Discussion
Afternoon PH,
Long time lurker here. Thought I’d use this thread to document the now two year ownership of my E90 M3.
Like all good car journals, let’s start off with a bit of car history:
2001 Ford Fiesta Zetec S
Ok, so I’m cheating a bit here as it wasn’t my first car, but my first ‘interesting’ car. Bought at 19 at the cost of £2200, I absolutely loved this thing. Car that taught me the dangers/fun of lift off oversteer and how to heel/toe. I still maintain that if these came with an extra 50hp, they would be remembered as a great hot hatch, rather than a forgotten about warm hatch.
2005 Renault Clio 182 Trophy (#433)
Oh man. The one that got away. Owned for two years and put about 25k miles on it in that time, and loved every minute until I crashed it on the way to work one morning. Absolutely gutted, having being well ingrained into the cliosport.net community, #433 was one of the best Trophy’s out there. Major, major regret there.
1994 Renault Clio 16v
After writing off the Trophy, I picked up this as its replacement. Recently undergoing a full restoration, I naively thought it would take over daily duties. It was too nice to (plus it had a neat French party trick of leaking rainwater through the sunroof on passengers) so after 6 months or so I shifted it on.
2010 Abarth 500
Meh. Coming from the Clio’s this never hit the mark for me. Engine always felt asthmatic, steering was numb. Correct colour choice though. Got rid after about 8 months.
2006 Audi TT Quattro Sport
Have you ever bought a car because of the seats? I did. Ended up keeping this for around 2 years, despite never fully gelling with it. Great looking car, mind.
2010 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport Tech
A car enthusiasts right of passage, correct? Did over 40k miles in this, and all that it ever wanted was a replacement lambda sensor. Cloth roof, LSD - brilliant car.
2005 Mini Cooper S
Despite owning the mx5, I missed having a hot hatch, so picked this up to run at the same time. Bought, took on a tour of north Wales - I began to really appreciate the little mini. Unfortunately the timing chain tensioner shat itself a month or so later. And that was the end of that.
2011 Renault Megane 265
You can take the boy out of Renault, but you…no, that doesn’t work. Anyway, during the break between the two lockdowns, I decided to take a flight to Aberdeen this to pick this up. Hugely capable car, and incredible for the 20% of driving I do in ‘fun’ miles. Regrettably, for the remaining 80%, it turned into a bit of a chore. Loud, stiff, dreadful standard speakers - I realised that at 32, it simply wasn’t what I wanted from a car anymore.
Enter the hunt for an E9x M3. I’ve loved this generation ever since I had my Fiesta, having picked up a copy of EVO and seeing the red press car. Plus, with the general downsizing of engine sizes, I wanted to tick the V8 box while I still could.
I wasn’t specifically looking for an E90. I’ve always preferred the looks of the saloon (those rear arches!), but ultimately decided that to find one in a good spec was going to be a bit of a challenge, simply down to the rarity factor.
I was also advised by many to not buy the first one I went to see. However, when the first one you see turns out to be a well specced E90 under 20 miles away, all advice goes out of the window.
2008 BMW M3
For time reference, we’re now in July 2021.
The car is as follows:
Late 2008 (meaning that it’s LCI; the 90’s got the facelift on 58 plates)
96k miles
Jerez Black
DCT
EDC
Logic 7 stereo
Sunroof
Having checked over with my BMW wizard mate (coincidentally the same chap I first met when he sold me the Trophy; he didn’t de-friend me after binning it), it turns out that it was incredibly well spec’d, only really missing the folding rear bench.
It has had the all important rod bearings done at 88k, and the throttle actuators replaced under BMW warranty - which means they’ll likely need replacing again at some point.
A couple of tasteful mods, including GTS gearbox software, Brembo 4 pots (ironically from a Megane), test pipes in place of the pre-cats and a remap.
I loved it instantly. The noise, the balance, the throttle response, the silly downshifts, the fact that despite it being a heavy car, it feels like it shrinks around you when pushing on. Good car, and the only car I’d had since my Trophy that would get me out in the morning to drive just for the enjoyment of it.
August 2021.
One month in, 600 miles done, currently WFH 95% of the time so I’m happy to report that the miles were all ‘fun’ miles. One of the critiques I see of the E9x M3’s is that it feels like it’s a 320i if under 4k rpm. Happy to report that this is b
ks.
Hugely exciting update, I added a new rear badge to freshen things up. I also went full Rainman and ordered a tonne of detailing ‘stuff’ in order to address the swirly paintwork.
Things I have learned this week:
- Driving this in the wet is very different to driving my old mx5 in the wet. More practice/talent needed.
Half throttle progressing to 3/4 throttle, MDM mode, aggressive DCT setting. Straight line, second to third, 6k rpm. Back tried to overtake the front…
- The sunroof got stuck in a semi-open position. Press and hold the button for 15 seconds to re-calibrate; I fixed something!
- BMW paint is impossible to correct for a non-detailing nerd with no patience.
