gjm

Still cheap for what it is.

JML Motorsport is (was?) a Swedish company run by Mikael Lund that did a number of conversions, all (reportedly) to a very high standard. They put the ex-850 V12 into a number of BMWs, including E34 saloons and wagons. (But we've seen that here, too. :-) ) They also did 5.6 and 6.0 conversions for the S70 in the 850i. Not a huge company or huge production, but there are several 356CS conversions (the V12 M3) around, and I saw an E34 V12 wagon for sale in Germany, 2 or 3 years before we moved here - it was in the for sale 'yard' at the Techno Classica in Essen.

I drove a 2-door Integra(? May have been an Accord?) with the 3.0 VTEC engine and a manual 'box (conversion - the autos apparently get a bit suspect quite quickly). It was a lot of fun, but always felt a bit 'made of paper'. I was stepping into it from a 1988 Mercedes 560SEC, which may have had something to do with it.

Don't drop anything!

That was my thought too. Yep - lovely. $260k lovely? Don't think so... Not even with the low mileage.

Sadly, this one is not an ACS, despite what Carjam says. ACS said so. I asked. Still potentially a nice car, though.

Yup. 2.6. And four zeroes. Why? Because: It's a JM Lippert 356CS. 368kW of 5.6 V12 in a M3 body. More info here.

Of the two, I'd probably have the Alpina. But that choice is based as much on the 'different' quality of an Alpina - there'll be an owners club for the F80 M3, but Alpinas will always be more exclusive.

Washed it. Sorry about that. Probably explains why it's raining, now.

Penrite Enviro+, errmm... Off-hand, not sure the spec. Only that it exceeds whatever BMW says it should meet. I did a lot of research before settling on this. Greg Hantz reckons 7000 miles or ~11000km between oil and filter changes. The BMW computer says 13000+ miles, or well over 20000km. In future, I may well opt for an oil change between filter changes: oil every 5000km or so, filter every other oil change. Keeps things sweet.

Replaced the fuel filter. It's running a little bit better. Again. Hardly surprising - pouring fuel from the 'input' side of the filter showed it to be quite dirty, and while the filter appeared to still be doing it's job, it could well be original. (It's not a lot of fun to change, despite appearing to be a straightforward task.) The idle thing is getting more tricky. I tried following the instructions on the link above, but there are one or two issues. Like... Just where is the base idle control screw on this car? I had the throttle body off again, and there is nothing obvious. Absolutely no adjustment, other than on the throttle cable. There is a plastic cover on one side which while it has torx-head bolts through it, also has peened over plastic plugs locating it. Obviously not designed to be a service item. (The throttle body is by VDO.) OK. ISV next, then. I really want to get back to working on the Mercedes! And there is just the teensiest possibility that the BMW count in the driveway could double. To two. I'm a-plannin' an' a-schemin' ways to make that work.

Another oil change completed today - a little later than I'd planned, at around 4500 miles since the last one. Still means I'll do three changes to every one that the BMW computer says is needed. While under there I remembered to replace the oil level sender. It seems I swapped one light showing on the dash (the yellow oil can showed for 10 seconds or so to let me know the sender wasn't working) for another - everything appeared fine on the way home from work, but it looks as though a tail light has decided to give up while I was in the chip shop. The dash shows a red light, at least. Still, it'll be an easily resolved item. Not like headlight bulbs... Have you tried buying one standard headlight bulb lately? Blue this, cool that, multiple different temperatures of all sorts... But nothing 'normal'! SCA had none at all, and Repco had to go and 'look in the back'. (This was a Sunday - sources were limited.) And then it cost more than many of the fancy aftermarket bling ones. Looking forward to wearing out the tyres to be honest. Currently running on 215/45-17s which look nice, but I don't like them. They're at the width limit for a 7" rim and I feel they wander a bit, something I'd not noticed when running the 205/50s. It's just possible the extra width has marginally impacted fuel economy too, as we're not getting quite as far on a tank as we were. We'll pass a recorded 250,000 miles tomorrow. 402500km, or thereabouts.

Yup. I waited 30 seconds or so, too, as it has sometimes taken a short while to populate the bottom of the page. No worries. The result is what counts.

Damn. If it were the drivers door, I'd get the window regulator fixed at the same time...

I tried that site too, but only got he basics returned in the search I did. Oh well. Glad it got sorted.

I tried a couple of decode sources but don't get more info than the car being a RHD, 4-door, E46 320i, produced in April 2004. Basic stuff, and doesn't answer the 'big' question. As Paul suggests, I suspect the only answer is going to be to ask a BMW dealer

The hesitation at highway speeds seems to only happen when the engine is warmed through.

Thanks Chris. I have seen that, but (to be honest) not followed it through. Is the ISV is where the thread says it is, I have been looking in the wrong place. I also have no idea how to get to it! Up in the air would probably help but isn't readily possible. The weekend is coming. Perhaps I'll write off another day in pursuit of a car that runs properly.

