Please note that this thread is purely a blog of what I'm doing to this car and is not meant to used as a guide. Attempt at your own risks.
Hi everyone.
This is my first BMW and also the first time wrenching on one.
I came from a background of an SR swapped S14, Lexus GS, and an S2000 which is my current toy. I've done all of the work up to this point myself aside from anything welding related. Blew up and swapped my fair share of engines an transmissions between those cars. I'm definitely not a mechanic but I do appreciate the mechanical of cars in general and is willing to learn.
One random Sunday afternoon I came across a Craigslist ad for an E46 parts car that's still "running" with 234K miles on the clock. I'm a sucker for wagons so this was a great opportunity I thought. When I saw the car it was surprisingly complete down to the cargo partition and even the tool set and the spare.
I brought a generic OBD2 scanner with me and was able to pull up 8 codes for misfires, lean condition, and cam angle sensor. Luckily I have a good buddy out of state who is very familiar with BMWs and he told me to just buy it if it can move on its own power. We grew up wrenching on cars together where I trust his advice so I went for it. The owner wanted $1K for the car but I was able to negotiate it down to $700. Drove away with a 2001 E46 auto touring with one key, missing title and 8 codes that I had no ideas how to fix. At this point I've mentally prepared myself for some catastrophic scenarios with the engine and transmission. Luckily I was able to limp the 18 miles home backfiring and all.
I'm the 3rd owner and the car had zero accidents according to Carfax. Seems to the true when I started digging into it. Aside from a couple cracked wood trims, missing grills and dead speakers everything else works.
May 23rd to July 16th it took me to make the wagon reliable and pass emission. I pretty much took a crash course in learning how to wrench on and diagnose an E46 between this forum, my buddy and YouTube. The journey in between is nothing like what I've been through with my other toys.
The link below detailed what I did to make the car legal and drive-able.
Struggling with P0171, P0174
I thought this would be an experience to share with you guys since I've learned so much from the forum as a first time BMW owner. I will update this post with the various stages of rehab and upgrade until the thread catch up to current time so bear with me.
Goals for the car? Nothing in particular. This is my cruising sled. It'll be my long term project and potentially be a forever project. Short term was to revive it and get my registration sticker. Long term is to make it reliable and handles like it's on rails.
Day 1
First priority was to clean the interior since I'm OCD.
Interior was dirty but amazingly almost intact. Exterior had some dings, paint on the hood is a bit dull but overall I can't complaint for how much I've paid since my goal was just to get my hands on a touring shell that's still intact.
Found a spent .223 in the cabin and 9mm under the hood. Car was absolutely filthy inside and outside. It sat unregistered since early 2020 where the previous owner seems to have given up on the maintenance and repair. Zero maintenance record aside from some random receipts for tires and brakes from 2019.
Got some sweet E91 Style 286 with decent Michelins on along with the car. I'm a wheels whore so it was the first thing that caught my eyes.
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To be continued.
Hi everyone.
This is my first BMW and also the first time wrenching on one.
I came from a background of an SR swapped S14, Lexus GS, and an S2000 which is my current toy. I've done all of the work up to this point myself aside from anything welding related. Blew up and swapped my fair share of engines an transmissions between those cars. I'm definitely not a mechanic but I do appreciate the mechanical of cars in general and is willing to learn.
One random Sunday afternoon I came across a Craigslist ad for an E46 parts car that's still "running" with 234K miles on the clock. I'm a sucker for wagons so this was a great opportunity I thought. When I saw the car it was surprisingly complete down to the cargo partition and even the tool set and the spare.
I brought a generic OBD2 scanner with me and was able to pull up 8 codes for misfires, lean condition, and cam angle sensor. Luckily I have a good buddy out of state who is very familiar with BMWs and he told me to just buy it if it can move on its own power. We grew up wrenching on cars together where I trust his advice so I went for it. The owner wanted $1K for the car but I was able to negotiate it down to $700. Drove away with a 2001 E46 auto touring with one key, missing title and 8 codes that I had no ideas how to fix. At this point I've mentally prepared myself for some catastrophic scenarios with the engine and transmission. Luckily I was able to limp the 18 miles home backfiring and all.
I'm the 3rd owner and the car had zero accidents according to Carfax. Seems to the true when I started digging into it. Aside from a couple cracked wood trims, missing grills and dead speakers everything else works.
May 23rd to July 16th it took me to make the wagon reliable and pass emission. I pretty much took a crash course in learning how to wrench on and diagnose an E46 between this forum, my buddy and YouTube. The journey in between is nothing like what I've been through with my other toys.
The link below detailed what I did to make the car legal and drive-able.
Struggling with P0171, P0174
I thought this would be an experience to share with you guys since I've learned so much from the forum as a first time BMW owner. I will update this post with the various stages of rehab and upgrade until the thread catch up to current time so bear with me.
Goals for the car? Nothing in particular. This is my cruising sled. It'll be my long term project and potentially be a forever project. Short term was to revive it and get my registration sticker. Long term is to make it reliable and handles like it's on rails.
Day 1
First priority was to clean the interior since I'm OCD.
Interior was dirty but amazingly almost intact. Exterior had some dings, paint on the hood is a bit dull but overall I can't complaint for how much I've paid since my goal was just to get my hands on a touring shell that's still intact.
Found a spent .223 in the cabin and 9mm under the hood. Car was absolutely filthy inside and outside. It sat unregistered since early 2020 where the previous owner seems to have given up on the maintenance and repair. Zero maintenance record aside from some random receipts for tires and brakes from 2019.
Got some sweet E91 Style 286 with decent Michelins on along with the car. I'm a wheels whore so it was the first thing that caught my eyes.
To be continued.
