Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - £400 BMW E46 & £600 V8 A8 TDI

[Matty]

10 hours ago, R Lutz said:

I do not know how you have the patience for all this. I'd be scrapping the lot and buying a Corolla. Fair play to you, these threads amuse the hell out of me. 

Aye definatly. When im mumping about as ive a little job to do on the small amount of cars i own, a quick glance at what the likes of @Schaefft are on with always pulls me up a bit sharp 🤣

[R Lutz]

I'm crying a changing a straight forward pair of wiper blades every 5 years. 

[TrabbieRonnie]

10 hours ago, R Lutz said:

I can sell you a factory authorised book on the design if you like.

I'd be interested in that...  My eldest's 9 should be back from it's sill refresh soon, and he's a little bit excited!

 

As always, great work Schaefft... and a great read 👍

[Schaefft]

So what have I bought this time then?

I spotted an ad for this 2003 BMW E46 Convertible on FB marketplace this morning. It was in Gateshead and we were heading that way today anyway. I quick exchange of messages happened and I got the Range Rover ready.

An hour later and I've arrived at a garage run by a Jewish family. The car was a customers car and snapped a spring, as BMWs like to do, which tore up the front right tyre, basically stranding the car there.

Apparently before those events the bonnet must have popped open (while driving), the garage owner replaced it with this silver one (probably in an attempt to make it a little more presentable). The windshield had already been replaced. Fine specimen of an E46 then.

Surprisingly it still has a bit of mot left. Even more surprisingly the electric soft top works perfectly fine and it even received a new battery somewhat recently!

Got it home without issues, it's filthy and full of drink bottles, no clue whether it was used as a bin or the guy just drove it like this but it sure will make quite the transformation once cleaned up...

It's a 2003 318ci, making this an 2.0 N42 with the 5-speed manual. Naturally the shifter was replaced with a fake carbon fiber M-Sport 6-speed knob, that should tell you everything you need to know... 107k miles only on this one though, so worth saving.

I hooked up inpa to see what the CEL is about. Looks like the canos is adjusting the intake valve timing to the absolute maximum it can do. Looking at the vanos solenoids they've probably never been cleaned in there life so before I even start replacing that spring I'll probably pull them out, clean them and replace the seal rings. I'm hoping that's the cause of the issues im seeing right now.

If anyone has any other theories why it would be that far out of whack, let me know. I've already switched the cam position sensors around, same results.

 

[Matty]

20 minutes ago, R Lutz said:

I'm crying a changing a straight forward pair of wiper blades every 5 years. 

I get that. Ive built engines and gearboxes, all that buggering about. Loved it. Problem is these days im more into driving them. Pissing about mending them is time lost 🤣

[Schaefft]

Appreciating the comments! Have some photos with the roof down:

Since the flat tire and snapped spring prevents it from going anywhere a plan was conceived:

The trailer makes a great ramp btw.

Yeah that'll be the problem.

Ended up cutting the remains of the spring. Once again the Dremel proves to be one of the best hand tools you can have.

Slammed yo. Fortunately my parts E39 came with this random E46 MV2 tyre seems to hold air. It's still hardly movable but at least I can get a jack underneath there now.

Have another look at the state of the interior...

Only quality motors here at bargain barge extravaganza...

[R Lutz]

1 minute ago, Matty said:

I get that. Ive built engines and gearboxes, all that buggering about. Loved it. Problem is these days im more into driving them. Pissing about mending them is time lost 🤣

When I worked in the trade, it was no hassle. But having left it, everything is a major hassle, even though I have the contacts for work and the accounts for cheap parts. I still have access to trade plates, trailers, etc. But real life gets right in the way.

[IronStar]

Very fond memories of mate’s e46 330i cabrio. Now that E30s and E36s are mostly gone and prices went stratospheric, these are now appreciating. Fast. 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, R Lutz said:

I'm crying a changing a straight forward pair of wiper blades every 5 years. 

Only if needed, tho? 😀

[Schaefft]

Managed to find a pair of brand new non-sport Sachs (OEM) springs on eBay, for a whopping 35 quid posted! The guy accidentally bought them instead of sport springs so they were never even fitted! With this only being a 318Ci it will never be a sports machine. I see it more as a fashionable cruiser, the factory non-sport setup it left the factory with seems very much appropriate to me.

