[Stu667]

Originally Posted by tyrannosaurus69

Appreciate the sympathy mate; although it won't help with the car, it made me feel a little better! The garage called just after I wrote this post to tell me that it's still misfiring after replacing the injector. and that they will need to carry out "Further investigations", before telling me that I only drive for short journeys, which may have caused some problems. I mean, there is a global pandemic going on...

In regards to the cost, yeah I get the feeling they're taking the piss a little, or more likely a lot. I wouldn't have taken it to this garage, but all of the local garages made up excuses about not being able to take it in when the steering rack went. Finally one garage owner came clean on the phone after saying he couldn't take it in for two weeks, and when I told him two other garages had said exactly the same thing he burst out laughing, before telling me that trying to sort the steering was more effort than it was worth. The garage I went with seemed professional and sympathetic about the cost, so I went with them when the EWL came on. Nearest BMW dealership is miles away and I have my daughter all day, so putting her in a cab there and back is a bit of a no-no.

After a (completely) sleepless night I've decided to part-exchange the car for, probably, a newer Ford, and put the money wasted on the car down to experience . I love the BMW, and it made me smile every time I looked at it in the driveway, but reading this thread has made me realise that it's just going to be a complete money sink, with no guarantee of reliability even if I spend thousands on it. I'm registered disabled and rely on my wife for most of our household income, and my decision to buy this car has cost us every last bit of our savings and placed an even bigger financial burden on her, so feeling pretty shitty about the whole thing.

If you can't get a refund on being sold a clearly unfit for purpose car, then part-exchanging it is probably your wisest move mate, because aside from the injector/coil merry-go-round, you'll always be worrying about the timing chain and other delights that have surfaced with this pathetic engine over the years.

If it's any consolation, I sold mine to a dealer after only 8 months of ownership, at the loss of £3K from what I paid for it. Nobody would touch it privately (probably all read this thread lol) so I had no choice. Funnily enough I was recently checking the MOT histories of all the cars I've ever owned for old time's sake, and found my old BMW. Had a little chuckle to myself when one of the recent MOT advisories mentioned the engine management light being on, and then felt bad about it, as I too was once a victim of this poor show by BMW.

Funnily enough, like you I had come from a Ford Fiesta that had given years of trouble free service. At the time I vowed never to buy another BMW ever again, but was tempted back by their diesel offerings. Happy to report I've not experienced the same nightmare I had with the N43, in fact it has been very reliable so far. My wife is keen on buying a petrol 1-series next month and I must admit alarm bells and Vietnam-esque flashbacks started at the mention of a BMW petrol, but I am told the engines that came after the N43 don't suffer from the same symptoms. Fingers and toes firmly crossed!

[mistabam92]

Hi Everyone, just discovered this thread so thought i'd share my 320i ownership story - mine isn't actually all bad but it's not great, lol

So, I picked one of these up in June 2020 last year as the first car I've owned since moving to London about 5 years ago. Working on an extremely tight budget, I found a Le Mans blue E91 320i M Sport with 6 speed manual, the N46B20 engine and 151k miles, in let's say 'less than ideal condition' and picked myself up a bargain.

The main issue I knew about before buying was the valve stem seals as there was an advisory for blue smoke in it's previous MOT history, so this was the first thing I got fixed after a few test journey's to fully confirm the issue. KMK in Croydon sort this for about £700, not too much bother.

However, I then spent the next few months working out a whole variety of other issues on this car, the most annoying/expensive of these being that the rear differential was failing. It wasn't instantly noticeable for some reason but once the garage who did the valve stem seals pointed it out my god, was the whine on that thing annoying! I tried changing the diff oil but if anything that actually made it worse, really not ideal.

Sounds like the diffs on the 320i do occasionally go bad, but wouldn't say this is a common issue on these cars from my research. Regardless it had to be sorted, so reluctantly got the the diff fully refurbished at KMK for another £700ish.

