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I've had a strange A/C issue on my E46. I have lately been asking around bimmerforums.com and gotten little luck (I know... I know...). The short story is, on hot days, when idling, the compressor turns off. It comes back on once I start to drive again. Long story On really hot days, when my A/C is on Auto setting (and is generally set to 59 degrees), when I come to a stop, shortly after idling for maybe 30 seconds or more, the compressor is turning off. Fiddling around a bit, I've found out I can minimize this symptom by simply manually lowering the blower speed, but this does not work ALL the time. I know in some rare cases, a water valve somewhere can cause A/C issues, but to what effect I do not know. I also tried bleeding my coolant system yesterday, and while the car was at full operating temp, I can open the bleeder screw and get nothing out, yet the float in the expansion tank indicates my level is good (when the car was cool of course). Not sure if this has any impact on the A/C system though, just throwing it out there since a water valve has been known to cause A/C problems. I am gonna try getting some water/coolant and try filling it a bit with the bleeder open, closing the cap, then waiting for the steady stream before closing the bleeder. Otherwise, while driving, or when the temp outside is a bit lower (night time only really right now in Florida), the A/C works perfectly fine and blows ice cold. I did have the A/C system evac'ed/recharged a few months ago after replacing a leaking service port, but know shows no signs of it leaking. I have a manual, which means I only have a single electric fan behind the radiator, and it works fine. Is this some weird computer issue that I will probably only get resolved at a dealership? And where is this water valve some have said can cause the problems? You all have any other thoughts? Fermunky fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jul 23, 2010 |
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Jul 23, 2010 04:01
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| # ? May 12, 2024 01:40 |
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Your compressor is probably cutting out due to overpressure brought on by the increased ambient temperatures. Go to the AC shop that did your evac/refill and describe the problem, ask them to bleed a bit of refrigerant and see if that helps.
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Jul 23, 2010 05:14
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Dave Inc. posted:Summary: Is it stupid to buy a 180,000 mile, early model E36 325is to use as a daily driver / beater? It's not stupid, but just don't be disappointed when stuff breaks. For reference, I've owned two E34s now over the span of four years, and there is always something on my to-do list, although in my case, always something relatively minor, or something that has been fairly easy to fix quickly. I'd say something breaks every 6 months on average, but only once has a car downright died (distributor blew up). Never any serious engine or transmission problems, I expect that a 180k mile E36's engine will last many years to come as well. My current M60B40 engine has 160k miles on it and it's showing no signs of weakness. The main stuff I've run into is worn suspension components (like all other old BMWs) - brakes, wheels, shocks, bushings, ball joints, etc. All owners of old BMWs will probably agree that the undercarriage in general requires maintenance and will be busted if you buy a high-mileage one. It'll result in rattles, vibration, clunk noises and the like, but it's all reasonably easy and not too expensive to fix. You can also just live with it and only fix what the inspection place complains about. The main thing that tips the budget is whether or not you can fix stuff yourself. If you can, owning a BMW is cheap, and you can sit on your high horse laughing at people who bring in their Toyota for $2000 repairs while you fix the same problems on your car for $500. In comparision to other brands, BMW parts aren't really that much more expensive, the only problem is that there aren't a lot of non-original parts out there except for everything related to wheels and suspension, so if it's any specific interior, electrical or drivetrain part, it's going to cost you a lot, whereas other very common brands often have non-original cheap replicas available.
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Jul 23, 2010 13:31
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evobatman posted:Oh for fucks sake! The bodyshop had to use unoriginal parts to fix the car, otherwise it would have been so expensive it would have been wrecked. Hello angel eyes, bling bling-grilles, poorly fitting fender and strangely shaped M3 copy front! The turn signals and grilles have got to go, will just let the paint dry first.  
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Jul 23, 2010 14:11
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Now that's just mean.
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Jul 23, 2010 15:13
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Xy Hapu posted:I've read that the wire bundle running up the driver side trunk arm is a common place for a short to develop due to all the flex it gets (I'm guessing getting rear ended wouldn't help either) maybe you can check there if insurance doesn't work out or you don't want another garage messing with the car.
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Jul 23, 2010 16:10
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Kenshin posted:Does this also happen with E36s? My M3's brake lights have both recently stopped working, while the other rear lights work fine (aside from a reverse light which has a clearly broken filament) I think so. There's a post on bf.c about a guy's car almost burning down because of it. Apparently it's a common wear spot. Of course you might just have a broken brake pedal switch.
