Hey all, sorry been away for a bit, as life got in the way. Got the car and here's some of the good/bad/ugly so far.
First some context of why i bought this car:
I've been a fan of the E46 generation of BMWs since they came out. However, back in the day, i wasnt financially capable of buying one. Now, with finances and life in a good place, thought of getting one for myself.
Initial plan was to look for and get an M3. However, i didnt want a convertible. Its just a big headache if the smallest thing goes wrong (atleast in my mind). Slicktop it had to be.
Looking for a clean (unmolested) M3 is more challenging than i thought it would be. Well maintained cars with a verifiable history were being sold for 40-50k. Stuff that wasnt all that great was still being advertised for 25-30k. Nothing close to where i live that i even wanted to see in person. Something that i did want to take a look at was across the country.
Hence, started looking at the 330 coupe and found this gem. PO was a good/honest person to speak with. He provided all service records and history when requested.
So a week after finalizing the deal, here we are. Got this one for 7900 USD.
First fuel stop:
The car was well looked after externally, but the interiors were nasty. Everything you could touch had a layer of gunk on it.
Some pics to show what i mean:
Went through almost an entire bottle of chemical guys Interior APC to clean out the whole mess
Engine bay wasnt any better either. It was covered in grime and needed some desperate TLC to get looking nice:
Before:
A few hours later:
You might notice that the headlights dont have their "surround" in the after pics. These were rubber and falling apart with pieces all over. I just pulled them out coz they didnt seem to funtionally do anything there. Not sure what their purpose is..
The cabin air filter housing wasnt very clean either. Had a bunch of leaves in there:
Found that the filter itself was relatively clean and the charcoal type (i think, because its grey and not the usual white), unless its just so dirty that it looks like its a charcoal filter
Door jambs were pretty much similar in state:
I do believe a monkey was hired to do some work on the car.
The rear view camera is installed using self threading/tapping screws into the trunk handle part:
Had to take plates off to install my new ones and was surprised with where the camera cable is coming from:
Is that a hole that's present on all of these cars, or is that just a lazy job done by drilling a hole through the trunk lid?
The rear window seals are rotting:
Interior leather is in pretty good nick:
Front seats after some cleaning and conditioning:
Rear seats look like they've never been used before. Still gave them a good clean and conditioned them:
Now to the mechanical bits (i do apologize for no pics about these, as i was working solo and handling the phone and working just wasnt convienient)
Did inspect the suspension and all struts show no signs of leaks. Car does ride very smooth on all types of road surfaces.Bushings all check out as well, with no cracks seen anywhere.
Subframe mounts are clean.
Cooling system seems to have been refreshed in the recent past. Pipes/hoses not showing any signs of cracks or aging even. All soft and supple?
Air filter is a brand new K&N intake that i'm not a fan of, but leaving it in there till its time to clean. I'll put back the stock filter at that time (PO did retain the OEM filter and housing).
Engine oil levels are good and oil is new. No frothing/milky layer noticed on the dip stick or the oil fill cap.
Coolant level was good, but had to top it off with about 200ml.
Car still has the mechanical clutch fan which is working fine. Might change this to the electric one in the future.
Only bit i've not checked/verified is the vanos service. PO didnt even know what a vanos is, so i'm sure he hasnt touched it. Low RPM torque is fine, so i'm not too inclined to touch that just yet.
No oil leaks under the car. Nothing on the head gasket/exhaust side either.
Power steering reservoir was covered in a layer of oil, but i think this is from spilling when it was being refilled. i cleaned it when i got the car and after about 200 miles of driving, not seeing it re-appear. Probably just a shoddy job of cleaning up post service.
No lights on the dash (but i changed this by being dumb).
Post cleaning the car, i think i got done around sun down, and just drove into the garage and left the car there.
Being used to a lot of the driver assist features on newer cars, i forgot to turn off the headlights. Next morning, lo and behold, the car/battery is dead.
Purchased a jump starter box and got it started, but now i have the SES light on in the dash.
Dont have a code reader yet, so need to figure out the cause and solution to this one.
I think i've got all bases covered from reading through a truck load of threads on here about everything i could.
I intend on keeping this car for a long time and it will be my daily driver as well. So, If ya'll think i need to check something i've missed, please do pitch in.
