes.