Bigalx

Hi all. Im a long time BMW fan/owner and saw a sticker on a car recently saying Hampshire BMW Owners CLub and was searching for that ans came across this site - I assume they are linked? Either way currently own an E35 M3 Evo Convertible which is my poster car and I spend more time cleaning than driving and recently I have bought an E90 330i Manual as a daily driver. My BMW history started when I was 19 and I bought an E36 320td automatic from my grandparents - the non intercooler version - one of the best cars ive ever had - never ever broke down - it ended up that over the course of about 6 years it was sold to my father and then back to me and then back to my father and then me again! Rolling on from that I had an E46 2001 330ci Sport - brilliant car which for my age was utterly fantastic and again never missed a beat. Sadly I sold that for a pittance and ended up with a 2001 E46 320td compact in pistachio green because I had to take a job which had a 2 hour each way daily commute - car managed 51 mpg driving on mainly dual carriage ways - but also broke down so much with turbo failures and air leaks and everything on the - planet! Finally this leads me to now where I bought my M3 as a weekend car to bring a smile after the week in the 320td and a new job has allowed me the change back into a more suitable daily being the 330i - new job is 25 miles round trip. I bought the E90 for a steal 63k miles, full BMW s/h, 2 owners, £3.7k - had the m sport kit put on changed the wheels to nicer 18" and had a full inspection 2 done so it owes me about £4.5k - even has a private plate to hide the "55" plate. Lovely car and at times is competition to the M3. Anyway that's my history and this is me - hoping to meet some fellow BMW fanatics online and if there's any meets taking place hopefully there as well. Regards Alex

I had the same in my E90 330i - had the engine light reset and within a day or so came back on. Symptoms other than the engine light were some hesitations and slightly lumpy idle every now and then. I ended up pulling out he vanos solenoids and giving them a clean and swapping them when I put them back in - the fault code came back on but swapped from the exhaust to the inlet - therefore bought a new solenoid from BMW for £86 and changed the inlet solenoid for the new one and it seems to have worked so far. Very easy DIY (search online for some) and I would suggest getting a BMW code reader (about £35 off ebay) so you can reset or read fault codes. I believe that BMW have changed the solenoid design as off 2007 so you may find a new solenoid is an improved part? Also note mines the straight six engine so you may find your parts are a little cheaper? Good Luck Alex