I wanted to sort a few jobs on the BMW before they arrive though. The idle isn't all that smooth, probably because of an air leak beyond the MAF. The intake boot is usually the culprit on BMWs, in this case it was butchered by somebody before, wrecking the seal to the MAF. Unfortunately it turns out that neither BMW nor the common aftermarket offer replacements anymore! Even crappy AliExpress alternatives cost 135 quid so the seal was replaced with insulation tape which worked well (no photos unfortunately).

It didn't sort the rough idle though. Since the Vanos solenoid seals were leaking anyway I elected to replace them while checking the correct functionality of the solenoids (which is basically just a piston moving up/down when triggered).

The seals turned into plastic so nobody had been in there before.

Not sure what to look at in there, I assume everything is fine despite the cars attempt to change intake valve timing as much as it can.

Solenoids moved as intended, I cleaned them and slid them back in, making sure they are as far in as they can go:

The results of all that work? No difference whatsoever!

I'm not sure if the valve timing adjustment is the result of the pre-cat O2 sensor detecting a lean condition or the lean condition is the result of the valve timing being altered. Considering probably nothing has ever been done in this engine bay to prevent air/ leak/PCV issues I'll probably have to dig deeper. No apparent issues but I can't look underneath the intake without taking it off. I've finally pulled the trigger on a smoke machine so that'll arrive tomorrow.

I instead elected to remove all the trash and clean the car:

Just as a reminder...

Now:

The interior cleaned up nicely and I haven't even wiped anything down yet. The paint isnt in terrible shape, it just needs a really good polish. For a UK E46 the rust situation is looking really good! I'll see if I can find the right bonnet in sapphire black or whether I need to get the silver one painted. If I chose to do the latter the driver side front wing will probably get the same treatment, it's the worst panel on the car:

Hopefully more progress tomorrow!

[Zelandeth]

Smoke machine will be good to sanity check there's not some well hidden vacuum leak on the Riviera too.

[Schaefft]

33 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Smoke machine will be good to sanity check there's not some well hidden vacuum leak on the Riviera too.

Exactly, it's something I wanted to get for a while, it'll come in very handy on many cars I think!

[spike60]

My lady friend had a 318i 2003 coupe about 10 years ago or more and every so often it would go into limp. A Snap On generic scanner would show out of fuel adjustment range, I could clean MAF, clear codes etc and send it on its way healthy until the next time but I was none the wiser.  It turned out it needed occasional oil top ups which she did but the filler cap was difficult for her to seat properly so it was sucking air past the oil filler cap which after a few days sent it into limp again. I could seat the cap on properly and the car was fine until the next time she did it. 

[SiBriers]

On 26/04/2026 at 20:46, Schaefft said:

If anyone has any other theories why it would be that far out of whack, let me know. I've already switched the cam position sensors around, same results.

 

I'd suspect the timing chain tensioner, if not the timing chain being stretched.
The ECU map will be requesting a certain cam angle depending on RPM, but the vanos solenoids are hitting their max before that cam angle is reached.
 

[Schaefft]

20 minutes ago, SiBriers said:

I'd suspect the timing chain tensioner, if not the timing chain being stretched.
The ECU map will be requesting a certain cam angle depending on RPM, but the vanos solenoids are hitting their max before that cam angle is reached.
 

At 107k miles it's somewhat surprising that either would cause trouble. Tensioner would be manageable but does it only affect the intake side?

[SiBriers]

Might only affect the inlet side if it's jumped a tooth - have read about broken chain guides (potentially from a slack chain) causing this at a similar mileage:
https://www.bmw-driver.net/threads/e46-n42-timing-chain.103490/
This thread was from 2014 though - yours are now 12 years older, and they're just plastic unfortunately.
Hope it's not the case of course 🤞
 

[Schaefft]

On 28/04/2026 at 12:55, SiBriers said:

Might only affect the inlet side if it's jumped a tooth - have read about broken chain guides (potentially from a slack chain) causing this at a similar mileage:
https://www.bmw-driver.net/threads/e46-n42-timing-chain.103490/
This thread was from 2014 though - yours are now 12 years older, and they're just plastic unfortunately.
Hope it's not the case of course 🤞
 

Fingers crossed indeed. Before we get back to the E46 (things have escalated quickly after doing a smoke test), here's an update on the V8 Diesel A8:

After hours and hours of searching I think I have finally found the oil leak. It's coming from what must be a weap hole in the head right above the turbo, which it then drips onto, making it look like it's the oil lines connecting to the turbo. You can see the hole here, each cylinder has one right next to the exhaust manifold port:

If anyone with more insight can tell me what the purpose of said hole is, please let me know. Naturally it will receive a massive amount of JB weld later as the car would be unlikely to pass a test with an oil drip.

