my first bimmer

[Bleeding Heart]

Nice car dude... Great value for your money...

[ripper46]

got a bargain price :7k euro's

[chris98891]

congrats, its a great car

make sure you join e46fanatics.com for all e46 chassis specific related questions/modifications

[Waugh-terfall]

181,000kms for a 1999 isn't bad at all, it's about 112,500mi so it's averaged about 12,500mi/20,111km per year. The averge car averages 12,000mi per year so it's pretty much spot-on!
Our old Audi did 112,000mi in 7yrs and our current one is averaging 14,000mi per year.

[ripper46]

Got my first CEL today, but I'm quite sure I caused it myself, I opened the oil cap whilst it was running , and I also opened the coolant expansion tank.

[Waugh-terfall]

Fool.

[ripper46]

double checked for a failing head gasket

[Rasmus]

Sweet! I had an E46 320i back in Denmark, and I do miss that delightful I6 engine note. I wouldn't be too worried about the mileage on the M52TUB20 though. Also, with a dealer serviced car the chance of sub frame damage should be virtually nil.

Enjoy!

[ripper46]

Been driving it alot, verry comfy , acceleration not that great compared to my ex-GTI , at the top end its faster though. Engine sounds brilliant, wish it was a 3 liter though..

[ripper46]

All along I have had a clunk from the rear in between shifting, when I got under the car and I took the drive shaft by hand , it had alot of play on it, something like 20-30 degrees rotation was possible. It isn't the flector because we replaced it then and the , and the issue didn't go away (Didn't expect it to go away anyway).
So , my question is : is this, as I am thinking, a worn differential? If it is , is that a bad(unsafe) thing to keep driving around with... Apparently it isn't uncommon on e46's to have this bonking noise comming from the rear.

[ripper46]

In september I will have owned the car for 1 year.
I did an "inspection 2" maintenance wise, and replaced brake pads and rotors.
Apart from that I had some problems with a really bad idle , it just choked while cold. After various people ( including bmw mechanics) advising me to change fuel pump and MAF, mister Quigney told me to to take a look at the ISV. I cleaned it and problem was solved.

I included various pics from this year

[whiteballz]

Lower it.

[ripper46]

Lower it.

nah it's probly not staying for long anymore

[Ferrer]

nah it's probly not staying for long anymore

Why is that?

[ripper46]

It drinks too much for how it goes. And if I graduate I aim to have 2 cars, a frugal diesel and a weekend monster. This is neither