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Jul 23, 2010 16:11
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revmoo posted:I think so. There's a post on bf.c about a guy's car almost burning down because of it. Apparently it's a common wear spot. Of course you might just have a broken brake pedal switch.
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Jul 23, 2010 16:15
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revmoo posted:I think so. There's a post on bf.c about a guy's car almost burning down because of it. Apparently it's a common wear spot. Of course you might just have a broken brake pedal switch. I've heard that the brake pedal switch likes to go, and it's a cheap enough part and apparently easy enough to replace that it might be worth it just to replace it and see what happens.
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Jul 23, 2010 17:03
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I guess you could just jumper the lines going into the switch and see if the lights come on.
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Jul 23, 2010 17:47
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Pilsner posted:It's not stupid, but just don't be disappointed when stuff breaks. For reference, I've owned two E34s now over the span of four years, and there is always something on my to-do list, although in my case, always something relatively minor, or something that has been fairly easy to fix quickly. I'd say something breaks every 6 months on average, but only once has a car downright died (distributor blew up). Never any serious engine or transmission problems, I expect that a 180k mile E36's engine will last many years to come as well. My current M60B40 engine has 160k miles on it and it's showing no signs of weakness. Thanks. My main concern was drivetrain reliability up to and past 200,000 miles. The car is fully intended to be a beater to get to and from work with some measure of comfort and fun, so small things not working quite right aren't too big of a concern to me. Besides, I like having small, relatively inexpensive things to fix. I'll say I haven't done suspension work before, not even a bushing replacement, so I'm just a bit worried about that (driving feel and sturdiness in the suspension is a big deal for me). I'm sure I'm fully capable of doing that work, just not familiar with it and I don't think I have the toolset to do suspension work 100% at home. Plus, I don't have a loving garage where we live right now (yay having three days to rent an apartment in a city I've never been to!) so that might complicate issues like that. So I suppose the idea with suspension issues would be to try to find one that has had that work done relatively recently. But regarding high mileage engines again, anything to really watch out for? I've heard a good bit about valve guides leaking pretty badly in BMWs, but I don't remember which models and years that was specific to.
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Jul 23, 2010 20:34
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Dave Inc. posted:Thanks. My main concern was drivetrain reliability up to and past 200,000 miles. The car is fully intended to be a beater to get to and from work with some measure of comfort and fun, so small things not working quite right aren't too big of a concern to me. Besides, I like having small, relatively inexpensive things to fix. If maintenance was done regularly, I don't see why it wouldn't last. My E36 (early model 325is like you mentioned) has 279k miles on it, and it's still going strong. I'm sure the original owner treated it very well, as there's no rust on the car, no untoward rattles, and generally nothing out of the ordinary. The interior door cards and headliner are junk, as they all tend to be, and it needed a new clutch fan blade when I bought it, but everything else is solid. I'm sure the suspension was replaced at some point, as well as the cooling system, but those are general (although large) maintenance items on most any car. Big things to look out for in any high mileage cars are cooling system performance and oil leaks/burning as well as normal stuff like clutch wear, rust, brake hydraulic issues, etc.
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Jul 23, 2010 20:55
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Heh, the service contract on my E46 330 (2001 with about 90k on the clock) just expired and I managed to ding them for a new DSC module and a new GM5 on the last day of coverage. Those contracts are usually a pretty big waste of money, but the car still had 2 years of coverage left when I got it... I think I bled them for $5500 in work in just those two years and I'm pretty sure their full payout over the life of the contract was, well, you know how the meme goes... OVER 9000! When I got the car I made a list of everything I knew would probably be bad by the mileage I got it at (owned another E46 previously) and dropped it off at a local indy shop I frequent. I managed to screw them into buying me Meyle HD control arms, Rogue shock mounts, UUC FCABs/RTABs and everything in between that time. I guess it wasn't really screwing them since they sent out a complete bastard inspector every time they did any work but it sure feels like it when you get a bunch of stuff done for almost nothing ($100 deductible). For instance, with that DSC module, even though the module itself had a couple of dozen stored codes for literally every sensor connected to it, the inspector still made my guy disassemble the module and prove a lack of electrical continuity with a multimeter before they would approve it. Oh, how I will miss being able to tell some multimillion dollar insurance company to bend over and take it every time I want anything done.
