Jay Kay

My passenger side has never worked, except dipping when going into reverse - which frankly is useless. I just popped the door panel off and disconnected it. Ok I've lost control to it (that never worked anyway) but at least I can now reverse down my drive way. Beware of buying used mirrors from ebay as they wont all work with differing E46's. My 330 has memory seats etc which I think means mirrors off say a 320 wont work as the mirror settings are memorised to. I might be wrong but do some checking first.

I used Mich PS3 on last car and wasn't as impressed as when I ran Dunlop sportmaxx. Side walls were a little soft and it moved around a bit under very heavy breaking. Not sure how they would do under a big lump like an e46. Contis are good I believe but used them. Have you read reviews on the Hankook range, I think it's their ventusv12 evo that was getting great reviews not too long ago. I know they do some budget tyres but the evo is very different

I have a 2004 auto 330ci which since buying a few months back has been smelling of burning oil after anything more than a 10 minute run. At first I thought it was engine oil as the bottom of the lump and the steering rack was covered. I put the car into a so-called bmw specialist and paid to have a seal replaced on the engine that is common to give up (on the joint where the oil filter housing meets the engine) as they said tomeafter takign a look over it that it was almost certainly the point of the leak. I also asked them to check the box and dif oil levels just in case. A few hundred pounds spent and the problem is no better, though they did say they also had to top up both the dif and box oil. I have since cleaned and de-greased the underneath of the engine and steering but shortly after I continued to get the burning smell. I took it to my local garage that I used to use for my old car and we got under it and had a good look around. There was a fair amount of oil over the box and between it and the engine, but nothing on the engine or steering where I had cleaned it. The mechanic seems to think either the input to the box is leaking or possibly the torque converter. He suggests taking both out and while they're out, replacing all seals to be on the safe side, while also giving the box a going over with new fluids and filter. Considering the amount of oil on the tranny, I really can't beleive the 'specialist' who topped up the oil failed to notice or mention this - if indeed he even bothered looking at the box? Has anyone ever had this done and what sort of money am I looking at - as it doesn't sound cheap to me? There is also the debate about changing the box oil or not as it can supposedly do more damage than good. Current mileage is around 73k, does that matter? Any suggestions or advice on garages to use in north east london. hertfordshire or essex, would be appreciated. Cheers Jamie

Sounds cool but an awful lot of work., I'd imagine expensive too. I have heard that the 4 door makes for a better track car for either the e46 or e36

No idea about the battery issue but I have 330 and was at first worried that it ran hot. Within just a couple of minutes the temp gauge is at half way point but it never goes beyond. I think the 6 cylinders are just very hot engines. My mechanic works on a few different bmw's and he said to me they are all the same

A quick google search threw up a few threads about possible vacuum (air) leaks causing stiff brake pedal and checking all of the lines may show up a fault. Might be worth a look. This can also result in a slight missfire of rough idle. Apparently.

Lingo, how did you get on? My guess was seized caliper too but then I know very little about the brakes on our cars

Am I being classed as older and mature? Crickey! I would like to think I/we appreciate a more well kept car than perhaps some younger drivers and 'modding' a BMW to within an inch of its life is not my priority - however in my younger days I was a keen reader of Max Power and had a cover car on there so I respect those who still enjoy that scene. I agree though that most on here only pop on from time to time to ask the odd question and wouldn't be up for a large gathering as our average age is perhaps higher than some other sites and we are perhaps not as enthusiastic about moddifying and showing off our cars as ST owners amoungst others might be. I'd still quite like an old ST I must say. And the new RS, sadly my pockets aren't deep enough

I'd be happy to meet up but I just can't see it happening. I really don't think this site is used enough to organised a get together. I used to frequent a Renaultsport site when I had my Megane 225 and like other popular sites such as STOC etc there were dozens of posts per day. Any questions asked were replied to multiple times within hours of them being posted. Sadly on this site there just isn't as many people getting involved and in my experience it goes days with no contributions. Perhaps the type of person that drives a 3 series is different to those driving hot hatches and they aren't as interested in owners clubs? When I got the car, I assumed the forums would be booming with activiety as E46's are everywhere on the roads and german car owner sites (Golfs etc) are usually extremely popular, but I think I got it wrong this time, which is a shame. If something is sorted I'm on for it though. Other than that, check out Pistonheads regularly as they hold Sunday Services arout the country and the one I tried to attend about a month ago (and broke down on the way there) had 750 cars attend, including a new La Ferrari and all manor of exotica.