That being said, it’s looking far better. I also absolutely love the colour:
October 2021.
Not so exciting update, MOT’d and two new Super Sports on the rear:
Still loving it. Considering I now work from home, I’ve managed to rack up over 3k miles since buying it, with no long trips.
Full service booked 2nd Nov.
October 2021.
Car has been with Steve at Berkshire Motor Works for a service. Really good chap, ex-BMW master tech, he’s looked after my old man’s Z4 for years.
Oil
Filters
Sparks
So that’s exciting. Apparently the old sparks were barely finger tight, what was a bit of a concern, but all good now.
On a more interesting point, my new plate turned up. Full BMW wker now, but it hides the fact it’s just had its 13th birthday.
November 2021.
Expensive day today.
Not that I actually spent money, but I wonder how much hitting this milestone reduced the value by?
April 2022.
All quiet on the M3 front over winter. You know you’ve bought the right car when you just want to drive it all of the time.
And that’s exactly what I do with this. Due to the above, this Sunday morning I found the car looking like this:
Took the long way to go and see a friend and his new Alfa QS (nice for him to have the second best looking saloon car in a group) and genuinely can’t see me wanting any more from a car than this.
May 2022.
New front brakes fitted last night.
OEM discs
YellowStuff pads (for Megane Brembos)
All good, it actually stops now. Took it on one of my favourite roads to bed them in and stopped at a friends to check out his new purchase - a man of taste clearly.
Epic run out the following morning, 150 miles of Berks, North Hants and South Oxfordshire roads.
Highlights for those around the area:
B3349 - Riseley > Hook > Alton
A339 - Alton > Basingstoke
A339 - Basingstoke > Newbury
B4009 - Newbury > Goring
I then got a bit lost and ended up playing around in the Chiltern Hills until I found Henley, where I had a play with a 1M, followed by a quick natter with the owner.
I have no idea what I’d replace this car with, it’s pretty bloody perfect for my style of driving. Eats up fast A roads, and then seems to shrink around you in the twisty stuff. Turn in is fantastic, the throttle response is razor sharp, the DCT has it’s own character and the engine is just glorious.
August 2022.
Ticked over to 103k miles last night.
Nothing major to report. The car had developed an intermittent misfire which would occasionally cause it to go into limp mode, so took it to Tom @ Spartan Automotive to have a look.
Rather concerningly (is that a word?!), Tom found that the plenum had two of the 8 jubilees clips which connect to the ITB’s to be missing, and the rest to be completely loose! So we put the misfire down to an air leak…
While there, internet hearsay and scaremongering (thanks got the better of me, and the injectors were changed. The reason for changing; there have been some horror stories of injectors sticking open and killing engines, so I figured at 100k it was worthwhile for peace of mind.
BMW charge £200+ per injector, but I managed for find these on Autodoc (Bosch, same part number as OEM) for about £40 each.
As an aside, I couldn’t be more impressed with Spartan. Tom really know his stuff.
Next, service and DCT service.
I haven’t cleaned or taken a pic of it in ages, so here’s a bulge pic from my window.
September 2022.
Weekend away for Goodwood Revival. Nothing major to report other than my friends wife spilling nail varnish remover on the Airbnb hosts table. Other than that, a brilliant weekend away and the car behaved itself.
October 2022.
MOT - failed.
Honestly, the second worst thing about moving areas is having to find a new MOT place, following a barber.
Somehow, the MOT station have managed to break a braided hose. Apparently, when they were testing the brakes, the end connected to the brake pipe has broken, which resulted in the fail…
Well, that and a bulb out, which I hadn’t noticed as I haven’t driven it in the dark for god knows how long.
Hmm.
Anyway, because I have aftermarket calipers I’ve had to call HEL to make some up. On the plus side, HEL customer service is great.
Car was booked in for a DCT service next week, will have to let Spartan down. I’ll be asking him to have a good look at the hoses/lines too, as I can’t understand how it’s happened.
November 2022.
Update.
Have the car back. Still not MOT’d but I grew sick of the garages incompetence.
One month they had it. A month.
Failed MOT on a headlight out and the brake situation as detailed above.
Sorted brakes (had to order a new set of HEL hoses, which the garage then lost), but they couldn’t get to the bottom of the headlight. Changed the ballast and bulb. The last call before calling it a day with them, they told me that the car no longer has coolant as they had to remove a radiator to get to the light. I decided it was time for them not to touch my car anymore.
Anyway, collected it, £360 for my troubles and now am in the same situation as I was before. Apart from now I have a different headlight warning (adaptive headlight failure) and a completely misted up headlight.
Oh.
And a woman reversed into my front bumper before I could pick it up. So now I need to sort that.
It’s going off to Tom at Spartan to sort while I’m out of the country until December.
Misty headlights are the devil.
-
Having got the car back from the garage, I decided to start it on the driveway, plug into Carly, and see whether the headlight would work but clearing codes.
If you recall, to get the headlight off, the garage decided to remove the radiator rather than the more common way for removing the bumper.