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Jul 24, 2010 21:31
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How reliable would an 07 328xi be? I am debating picking one up to be my daily driver, and it needs to be somewhat reliable, as i live an hour away from the dealer. Is there anything that might leave me stranded? I keep reading about 335's eating fuel pumps, but I can't find much on a 328.
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Jul 25, 2010 08:11
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I got invited to some "special" sales event at the nearby dealer this weekend where I was offered the privilege of test driving stuff that you can normally only drive whenever you walk into the dealer and ask and all I had to do was give them all my contact information. That being said, I was pretty disappointed with BMWs current offerings. I'm sure they drive great, but the interior and exterior design has just gotten so bland (or else they've stayed the same and everyone else has gotten better). The 3 coupes, the 1 series, and the new z4 look good from the outside, but even the 1 and 3 are kinda generic. We drove by the Audi dealership on the way home and even the A4 has more character to it. The interiors blow BMW away, too. We're having a kid soon (and we have a big dog already) so I was halfway looking for something slightly more practical (that isn't an SUV) to replace my e46 m3 with and didn't find much of anything at BMW. The 3 series wagon or sedan was really the only choice and I hate the styling on those. Audi has the a4 wagon (no manual transmission though), the a3, and the s4 sedan. The best thing BMW really has is the upcoming mini countryman.
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Jul 25, 2010 14:19
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havelock posted:
That's funny because my friend who originally said Audi interiors blow BMW away just got a newish 328i coupe and immediately took that back.
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Jul 25, 2010 15:33
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Mattress Man posted:How reliable would an 07 328xi be? I am debating picking one up to be my daily driver, and it needs to be somewhat reliable, as i live an hour away from the dealer. Is there anything that might leave me stranded? I keep reading about 335's eating fuel pumps, but I can't find much on a 328. I think the diffs are incredibly small and have a very small amount of fluid in there, and as a result like to blow. Also the front is very sensitive to differences in tires, so you can't have a staggered setup more than 2.5-3% (is, 275 and 255) or this could happen. Just something to keep an eye out for. edit: from the BMWCCA oldschool maintenance schedule: quote:Another note on BMW differentials: Since the E30 era, BMW differentials, with the CornHolio fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Jul 25, 2010 |
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Jul 25, 2010 15:43
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Firefox Asexual posted:That's funny because my friend who originally said Audi interiors blow BMW away just got a newish 328i coupe and immediately took that back. Maybe I'm just used to BMW now so Audi seems fresh. The 75k M3 interior seemed on par with the 48k S4s, but the 328 seemed outmatched by the A4.
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Jul 25, 2010 15:54
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havelock posted:Maybe I'm just used to BMW now so Audi seems fresh. The 75k M3 interior seemed on par with the 48k S4s, but the 328 seemed outmatched by the A4. I don't know if you're the kind of guy who does his own maintenance, but every time I have to fix something on my wife's passat, it makes me want to punch a VW engineer in the nuts. The e46 is a maintenance dream in comparison.
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Jul 25, 2010 18:41
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SlapActionJackson posted:I don't know if you're the kind of guy who does his own maintenance, but every time I have to fix something on my wife's passat, it makes me want to punch a VW engineer in the nuts. The e46 is a maintenance dream in comparison. That is an interesting data point. The M3 is the first car I've done maintenance on myself. So far I've done the valve cover gasket, replaced the springs with stock, RTABs, and just did my rear brakes. Aside from the special tools needed for some tasks everything has been pretty straightforward.
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Jul 25, 2010 19:01
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I am just about ready to light this car on fire and push it off a cliff. Last week I had the window motor+regulator replaced on my e36 328is, and the same window failed open again this morning. It was working great for about a week and now it's suddenly stuck open. I still hear a click from the door when I push the switch but it doesn't budge like before. Driver's side and sunroof still work, and hearing the motor click doesn't really seem to indicate it would be any sort of relay.
