3 series Beemer MOT advisories

baldzone · 13 Feb 2006 at 12:09

My 11 year old motor just passed it's MOT (relief!).

A couple of advisories concern me slightly. Just wondering if anyone else has had any experience of these. For info, the car is standard.

Rear tyres wearing on edges. I'm thinking bushes but would have thought if they were going it would have been a failure??

Both front headlamps weak beam image. New one on me. The lens and reflector are clean. One of the filaments is only about 2 months old. Any ideas? Possible battery or alternator on it's way out?

Nothing I'm going to lose sleep over. I'd like to know if anyone has had similar issues and how they fixed them.

Thanks in advance!

BigT · 13 Feb 2006 at 12:37

Right, I know nothing at all about mechanics but I can tell you something about BMWs, bushes and MOTs. My six year old E46 passed its MOT but the inspector said that the bushes were going and needed replacing. This would be a failure in most cars but because BMWs have sealed bushes or something, the inspector is not allowed to open it up and check it and hence can't fail it.

My explanation is not very good but perhaps someone with more knowledge can correct me or explain better.

Bill101 · 13 Feb 2006 at 12:48

I had an advisory note on my last MOT about the rear bushes on the Golf (1993 model).They had become hardened and swolen a little but as there was no free play in them it was not an MOT failure.It may be a similar thing with yours

Enfield · 13 Feb 2006 at 12:55

I think the weak beam from the headlights is to do with the battery. On my 205 I had a duff battery, I know this because it would randomly fail to start. The lights where also incredibly poor. I bought a new battery and hit two birds with one stone. The car started fine and the lights where a bit better.

The lights didn't dim either when I pressed the button for the electric windows, whereas with the old battery the lights would flicker.

baldzone · 13 Feb 2006 at 13:02

Cheers guys. That's given me a heads up. It also occured to me the tyres may be under inflated, even though they are set at the recommended pressure. The battery is probably at least 4 years old (I've not changed it since I had it).

I'll be jacking it up over the next few days and have a look around the bushes.

Dogbreath · 13 Feb 2006 at 14:10

baldzone said:
Both front headlamps weak beam image. New one on me. The lens and reflector are clean. One of the filaments is only about 2 months old. Any ideas? Possible battery or alternator on it's way out?

This almost certainly refers to the beam pattern not being well defined, and is caused by the filliment of the lamp not being in the correct position. Poorly made lamps can cause the problem, but it's also commonly caused by replacment lamps not being seated correctly when installed....

If it was simply low output, surely you would have noticed it when driving on the road?

Scania · 13 Feb 2006 at 18:58

baldzone said:
Rear tyres wearing on edges.

Both front headlamps weak beam image. New one on me. The lens and reflector are clean. One of the filaments is only about 2 months old. Any ideas? Possible battery or alternator on it's way out?

My old 318i had new rear bushes @ 160k miles and it was ,funnily enough, about 11 years old at the time.

I also had wear on the edges of my rear tyres, supposedly linked to the bushes, you should hear a "clonk" from the rear when going over bumps, this was a sympton I had.

A common problem with e36's expect to pay about £90* for the rear bushes fitted.

As for the lights, try a new "LKM" - Light control module.

* What it cost me, you may get it done cheaper.