Bugger, I was hoping to get to this but forgot it was today. Did you get any photos?

Cheers Daz. Luckily my issue is now resolved, new expansion tank, trans cooler thermostat and expansion tank cap. A few bottles of coolant and it was about £200 as i fitted them myself. I still have the problem of another leak, which i'm guessing is power steering fluid. I put it into Cooks Ferry (never again!) a specialist who tried to tell me he thought it was an engine oil leak which I didn't think it was, however all his waffle about 25 years of experience and fixing hundreds of these engines that all leak from the same place, I handed him a couple of hundred quid to fix it and its still the same. Won't be going back there! I'm also troubled with the passenger mirror which dips as it should when reversing, but does nothing else. Again, while in Cooks Ferry I asked him to remedy it, and was told a new switch should cure it. Another £40 quid was added to the bill and I was told the new switch would be fitted on the day they fixed the oil leak. When I picked the car up I asked if the mirror was now working, only to be told they had forgetten about it and the switch was in the store room. They then tried to fit it - with me telling them that I was in a rush (fitting a mirror switch takes seconds) but 10 minutes later I went outside to see what was happening, to find the door had been stripped down and the switch making bugger all difference. I was then told that while it didn't fix the issue, I couldn't return the part as its electrical and packet had been opened. All told, I spent around £250 in Cooks Ferry and achieved F-all. Oh, and then there's the passenger window that works fine, until you try to use the switch that does all windows at the same time, at which point the passenger one only goes up half way and then goes back down again. Oh and the reverse parking sensor that goes of whenever it fancies whn i'm backing out of my drive. My mate with a far newer 320d was with me the day I broke down. He now swears he will be selling his car long before it becomes 'old' like mine. I know these are probably just silly little fixes, stupid electrical gremlins (excpet the fluid leak) that are easy fixes once you know what the problem is, and I am working my way through the list as I want everything working, but it just feels like its one thing after another. This is exactly what I hate about modern cars, far too much tech in them. I was out in a 5 litre MK1 Perana Capri recently that almost as old as I am and its still going strong, my 10 year old BMW however will never live to be that old and neither will virtually any modern car. Electronic will fail, technology will move on and they will become write-offs in half the time that older cars give up on us. Its a shame but I doubt the next generation will ever see a 'classic' on the road - they will all be in scrappies. Rant over. Sorry.

They do look good but £85 a corner - wow that's expensive! I always do my own and probably would have done them all for a touch under what you paid for one wheel. Don't get me wrong, they are a pain in the backside, especially MV1s but I think i'd faint forking out £340 for someone to repaint my wheels. Im glad you are happy with them though

In case it helps anyone, ignore all the videos on youtube about how to bleed the system, they are virtually all wrong. People running the car with the cap off, constantly opening and closing the bleed screw etc. All they are doing is introducing air into the system. Its actually far easier than I thought to fill up the system from scratch. Just take out the bleed screw and with the heater on max temp but engine not running, slowly fill up the system until coolant comes out of the bleed screw with no air bubbles in it. Put the bleed screw back in, put the cap back on the tank and away you go. None of this bleeding air our while its running rubbish. After a 5 min drive, check coolant and top up in needed and your done.

Thanks Daz I did some reading and it transpires that it is the transmission cooler thermostat which sits between the expansion tank and its holder. The manual cars dont have them just the autos. supposedly they are a good idea as the thermostat opens to allow warm coolant to circulate the box, getting it up to termp quicker and then closing it off once at temp to keep it there rather than just getting hotter and hotter. While in theory its clever, in practice BMW made the tank virtually imossible to remove without snapping the plastic holder at the bottom. I googled it and there are countless threads from numerous countries all saying the same. I have ordered a new expansion tank and thermostat from BMW, coming in at £79 - each. I did consider ditching the thermostat, as again there are numerous threads on the net about how they are not needed as long as you're not doing redline gear changes from cold, however I swear by the mantra that it must be there for a reason. Parts come tomorrow so i'll get on it after work. Just need to do a bit more reading about how to bleed the system when I'm filling it up.

Good luck mate. I too am new to all this with my first BMW. I recently bought what appeared to be a nice clean 330ci convertible, but I have to say its not without its issues. I would love to justify it by reminding myself that its a 10 year old car, however I sold a 13 year old golf turbo and paid triple the value for the BMW and the golf was immaculate and 100% hassle free. The BMW however, it came home on the back of a flat bed on Sunday...