When starting the car on the driveway, I get a ‘low coolant warning’, followed by an EML and smoke from the engine bay.
Immediately notice that the garage haven’t clipped in the coolant reservoir hoses, so it’s dumped coolant everywhere.
Topped up with correct coolant and de-ionised water and run to temp, it now seems to have developed a hell of a missfire. Plugged it, all of bank 2 seem to be struggling.
Still no MOT.
Garage have admitted fault, refunded, and as of this morning it’s been sent to Tom @ Spartan to fix. Of course, because cursed, the battery had died, so we had great fun getting a dead DCT M3 on to a truck.
So as a TLDR:
- Car failed MOT early Oct on a headlight out and busted HEL hose during testing brakes
- Garage couldn’t get the car on the ramp to fix headlight until HEL got a new custom hose
- They (garage) lost the hose, turned up a week later
- A month in, they hadn’t fixed the headlight. Ballast and bulb had been changed.
- I decided to pull the car out of there
- Day I pull it out, some bint reverses into it in their car park
- Headlight full of moisture, new headlight fault
- They took off the rad to replace ballast, and didn’t clip hoses back into coolant reservoir
- Coolant everywhere.
- EML and misfire.
OWNING CARS IS FUN.
Work going ahead at Spartan:
Full coolant flush
Diagnosis and fix of misfire (either a sensor, coil pack, plug is my guess)
Brake fluid change
Service
DCT service
Get to the bottom of headlight issues.
MOT
I’m really, really hoping that the coolant dumping/misfire is a coincidence, and no damage was done.
December 2022.
Car is 95% fixed.
Misfire was to do with one of the banks over fuelling, which was linked back to the secondary air pump. Tom @ Spartan cleaned out the valves and replaced the gaskets, all running sweet.
The hoses from the coolant reservoir were crimped, so replaced those.
Full coolant flush
Brake fluid change, handbrake tightened.
Oil/filter service.
DCT Service - both filters changed too. Check below for the state of the oil:
Apparently this was also done at BMW at 60k…
Headlight. Oh man. Where the previous garage had left out the car without a cap on, it was basically a fishtank. Ballast, bulb and more annoyingly the motor unit were all fubar’d. Managed to find a second hand one from Quarry breakers, and all working with (another) refurbed ballast.
Now…the 5%…
Upon inspection, my rear damper is damaged - cracked at the collar. Ironically, it didn’t fail an MOT for this…
Annoyingly, being an EDC car the dampers aren’t easy to find. Tried everywhere last night for dampers, Cutters, Facebook groups, eBay.
Cliosport? Of course someone can help.
4.5 hour round trip this evening in the Peugeot funbus for two low mileage e92 comp dampers.
I’m off to Vegas for a week Saturday, so going to get them over to Spartan tomorrow to fix, then MOT, and all things well the car will be ready for when I’m back.
January 2023.
Shocks are on, all good. More Skittles though.
Tom went to take the M3 for an MOT last week, then the EML resurfaced. He thinks he’s found and sorted for good though, pesky exhaust leak before the lambda - all fixed.
…then the car shat it’s coolant everywhere. Not had a proper look yet but suspected it’s coming from the rad. Really odd as he’s driven it around 20 miles, and on the ramp had no signs of leaks.
SKITTLES.
What I would say though is how impressed I am with Tom @ Spartan. Nothing is too much bother, he thinks outside the box and his communication is second to none.
Hopefully we’re nearly there and it’ll be running like new!
-
Exhaust gasket had seen better days:
-
Cooling issue - sorted.
Previous garage had broken the drain plug so fired out under pressure, hence dumping coolant everywhere. New one fitted, pressure tested, all good.
And good news, MOT passed this morning with flying colours.
February 2023.
Guess who’s back?!
Well.
Was back.
Picked it up this morning and drove straight to the train station.
Arrived back at 8:30pm…and it’s dumped it coolant everywhere.
Back to Spartan on the recovery truck it goes…
Also, remember the lady who reversed into the car?
The photo:
Raindrops. You’ve counted raindrops.
For the record, the quote I got was from a top bodyshop, I told her £200.
-
Let’s try this again shall we? Another £450 (new rad, whoever initially overtightened the rad drain plug managed to crack the rad) down and back on the drive.
10 miles and not broken yet. I asked Tom to use it as his car for a few days and he has with no issues, so fingers crossed!
-
Normal service has resumed, done around 50 test miles this morning, and going to go for a blast tomorrow morning. Genuinely SO happy to have it back!
March-May 2023.
Drove this to Liverpool and back this week, absolutely faultless and 29mpg overall!
However, last night…
Had driven it to a mates and noticed it running lumpy and idling high. EML then came on with a ‘reduced power’ message.
Turned it off and on, no reduced power, no misfire but EML still on.
-
So…both lambdas replaced, running smooth.
There was definitely a fault with one of them, was only showing 4v on the heater circuit compared to 12v on the new one.
Car seems to be running tip top, covered around 300 miles since getting it back. I recently picked up a CTEK which I really need to use, as I keep on being told my battery is low.