Of course I discovered this only after spending hours on tightening near impossible to access bolts all around the turbo and exhaust manifold. I guess it didn't hurt but by god is it all a faff. If this is the leak though (there simply is nowhere else for the oil to come from) it's at least a free, if extremely time consuming, fix.

 

[Schaefft]

Mystery solved: the holes are pressure relief holes for each injector. There shouldn't be any oil in there but I'd imagine that the o-rings seal towards the top (cylinder head internals) is weaping, combined with higher internal engine pressure (possibly because of leaking injector copper washers sealing the combustion chamber insufficiently elsewhere) oil is squeezed beyond the seal and out the hole. All I need to do is replace the o-rings and washers.

We'll see whether that's ever going to happen. It should however seal the space the injector is sitting inside of, I hope at least as the vent hole is closed for now...

[Schaefft]

The oil leak on the A8 has stopped, that's the confirmation that it is indeed the injector/injector seals that are the problem. Unfortunately the parts won't arrive in time for me to install them before Im gone on holiday/work trip for the next 3 weeks so this will be the last update on the Audi for now! I did find some time to clean the outside though (and even gave the inside a wipe down), if that isn't a vote of confidence!

Looking at the wheels and grille it's easy to forget that this is a car with full service history (although I have no receipts). The car had 3 services in 2022 due to the insane miles it did. Hard to tell what exactly the reason was for taking it off the road, my guess is the injector causing the oil leak or dead ABS pump. Either would have been a guaranteed mot fail.

On the opposite end of the liability spectrum, I've been using the Legend a little more regularly. The active cruise and lane assist work really well. I've touched up the many giffer scuffs on the bumpers this morning (after the photo was taken) so it's looking much better. Will take a few more photos tomorrow.

[TrabbieRonnie]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

The oil leak on the A8 has stopped, that's the confirmation that it is indeed the injector/injector seals that are the problem. Unfortunately the parts won't arrive in time for me to install them before Im gone on holiday/work trip for the next 3 weeks so this will be the last update on the Audi for now! I did find some time to clean the outside though (and even gave the inside a wipe down), if that isn't a vote of confidence!

Looking at the wheels and grille it's easy to forget that this is a car with full service history (although I have no receipts). The car had 3 services in 2022 due to the insane miles it did. Hard to tell what exactly the reason was for taking it off the road, my guess is the injector causing the oil leak or dead ABS pump. Either would have been a guaranteed mot fail.

On the opposite end of the liability spectrum, I've been using the Legend a little more regularly. The active cruise and lane assist work really well. I've touched up the many giffer scuffs on the bumpers this morning (after the photo was taken) so it's looking much better. Will take a few more photos tomorrow.

I really like the pre-facelift front/facelift tail lights combo on the A8, not seen that before.  

I was told on the Ross-Tech forum that my 2003 A8 was a rare beast out in the wild, just not on Autoshite!

[Schaefft]

53 minutes ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

I really like the pre-facelift front/facelift tail lights combo on the A8, not seen that before.  

I was told on the Ross-Tech forum that my 2003 A8 was a rare beast out in the wild, just not on Autoshite!

It will be back to the original pre-facelift taillights eventually, my S8 has them and the original reason to buy this 4.0tdi was to take the taillights and put them on the S8. They are plug&play.

With most UK D3 A8s being 3.0l diesels, which came out not long before the facelift, I guess it makes sense that you rarely see the earlier ones!

Another thing I was wondering about and finally confirmed today, the A8 actually has Active Cruise Control! The radar is hidden inside the lower grille. Now that's a rare option for an '03 A8! No way to test whether it works but it's really the one electric helper I care about!