E46 320d Touring - life with a high mileage car

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

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!

[gjm 3258]

14 minutes ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

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!

It was always an awesome car for us, and as you've noticed, peppy yet economical.

Oh - it's an M47, not an N47.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

12 minutes ago, gjm said:

It was always an awesome car for us, and as you've noticed, peppy yet economical.

Oh - it's an M47, not an N47.

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

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

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...

On 8/22/2022 at 5:57 PM, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

...I brimmed the fuel tank..

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.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

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)

 

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

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?)

 

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

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.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

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 !

[Eagle 1678]

Are you talking about the rubber support for the bearing or the actual bearing itself?

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

15 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Are you talking about the rubber support for the bearing or the actual bearing itself?

Rubber support 

[gjm 3258]

22 hours ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

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 !

I think that was done about 250000km ago.

Harmonic balancer on front of engine was about 50000km later. (Keep an eye on that.)

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

On 11/29/2022 at 6:15 PM, gjm said:

I think that was done about 250000km ago

Probably about ready then lol

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

got lifted a few weeks back. CSB is all good. could be the UJ's, so at some stage will pull that and have a look.

Accidentally a M47 manual from Ashburton, so that might end up being the solution. cant think of a more fitting 500,000km present to liberate the car., about 8000km to go.

no gaurentees it will actually make it into the car tho eh!

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

time for another update

done 3 more bigger trips, once to Wairou and twice to Hastings, just takes it all in its stride!

Second time in Hastings i popped in to see Greg, vibration starting to get pretty bad now and he had a hoist free so lifted it up and spun it up on the hoist, confirmed in the DS UJs, so thats good to know. also noticed the transmission mounts are buggered too so any vibration that is there is going straight into the cabin.
Got home and looked up the part number for the driveshaft, it is 320d specific which seemed strange to me since the diff, trans and engine are all geometrically the same as any other automatic 4 cylinder BMW.
Have a parts car E46 318i here so measured it up compared to the 320d, all looked the same so pulled it , and then realised the guibo on the 320d is the larger type. realised prefacelift 318i E46 have smaller output flange. thought oh well since my issues is in the rear half, i can just make one shaft up from two, however for whatever reason the slip/spline part is the other way around to the 320d one, so not possible. argh! so still to get that one solved, the easiest is probably to take the car off the road and get the current one rebuilt. another way is i could swap the output shaft on the transmission but not totally sure if that is possible or not, probably end up more hassle figuring it out than its worth!

Previously mentioned the fuel gauge on the cluster is also not working right. yet to see a fuel level gauge on the cluster fail on these E46, the senders are much more common on this era BMWs. Brimmed the tank and ran it 500miles (about 800km) till i was satisfied the tank will be pretty much empty. the sender is located inside the tank and a really messy job to do if the tank is full. Removed the seat base, and removed the inspection cover, and right away found the problem! must have had a resident mouse above the fuel tank at some point as newspaper (there is always newspaper!!!) and the wires to the sender chewed. took a loom cutting from the parts car, spliced it into the car and connected up to the gauge, and hey presto gauge is back in business! Lol at doing 800km in the tank and still showing 2/5ths on the gauge! put cover and seat back in,  took it round the conrner to brim the tank again, an gauge now is back all the way on full and has been there ever since (about 200km into this tank so far lol)

Got a E90 parts car in a while back with the same E90 Motorsport wheels that are on it. all four tyres are different (and mostly bald), just so happens one of the good ones is an RE003 which matches the front on the 320d, so i have decided to break the set and use that wheel as a full size spare to replace the space saver.

And finally, had a spare hour so made up and installed a hardwire kit for my Beltronic. really don't need it in this car tbh but a nice little addition so the cigarette lighter cord no longer hangs across the radio! just used the power for the makeup mirror light above the sunvisor. the switch inside the visor itself was buggered anyways, so the light never worked. have been looking out for one for a while, hard to find e46 non-motorsport (and therefore beige) but also high enough spec to actually have the feature. usually there are no lights at all, or its an Msport car with black. so just a cut and splice this time, not my usual way to do it as not easily reversable but im sure life will go on !

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

doesnt look to be a lot of interest in keeping this thread alive, never the less, it serves as a good build diary for me in the future, and prehaps the next own if it is ever sold !

had a quiet afternoon around march or so. had some black leather seats from an E53 parts car. The bolt pattern is identical across E38/E39/E46/E53 so spent the afternoon getting these installed. This 320d had poverty pack seats, was surprised to find it wasnt even prewired for electric or heated seats which they usually are. Not too fused about the heated seats, but had to run some wires to make the move/recline etc work, and also swap the seat buckles and pretensioners over

I also got an E39 540i motorsport parts car in recently, which had a set of 18" M Parallels which were quickly pinched. The photos make them look tidier than they are, could do with a professional refurb, but look the business!
Fitted brand new tyres to make them work (as the E39 tyres were much too big) as well as hubcentric spacers, due to the E39 center bore being slightly larger than all other Exx BMWs for some strange reason!
The front work perfectly as is. The rear i had to roll the inner lips of the gaurds in, trim the wheel well liners a but, and delete the front most of the side brackets for the bumper. the rear shocks had visible corosion around the top near the upper mounts, so also replaced those. Sorry to the purists that only fit Bilstein etc, off the shelf items at BNT will do for this car. lowered back down and gave it a drive, no rubbing anywhere. over the past month has done a lot of miles loaded to the brim with gear for the shows Im doing for ACT, and no rubbing anywhere. Great result!

forgot i had some BMW plates and found one day in the shed, so fitted those up as well.

