Washer bottle and bonnet: BMW E46 330CI Thread.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Jazoli said:

Pull fuse 41 and see if that changes anything.

That worked!

[Split_Pin]

Few bits on the E46:

I discovered a small amount of fluid leaking from the right of the bumper, too far over for the radiator thankfully. I filled the screenwash tank right up and the leak got worse and actually started at the other side too. I think its the pipe at each headlight washer.  I syphoned the screenwash tank dry and the leak stopped altogether. I can live with that.

This model has a viscous radiator fan setup and I noticed that the fan was turning when the car was cold. It's also stiff to turn when the engine is off. So I've ordered a new clutch, set of BMW fan tools and while I'm in there I'm going to replace the aux belt tensioner as its almost certainly this which is making a noise when the car is warm.

Ordered from Autodoc, came to £80 all in, posted. Much cheaper than the A8!

[Schaefft]

It'll be almost identical to the fan clutch on the 728i I changed the radiator on. They are all dead at this age but somehow it revived itself after putting it back on the car.

[Split_Pin]

Apparently an electric fan conversion is a straight lift and shift and I did consider it. However only petrol autos got the viscous fan so perhaps there was a good reason for it. Plus it's extra expense so I'm just going to replace like for like. 

I'm hoping to reclaim 1bhp by not having the fan being constantly driven by the engine 😂

[SiC]

Is there an electric fan too? I have read that some M54 installations had both where the electric fan kicks in when really hot.

My 2004 Z4 2.2 (which apparently is E46 based) only has an electric fan and no viscose fan. 

[Schaefft]

I think there is a separate electric fan that kicks in at heavy load, i.e. A/C on while setting lap records at 30 degrees on the Nürburgring. Not sure which BMWs exactly would benefit from that setup from the factory.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Is there an electric fan too? I have read that some M54 installations had both where the electric fan kicks in when really hot.

My 2004 Z4 2.2 (which apparently is E46 based) only has an electric fan and no viscose fan. 

Only petrol automatics got the viscous fan and possibly diesels? 

My understanding is that the electric fan does away with the need for an additional fan on the front of the radiator pack, which mine currently has.  It seems to be popular with people who want to fit a front mounted intercooler, although I've never heard of a turbo being fitted to an M54.

So yeah, I can't really see the point 😂

[Split_Pin]

Pile of bits to fit to this have now arrived.

The OSR caliper is binding badly. My wife and son asked what the smell of piss was when we were out in it and now I can't unsmell burning brake linings 😂

The replacement one arrived today so I'll get that fitted after work tomorrow hopefully. 

I also have a new fan clutch and drive belt tensioner but I'm pretty nonplussed about all of that so it can wait for a few weeks as I want to get some miles on it.

[SiC]

As these don't have the handbrake mechanism in the calipers (drum handbrake), it was mega easy to change the caliper on my Z4 with its identical to E46 setup brakes. I gravity bled it at first and the subsequent pressure bleed hardly needed any fluid to go through before fully bled.

The cheap caliper I put on is still working absolutely fine after a few thousand miles. 

[Split_Pin]

1 minute ago, SiC said:

As these don't have the handbrake mechanism in the calipers (drum handbrake), it was mega easy to change the caliper on my Z4 with its identical to E46 setup brakes. I gravity bled it at first and the subsequent pressure bleed hardly needed any fluid to go through before fully bled.

The cheap caliper I put on is still working absolutely fine after a few thousand miles. 

I'm also looking forward to some hot 7mm Allen bit action, it hasn't seen any since I changed a 75 rear caliper!

I imagine these are almost identical in general design. 

I also picked the cheapest caliper available as its on the back and they clearly don't do much hence seizing.

[Split_Pin]

New caliper on. I've done 3 in the last 2 months, getting good at it now 😂

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Jazoli had made a grand job of re-dyeing the front seats but the rears weren't bad enough to warrant this. So I scrubbed them with Gliptone Leather Shampoo and then treated them with Liquid Leather. They came up great.

[NorthernMonkey]

I can’t believe how well those seats have come up!!

