Chanderpaul

Hey just wondering how you got on with this project? I am looking to do a very simple LCD display for oil and water temp that I could hide in my center console or giant ash tray that the VL has.

Sweet. Cant believe how easily they die and during a f*cking heat wave. How much for one shipped to Blenheim?

Hey, is the aircon fan blow resistor still available?

In the mean time I got sick of having the rear tail light fault and after searching a few forums and watching the 50s Kid video on repairing his tail light loom I gave it a crack. My right hand boot lid light was not working so checked all the bulbs etc and found no 12v at the bulb holder. Pulled the loom apart and the wire was broken along with another couple that had cracked insulation and one that was nearly broken so i did a few repairs. All the old tape residue makes it a prick to move the rubber boot but got there in the end.

I tried to limit myself on FCP. Should be enough to get the job done I hope. I will check the fuel rail inlet hose whilst I am there and hope it is in good condition. The car still playing up a bit and would love to get it fixed so I can enjoy some trouble free summer cruising. Totally agree Olaf they are a sweet drive. Oil dipstick o-rings Intake and Throttle body gasket Intake manifold nipple cap 3x water pipes Manifold air temp sensor o-ring Air distribution o-rings CCV kit I bought already.

Old topic but I recently noticed missing bungs on the under side of my e46 that I can see the foam through. 25mm bung plug

Thanks for all the help. I will try to reduce my shopping cart to something reasonable and get the ball rolling. I have replaced all the air intake pipes, F connector and did the o-ring on my DISA valve. Will try to lube up the ICV as shown in the link. 3 coolant hoses (# 5, 6, 8,) CCV kit, intake manifold gasket, throttle body gasket, dip stick o-rings

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like I will have to find a quiet weekend and get the manifold off. I had a look on RealOEM at the diagram and ended up down a rabbit hole with a huge shopping cart of things. What parts would you recommend as a minimum? #6 & #8 coolant pipes, Intake manifold gasket. - Are things like fuel injector o-rings and o-rings for the air distribution manifold something I should also consider? Also does anyone have experience with the 02 Pilot mod or similar with M54s ?

Did a smoke test with the home made setup. Worked well but might need a higher resistance wire or some more patience as I set the oil on fire. Found a lot of smoke coming from under the intake manifold so I have ordered a full CCV kit. Need to determine if I will take the intake manifold or do the reach around. Also the breather hose to the rocker cover so had to make do with a coolant line to keep it going. Also got sick of the loud rear left wheel bearing so tackled that job. Once you have all the tools its not a bad job, just a pain that it is the left one and you have to get the exhaust makes access tricky. But totally worth the effort to have a lot less road noise now. Still idles horribly at times so will investigate further when I tackle the CCV replacement.

Awesome. I've got a compressor available, will look into the smoke machine and see what I can discover. Appreciate the help!

Hi Eagle. Thanks for the tip! I've got access to a heat gun and blow torch and random workshop stuff that will hopefully come in handy if I run into trouble getting the axle out. Cheers

I also replaced the aircon fan hedgehog blower resistor. Fun job if you enjoy breaking your back and being upside down. Forgot about the other dilemmas this beautiful car has burdened me with. Airbag fault due to the wiring of the drivers seat belt tensioner. I checked the plug and wiring and couldn't find an issue. Went to Pick a Part and found a tensioner. Got my seat out and then realised the plugs were very similar but not the same. I reset the fault light to see if it would come back immediately anyway. It stayed off for a few months but now it is back. No Pick a Part in Blenheim so I need to figure something out for that. Next drama - Rear brake light fault. I have searched the forums high and low and it seems to be a fault possibly in the wiring loom going to the boot lid. I have checked and my car has the modified light housings with the better earth. I have had a quick visual and did some resistance checks and could find any high resistance to earth. I think it is the boot lid right hand side brake light. Tried new bulbs but no luck. So will investigate further because.... Along side my P0171 and P0174 lean codes, I get P0313 - misfire detected with low fuel, which is what prompted me to do a fuel pump and ignition coils as precautionary measure. P1620 - MAP cooling circuit signal high - Map cooling thermostat control circuit signal high. Not sure about the thermostat one as it is a new Borgwarner unit. After reading E46 forums, I feel like some of these issues are caused by the earth fault on the brake light. Any help on the above would be greatly appreciated.