Clean now too. No immediate plans, probably going to try and enjoy it over the summer and work out what I need to do in which order over winter (suspension refresh, rear subframe refresh, wheel refurb, bodywork, steering wheel retrim).
I also added spacers for some chonk, 15mm front, 12mm rear.
September 2023
Nothing new to report on this really. It’s been on daily duties for the past month since my fiancé decided to sell her car, and it’s been well behaved - should tick over to 108k this weekend.
I’ve been wheel hunting too. Decided on a set of M359 reps - but silver aren’t in stock until mid-October. Reps - I know - but they’re just as well made as OEM wheels, with a more aggressive offset on the fronts, and half the price.
I spent the last few hours prepping it for Collecting Cars in Bicester tomorrow; paintwork is still shoddy and on the to do list, but it passes the 10ft test.
Next up, wheels and a service, inc. diff. Then I’ll give the paintwork some love. I still fancy a carbon intake, but with a wedding coming up it’s not a priority.
Pic post clean with its new stablemate.
Faultless trip to Bicester this morning, following a blast through South Oxfordshire and pub lunch in Goring.
Good car, it’s a keeper!
-
To finish off this rather long post, I ordered a Carbon plenum from Carbon Klasse - which should be here in 3-4 weeks.
On the negative side, and for once it’s not M3 related, the Levante has been crashed. By me.
Driving back late last night, a tree fell down in the wind in front of me. To quote the copper, ‘you’re both very unlucky, and really, really lucky’.
Front bumper, wings, one headlight was punched into the engine bay. EML and suspension light on. Unsure of the damage under the bonnet, but there’s a lot of pipes and couple of reservoirs which I assume took a big hit. It’s with the insurance company to assess now.
Opted out of a courtesy car to keep costs down. Because of that, Aviva are planting a tree in mrs name.
Talk about f**king irony. Never a dull moment here.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Appreciate it likely reads like the diary of a mad man, but I’ve done my best to compile these posts/pics from various sources. I’ll keep this up to date from now.
Luke
Long time lurker here. Thought I’d use this thread to document the now two year ownership of my E90 M3.
Like all good car journals, let’s start off with a bit of car history:
2001 Ford Fiesta Zetec S
Ok, so I’m cheating a bit here as it wasn’t my first car, but my first ‘interesting’ car. Bought at 19 at the cost of £2200, I absolutely loved this thing. Car that taught me the dangers/fun of lift off oversteer and how to heel/toe. I still maintain that if these came with an extra 50hp, they would be remembered as a great hot hatch, rather than a forgotten about warm hatch.
2005 Renault Clio 182 Trophy (#433)
Oh man. The one that got away. Owned for two years and put about 25k miles on it in that time, and loved every minute until I crashed it on the way to work one morning. Absolutely gutted, having being well ingrained into the cliosport.net community, #433 was one of the best Trophy’s out there. Major, major regret there.
1994 Renault Clio 16v
After writing off the Trophy, I picked up this as its replacement. Recently undergoing a full restoration, I naively thought it would take over daily duties. It was too nice to (plus it had a neat French party trick of leaking rainwater through the sunroof on passengers) so after 6 months or so I shifted it on.
2010 Abarth 500
Meh. Coming from the Clio’s this never hit the mark for me. Engine always felt asthmatic, steering was numb. Correct colour choice though. Got rid after about 8 months.
2006 Audi TT Quattro Sport
Have you ever bought a car because of the seats? I did. Ended up keeping this for around 2 years, despite never fully gelling with it. Great looking car, mind.
2010 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport Tech
A car enthusiasts right of passage, correct? Did over 40k miles in this, and all that it ever wanted was a replacement lambda sensor. Cloth roof, LSD - brilliant car.
2005 Mini Cooper S
Despite owning the mx5, I missed having a hot hatch, so picked this up to run at the same time. Bought, took on a tour of north Wales - I began to really appreciate the little mini. Unfortunately the timing chain tensioner shat itself a month or so later. And that was the end of that.
2011 Renault Megane 265
You can take the boy out of Renault, but you…no, that doesn’t work. Anyway, during the break between the two lockdowns, I decided to take a flight to Aberdeen this to pick this up. Hugely capable car, and incredible for the 20% of driving I do in ‘fun’ miles. Regrettably, for the remaining 80%, it turned into a bit of a chore. Loud, stiff, dreadful standard speakers - I realised that at 32, it simply wasn’t what I wanted from a car anymore.
Enter the hunt for an E9x M3. I’ve loved this generation ever since I had my Fiesta, having picked up a copy of EVO and seeing the red press car. Plus, with the general downsizing of engine sizes, I wanted to tick the V8 box while I still could.
I wasn’t specifically looking for an E90. I’ve always preferred the looks of the saloon (those rear arches!), but ultimately decided that to find one in a good spec was going to be a bit of a challenge, simply down to the rarity factor.
