_ethrty-Andy_

Made it to Hamilton for Fieldays! Trip up from Wellington absolutely flawless, cluster now showing 54.3mpg which is 5.2L/100km in our money. can’t complain with that , and now that it’s had a big outing like that I feel very confident in the car ! Always a bit of a risk after sitting for that amount of time ! Only issue that will need some attention sooner rather than later is I think the center support bearing in driveshaft wants replacement, usual feeling from right where that is, not a very common issue on low power e46 but can happen on higher power and of course manual ones, and ones with nearly 500,000km on the clock !

Down to 47.8 mpg, about 5.5L/100km, pretty good given it’s been on the commuter duty Hutt to Wellington for the last few weeks ! Will be having its first big adventure in 4 years on Monday, driving through to Hamilton. great news that the fuel level sensor appears to be the same part number as both petrol and sedan, despite the tank itself being specific, so should be able to swap it out with one I have here from another e46.

Time for another update , I have far too many cars to keep build diaries for all of them , but since this one has so much history I will make a point of keeping this one up to date ! a beautiful spring day today in the Hutt valley, so off with the passengers front door card and in with a brand new replica. I will be honest I grit my teeth and brought a Chinese knockoff but since it’s the passenger side I’ll take the risk. The kit came more complete than the “quality” ones I have brought in the past for other vehicles , take from that what you will, however I did need to reuse the original motor. Given its rarely the motor that actually packs up on these, I’ll see how this one goes, might be the way forwards on other projects too! Didn’t take pics , all classic BMW owners know how to change a reg these days, as they are a common failure point from the dawn of electric window BMWs to today. i was up at pick a part a few weeks ago to grab some bits for another car, and spotted this MINT windscreen trim up there. Haven’t seen one this mint fitted to a car ever, must have been replaced recently , as the paint was had it, so not a garage kept car. Rubber nice and supple still so I grabbed that for just $9, beats over $300 new! Fitted it up and looking much better ! also while I was up there I found an E90 Motorsport spec with a pair of brand new Firestone Firehawk Sport 01, which is identical to the Bridgestone RE003 of yesteryear. I’m sure I’m on record here saying they are the best bang for buck tyre and I still stand by that, so snatched those up. Only catch was the wheels were painted black. Fitted them up to the front because turn in in a deisel are important things. and painted another good pair with Pirelli all seasons I had here to match. Some may hate the black but I’m frankly indifferent at the best of times , especially on what will be a hack. while the car was in the air, time for an oil change. 4 years since it’s last one. The black as the ace of spades oil would have me worried if it was a petrol, but that’s just another day in the office for a diesel powered vehicle. Afterward I let the pan sit for an hour, and then very slowly drained off the top, to see if there was any contamination in the oil. Not a single metal flake or anything . Blows my mind this car has the Kms it does !! Then fitted new filter and the cabin filter, and filled her up. Never mind the 5L bottle in the photo, I know they take more, topped it up with another jug I opened last week for another job. often forgotten part is reset the service interval, all done. While up in the air I noticed the sump guard as standard on all e46 was missing, so pulled one off another e46 parts car I have here and fitted that, and then dropped the car. The car has also had a knock (not engine related) just on initial start and shut down. I noticed the exhaust (which is basically straight pipe from the turbo back to the rear muffler) was touching what used to be the catalitic converter or DPF support bracket, so removed the bracket and all is well. In ideal world it probably adds 0.01% chassis regitidty if this car was on Forza. In the real world it will make no difference having this fitted or not. next on the job list will be a transmission and diff service. Both are still cherry but would be great to get this car back to a zero base again. Now at 490800 km. (Writing on my phone so photos may be out of order?)

some mixed success today... needed petrol for the mower already, and no parts cars with gas in at the moment. So filled the 320d as well, got 12L in which is pretty crazy for over 300km already on this tank! So leak is ruled out, must be the sender that is faulty. scanned the gauge cluster and turns out there is a sender code there already so there we go! will need further investigation once i do a LOT of kms to burn thru all this diesel! Hopefully not deisel and/or touring specific! and I brought a trade in ladder today, so sent it on its first "job" (never ming the bird dirt on the bumper, an impressive hit i must say)

this one looks good..... no association of course

yes seeing increasingly now in e38-e53 era of BMWs that these modules are all still running strong but do randomly throw codes that do strange things when present. so happened to just post that on another thread too. they are all getting to the age well beyond what they were designed to last.