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Jul 26, 2010 10:44
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Hi everyone, Doing a bit of research for a friend of mine. She's got a 2000 320i which is overfuelling quite a bit. When she had it serviced recently she was told that it is a faulty airflow meter. I've done a bit of poking around and read over the last few pages to see if anyone's mentioned anything about it but no dice. Couple of questions: I found what looks to be the replacement part on Trademe for $299. Dealership quoted $800 for part/labour and as near as I can tell this is the correct part: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/BMW/Electrics/auction-304812783.htm I've asked her to get me the part number the dealership wanted to use to make sure it would do the job. More specifically I haven't yet had the chance to look at the car and scope out how difficult of a job it will be. Has anyone here had any experience with changing one of these out before and if so, is there any tricks or nasty habits I need to watch out for? I figure a $299 part and a box of beer for me is a lot cheaper than $800, and being a poor student I could use the box of beers. I've got a reasonable amount of mechanical skill, have done strip-downs on old diesel engines and recently changed a timing belt on a Corolla. If anyone has any anecdotal experience with changing one of these out it would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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Jul 26, 2010 11:55
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MAF may literally be the easiest thing you can replace on a car? It's at least up there with wiper blades. I'm not going to lie to you, it will require the use a of a flathead screw driver, and some level of competency with it, but other than that you should be alright. Basically what you want to do is open the hood, locate the MAF, replace the MAF, then close the hood. One tip though, for my 2000 BMW 328Ci, I discovered that the MAF used on it is EXACTLY the same as those used on Hyundai Sonatas of a similar vintage. For some reason, every single parts site charged about double for the BMW p/n, which I must emphasize is identical in every single way. I bought the Hyundai one and it has worked perfectly. Beware though that there are Chinese knockoff MAFs that are complete poo poo. So bad in fact, it would probably just be better to run your car unplugged than have a Chinese knockoff MAF installed. Finally I should mention to you that, while I could be wrong here, I am pretty sure that YOU have the wrong part number. From what I can tell, the p/n you have refers to the 318i, or 316i. The 320i is supposed to come with a BMW P/N: 13621432356 which, lucky for your friend of yours, is the same part number as mine, which is swappable with the vastly cheaper (but exactly identical) Hyundai unit. (Hyundai p/n 28164-37100). You should be able to find that OEM for under $200 US. Good luck.
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Jul 26, 2010 13:00
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Seriously? OK now I feel a bit dumb for having typed up a big post asking for advice on how to change it out. Thanks for the part number, I'll look into that and see if I can find the part for a more reasonable price than the $800 BMW want.
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Jul 26, 2010 19:34
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Did the E46 icv on my friend's car today, it was different but roughly the same amount of effort as the E36 icv. Also, it's been having a misfire so I threw an E36 coil on there which fixed the problem, but they are a different part number. How bad is it to put an E36 coil on an E46?
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Jul 26, 2010 23:44
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Two Finger posted:Seriously? OK now I feel a bit dumb for having typed up a big post asking for advice on how to change it out. No need to feel dumb, mate. Be sure to inspect the intake elbow (sits between the MAF and the throttle body) for leaks, this is a very common problem that would have the opposite effect to what you're seeing (lean burn and possibly a Check Engine Light if there is too large a discrepancy between the measured amount of intake air and what the O2 sensor detects in the exhaust.
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Jul 27, 2010 00:17
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revmoo posted:Did the E46 icv on my friend's car today, it was different but roughly the same amount of effort as the E36 icv. Realoem.com has a part number cross reference search. 96-99 E36 coils should be the same as early E46 coils. 92-95 E36 are not usable.
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Jul 29, 2010 19:42
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BraveUlysses posted:Realoem.com has a part number cross reference search. 96-99 E36 coils should be the same as early E46 coils. 92-95 E36 are not usable. It was a 92 coil on an early E46 actually.
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Jul 29, 2010 20:13
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OK so I've pretty much decided my wiper module is bad. I have a pre 09/93 E36, and all the wiper modules I've been finding are post 09/93. The only difference visually is that my module has a mounting tab on it because it goes behind the dead pedal, where the newer model doesn't have the mounting tab, as it goes behind the glove box. Are they functionally the same?
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Jul 29, 2010 22:02
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Mattress Man posted:How reliable would an 07 328xi be? I am debating picking one up to be my daily driver, and it needs to be somewhat reliable, as i live an hour away from the dealer. Is there anything that might leave me stranded? I keep reading about 335's eating fuel pumps, but I can't find much on a 328. Unless you really want an ix (4-wheel-drive), don't, just get a normal "i". It's just added expense to repairs on the suspension.
