Quote:
Originally Posted by JeremyD
Anything that I should watch or be aware of?
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Yes, lots. At 60Kmi, it seems like the first major inspection is due, as well as a stack of other relatively minor maintenance. The short list of common failures, sorted as best as I can think of in terms of frequency, is like this:
1 - Coolant reservoir. The original design is neatly flawed, and sometimes explodes. They're not expensive, and don't take long to replace, but it's a really bummer if they go out while you're driving.
1a - Same vein, the water pump usually dies about 100kmi. It's a little more expensive at $80 or $90ish, but is similarly trivial to replace. You end up doing the $60 thermostat "while you're in there," because the t-stat is also known to give up at about 100kmi too. I just did this replacement, and it's not bad at all -- couple of hours, tops. If those things aren't in the record, it's worth mentioning, because it's maintenance that's due and may be worth bargaining power.
2 - Airbag problems -- the wiring harnesses that connect the seatbelt pretensioners to the ECU come loose. Some people have reported that they can zip tie them to get them to hold together and clear the light. I had to buy the replacement part ($24) and install it (about an hour). The other common airbag problem is the passenger side seat sensor, which detects whether or not someone is sitting in the pax seat for airbag reasons. There's no good way around that one, as far as I can tell -- it's about $600. You may be able to bargain a price down a little lower if the pre-tensioner harnesses haven't been replaced (it's like $250 if you get it done at the shop).
3 - Oil leaks.
a - The RMS is known to die, which causes some really awful problems. Oil out into the transmission, all that nonsense. I don't have this problem, so I can't really help with the detection, cost of repair, etc.
b - The oil separator (which is like a PCV valve on steroids) or one of the 3 hoses that goes to the OS is going to fail between 60k and 100k. You'll lose a quart of oil about every thousand miles once it goes. The leak is tough to spot because the OS lives underneath the intake manifold. It dribbles oil down onto (among other things on it's way) the plastic underbody covers, which can hold quite a bit of oil before they let it dribble out the back. If you can arrange to pick a car up and run a rag across the top of the underbody covers, you could check for oil. If you buy the car, and it has this problem, the parts will cost less than $100, and the replacement will cost you about 8 hours.
4 - Rear subframe assembly. This is actually a known issue based on bad engineering. The original subframe develops cracks and loses rigidity. This results in some mildly unstable rear-end handling, a clunking noise, and a trip to the dealer. It turns out that BMW will pay for the replacement, but it isn't totally straightforward.
5 - Minor stuff
a - The sunroof design is a piece of crap. There's a little metal clip in there that bends just a little bit with time and causes complete destruction of two other little plastic clips. The clips are about $60 (iirc), and it's easy to take apart. With everything apart, you can re-bend the original part back into shape. Alternately, there's a beefier replacement that requires removal of half the headliner and costs something like $120. If your sunroof makes funny noises, doesn't operate quite right, etc., you're on the verge of this one.
b - Window regulators. I haven't actually had this one (yet), but I understand that the window regulators in the E46 cars are pretty weak. Every time I see a post where someone's parting out a car, the first question is always for the window regulators.
Aside from those things, my 330i has been a great car to own, and I have twice as many miles as the ones that you're looking at. Maintenance, for the most part, is real easy, and parts aren't really that expensive. Get the Bentley's and a tool to scan the codes with and you're home free. I hang out on e46fanatics.com, and can sometimes find useful information there. I sometimes also find answers at bimmerforums.com.
Cheers, and good luck.
Dan