Some say it's never to late to start a project thread, so here I am after 5 years of ownership starting the story of the constant woes and joy my E46 has given me. Returned from overseas travel and needed a new daily that wasn't just a bog standard corolla for A to B. Previous flat mates had a few BMWs and sold me on how nice they were to drive and how easy they are to work on. Found this delicious M sport sedan on the trademe, gave it a once over and purchased it. The car had roughly 183k km when I bought it. Previous owner/s had a few receipts and the person I bought it off, had the car 'stolen' from their driveway whilst it was idling for a joy ride. So had a new wheel or two, new front bumper and some of the cooling system. Previous receipts I found in the glove box: Window regulator - 2012 Water pump - 2013 Thermostat - 2013 Idler pulley - 2013 Oil filter housing gasket - 2017 VANOS Oil line - 2017. After working on an old holden commodore with not the greatest online parts stores, I was shown FCP Euro and all of its delicious goodies. So I got straight into it with some standard servicing parts; Cabin air filter, Engine air filter, Spark plugs, Engine mounts, Power steering reservoir. Did some daily driving and enjoyed the awesome ride quality of a BMW and the M Sport suspension. Enjoyed the COVID lockdown living at my BMW friends house and got lost done. Went on another shopping spree; Fuel filter, front brake rotors and pads, VANOS rebuild kit, VANOS oil feed line, Trans filter and fluid, Water pump, Thermostat, Coolant hoses, Coolant expansion tank, Rocker cover gasket. Continued enjoying BMW ownership. Had a few little issues with a rough idle and the car stalling infrequently. Cleaned out the idle control valve and inspected the intake pipes. Found one with a crack so got a new one from pick a part. Issue seemed to be resolved. Continued to be a nice daily driver. Could feel the front left getting noisy and failed on a front ball joint. Sourced new front control arms and got to work replacing them. Tricky job but doable with right tools and a few swings on the mini sledge hammer. I only managed to get one done before I had to pack up my house and move to Blenheim / Picton. Oil level sensor had been on the fritz for a while and the F connector on the intake pipe snapped so I made a 3d printed one that did the job until my latest parts order could arrive; Air intake pipes and F connector, Fuel pump, Bosch Ignition coils, Spark plugs, Oil level sensor. I have been constantly chasing lean engine codes bank 1 and 2 on this car for years. Slowly trying to find all vacuum leaks as they seem the most likely culprit after reading lots of E46 forum posts. I noticed my DISA seal was very square, so measured it up and found an O-ring to fit. But now the car will not idle when cold. It dies after 1 second unless you give it throttle. And when it does start revving low and trying to stall it makes one or 2 loud clunks. If i hold some throttle on and manage to get out the driveway and on the move it will accelerate and cruise with no issue and when I reach work it will idle with a slight roughness. Have yet to find time to investigate but will check the idle control valve and have a hunt around the vacuum lines when I do. Next step I'm thinking all new CCV pipes etc and possibly intake manifold off, hidden coolant hoses and new intake manifold gaskets. Also add to the list a left rear wheel bearing which has suddenly become very noisy. I have ordered bearings and begun to create a list of tools required for the job.

Hi, woukd this tool also be used for pressing out e46 rear wheel bearings? Or any suggestions on a tool kit online that will do the job? Cheers

Hi just wondering what you ended up doing in regard to DISA issues? Mine holds at about 3/4 shut if if put my finger over the diaphragm hole and let the flap go. I am trying to buy an o-ring to see if that helps with a vacuum leak I am chasing. Seems like it will need to be 57mm with a section of 2.5mm