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Jul 30, 2010 11:27
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Me and my dad are going to look at a E92 320D tomorrow. It has the m-sport package, would someone be able to tell me what this consists of? Also does anyone have the same car? It appears to get positive reviews. Does anyone know what the standard wheels widths and offsets are? I'm looking at getting some BBS's or something as I really really hate the standard wheels. Also how is the rear badging applied, can it be easily removed? The car is black, and we'd like to get a black grill instead of the chrome, where would be the best place to get this from? (I'm in the UK) Thanks guys.
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Jul 30, 2010 16:14
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I'm looking at This 318ti today at 2. I'm impressed with the low miles, and the seller claims it is in very good condition, clean title, and he has a carfax to show me. The only negative I guess would be the automatic transmission - which I don't mind at all for driving, but I've heard bad things about BMW autos. Seller says he is "firm on the price" so I'd want to be pretty certain I'm not immediately going to have to shell out two grand for a new transmission or something like that. Also, seller says he has always run premium. These cars are tuned for premium?
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Jul 30, 2010 18:52
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Leperflesh posted:I'm looking at This 318ti today at 2. I'm impressed with the low miles, and the seller claims it is in very good condition, clean title, and he has a carfax to show me. That is way too much money for a 318ti, even if it is in mint condition.
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Jul 30, 2010 19:44
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Leperflesh posted:I'm looking at This 318ti today at 2. I'm impressed with the low miles, and the seller claims it is in very good condition, clean title, and he has a carfax to show me. Way WAY too much. I've seen the much harder to find 318ti Club Sport go for less money than that. The M42/M44 motors feel slow with a 5-speed (for a BMW); the automatic turns them into slugs. The autos are quite hardy if the fluid gets changed every 50k or so, but the performance impact alone is enough to avoid it. I drive an E30 318iS (lighter car, same engine, 5-speed) and the whole point is that it's light and you use the 5-speed to rev the crap out of the engine to make power. It's part of the appeal of these cars. Being a 1998, it should have knock sensors to allow you to run 87 octane, but you'll loose even more precious performance. Wait for a better deal.
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Jul 30, 2010 19:55
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Leperflesh posted:I'm looking at This 318ti today at 2. I'm impressed with the low miles, and the seller claims it is in very good condition, clean title, and he has a carfax to show me.  8800 for a 318ti? That's utterly insane.One year ago this week I bought my '99 M3 Convertible 5spd for $8000 cash. Given, it had twice the mileage on it, but it was in fairly good condition too. That car is worth maybe $6k. Maybe. I wouldn't pay more than $4k TBH.
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Jul 30, 2010 20:08
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Seriously for almost $9k you can probably get an E46 in good condition.
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Jul 30, 2010 20:08
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Leperflesh posted:I'm looking at This 318ti today at 2. I'm impressed with the low miles, and the seller claims it is in very good condition, clean title, and he has a carfax to show me. Looks like a nice clean car. Take a KBB print out with you http://www.kbb.com/used-cars/bmw/3-...e&mileage=64000 and talk him down as much as possible!
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Jul 30, 2010 20:33
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Well I went and looked at it. It's pristine. He has full service records, a clean carfax, the interior is amazingly well kept - no wear whatsoever on seats, etc. It has brand new tires, 18" wheels, a reasonably nice Kenwood installed. The paint is very good, there's a problem area which has been touched up on one fender but there is no 'road rash' dings on the front. Underneath is very clean, belts look good, basically as clean an example of a 1998 car I've seen. However. I too am balking at the price, and he said it was "firm". I'm going to pursue a Protege5 I saw on Tuesday at a dealership instead (the sales guy is trying to make a number for july, so I think I can get him to take off at least a grand, and it's only got 40k on the clock). He's got someone else looking at it on Sunday, maybe they'll be willing to pay.
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Jul 30, 2010 22:53
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Pilsner posted:Unless you really want an ix (4-wheel-drive), don't, just get a normal "i". It's just added expense to repairs on the suspension. I live in Alaska, and can only find 328ix's up here. Plus, the car would be driven in the winter, so the 4wd would be helpful. I am considering a 335, but I am still a little wary about the reliability on it.
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Jul 31, 2010 00:07
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After nine weeks in the shop my Z4 has a new SMG pump and a handful of relays. Recommendation when ordering parts from Germany - order the right parts the first time. After picking up the car, and being "discounted" down to over the agreed on price, they realized they'd lost the parts I special ordered for my e38. They'll call me if they find them. It's a credit to how damned charming the service manager is that I still like this place.
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Jul 31, 2010 05:10
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