what do you guys know about BMWs?
 

Just got a good deal on a 2003 330xi E46. Its got 130k. Any things I should look for? Any prevention things I should do? Are these things tough to work on? Id ask in a bmw forum but I like this one better ha

I know Woodnthings has some pics of his E34's and E90 on his site, so I assume he might know something about em.? You could PM him and ask I reckon.

All I know is that they re a PITA to work on. Almost everything except changing the oil and tires requires a special tool.

A friend just replaced all four run flat tires on her 330i. $1600 for four tires.

A couple of things I can think of off the top of my head on that year E46 are the cooling system and the sub-frames are prone to tearing away. I think most BMW guys agree that the ENTIRE cooling system (hoses, radiator, thermostat) needs to be replaced every 60k miles, which can be spendy to say the least. The motors are rock solid, though, and they have a ZF manual if I remember right.

BMWs WERE good cars,....35 years ago. that is all I have seen with a couple of friendsthat have bought them over the years. I guess they could be a good car still if you ditched it before the warrenty ran out.

BMW
Bring My Wallet
Be More Work
Big Morman Woman
there are others but this is a family site

Barney

I've owned my 2000 E46 323i for about 4 months now. I bought it with 119K on the clock. It wasn't maintained well so I've been doing all the maintenance to get it up to snuff. I can say that it's finicky but it's a nice car. A great handling car but the electronics are touchy. Tools for it are the same as other modern vehicles - metric set, torx heads and some small hands to get into tight places. Yes, cooling is a weak point and a few other places but their easy to fix. I've learn to live with it's quirks so far.

I would recommend bimmerforums.com for a good resource and ECStuning.com for parts. Good luck.

Thanks guys. The cooling system is on my list. It was a cpo vehicle until 100k and the po had receipts since 65 k and I don't see anything cooling related do thats definitely on my list. Rock auto has everything I need for cheap there. Chris have you done it? Any good write ups? I may be trying to get ahold of you during it if I have issues.
The sub frame issues are only in 99&200 years.
You don't need to put crazy expensive run flat tires back on just because they came from the factory with them

I think they get a bad rep because people are afraid to work on them and bmw dealers charge $115+ an hour to work on them

It sure is a blast to drive though. Mines a steptronic model

I just did the brakes on my wife's X3 last week. I thought everything was engineered nicely with mechanics in mind. No hard to reach bolts, no special tools. Everything was straightforward and easy to do. Replaced the battery too. Easiest replacement I've ever done.

Granted the brake parts were a bit more than average. But that's to be expected I guess.

I call it the ultimate fixing machine! Aside from the power window motors/regulators everything is easy to work on and very well designed for service/repair, good cars I have a '79 633 CSI still runs like new.

if you buy it, replace the water pump asap with a pump with metal impelors and keep a radiator on hand.

intake bellows will be cracked (cheap fix about 20 bucks) its just a boot but causes horrible misses.

they go through headlight bulbs like crazy

Those e30s are everywhere still and are cake to work on, dunno about the new ones though.

Just finished my cooling system overhaul and I have to say that was one of the easier major projects on a vehicle ive tackled. Everything was well engineered as far as making it easy to work on such as having extra holes in the water pump to use the pulley bolts as an integrated puller and oring quick disconnect radiator hoses. 4 hours start to finish probably have it done in two if I had to do it again. Its nice working on aluminum motors for a change especially up here where rust is a huge problem. You guys should have seen my 2000 super duty. Thanks for the tip on ecs tuning for parts. Even had spare time to go to illinois and pick up some r134a for an ac recharge. Yep wisconsins the only state in the country you can't buy it in. I hated seeing the truck go I stuck alot of time and money in mods but you have to do what you have to do

My tensioner pulley was bad so I went to napa for a new one and the one they listed was $48 he brought it out and I said thats not right so went back and just matched one up for me. Only difference was the bearing size and it was $14 I go are you kidding me just because its listed for a bmw its 3 times the price he goes yes BMW tax haha