about time for a wee update I think! Well i have possibly been a bit naughty driving this car about for most of September, (arguably within the road testing allowances since I am a registered business... ) but i wanted to check it was all happy to be back on the road again. With nothing to cause alarm, other than the tyres past thier best, I swapped a set of E90 Motorsport wheels on and sent it for a wof at VTNZ hoping for the best. the boys down there were blown away by the car. being off the road for all that time, and all they could find to fail on it was the wiper blades past thier use by date (well duh) and one of the rear tyres was a different load rating (out by more than 2) compared to the other axle and the other wheels, which I didnt spot when fitting them. And trust me, I know some VTNZ elsewhere in the country are a bit hopeless, but Seaview are tough, as all most all the inspectors are diesel mechanics and COF inspectors. And only one advisory, that the floor pans could do with some rust prevention coating as the under coating is coming away in places, but no actual rust anywhere. So will get on to that. Sorted the recheck items, topped up the RUCs and Rego, called my insurance broker, and we are back on the road! I did notice that the left front window reg was buggered while I was running about in the car, so ordered one of those, and also an oil filter and cabin air filter. I will also do the trans and diff too once ive put a bit more milage on the car and truely satisfied its totally shaken off sitting for 4 years like its nothing! have since done about 300km or so which has all gone great, though I see my post above... well its sitting on about 1/4 now, so might be a fuel leak somewhere??? One might expect me to notice more quickly, however its still on its first tank, and I drive a LOT and in a lot of different vehicles. equally, it may be that i got my wires crossed on the last post and I didnt fill it. either way ill need to confirm! and today, i was up at pickapart to help a friend get some parts for his Honda, spotted an e46 next lane over which are getting rare there now. was entirely unremarkable other than it had a mint windscreen lower trim (under wipers). as all modern classic BMW owners know, these are always boned by now, but this one had good supple rubber, either has been garaged its whole life, or replaced some time in the last few years. they are about $300 new, so was happy to part with $19. on way back, i had abs light come on, scanned the car and have a right front wheel speed sensor code. cleared it for now, and will see if it comes back, and investigate later. I do know some of these modules now they are getting on in years like to do minor glitches. till next time! nice to have a reason to post on this forum again, good to be part of the community once more! edit: forgot to add, keen on a bonnet for it if someone has something. Topaz blue facelift, and from either a sedan or touring. cheers.

actually, the center console worth a bit. will be either base model 318i sedan with power windows in the front only, or from a coupe which not many being wrecked any more. and yes they do break, usually the same time as the glovebox and/or the under tray is removed, or people pull the console not knowing about the two clips further back etc. They are also easy to break in storage too, the foam is very weak. $500 very steep tho, i can do it all cheaper if anyone needs that stuff.

dont worry, summer is coming, all the hipsters will have thier wallets open again shortly.

theres a ratty set in Hawkes bay for $800 if you are desperate.

cant remember where i was flying to but i had a lighter in my bag recently. I took it out, and told them i knew i shouldnt have it. they said oh no you can take that no problem. So who really knows these days. I mostly fly regional so never really get checked anyways.

Would pay to go to an independant (non-chain) tyre shop with some beers on a friday, and get them to spin them up with no tyres. youll soon see what the story is.

definately a sharp price for an iS version.

Hi Nick, will take you at your word since you are a new member. We have had a number of members report the listing. Your for sale also needs to have a price, an Ono is fine. We dont do "offers" here, its just a waste of everyones time.

Yes M47, sorry i was looking at bits for my N46 118i earlier!

true, and thats why most registered volunteer / club based organisations have elections at thier annual AGM. Even if there is only one candidate that stands and the vote is unanimous, the point is that everyone has had an opportunity to say, not just the handful of people that have the financial means and availability to get to an AGM on a particular evening. Edit: have just had a member message and say whats the difference to Bimmersport. The difference is that Bimmersport is a private company that derives revenue from selling advertising and merchandise to keep the lights on. It does not have members (or admin) that are obligated to pay to use the service.

Picked up the car on Sunday and brought it back to Wellington (on a trailer) Took the car for a road test, and all went really well! having not driven a 320d N47 before i wasnt really sure what to expect, but it has a fair bit of pep to it! No swirl flaps, dpf or egr, as well as a new turbo and hpfp means its the best it will be. I brimmed the fuel tank as the diesel in there has to be at least 6 months old, no doubt some is years old. noticed the gauge stayed at 1/3rd so thats another thing to add to the list of things to do. almost the entire drive the econometer gauge sat below 50mpg which means around 5L/100km. incredible. have a few other cars here I am working on that need to be prioritised, so probably wont get to this car for a while. I generally no longer bother with build threads, but I will try to keep motorvated to update and keep this thread alive since its a forum car!

