Tell me about BMW 320d's

[bigstraight6]

I happened to be at a friends garage business yesterday and he'd just taken a 2004 BMW 320d in part ex, i said it looks nice and he threw me the keys and said take it out for a drive to see what it's like as he hadn't tried it himself. It drives very well, pulls like a train, has a 6 speed box and everything including the aircon works and it's on 141,000 miles.

I can have it for a grand, I don't know much about them, any good or potential World of pain?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I avoided the 2.0 diesel in my e61 and went for a 3.0d. When it shit itself everyone said I should have got the 2.0 because then it would only have been £2000 to repair...

If it's had a timing chain, flywheel and clutch in the last 40,000 miles it should* be ok , assuming it's had its piss-flaps seen to at some point in the past.

But as Richard says, Cort is the 320d expert round here.

[cort16]

Run

[cort16]

The guy I rent my lockup inherited one after the original owner plowed in 2 grand then end up walking away because the engine had destroyed itself. This is a 2004  6 speed.

 

The original owner had the clutch and DMF failed, which came to a bit less than 2 grand. 2 days later he's away somewhere, jumps is it and it's really rough. Gets RAC out who diagnose duff injectors.

Get the injectors pulled and tested costs a couple of hundred quid. No fault found. Ships it to specialist who diagnoses an inlet manifold swirl has dropped onto the piston toasting the entire engine.

 

Not to mention the issues the new owner has had fixing it and the various injector/breather turbo issues I had with mine.

 

Way too over complex. Way to many catasprohic things that can go wrong. Only buy if very cheap. On the plus side they're nice when they're running.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

E46.   

 

 

Six speed cars are nice and leggy but dual mass flywheel failure is far more common that 5 speeds. Listen for rattles.

 

Arch rust, although a 2004 should still be alright, at least on the fronts. 

 

Swirl flaps. 2004 is on the changeover from the original small ones that can fall in, to bigger ones that don't. But removing the manifold and fitting alloy blanks is ESSENTIAL and both cheap and 3 hours work. Easy. With manifold off, replace every vacuum hose you can find and they will all be fucked.

 

VNT (variable vane) turbos and an 04 will probably have the electronic controlled wastegate as per the 1 Series. Turbo failure quite common but if it's not smoky, forget about it.

 

Replace the crankcase breather on top of the cam cover. On the M47N the air filter housing is integral with the cam cover and getting the top cover off and on again is an art form. They can be a right bastard.

 

Gearboxes and diffs both fine.

 

Usual E46 shit; shagged window regulators, key not unlocking car remotely, knackered suspension, boot floor cracks around NSR subframe mount (listen for creaks and knocks - not actually very common), rusty brake pipes - same as any old car really.

 

If it's half tidy and drives well, buy it and spend a few quid of essentials - swirl flaps, oil and filter, that breather, vac hoses etc.

 

Check the rear bulb holders - facelift cars are prone to the earths burning out in the multiplugs.

[Ghosty]

£1000?

 

Want a 1996 A4?

[dome]

Swirl flaps aren't hard to remove and blank off and the crankcase breather is easy too. It should be the later vortex type on a 2004 car so less of an issue, the older ones clogged up

 

Would I? Probably not. I liked my 03 330d but it had 204bhp andd was an M-Sport. Mind, it was also twice the price of this one.

[sierraman]

It's a £1000. If it starts, runs and doesn't smoke or run rough, I'd say buy it and run the cunt into the ground. Don't spend money on it in the hope it will last longer, it'll bite you on the arse when it chucks its toys out of the pram.

 

As ever my advice with a diesel is don't spend more than you could afford to lose.

[Cavcraft]

Swirl flaps and generally just dire. Plenty of them about, the majority of them seem to be shagged one way or the other, and they appear sodding awful. 

[greengartside]

It's a £1000. If it starts, runs and doesn't smoke or run rough, I'd say buy it and run the cunt into the ground. Don't spend money on it in the hope it will last longer, it'll bite you on the arse when it chucks its toys out of the pram.

 

As ever my advice with a diesel is don't spend more than you could afford to lose.

 

Well said, this is exactly what I'm going to be doing with my Astra diesel...

 

..mate of mine has the E90 320d on a '05 plate, spent a fortune on fuel injectors and fuel pump problems as well as changing all the alloys because the M3 replicas on it were all fucked. It looks very badly chavved up with angel eyes on the front and it's been keyed on the bootlid and rear quarter..

[sutty2006]

They sold more 320d BMWs than mk3 Mondeos.

 

 

Id still have the Mk3 Mondeo though. My brother had a 320d and it was forever throwing the back brakes off some way or another.