[Split_Pin]

So after being chuffed I could receive Autoshite on the Android head unit, it has now died completely,  never to live again. Previously, pulling fuse 41 for 1/2 hour would bring it back to life however that's stopped working.

I've message another shiter who I think has a standard unit spare.

[Split_Pin]

I set about replacing the viscous fan clutch tonight.  They basically die and fail stuck on so the fans turning all the time and it sounds shit around town. It didn't seem to affect anything else really, mpg or running too cool but I wanted it sorted.

These are the fan clutch tools. The top one doesn't fit but I can get it on one bolt which was enough leverage. £8 posted from ebay.

Shroud off, lots of room to work on this car:

This has clearly been off a few times and someone has used a chisel to chap it around which is a bit lazy.

New clutch on:

The car is also making a squirrely/rattly tensioner noise when warm and at idle (goes away when the throttle is pressed)

Idler pulley is in the way of the bottom bolt on the tensioner so one 16mm holds it on. No play on this one, it looks quite fresh.

Tensioner off. A 16mm fixing is cast into it for leverage and there's 2 holes you line up before sticking a screwdriver through to hold it. 2x 13s hold it to the block.

Febi send it pre-tensioned and you can see the wee bar they give you. Much less in the way than a screwdriver, I'll keep that.

Back on

All back together aaaand guess what, the fupping fan still whooshed away right from cold. I must have got a duff one. Thankfully it was very easy to take out. 

It didn't warm long enough for me to see if I'd got the right tensioner (there are 2, one for each belt) but I wasn't overly fussed about that anyway. Again, easy sorted.

 

[Split_Pin]

So I have read up and it seems it's meant other do that at cold and then over certain revs it disengages.  There was probably nothing wrong with the old one but after 21 years it was good practice I suppose.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

before sticking a screwdriver through to hold it

Allen key usually is a more compact and easier tool to stick in the tensioners to hold them. 

[Split_Pin]

Well it's not my week for cars! 

Orange cog gearbox light came on and stuck in 5th.

Fuck my life.

[SiC]

Oof. What's the code?

Goes away on a restart?

[Split_Pin]

I dont have a reader just yet, on my list though.

It went away on a restart.

Christ I'm done with cars like!

[SiC]

Something something old German premium cars and always carry a code reader in the vehicle. 🙃

[SiC]

Also yeah... this is why I limit myself to three moderns. The classics have their own issues but they are easier as garage ornaments rather than having to stare at a broken modern on the drive all the time. 

At least you're not paying finance on said driveway ornament.

[Split_Pin]

Just comes straight back on after a few miles

 

[Split_Pin]

Cartakeback are paying me £231.

 

[Matty]

31 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Cartakeback are paying me £231.

 

Deep breath, walk away for a week, do some reading. Could be terminal might not be. Best of luck.

[Back_For_More]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Cartakeback are paying me £231.

 

For the E46? Seriously! 

[Jazoli]

21 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

For the E46? Seriously! 

Of course, its just what its scrap value is, they don't care.

Unlucky on the gearbag @Split_Pin, hopefully its fixable.

[Schaefft]

Definitely have a look at the codes, Im not sure what has been done on the gearbox previously as I vaguely remember it having gearbox issues in the past (it's been on the forum for years), depending on the mileage it might be something pretty basic and cheap to sort. Even a replacement gearbox would be cheap if you weren't paying for labour.

[Steve79]

This is precisely what the box was doing when I had it. Got soo fucking fed up with it doing that I sold it to @NorthernMonkey.

I had the fluid changed when it was doing it and I think northernmonkey also did work on the box.

I did scan for the fault code and am pretty sure it came up with solenoid faults. I'll have a look on my ds150e software tomorrow and update this post.

TBH it wants the box ripping out and skipped and replaced with a 6-speed manual. 

 

[NorthernMonkey]

I gave it a full code scan and check over when I got it and the only issues were related to the speed sensors and rings on both rear wheels.

I took it all over the country with work and never had a single issue with the gearbox.

The one thing I noticed was the gearbox sump hadn’t been off so if the fluid was changed, the filter wasn’t?