Yup he was there at both of them

Have one for you, 0273079322 cheers

Well well! Thought it might be time to revive this thread, as I now own this car! This thread went dead in 2016, the last few pages before this show some of the issues. There is another thread in about 2018 or so with some more issues this this vehicle. For a few reasons, Graham decided it was time to part ways with the car as a non-runner, and ever looking for a project, Elijah @eliongater picked it up from him. Elijah fitted a new battery to the car, and also found some touring specific rear leather seats for it, but otherwise had a few other things come up in his life as well, and also decided to pass it on. I picked up this car, some time in 2020. I went through both this thread and also the help one linked above, and basically came to the same conclusion. For some reason the pressure sensor at the rail was showing 2.1 bar when cranking, which is basically nil.Somewhere in the links above there is a document which is the official BMW fault finding manual for the M47, which was very useful, and in the end diagnosed that the DME is the fault with the car. So there it sat in my yard for another year or so, which dozens of cars came and went around it. the 320d being a fairly rare car in NZ is very hard to find a DME kit for, and havent had any luck over that time Some of you that have been around this forum for a very long time will remember Greg Hook from Hawkes Bay, who at that time daily drove a yellow E36 M3. for the last 12 years or so he has worked at Hawkes Bay BMW, and is now what BMW call a Master Technician. He is also a close friend of mine. 4 months ago, he decided to take the step and move out into business for himself, and has set up GH Automotive https://www.facebook.com/GHAutomotiveLtd I love it when people decide to have the balls to leave the safety net of a regular salary and go out into the big wide world. So I decided I would send the 320d to him for one last look over, and if he agrees its the DME, then ill get order one. But it cant hurt to have another look over it. Dropped it off on Thursday (with a box of Heineken in the front seat, if you know you know!) and he pulled it around yesterday. I told him, ignore the work others have done, just go back to basics and see what you find. He called me yesterday afternoon, and after 5 years, it is alive once more! A very strange issue with the car, and one no wonder Graham, Elijah or myself didnt find it! On the Touring model, there is a difference to the sedan with the relay wiring for the intermediate and fuel tank pumps, with the sedan having a 4 pin relay and the touring having a 5 pin one. Well for whatever reason, this car had a 4 pin relay installed, and so the intermediate pump was not triggering. When testing at the wiring, on the pump however, it would test out with 12V just fine. So now with the correct relay in place, it starts up and chuggs away quite happily! Unfortunately, that will not be the end of this saga I suspect. There has to be a reason why someone was in there playing around with those relays (and installed and incorrect one) and so it will remain to be seen what that is. But now that the car is running once more, I will get it back down here, and I can go from there! Milage: 305,xxx miles, or 492,000km So it will be getting a big birthday for 500,000km!

I have been a member in Wellington for a number of years, but can find better ways to spend $80 these days. By and large the members in Wellington are fantastic, and the majority of them I keep in touch with on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, there are a few toxic self important individuals that are in there, and since I left I have had a number of former members reach out and echo the same sentiment about why they haven't rejoined, including some very active BMW enthusiasts in Wellington. Whether this is the same in Christchuch I dont know, but I know the christchurch chapter has always stuggled to get the numbers. Unfortunately head office is auckland based, and in my many years experience there is next to no interest, involvement or support from them in the regional activity. For example, what the membership fee actually goes towards in the regions is anyones guess. There are no club rooms or subsidised trips, and the member discounts are not paid by the club. If you ask, you don't get answers.

Thanks for the shout out Nick Yep I dont come on here very much any more. (just seeing this now 6 weeks later!) My number is 0273079322 if anyone needs me, plenty in stock from about 15 E30s wrecked in the last year, many more previously. some stuff is getting pretty hard to find now tho, and often presold before it arrives here!

total shitbox one coming up at turners damaged auctions on wednesday.

hey @adro, best to text or call me these days, as i sporadically come on here now. oh twentyseven, 30793 too too. But like Troy, both my cabby and my tech2 that had sport autos originally are both running the 6 pin circle TPS switch with no issues. i cant see why no continuity at WOT would cause an idle issue.

Try silverdale radiators.