The list just keeps growing!

[[TW]Fox]

To be honest other than the oil issue they ARE just niggles. 99% of M54 BMW's have the VANOS seals issue but the owners never notice it, they all need control arm bushings, thermostats are 100 quid fitted and the ICV is hardly a massive deal either.

But, obviously, niggles add up. This is the point I keep making, your BMW will almost never leave you stranded or let you down but instead suck away at your cash with niggle after niggle interspersed with the odd massive expense

For me, I just accepted that instead of losing money on depreciation, I'd lose it keeping it running instead. No big deal.

Of course it becomes a big deal when somebody thinks a £7k BMW is going to have the running costs associated with your average £7k car..

 

[Deleted User 234324]

I knew there would be some issue's Fox its innevitable with a car of this age and mileage and sure enough there was.. The thermostat was on its way out, but the other issues were not expected and in some cases with its history should not be there, but they are and im solving them one at a time. Still atleast I can do most of the work myself.

Thinking a full oil change may help as its been 13k miles since last service.

 

[[TW]Fox]

but the other issues were not expected

Why? They should have been.

and in some cases with its history should not be there

This is what makes me laugh the most. None of the items mentioned are service items so why should the fact it has FSH mean the control arm bushings should never wear out and it should never need the ICV sorting!?!

I think this was a massively nieve purchase and I thought so when you first mentioned the idea of getting one in the first place.

 

[Moeks]

I know what you mean Mossy, mind you Fox is dead right, I don't know weather you've taken any notice of my 540i ownership experience, I've written quite a bit about it over the last 7 months or so. All of your issues are fairly normal though, except the oil one and none of them are really seriously expensive to fix either ...except maybe the huge oil consumption.

It's an ...interesting game to play ...and I imagine quite rewarding when you have a really good base car ...but with some niggles. Now Fox has a lovely car, and it deserves the attention and the money spent really, I know it rewards him for his care. That's not so much the case with mine though.

If you've got a tatty one though, with niggles and the very real possibility of a much more serious issue then it's not so much fun.

I sympathise but I'm not remotely suprised ...except by the oil issue you mention, that's a lot of oil ...and that can't be good.

 

[Deleted User 234324]

Yeah of all the issues none of them bother me except the oil one, the rest I can fix myself but the oil one, thats anyones guess as to what it could be as it could be a number of things.

Still as long as I got my tools and a bit of time i really don't mind the work involved, just annoyed it had to happen to me!..

Still as you said Moeks its all part of the fun! Besides if i wasn't spending money on the car, i'd have to spend it on the gf instead and I cant be doing that now!

 

[snowdog]

It doesn't sound that bad at all, aside from the oil usage...
If it didn't drink so much oil I wouldn't even consider selling it yet, unless a real expensive problem shows up.

 

[Clarkey]

Why do so many of these engines drink oil like it's going out of fashion then? Are they fundamentally rubbish or is there another reason?

 

[Scania]

Why do so many of these engines drink oil like it's going out of fashion then? Are they fundamentally rubbish or is there another reason?

Imo (and I'm no expert) a lot will come to how the first owner (s) have treated the car, hard use from cold, lots of short stop-start trips & over extended service intervals.

You notice similar things with large fleets (such as in my job) vehicles that are allocated one driver who looks after it generally use little oil. The ones that are driven day & night by a multitude of employed day or night drivers plus agency drivers of dubious ability invariably need topping up every time you check its oil.

The 3 M52engined six pot BMW's I know of personally never used excessive oil, if any tbh,yet the later M54 is well known for it. Strange.

 

[antijoke]

Have you had an oil service recently? Or is it due one?

My 330i went through oil at a very high rate before I had the oil service at BMW. It now hasn't used any since February/March when I had it done.

 

[NVP]

I dont know why people think you can buy a 7+ year old BMW and expect it to run totally flawlessly and be as reliable as a brand new one. There is a catch with everything in life, the catch here is that just because you can afford the purchase price doesnt mean the cost stops there.

I've had no problems what so ever with my almost 7yr old E46, it runs "totally flawlessly and be as reliable as a brand new one"... (until I was T-boned!).

You just have to make sure you buy a well looked after one.

 

[Moeks]

My 330CI did not drink excessively at all, it used a bit of oil ...more than my 540i does actually but nothing out of the ordinary. Probably needed a half litre top up every 4-5k miles or so.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I've had no problems what so ever with my almost 7yr old E46, it runs "totally flawlessly and be as reliable as a brand new one"... (until I was T-boned!).

You just have to make sure you buy a well looked after one.

Looking after your car won't stop it needing suspension bushes etc. You have been lucky that's all.

 

[NVP]

lol

 

[Sanchez]

The oil usage problems you've got with your car have only further deterred me from buying a cheaper 330ci, although I hope you can get it sorted quite cheaply.

At least with the other stuff you now know it's been sorted, it just leaves a shorter list of things to go wrong!