I was also advised by many to not buy the first one I went to see. However, when the first one you see turns out to be a well specced E90 under 20 miles away, all advice goes out of the window.
2008 BMW M3
For time reference, we’re now in July 2021.
The car is as follows:
Late 2008 (meaning that it’s LCI; the 90’s got the facelift on 58 plates)
96k miles
Jerez Black
DCT
EDC
Logic 7 stereo
Sunroof
Having checked over with my BMW wizard mate (coincidentally the same chap I first met when he sold me the Trophy; he didn’t de-friend me after binning it), it turns out that it was incredibly well spec’d, only really missing the folding rear bench.
It has had the all important rod bearings done at 88k, and the throttle actuators replaced under BMW warranty - which means they’ll likely need replacing again at some point.
A couple of tasteful mods, including GTS gearbox software, Brembo 4 pots (ironically from a Megane), test pipes in place of the pre-cats and a remap.
I loved it instantly. The noise, the balance, the throttle response, the silly downshifts, the fact that despite it being a heavy car, it feels like it shrinks around you when pushing on. Good car, and the only car I’d had since my Trophy that would get me out in the morning to drive just for the enjoyment of it.
August 2021.
One month in, 600 miles done, currently WFH 95% of the time so I’m happy to report that the miles were all ‘fun’ miles. One of the critiques I see of the E9x M3’s is that it feels like it’s a 320i if under 4k rpm. Happy to report that this is b
ks.Hugely exciting update, I added a new rear badge to freshen things up. I also went full Rainman and ordered a tonne of detailing ‘stuff’ in order to address the swirly paintwork.
Things I have learned this week:
- Driving this in the wet is very different to driving my old mx5 in the wet. More practice/talent needed.
Half throttle progressing to 3/4 throttle, MDM mode, aggressive DCT setting. Straight line, second to third, 6k rpm. Back tried to overtake the front…
- The sunroof got stuck in a semi-open position. Press and hold the button for 15 seconds to re-calibrate; I fixed something!
- BMW paint is impossible to correct for a non-detailing nerd with no patience.
That being said, it’s looking far better. I also absolutely love the colour:
October 2021.
Not so exciting update, MOT’d and two new Super Sports on the rear:
Still loving it. Considering I now work from home, I’ve managed to rack up over 3k miles since buying it, with no long trips.
Full service booked 2nd Nov.
October 2021.
Car has been with Steve at Berkshire Motor Works for a service. Really good chap, ex-BMW master tech, he’s looked after my old man’s Z4 for years.
Oil
Filters
Sparks
So that’s exciting. Apparently the old sparks were barely finger tight, what was a bit of a concern, but all good now.
On a more interesting point, my new plate turned up. Full BMW w
ker now, but it hides the fact it’s just had its 13th birthday. November 2021.
Expensive day today.
Not that I actually spent money, but I wonder how much hitting this milestone reduced the value by?
April 2022.
All quiet on the M3 front over winter. You know you’ve bought the right car when you just want to drive it all of the time.
And that’s exactly what I do with this. Due to the above, this Sunday morning I found the car looking like this:
Took the long way to go and see a friend and his new Alfa QS (nice for him to have the second best looking saloon car in a group) and genuinely can’t see me wanting any more from a car than this.
May 2022.
New front brakes fitted last night.
OEM discs
YellowStuff pads (for Megane Brembos)
All good, it actually stops now. Took it on one of my favourite roads to bed them in and stopped at a friends to check out his new purchase - a man of taste clearly.
Epic run out the following morning, 150 miles of Berks, North Hants and South Oxfordshire roads.
Highlights for those around the area:
B3349 - Riseley > Hook > Alton
A339 - Alton > Basingstoke
A339 - Basingstoke > Newbury
B4009 - Newbury > Goring
I then got a bit lost and ended up playing around in the Chiltern Hills until I found Henley, where I had a play with a 1M, followed by a quick natter with the owner.
I have no idea what I’d replace this car with, it’s pretty bloody perfect for my style of driving. Eats up fast A roads, and then seems to shrink around you in the twisty stuff. Turn in is fantastic, the throttle response is razor sharp, the DCT has it’s own character and the engine is just glorious.
August 2022.
Ticked over to 103k miles last night.
Nothing major to report. The car had developed an intermittent misfire which would occasionally cause it to go into limp mode, so took it to Tom @ Spartan Automotive to have a look.
Rather concerningly (is that a word?!), Tom found that the plenum had two of the 8 jubilees clips which connect to the ITB’s to be missing, and the rest to be completely loose! So we put the misfire down to an air leak…
While there, internet hearsay and scaremongering (thanks got the better of me, and the injectors were changed. The reason for changing; there have been some horror stories of injectors sticking open and killing engines, so I figured at 100k it was worthwhile for peace of mind.
BMW charge £200+ per injector, but I managed for find these on Autodoc (Bosch, same part number as OEM) for about £40 each.
As an aside, I couldn’t be more impressed with Spartan. Tom really know his stuff.
Next, service and DCT service.
