Most issues are pretty common knowledge really, but to give you an idea of the past 2.5yrs of ownership, I've had the following common/not so common faults addressed:
- DSC Pressure sensors. There are two of these, if one goes, then your ABS and DSC lights will light up at the same time. A diagnostic check will flag either sensor, but it's best to replace them both, as once one goes, the other won't be far off. These are £90 each from BMW. Only BMW produced these.
- Front brake caliper seizing, common for this age of car anyway, but better to see to it regardless if there's no record of a caliper refurb being done. Use Big Redd for the job. It's fairly inexpensive too, and choose the premium black colour option, as it is more permanent than the standard black, which will fade away with repeated heat cycles over time. As standard, non CSL brake calipers are unpainted, so will go rustic brown fairly quickly.
- Door window pinch sensors/clips. These clips are DIY swappable, but does involve taking the door panel out. My driver side window sometimes when using power up, will go back down again as it thinks there's a hand or finger stuck. It's super low priority, and simply holding the window button up bypasses the pinch sensor anyway.
- Wing mirror base paint bubbles. Luckily the dealer I bought the car off replaced both my mirrors with newly painted ones, so I didn't have to spend any money here. Sun bubbles the paint at the base, and they need to be re-painted.
- Wing mirror glass starts to corrode at the edges. This is an age thing, use mirrorjohn to buy two new wing mirrors, they are cheap.
- Xenon headlight washers have a little C shaped clip that clips into the hose that connects to the back of each headlamp housing at the back. These clips cam come loose from potholes or if a loose hand hits the hose when the car is being worked on. I found one of mine dangling off the hose, so just clipped it back in. Without the clip, the washer sprays water all over the inside of the engine bay, and will be an MOT failure.
- The battery not being healthy can cause DSC/ABS lights to come on randomly as well. You can check the voltage supplied by the battery to see if it's good using the OBC hidden menu (loads of guides on how to do this),I had mine replaced by RAC. It's a Varta battery, and has lifetime warranty through RAC.
- Alignment! Have alignment checked at least once a year. Pot holes and bumps can and do knock alignment out. Considering alignment checks are free (you only pay for any adjustments required), it's a no brainer really. Some say you must go to a place that has Hunter alignment kit, but this isn't necessary. It's the workman doing the job that matters more than the kit being used. Gaygle I believe had a big long post about it a long while back.
- Oil pressure relief valve. When my car was at BMW having the airbag recall done last year, they did a health check (part of their process, no cost) and said there were signs of an oil leak. I took the car to the indy and they found the oil pressure release valve had a weeping seal. It's a cheap fix at under £30 for the part. Just the seal on its own can't be bought iirc.
- Exhaust backbox flange clamps. This will be flagged on MOT, they are bare iron, and will corrode to the point where they need to be cut off. You can buy a complete stainless steel flange bracket kit for £30 on eBay, comes with everything needed.
- Parking sensors, My PDC still randomly fixes itself, and then doesn't work again. Constant beep in reverse. There's probably a break in my loom somewhere, but it's on my small list of things to do. Mostly I just ignore it though, don't need sensors to park
I would also go round the whole car and apply Gummi Pflege to all rubber seals. It keeps them in top condition.
That's about it really, you may well get small leaks showing up as a weep, to be expected on these cars, but most/all will start as a weep, and should be advisories on any MOT anyway, and most can be fixed easily/cheaply. Just the PAS pipework that isn't cheap unfortunately if that ever needs changing. They are well in excess of £100! if there's a break or leak in yours. Mine are all fine so far.
Probably some other stuff I can't think of right now, but they will be minor I suppose.
and thanks demon too!!
. I will sort out an OBD-II cable and have a read up of things.
Flick the climate to auto with AC on! There's no need at any time to ever turn it off, and it makes negligible difference to economy either. It means your AC system remains in good health, with selas and pipes free of seizures and bacteria buildup.
