On the road to 400.000km

This is my 1999 BMW 320i E46, built in March of that year in Bavaria. Above you see it in some snow with the signature 17" steelies that BMW made for the 330i as a steel rim below 17" wouldn't fit that car's brakes. Upside for any other E46 is you can throw them on as they are free for all models. Downside is a 17" steel wheel is quite heavy, with the tire I estimate over 22kg. But hey they look the part...

Oil Change

Following the crank case ventilation (CCV) restoration in Part 1 it was now time to do an oil change as most of all oil consumption in these M52 and M54 engines comes either from a faulty CCV or a leaking valve cover gasket. Since I changed my gasket a while back when doing the spark plugs and ignition coils...

...I figured any oil consumption must be due to the CCV as the M52 usually never burns any oil at all.

Note: I've had a documented oil consumption on this engine of .3L/1000km or 1/2 a quart on 1000 miles.

Before doing the oil change I bought not only the filter, oil pan screw, O-rings and the oil but also the oil level sensor as mine had been broken for some time. This becomes evident by the level indicator showing up for a few seconds after engine start. Usually it should light up after engine shutoff if oil level is below par.

BMW have used the oil pressure indicator which can see above on the top right only it switches to yellow once indicating oil level instead of pressure.

I purchased Meguin oil which is identical to Liqui Moly only with a different name and considerably lower price.

It's 5W30 and BMW Longlife04 certified. I've used it since day one either in Liqui Moly or Meguin form. Don't let anyone ever tell you it's too thin or to put anything else than 5W30 in the engine. This one's been running with it for almost 400.000km/250.000mls from -20 C to +40 C. I will say that I do run mostly long distance so a pure city commute would probably call for different oil but then again a pure city commute will kill any engine with any oil over time.

Oil filter, screw and o-rings came from BMW:

It's good practice to replace the two small o-rings on the tip of the filtercap as well as the large one around the cap itself.

Here you can see the wrong oilpan screw which BMW provided even with the correct VIN:

It is the second time they made the mistake and the last time I'm buying a screw for the oilpan from them. I did use the new copper ring for sealing.

As usual cover everything in a film of new/old engine oil before fitting the rings.

I bled the oil and it pretty much all came out without using engine flush (I've used it two oil changes ago to great effect).

Once the oil is out you can loosen the 2 nuts and 1 screw holding the oil level sensor, remove the cable plug and pull it out vertically. New one simply goes in the other way.

Here is the new sensor with cable attached waiting for final installation:

Once it's in and oilpan screw is refitted it's time to put the oil in - all 6.5L. Check the level and start engine until oil pressure is up, shut off, recheck level, top up as required and there you go.

Yours truly after successful operation:

Now I also purchased air and interior filter, interior one never arrived so I ordered one from MANN&HUMMEL directly on Amazon. Air filter was SCT:

Here it is directly after engine start a few days later and voila:

No low oil level indicator. Funny enough since this oil change I've driven almost 8.000km/5.500mls and have had zero oil consumption. I actually thought the sensor I installed was faulty and checked the dipstick but the oil is simply at the same level it was after the oil change. Pretty amazing for an engine that's never been opened and has only ever had oil changes, CCV replacement and valve cover gasket replaced.

Micro/Pollen Interior Air Filter

As mentioned above I purchased one from ebay but the dealer never delivered the item so I got my money back and went for the original Mann&Hummel filter which, thanks to Amazon, can be purchased directly from the company for a considerable discount.

I actually maintained the manufacturer guidance on the interval of 40.000km/25.000mls which I do not recommend.

This is the new filter:

This is the old one:

Mind you I don't live in Milan, Italy nor Shanghai, China and I mostly drive through the countryside at high speeds and this is what the filter looks like. I'm going to check it in 10.000km/6.000mls to see how it looks.

The car actually has an automatic air circulation control which may or may not work so given the look of this filter I'll definitely check the condition of the sensor cartridge.

No More Radio | More Bluetooth

For a long time I struggled with finding the right BT adapter to connect phones via blutetooth to the BMW Business CD radio which is actually an Alpine head unit with cd player and a custom BMW frontend.

I finally went for this based on extremely positive reviews, low price of EUR 37 and easy installation - I can confirm all three!

All you do is wedge out the passenger side trim piece and then wedge out the center one from from right to left.

Then you simply unscrew the two radio philips head screws and pull the unit out. The adapter goes between the radio and the car cable harness and the only challenge with it is to place it into the dash in such a way that it doesn't interfer with any cables and the radio can still slide back into place.

The black piece is the BT receiver. It is possible to hook up a mic as to use the full phone functionality but given that I did not want to take apart any more of the interior and I have plenty of excellent BT headsets I passed on that.

Once everything is back in place and you tested it before reinstalling you simply press 'MODE' and the radio will go through radio, CD and to the changer menu. The BT adapter emulates a CD Changer as the input signal of your phone's audio.

The workable functions are fader, TP (traffic), next/previous song and next/previous folder.

All in all a very handy and worthwhile investment without replacing the entire radio or installing an ugly aftermarket unit which ruins the looks.

Track Adjustment

For an even longer time than the radio the track of this car has been misaligned. That is not to say it wasn't going straight or any funny stuff but the steering wheel wasn't dead centered.

So I went to the local tire shop and had them align it. On E46 and many other 3 series BMWs the only adjustable track is the front wheels, rear axle doesn't allow for adjustment much.

It cost me something around EUR65 and track a well as steering wheel position were perfectly aligned and on track afterwards.

Due to corroded track rods (the bars hooked up between the wheel and the steering rack) they had to heat the rods to get the rod to turn on the thread in order to adjust it. I plan to replace those parts once I deal with the suspension rebuilt.

For now it's all straight:

That's it for now

Catch ya next time steemians and please ask any questions you may have! I'll do a full parts/cost rundown in the next part in case anyone's wondering how much it actually costs to daily a late 90s 6 cylinder BMW.

Sneak preview:

Ouh I love those wheels...