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I'm a BMW E46 virgin, but wow is this car easy to work on :)

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Fritzo

Fritzo

Lifer
Just got my 330ci convertible last Friday, and the previous owner didn't seem to care a lot about maintenance, so I've been getting the gal cleaned up.

Things I've noticed on the M54 engine so far is that everything is designed to be fairly accessible. The oil filter- right in front of you. The air filter- right in front of you. The cabin filter- right in front of you. There's even a plastic shield over the engine top to prevent you from dripping oil on to the valve covers 🙂

I noticed my check engine light came on, and my Android phone doohicky is reading codes saying the engine is running too lean. Due to the lack of maintenance on the car, I'm guessing it's the fuel filter, which is supposed to be replaced at 60K miles, and it's at 84K right now. Has anyone changed a fuel filter on their e46 before? As with the other components, it appears the filter is right beneath the driver side door under a shield. However, the Youtube videos I've watched seem to show fuel splashing everywhere when it's removed...and I don't really have an area where gas splashing would be tolerated very well. Any tricks to avoid this or should I just buy the part and have my mechanic buddy do it for me?
 
Congrats on the new car! I got myself a 330i sedan as a first car eight months ago. Love learning to work on the car and getting everything up to date now that it's hit 112k miles. It's been perfect through this cold Boston winter with no problems popping up while it's miserably cold out.

As for the lean codes, those are supposedly pretty common on these cars. I doubt the fuel filter is the cause although it's probably worth replacing anyway (I've got one that I'm gonna drop in when it warms up, never been replaced in 112k). It's more likely some unmetered air caused by a leak - old rubber tends to tear, luckily it's all really cheap and easy to replace.

e46fanatics.com is an awesome resource and worth keeping bookmarked.
 
Congrats on the Beamer OP.

As far as "easy to work on," well... I've never really worked on a German car so let me shut up.
 
repoman0 said:
Congrats on the new car! I got myself a 330i sedan as a first car eight months ago. Love learning to work on the car and getting everything up to date now that it's hit 112k miles. It's been perfect through this cold Boston winter with no problems popping up while it's miserably cold out.

As for the lean codes, those are supposedly pretty common on these cars. I doubt the fuel filter is the cause although it's probably worth replacing anyway (I've got one that I'm gonna drop in when it warms up, never been replaced in 112k). It's more likely some unmetered air caused by a leak - old rubber tends to tear, luckily it's all really cheap and easy to replace.

e46fanatics.com is an awesome resource and worth keeping bookmarked.
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The reason I think it's the fuel filter is the light will come on, but if I high-rev for 30 seconds or so, it will go off for a while and then come back after the car has sat for a while. This tells me it's most likely fuel related.
 
Fritzo said:
Just got my 330ci convertible last Friday, and the previous owner didn't seem to care a lot about maintenance, so I've been getting the gal cleaned up.

Things I've noticed on the M54 engine so far is that everything is designed to be fairly accessible. The oil filter- right in front of you. The air filter- right in front of you. The cabin filter- right in front of you. There's even a plastic shield over the engine top to prevent you from dripping oil on to the valve covers 🙂

I noticed my check engine light came on, and my Android phone doohicky is reading codes saying the engine is running too lean. Due to the lack of maintenance on the car, I'm guessing it's the fuel filter, which is supposed to be replaced at 60K miles, and it's at 84K right now. Has anyone changed a fuel filter on their e46 before? As with the other components, it appears the filter is right beneath the driver side door under a shield. However, the Youtube videos I've watched seem to show fuel splashing everywhere when it's removed...and I don't really have an area where gas splashing would be tolerated very well. Any tricks to avoid this or should I just buy the part and have my mechanic buddy do it for me?
Click to expand...

Price and specs? Pretty good pick actually, convertibles are not known for subframe issues due to all the extra bracing.

1) Too lean code: grab a can of CRC cleaner and spray the mass air sensor, especially if there's some kind of aftermarket intake on it. Also check for any intake leaks - unmetered air going into the engine and the car is hitting max trims on the fuel to keep the AF ratio in check. A bottle of fuel cleaner (3M or techron ... anything with PEA) won't hurt either, if you have crap in the injectors.

2) Fuel filter: the trick is to pull the fuse for the fuel pump and run/crank the car until it dies. This removes pressure from the fuel lines and minimizes spill.
 
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Check the large intake hose, chances are, there's a crack in it at the little elbow. Easily replaced.
 
halik said:
Price and specs? Pretty good pick actually, convertibles are not known for subframe issues due to all the extra bracing.

1) Too lean code: grab a can of CRC cleaner and spray the mass air sensor, especially if there's some kind of aftermarket intake on it. Also check for any intake leaks - unmetered air going into the engine and the car is hitting max trims on the fuel to keep the AF ratio in check. A bottle of fuel cleaner (3M or techron ... anything with PEA) won't hurt either, if you have crap in the injectors.

2) Fuel filter: the trick is to pull the fuse for the fuel pump and run/crank the car until it dies. This removes pressure from the fuel lines and minimizes spill.
Click to expand...

All of this.

Plus some line clamps or similar to pinch off soft lines to further reduce fuel leaking. Grabbing the filter with a plastic bag or shop rag is a decent way to keep fuel from dripping down your arm too.
 
Arkaign said:
Don't forget VANOS seals 🙂
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Yeah, went bad on my moms X5 within first 2 months (but has been fine every since).

Vanos unit was also replaced....

Engines in general are pretty bulletproof (that goes for just about every car now days)....it's everything around it. On a german car, it's the electronics you have to worry about....
 
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