Those were the 2 major/annoying ones that did cost me a fair whack, but in terms of other mechanical repairs/maintenance I have also done;
-Rear shocks & bump stops
-Rear upper & lower control arms
-Rocker cover gasket (done with valve stem seals)
-Oil filter housing gasket and oil cooler gasket
-VANOS solenoids & O-Rings
-Crankshaft oil seal
-Idler pulley, tensioner pulley & serpentine belt
-Front discs & all 4 brake pads
-Spark plugs

Now, at least part of the above is down to the fact that this was a 150k mile car when I bought it so some of that was pretty understandable and I was prepared for some maintenance, but I could not believe the number oil leaks this thing had/developed, it was absolute madness in the first few months!

Thankfully, the car is actually running pretty sweetly now and I have also now done a couple of mods to it that I would 100% recommend to make the car a bit more fun to drive/look nicer;
-Black kidney grilles
-Wheel spacers - 20mm rear, 12mm front
-K&N Performance air filter with bottom of airbox removed
-Custom Powerflow Cat-back exhaust system with back box
-CDV Delete

SO! Fast forward to today and I have 2 remaining mechanical problems, which are;
-An intermittent P0430 code which pops up after extended motorway driving, I assume this is a result of the oil passing through the exhaust & cats before the valve stem seals were done. I tried Cataclean and have also tried the spark plug anti-fouler trick on the one post-cat 02 sensor I could actually reach but that didn't cure the issue, so I'm going to have to try and reach the other one at some point soon and see if that solves it. Anyone else tried this method?
-The car has a slightly mysterious coolant leak that I haven't really investigated yet, but it is losing a bit of coolant so does need to be resolved. Anyone dealt with any common coolant leaks on the N46/have some advice on where to start?

Hope my story gives some context to owning a high mileage 320i, I'm hoping with the love and money I've thrown at it it keeps me mobile and having fun in it for at least long enough until I can find a rare as f**k manual E91 335i!

[mpower_sy]

I haven't had time to read all 54 pages of this stuff, so hope i am not repeating anyone's post.
all the post's i read point to relatively easy, if not cheap fixes.

i am on my second engine with this one getting the same diagnosis from BMW, so potentially engine number 3 (sod that its being scrapped)

2005 320i auto with 180,000 KM's

the oil pump and oil pressure go crazy and it opens all the valves at once, so no compression, no start. the pump itself is more expensive than a new engine. my local indy is brilliant and he's at a total loss as to why it does this, he's spoke to people back in the UK (he's english) and its also happening there too, maybe the high K's who knows. it'll settle down an be fine for a week, than it just won't work. happens whenever, where ever it feels like, you have no confidence in going out in it as you may not get back home. this engine was only produced for 2 years, i wonder why. oil pump is not servicable, its sealed. my son is now looking for anything other than a BMW.

[Ahmadbaudine92]

Hi guys i have been having problems with my 320i since i have purchased it a few months ago.

I have an engine light on with multiple error codes including missfire cylinder 2 and 3. The car is rough on idle and engine light starts to flash and the car shakes if left on idle for around 20 minutes.

To resolve it i have changed all spark plugs
cylinder 2 and 3 coil pack
i had an o2 sensor error code so i replaced that aswell
i did a full service,
i have replaced the petrol injectors with used onse from my mechanic off another n43 engine twice, the first time made no difference however, the next set of used injectors made a massive difference to the overall drive and power of my car however, after half anhour of enjoying the drive my dreaded engine light once again returned with the same missfire codes also returning.

i have been reccomended by my mechanic to replace all injectors with the new index 11 however, it will cost close to a grand for parts and labour.
I am willing to pay this if it solves my problem however, i am scared to pay all that money and still have the problem as i am only a student so it will be a big hit to my wallet.

Any advise will be much appriciated.

[Isaac320]

Hello not sure if anyone is still in this chat, this is my 320i having problems with the steering, a lot of play in the wheel and feels loose like it’s floating wondering if anyone’s had this problem thanks.