I haven’t cleaned or taken a pic of it in ages, so here’s a bulge pic from my window.
September 2022.
Weekend away for Goodwood Revival. Nothing major to report other than my friends wife spilling nail varnish remover on the Airbnb hosts table. Other than that, a brilliant weekend away and the car behaved itself.
October 2022.
MOT - failed.
Honestly, the second worst thing about moving areas is having to find a new MOT place, following a barber.
Somehow, the MOT station have managed to break a braided hose. Apparently, when they were testing the brakes, the end connected to the brake pipe has broken, which resulted in the fail…
Well, that and a bulb out, which I hadn’t noticed as I haven’t driven it in the dark for god knows how long.
Hmm.
Anyway, because I have aftermarket calipers I’ve had to call HEL to make some up. On the plus side, HEL customer service is great.
Car was booked in for a DCT service next week, will have to let Spartan down. I’ll be asking him to have a good look at the hoses/lines too, as I can’t understand how it’s happened.
November 2022.
Update.
Have the car back. Still not MOT’d but I grew sick of the garages incompetence.
One month they had it. A month.
Failed MOT on a headlight out and the brake situation as detailed above.
Sorted brakes (had to order a new set of HEL hoses, which the garage then lost), but they couldn’t get to the bottom of the headlight. Changed the ballast and bulb. The last call before calling it a day with them, they told me that the car no longer has coolant as they had to remove a radiator to get to the light. I decided it was time for them not to touch my car anymore.
Anyway, collected it, £360 for my troubles and now am in the same situation as I was before. Apart from now I have a different headlight warning (adaptive headlight failure) and a completely misted up headlight.
Oh.
And a woman reversed into my front bumper before I could pick it up. So now I need to sort that.
It’s going off to Tom at Spartan to sort while I’m out of the country until December.
Misty headlights are the devil.
-
Having got the car back from the garage, I decided to start it on the driveway, plug into Carly, and see whether the headlight would work but clearing codes.
If you recall, to get the headlight off, the garage decided to remove the radiator rather than the more common way for removing the bumper.
When starting the car on the driveway, I get a ‘low coolant warning’, followed by an EML and smoke from the engine bay.
Immediately notice that the garage haven’t clipped in the coolant reservoir hoses, so it’s dumped coolant everywhere.
Topped up with correct coolant and de-ionised water and run to temp, it now seems to have developed a hell of a missfire. Plugged it, all of bank 2 seem to be struggling.
Still no MOT.
Garage have admitted fault, refunded, and as of this morning it’s been sent to Tom @ Spartan to fix. Of course, because cursed, the battery had died, so we had great fun getting a dead DCT M3 on to a truck.
So as a TLDR:
- Car failed MOT early Oct on a headlight out and busted HEL hose during testing brakes
- Garage couldn’t get the car on the ramp to fix headlight until HEL got a new custom hose
- They (garage) lost the hose, turned up a week later
- A month in, they hadn’t fixed the headlight. Ballast and bulb had been changed.
- I decided to pull the car out of there
- Day I pull it out, some bint reverses into it in their car park
- Headlight full of moisture, new headlight fault
- They took off the rad to replace ballast, and didn’t clip hoses back into coolant reservoir
- Coolant everywhere.
- EML and misfire.
OWNING CARS IS FUN.
Work going ahead at Spartan:
Full coolant flush
Diagnosis and fix of misfire (either a sensor, coil pack, plug is my guess)
Brake fluid change
Service
DCT service
Get to the bottom of headlight issues.
MOT
I’m really, really hoping that the coolant dumping/misfire is a coincidence, and no damage was done.
December 2022.
Car is 95% fixed.
Misfire was to do with one of the banks over fuelling, which was linked back to the secondary air pump. Tom @ Spartan cleaned out the valves and replaced the gaskets, all running sweet.
The hoses from the coolant reservoir were crimped, so replaced those.
Full coolant flush
Brake fluid change, handbrake tightened.
Oil/filter service.
DCT Service - both filters changed too. Check below for the state of the oil:
Apparently this was also done at BMW at 60k…
Headlight. Oh man. Where the previous garage had left out the car without a cap on, it was basically a fishtank. Ballast, bulb and more annoyingly the motor unit were all fubar’d. Managed to find a second hand one from Quarry breakers, and all working with (another) refurbed ballast.
Now…the 5%…
Upon inspection, my rear damper is damaged - cracked at the collar. Ironically, it didn’t fail an MOT for this…
Annoyingly, being an EDC car the dampers aren’t easy to find. Tried everywhere last night for dampers, Cutters, Facebook groups, eBay.
Cliosport? Of course someone can help.
4.5 hour round trip this evening in the Peugeot funbus for two low mileage e92 comp dampers.
I’m off to Vegas for a week Saturday, so going to get them over to Spartan tomorrow to fix, then MOT, and all things well the car will be ready for when I’m back.
January 2023.
Shocks are on, all good. More Skittles though.
