Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

You can update ROMs, but only if there's a custom one available on xda for that model. Usually there is iirc but custom ROMs can have stability issues, and that's the last thing you want mid navigation on the motorway!

There will be clunks and noises as is the norm even when brand new, but it's a different flavour of them when something like the flex disc is cracking and allowing play on the shaft. It's harder to tell the difference if you've not had the car through a wide mileage range though to observe the gradual change.
 
Where did you get OEM discs so cheap? Seems ideal.

Yeah I had all my bushes replaced with OEM ones last year and the handling has been sublime since. Not everyone puts consideration into a full bushings refresh once a car is at a certain age, makes a big difference and helps improve other areas of the car like uneven tyre wear.

My rear tyres are approaching their tread life now so will be able to get some PS4 S on there completing the full set. Not looking forward to the price, but they should last a very long time, and with the Inspection 2 out of the way, the only annual physical expense should just be the £46 MOT :cool:
 
Insurance, VED etc. Stuff that doesn't require you to physically take the car somewhere and pay to keep it roadworthy.

Picked up the replacement for the new key from dealer today. What a massive faff it ended up being. Because I had a third party spare key added when I first got the car, BMW assigned the same EWS slot to the new key I bought from them because that's what they saw free on their records.

Naturally this means the new key won't start the car as the EWS rolling codes won't match with the transponder on the new key.

Explaining this to the dealership staff was a headache, and in the end even after I told them exactly what they need to do (reprogram the key to the next slot along with their AK90), they deemed a new key was needed, so ordered me a new key which was assigned to the next slot by BMW remotely.
 
TThat's rather good, I usually forget to check the BMW eBay store because they often have really good prices as long as the part you want is listed at that time.
 
Nothing else really I want to do to. Just drive and enjoy that induction noise.


I'll upgrade to an E92 when the interior quality improves ;)
 
Hmm sure your engine and transmission were healthy?! MAF?

I had the standard airbox for a few months before installing the Eventuri, then a few months with the Eventuri on its own before having the remap done. Didn't notice any loss of smoothness before or after either change. The only time I saw slight loss in smoothness was when my MAF was on its death bed. New MAF later and it's back to how it used to be.
 
Evolve do offer (or did back then anyway) a full refund policy on their remap if you weren't happy with it.

As said though, mine's been just as smooth and refined as the stock box.

Was yours a manual or SMG? Wondering if there could be a difference there.

I'm tempted to try it out and put the stock airbox back in one day and go for a drive, but I can't imagine my engine suddenly seeing any dramatic change. On the contrary a more free flowing intake should yield better engine response and smoothness compared to a more restricted one as on the stock.

Remember that when the E46 M3 was still new, no aftermarket intake solutions existed, and the CSL didn't come until later years anyway. It was some 10 odd years later that the Eventuri came to be.
Not everything was well thought out by BMW either, take the exhaust bracket clamps for example, you have a beautiful stainless steel exhaust, but steel clamps that rot so much that the rust fuses itself to the pipework!

And then there are the bare steel rear brake lines instead of stainless steel, so they corrode as well and need replacing.
 
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Hmm.

No photos of the interior, vague comment about having recent tyres, cars like this, an owner would put down the make and model of the tyres. Leads me to believe they are just boggo rubber to get the job jobbed. The advert isn't written very well either. If they can't be bothered to write a decent ad, then can they be bothered to maintain a decent car?

Where did you see the service history of it?
 
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shez said:
This is the last page on the service booklet. Makes me wonder if it's been clocked with so many oil services.
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Click to expand...

The oil service is done every inspection anyway so that's fine, although it doesn't need to be ticked off for an inspection service as it's part of that service,

The issue is that it's only had an inspection 1 done each time which is worrying as there are additional items to be seen to in an inspection 2 and that's a major service.

I'd also guess that a valve clearance check has never been done as none of those garages look like they'd know how to do it and I can't find anything on a Z.B Auto's. Clearances should be checked at each inspection and adjusted if needed.
 
Not just diff oil and plugs, gearbox oil, fuel filter and intake air filter as well.

And some garages say they check the clearances electronically. This is wrong, the only proper way to check is manually. I mentioned in another thread that a specialist stated most of their customers opt out of the valve clearance checks to save costs. It's a damn shame really.

Oh and I found a stone chip on my front bumper today which was made worse by the pressure washer as I was giving it a wash :(

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The top one is the new one, the bottom one isn't as in your face and is months old, so I figured I'd leave it be. Glad I did because now I can get both seen to at the same time. Think a smart repair will be fine, got a guy down the road that can do that pretty swiftly.
 
TPM is probably because one or more tyres have lost more air than the rest. Understandable given they've been static for 3 months.

DSC light is probably because a sensor failure.

Reset the TPM after checking tyre pressures, and run a diagnostic check with Carly/Torque to see what triggered the DSC flag.
 
I can appreciate and in many ways empathise with that, but one sensor needing resetting and another cleaning or replacing (cheap as well!) isn't exactly the end of the world.

I've wanted an E46 M3 ever since seeing one in the flesh long before I had an E46, and now that I have one I'm not going to let a little maintenance on things that are common to failure at this age on such cars get in the way of enjoying it!

To reset the TPMS, make sure all tyre pressures are as they should be. With the car started and idle, hold the TPM button until the light comes on on the dial cluster. Drive the car for a bit and the light will go away. The TPMS is now reset.

Sometimes the TPMS will just think a tyre has lost pressure just because it thinks one wheel is moving slower than the rest, so resetting it fixes that, but the underlying issue will be likely the wheel speed sensor(s). All things point to wheel speed sensor failure (or being dirty) in this case.
 
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That's by design.

Sounds like your battery was disconnected or idle too long hence why the driver window (well, both front really) goes into a reset state. To restore it, you have to do one full open and close action using that window's button by holding the button open, then close. Then the window will work fully with the windows button.
 
Currently route planning a road trip around the Swiss Alps for around July, got Furka and Grossglockner pass on the cards. NC500 was brilliant as it was, but Euro just has to be done. A mate will also be joining me in his XFR. I'll be recording the trip in 360 VR, so that should add an interesting dynamic to the viewing experience on the 'Tube :D Nobody else seems to have done that kind of video yet for these.

Can't think of a better way to navigate mountain passes like those than with roof down combined with that induction noise!
 
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I don't normally do this, but needs must when you find yourself in the wrong lane and know the gap is widened easily. And nobody was inconvenienced, so all was well... induction noise also ;)

 
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I am considering upgrading the Eventuri filter part to their newest design which has a higher/smoother airflow profile:


Old:
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New:
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https://www.evolveautomotive.com/blog/new-release-eventuri-new-design-replacement-filter.html

Their dyno chart shows a 3BHP increase over the previous Eventuri filter design, not that any power/torque gains matter, but the introductory price at £31.20 seems a bit of a no brainer really for the airflow gains alone.

I think I know what needs to be done now...
 
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