[cort16]

It has that mini brake drum thing inside the disc for the handbrake . The back plate rusts through and the shoe mounting falls off and all the bits end up jingling around in there .

[beko1987]

I like coming alongside 320d's at junctions, the sound at idle makes my 2.2dci sound like a sewing machine...

[sierraman]

Pretty powerful mid range grunt on these. A mate of mine had one when they were new, felt proper quick.

[Bren]

Car mechanics had a 2002 touring as a project. It was fucked and had no end of issues. It was so bad they also had a laguna estate project which they deemed to be a better car.

[Tamworthbay]

Good and bad in all cars, some issues as highlighted above but that's the same for all cars. At a grand it's not expensive with a long ticket as long as it looks and drives well.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

For a grand, I'd buy it. Swirl flaps are 20 quid, easy DIY. The back brakes are an easy fix (long screws, washers and nylocs) and whilst it could have injector/pump issues, what old diesel doesn't?

 

The Car Mechanics 320d had been horrifically abused, no oil change for 25'000 miles, nothing ever fixed and just run into the ground. A miracle it got saved.

[cort16]

The back plates are a pain in the hole there's no getting away from it. They do drive well and are pretty rapid but they're over complex and horrible to work on .

If you want a car for 1000 quid that won't blow up don't buy a modern diesel .

[nacho man]

My old man had a e46 320d that was a 04 6 speed, it had remap and it was pretty nippy, but it was when they was worth a few bob.

 

Any diesel from that era is a risk.

 

Are you feeling lucky???

[SiC]

£1k? Does it idle, boost and change gear ok? Reasonably long MOT? If so, get it bought. A cheap diesel estate with a respectable badge on. Any diesel at this age and era suffer from potential catastrophic problems. Just drive it blissfully unaware that they do.

 

What do cartakeback offer too? If reasonable then it's a possible option if it goes horribly wrong.

[HH-R]

A bloke I used to work with who was generally a nightmare in every way possible to everyone had one and told everyone he ever came into contact with about it and how great it was.

 

The turbo started whining when it was still quite new and low mileage.

 

It cost a lot to fix. I have to admit to some schadenfreude, but he brushed it off and said it hadn't cost him much in repairs for a couple of years so wasn't too fussed. It also broke down one day at work which caused endless mirth for everyone.

 

Seemed pretty piss poor quality generally, the radio display was fucked by about 4/5 years old, the window seals turned a funny colour, and even the exterior door handles broke. So much for German engineering.

[bigstraight6]

Thanks for all the replies learned colleagues, the Jury is still out a bit after reading about exploding swirl flaps and other misdemeanours, but as I stated in the original post the car does drive so well, it only has a short MOT but a quick check on the doovla history showed nothing to be concerned about whatsoever and last test had no advisories.

I will sleep on this but am tempted to have a punt, my last BMW was an E36 325TD some years ago now and that car was great......

[Junkman]

1. Buy a pre 1987 petrol car.

 

2. See point 1.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The back plates are a pain in the hole there's no getting away from it. They do drive well and are pretty rapid but they're over complex and horrible to work on .

If you want a car for 1000 quid that won't blow up don't buy a modern diesel .

 

 

They're not that bad. If the holes for the shoe retaining pins are rounded out I use long screws and nyloc nuts. Or if totally borked, fit new backplates but fuck pulling the hubs off - just cut the back plate at the narrowest point and wind them on.

 

Trouble is, 13 year old cars tend to be aggro whatever they are.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Thanks for all the replies learned colleagues, the Jury is still out a bit after reading about exploding swirl flaps and other misdemeanours, but as I stated in the original post the car does drive so well, it only has a short MOT but a quick check on the doovla history showed nothing to be concerned about whatsoever and last test had no advisories.

I will sleep on this but am tempted to have a punt, my last BMW was an E36 325TD some years ago now and that car was great......

 

 

E36 325td/tds were great cars but they're all shagged now. I had an M reg 325td auto with the 4 speed GM box and it was a 250'000 mile snotter but drive so well, great on fuel as well. That included used cooking oil drained through a pair of old tights (not mine) to filter the batter out but you can't do that on an E46.

[Mally]

It has that mini brake drum thing inside the disc for the handbrake . The back plate rusts through and the shoe mounting falls off and all the bits end up jingling around in there .

 

My Rover 75 did that. Fixed it with Mk2 Escort bits, big head on spring retainer.

[Bren]

Fora grand I'd take the risk. This forum isnot about risk free motoring...

[Bren]

Sorry for my punctuation and grammar - I've been on the peroni you see....

[rainagain]

Car mechanics had a 2002 touring as a project. It was fucked and had no end of issues. It was so bad they also had a laguna estate project which they deemed to be a better car.

I half remember this, didn't they have to change the turbo...twice?