While it had a pitstop in Hastings last week, Greg at GH Automotive swapped the engine mounts for me. Left side easy peasy, right hand side a bit of a pain with a turbo tucked in there so you need to drop the frame to do it. Also discovered the vaccum hose to the wastegate was disconnected, and hooked that up. turbo whistle instantly sounded WAY better. as the EGR and DPF has been deleted many moons ago, its only the back box doing the heavy lifting. However, with that hooked up, the car would no longer go over 2500rpm. just to test, re-disconnected (is that a word?) and worked perfectly again. freeboosting isnt as much of a concern in diesels as it is petrols, providing the engine is healthy, so thats a good sign! I have ordered a new boost solenoid for it which should solve!

[BM WORLD 1286]

come on M57b30tu2 swap  then ill get excited .

 

[gjm 3258]

17 hours ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

doesnt look to be a lot of interest in keeping this thread alive, never the less, it serves as a good build diary for me in the future, and prehaps the next own if it is ever sold !

The number of people 'liking' posts here suggest there is at least some interest!

[Eagle 1678]

20 hours ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

serves as a good build diary for me in the future, and prehaps the next own if it is ever sold !

Thats what i use it for. As a note Bimmersport would be pretty much dead for new content if none of us did. 

2 hours ago, gjm said:

The number of people 'liking' posts here suggest there is at least some interest!

Only really the regulars who may do that. Im sure there's many members or vistors who view\read but dont post\contribute etc, so not the best indication.  

[Vass 867]

On 6/12/2023 at 12:20 PM, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

doesnt look to be a lot of interest in keeping this thread alive, never the less, it serves as a good build diary for me in the future, and prehaps the next own if it is ever sold !

Nah don't you stop! I'm a few hundred thousand km's behind and not on the original engine anymore but hoping to get to half a million as well one day, this serves as an inspiration

Keen to see some photos of how those E53 seats sit in there. I've got a set sitting in the garage as well but they'll need a good restoration before I throw them in.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

Christmas update !

Now at 314,000miles , 505,000km

just keeps ticking them up, albeit a bit slower lately.

If anyone is interested in being its next owner, im having thoughts about moving it on. I have 5 cars that remain in the fleet (19 BMWs in total at the moment) , probably should get the number down a bit. Needs an enthusiast owner that will keep putting the miles on!

Can come on the m parallels with virtually brand new tyres, or on standard e46 wheels. Could do with either paint or a wrap. I havent got to rebuilding the driveshaft yet, but thats the only thing that needs to be done. I havent done it because i have a manual conversion here for it which is diesel specific and could go with it.

oh too sevin 3079322

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

Can come on the m parallels with virtually brand new tyres, or on standard e46 wheels. Could do with either paint or a wrap. I havent got to rebuilding the driveshaft yet, but thats the only thing that needs to be done. I havent done it because i have a manual conversion here for it which is diesel specific and could go with it.

oh too sevin 3079322

E46s look awesome on stock 16" E90 rims, too. The slight difference in offset really improves the look.

[balancerider 778]

7 minutes ago, gjm said:

E46s look awesome on stock 16" E90 rims, too. The slight difference in offset really improves the look.

@gjm surely buy it back for your new commute??

[gjm 3258]

4 minutes ago, balancerider said:

@gjm surely buy it back for your new commute??

It's something that is a consideration, and Andy and I have spoken.  

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

Parked up for 3-4 weeks over christmas new year, drove it then for a few weeks. I am doing an M52 conversion on an E30 at the moment and had to drop some parts into the engineer anyway, so have finally got around to removing the driveshaft from thos, it is in with them now. 
CSB looked to be in decent shape when installed, but on removal did have a tear about 20 degrees around the edge. Quite cheap trade price , and bearing was solid on the DS, and would have been destroyed during replacement of UJs due to heat required. 
so will be all new going back in which will be nice.

saw the collapsed transmission bushes i had forgotten about as well (have mentioned earlier in this thread) , the engine mounts being replaced removed virtually all of the vibration from the car, residual i just put down to being a “self clearanced” diesel, so will do those too when it all goes back in. Guibo looks like a reletively recent replacement (within the last 150,000km anyway!) and shows no sign of wear.

will update when its all back in !

[Vass 867]

13 hours ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

I am doing an M52 conversion on an E30 at the moment

Bit off topic but have been curious on this for a while. Is there a reason people are opting for M52 conversions as opposed to M54? Have a mate that just got his E30 certified with an M52B28 and have heard of a few others too.

I would have thought the M54 to be, I guess, a superior engine, the fabrication involved and fitment would be pretty much the same and M54's are surely more easily available nowadays. Is it the electronics behind it that are more complex or just down to what people have had available to them at the time?