Quite A Few Problems With My 1995 M3 3.0 Convertible

[scott3136]

I have had my m3 for about 4 months now and have discovered a fair few problems with a little help i hope i can rectify these problems.

1. There is a knocking noise coming from the rear and it gets alot worse in the wet especially when going over really slippy surfaces like manhole covers.

2. The abs light is illuminated all the time not sure if its a common problem as i havnt seen much on this subject.

3. Brake light ciruit flashes up quite often on the obc heard this could be the brake pedal switch but not 100% sure.

4. Engine is rough when cold sputtering and what feels like misfiring when driving but gets alot better when warm but still feels like its misfiring around 2500 to 3000rpm and has lack of power.

5. Vanos chatters if u hold the revs at about 1200rpm could this be causing running problems?

6. About 2 days ago the airbag light has decided to come on car has just a drivers airbag and cant see any wires for the pretensioners under the seats.

Apart from those few problems the cars great lol! Hope someone can help.

Cheers Scott

Edited by scott3136 on Thursday 12th July 18:12

[Vesuvius 996]

scott3136 said:

I have had my m3 for about 4 months now and have discovered a fair few problems with a little help i hope i can rectify these problems.

1. There is a knocking noise coming from the rear and it gets alot worse in the wet especially when going over really slippy surfaces like manhole covers.

2. The abs light is illuminated all the time not sure if its a common problem as i havnt seen much on this subject.

3. Brake light ciruit flashes up quite often on the obc heard this could be the brake pedal switch but not 100% sure.

4. Engine is rough when cold sputtering and what feels like misfiring when driving but gets alot better when warm but still feels like its misfiring around 2500 to 3000rpm and has lack of power.

5. Vanos chatters slightly if u hold the revs at about 1200rpm could this be causing running problems?

6. About 2 days ago the airbag light has decided to come on car has just a drivers airbag and cant see any wires for the pretensioners under the seats.

Apart from those few problems the cars great lol! Hope someone can help.

Cheers Scott

If it was mine I'd pull all the fuses out and trade it in.

[f13ldy]

scott3136 said:

I have had my m3 for about 4 months now and have discovered a fair few problems with a little help i hope i can rectify these problems.

1. There is a knocking noise coming from the rear and it gets alot worse in the wet especially when going over really slippy surfaces like manhole covers.

2. The abs light is illuminated all the time not sure if its a common problem as i havnt seen much on this subject.

3. Brake light ciruit flashes up quite often on the obc heard this could be the brake pedal switch but not 100% sure.

4. Engine is rough when cold sputtering and what feels like misfiring when driving but gets alot better when warm but still feels like its misfiring around 2500 to 3000rpm and has lack of power.

5. Vanos chatters slightly if u hold the revs at about 1200rpm could this be causing running problems?

6. About 2 days ago the airbag light has decided to come on car has just a drivers airbag and cant see any wires for the pretensioners under the seats.

Apart from those few problems the cars great lol! Hope someone can help.

Cheers Scott

1 = Trailing Arm Bushes/Rear Top mounts or snapped springs.

2 = That's a bit dangerous and mot failure, but fear not it probably a sensor up the duff.

3 = Possibly or the brake pads are reaching their limit, or the sensor is loose and being jolted around.

4 = Lambada or 02 sensor. How is your MPG?

5 = I wouldn't worry about that, alot of them are noisy.

6 = Erm I don't know.

The best thing is to get it to a reputable indy, and hook it up on a diagnostic machine which throw back some errors which can be rectified.

[steil]

No.3 is very common on e36's - see here for a cure http://www.bimmerdiy.com/e36 may also help with some of your other woes.

[scott3136]

Mpg isnt to bad it normally averages about 23mpg driving around town. Is that normal?

[f13ldy]

scott3136 said:

Mpg isnt to bad it normally averages about 23mpg driving around town. Is that normal?

That seems fairly normal. If not a little low.

Best get it on a diagnostic. Although nothing on there sounds like a serious problem, just normal ageing car stuff...

[sharkfan]

Number 6 - the airbag light. I had the airbag light come on in my Alpina. Turns out if the battery is low on charge it affects the airbag system so maybe give it a charge and see if that helps.

Richard