Tom went to take the M3 for an MOT last week, then the EML resurfaced. He thinks he’s found and sorted for good though, pesky exhaust leak before the lambda - all fixed.
…then the car shat it’s coolant everywhere. Not had a proper look yet but suspected it’s coming from the rad. Really odd as he’s driven it around 20 miles, and on the ramp had no signs of leaks.
SKITTLES.
What I would say though is how impressed I am with Tom @ Spartan. Nothing is too much bother, he thinks outside the box and his communication is second to none.
Hopefully we’re nearly there and it’ll be running like new!
-
Exhaust gasket had seen better days:
-
Cooling issue - sorted.
Previous garage had broken the drain plug so fired out under pressure, hence dumping coolant everywhere. New one fitted, pressure tested, all good.
And good news, MOT passed this morning with flying colours.
February 2023.
Guess who’s back?!
Well.
Was back.
Picked it up this morning and drove straight to the train station.
Arrived back at 8:30pm…and it’s dumped it coolant everywhere.
Back to Spartan on the recovery truck it goes…
Also, remember the lady who reversed into the car?
The photo:
Raindrops. You’ve counted raindrops.
For the record, the quote I got was from a top bodyshop, I told her £200.
-
Let’s try this again shall we? Another £450 (new rad, whoever initially overtightened the rad drain plug managed to crack the rad) down and back on the drive.
10 miles and not broken yet. I asked Tom to use it as his car for a few days and he has with no issues, so fingers crossed!
-
Normal service has resumed, done around 50 test miles this morning, and going to go for a blast tomorrow morning. Genuinely SO happy to have it back!
March-May 2023.
Drove this to Liverpool and back this week, absolutely faultless and 29mpg overall!
However, last night…
Had driven it to a mates and noticed it running lumpy and idling high. EML then came on with a ‘reduced power’ message.
Turned it off and on, no reduced power, no misfire but EML still on.
-
So…both lambdas replaced, running smooth.
There was definitely a fault with one of them, was only showing 4v on the heater circuit compared to 12v on the new one.
Car seems to be running tip top, covered around 300 miles since getting it back. I recently picked up a CTEK which I really need to use, as I keep on being told my battery is low.
Clean now too. No immediate plans, probably going to try and enjoy it over the summer and work out what I need to do in which order over winter (suspension refresh, rear subframe refresh, wheel refurb, bodywork, steering wheel retrim).
I also added spacers for some chonk, 15mm front, 12mm rear.
September 2023
Nothing new to report on this really. It’s been on daily duties for the past month since my fiancé decided to sell her car, and it’s been well behaved - should tick over to 108k this weekend.
I’ve been wheel hunting too. Decided on a set of M359 reps - but silver aren’t in stock until mid-October. Reps - I know - but they’re just as well made as OEM wheels, with a more aggressive offset on the fronts, and half the price.
I spent the last few hours prepping it for Collecting Cars in Bicester tomorrow; paintwork is still shoddy and on the to do list, but it passes the 10ft test.
Next up, wheels and a service, inc. diff. Then I’ll give the paintwork some love. I still fancy a carbon intake, but with a wedding coming up it’s not a priority.
Pic post clean with its new stablemate.
Faultless trip to Bicester this morning, following a blast through South Oxfordshire and pub lunch in Goring.
Good car, it’s a keeper!
-
To finish off this rather long post, I ordered a Carbon plenum from Carbon Klasse - which should be here in 3-4 weeks.
On the negative side, and for once it’s not M3 related, the Levante has been crashed. By me.
Driving back late last night, a tree fell down in the wind in front of me. To quote the copper, ‘you’re both very unlucky, and really, really lucky’.
Front bumper, wings, one headlight was punched into the engine bay. EML and suspension light on. Unsure of the damage under the bonnet, but there’s a lot of pipes and couple of reservoirs which I assume took a big hit. It’s with the insurance company to assess now.
Opted out of a courtesy car to keep costs down. Because of that, Aviva are planting a tree in mrs name.
Talk about f**king irony. Never a dull moment here.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Appreciate it likely reads like the diary of a mad man, but I’ve done my best to compile these posts/pics from various sources. I’ll keep this up to date from now.
Luke
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Enjoyed the read; I love the E9x M3 especially the saloon because of those rear arches.
I had the option to buy my uncles old Silverstone II saloon but opted for an M140i instead which proved to be a mistake because I ended up not liking that car despite a very impressive engine.
Sounds like you’ve had some fun and games with the M3 though; the joys of old BMW’s.
I had the option to buy my uncles old Silverstone II saloon but opted for an M140i instead which proved to be a mistake because I ended up not liking that car despite a very impressive engine.
Sounds like you’ve had some fun and games with the M3 though; the joys of old BMW’s.
What a great read, thanks for sharing. Much love for the e9x M3 and I often find myself mulling over the classifieds for one. I keep telling myself that I don’t need another car and maybe next year, but i fear that if I wait until the time is right, the market will have cottoned on and they’ll be out of reach.
Another old ZSOC member here 
Those MK5 Zetec-S were brilliant fun to drive!