I'm using a combination of 30 years experience working on cars and info gleaned from internet research. There is a .pdf of the VW Polo Haynes manual around, but it's not great. Pages are in the wrong order, and reproduction quality is OK rather than good. There's a manual referring to the older cars, but they didn't (I don't think) get the multi-point injection. It's a fairly basic engine which somehow seems to have been poorly implemented. The problems I'm having are less severe than some described on various forums, but many agree it is the throttle body (design) that causes problems. VW are no help - typical dealer response is to replace, replace, replace, rather than diagnose correctly and fix. Of course, the car is now 16 years old, but the issues we're having now are described as being fairly commonplace even 10 years ago. Take that with a pinch of salt - VW produced hundreds of thousands of these cars and variants or derivatives, and reports of a few dozen problems could be giving a false perspective.

Done a bit more investigating. The only really positive thing to be said though is that every little thing I do, seems to improve things just a little bit. Removed the throttle body. Price for the sealing washer/o-ring? $22. OEM part in Europe is the equivalent of $4... Shipping kills any advantage, of course. Carefully cleaned the bottom part of the throttle body, ensuring I didn't get cleaner on the plastic parts on the side of the throttle body. Replace. Warmed the engine, removed the plugs, checked compression. 1, 2, 4 are all 150-155; 3 is around 145-150. Not enough difference to cause a problem. I've managed to get things to the point where the engine does now tickover when warm, albeit at around 550-600rpm. Way down on what it should be, and not good enough to tickover when cold. Unfortunately, at the moment, chief suspect is an ISV (Idle stabilisation valve) issue. I think this is under the secure plastic cover on the side of the throttle body, and I can't find anything anywhere about checking or repairing it. Throttle body replacement is too expensive to be considered. 'Cured' the starting problem after experimentation. A tiny bit of throttle when starting means it again starts first time. (But apparently this will throw an error code - throttle while starting.) Stalling can be avoided by left foot braking while retaining that tiny bit of throttle, although this is typically no longer required. Adjusting the throttle cable isn't really an option as the adjustment available is too coarse and the engine will 'tickover' at 1200rpm+. Theoretically the ISV can be reset by turning the ignition key to position 3 (lights showing on dash) and leaving it there for between 15 seconds and 3 minutes, depending on the source of info. Tried that, of course, but it has made no difference. The occasional hesitation when driving (constant speed, etc) is still there. I think this is probably unrelated to the low tickover/poor starting issues. I'll check the fuel pump relay, and maybe investigate replacing the in-tank fuel pump. ($240+ here, equivalent of <<$100 in Europe so that part will be imported if I go ahead.) When running, it's great! Economy is good, engine is smooth and revs freely, gear changes are sweet. Oh - all four plugs get wet when starting, so there is fuel getting through. Start and run the engine for a few seconds and the plugs are black; pull the plugs after a reasonable run and they are an appropriate grey colour. Possibly just on the hot side of OK, but nothing to be concerned about. The starting thing is odd. The engine turns over fast enough, but just doesn't fire on all four cylinders - it sounds like it starts on 2, then a third cuts in, and then the 4th at which point everything is smooth and lovely. I've not replaced the leads... Maybe that would also help? I was going to try an alternative set but the only spares I have won't fit. I'll also check the voltage at the battery while turning the engine over.

It's some clever sh*t, 'n no mistake!

I've tried changing it and it's better, but not good. Bob had a better result (assuming everyone can see that!) Damn. It would have been funny. Honest.

I'm not having any issues... But most driving is on SH1 at highway speeds. All the same, it's been good around town, too. Had it flushed by Marshalls in Hamilton, and frankly didn't notice any difference post-flush. That said, I saw what came out and it resembled dirty water... Definitely not good. I'm not sure I agree with Marshall's assertion that it ought to be done every 20000km though: that sounds more like job creation (for them) than anything else. It does need doing more often than the BMW recommendation - never - though. The trans in our car is a bit older, in distance terms at least. Every 50000km, perhaps? I think even the least optimistic manufacturers are suggesting every 80-100000km. It's not easy to do at home with no trans fluid dipstick tube to fill through. I may well go back to Marshalls, but will ask them to be more careful as there was a definite smell of trans fluid burning off the exhaust after they worked on it last time. Your process sounds a good one, but I would say that - it's similar to what I did when I changed the trans fluid on the Mercedes. Manufacturers are optimistic about these things. According to BMW, engine oil should be changed every ~12-13000 miles, or nearly 20000km. I'm changing engine oil every 4000 miles or so.

From the responses, I kinda guess there must be something wrong with my original post. Unfortunately... I can't see a problem! There's a strip of images. I've cleared cache and... No problem! Sorry folks. I really can't see an issue, but I assume there must be one!