The E90/E92 is one of the best looking BMW's ever made I think, the proportions are just so right. I looked at these earlier in the year but I couldn't really find a decent one and reliability/running costs put me off...so I went with a Lexus ISF instead
Yours looks like a very clean example which is rare these days!
Those MK5 Zetec-S were brilliant fun to drive! The E90/E92 is one of the best looking BMW's ever made I think, the proportions are just so right. I looked at these earlier in the year but I couldn't really find a decent one and reliability/running costs put me off...so I went with a Lexus ISF instead
Yours looks like a very clean example which is rare these days!
Thanks for the comments all. Despite it reading like it’s been unreliable, the majority of the issues came from the balls-up at the MOT station.
Unfortunately it’s bumper damage as well as the plinth, but I’ll be treating it to a front end blow over at some point, likely after my wedding next year.
I text her back thanking her for admitting liability and that my insurance company would be in touch.
Unfortunately, life got in the way and I didn’t get around to it.
Heathwood said:
What a great read, thanks for sharing. Much love for the e9x M3 and I often find myself mulling over the classifieds for one. I keep telling myself that I don’t need another car and maybe next year, but i fear that if I wait until the time is right, the market will have cottoned on and they’ll be out of reach.
Now is the right time if you can! Lots are coming up for sale; V8’s aren’t exactly in high demand currently.Tango13 said:
Putting BP fuel in my e39 M5 would invariably result in an EML and lambda fault code, my mechanic would clear the code and the EML would come back on then clear itself a few days later.
That was my first thought. During the ‘journal’ I moved to a new area, with no Shells locally so switched to BP. That being said, since the lambda change it’s been good as gold on BP Momentum.helix402 said:
What a roller coaster! Re the front bumper is the bumper damaged or the No plate plinth? If it’s just the plinth I have one for sale for a non M3 E90 on eBay that may fit. It’s cheap!
Oooh! Fancy DMing be a link please?Unfortunately it’s bumper damage as well as the plinth, but I’ll be treating it to a front end blow over at some point, likely after my wedding next year.
CornedBeef said:
That text from the person who hit it is mental, what did you even say back to that?
People are just dicks, right? Perfect candidate for frozen sausages/lawn. I text her back thanking her for admitting liability and that my insurance company would be in touch.
Unfortunately, life got in the way and I didn’t get around to it.
T_S_M said:
Another old ZSOC member here Those MK5 Zetec-S were brilliant fun to drive!
The E90/E92 is one of the best looking BMW's ever made I think, the proportions are just so right. I looked at these earlier in the year but I couldn't really find a decent one and reliability/running costs put me off...so I went with a Lexus ISF instead
Yours looks like a very clean example which is rare these days!
Fantastic little cars, shame they’re so prone to rust! A friend ended up buying mine from the chap I sold it to, so had the rare opportunity to photo two of ‘my cars’ together. Those MK5 Zetec-S were brilliant fun to drive! The E90/E92 is one of the best looking BMW's ever made I think, the proportions are just so right. I looked at these earlier in the year but I couldn't really find a decent one and reliability/running costs put me off...so I went with a Lexus ISF instead
Yours looks like a very clean example which is rare these days!
Both in the scrapyard in the sky now sadly!
Love the ISF’s, they were a contender for me too.
Here’s the plinth link, couldn’t send an email with it:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134737273715?mkcid=16&a...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134737273715?mkcid=16&a...
Smashing motor. I used to have an inferno orange Clio 182 and I still miss that thing to this day. I only sold due to moving abroad. I always wanted an M3 with the S65 in it, its such a great sounding V8. Ended up getting a V8 E63 instead and have my M Roadster with carbon air intake for the time being. Like yourself I can't really imagine what I will ever replace those cars with. I've put 80k miles on the M Roadster and the E63 has just ticked over to 106k. I'll happily have the engines on both rebuilt if they need it.
I enjoyed and also didn't enjoy reading that.
Some real bad luck there with the M3 and then right at the end a tree falls on your other car....Give this guy a break.
Hopefully your luck turns around and you have many faultless miles in the M3.
Looking forward to seeing it on new wheels.
Some real bad luck there with the M3 and then right at the end a tree falls on your other car....Give this guy a break.
Hopefully your luck turns around and you have many faultless miles in the M3.
Looking forward to seeing it on new wheels.
Thanks for the replies all, glad to see the E9x is getting some love.
October 2023
I’ve wanted a set of M359 wheels since getting the M3, but genuine wheels seldom come up for sale. After all, why would they? They’re the best looking wheel for the E9x generation, and because of this, Comp car owners tend not to part with them.
Two options, I either fork out circa £2.5k for some from BMW, or go down the replica route. I’d always been against the idea of reps but doing some investigation, a lot of the M3 boys and girls tend to rave about a certain brand of rep; they’re lighter than the real deal and have a more aggressive offset on the front, meaning I can sack off the spacer whilst still maintaining the correct level of aesthetic chonk. Oh, and they’re about £850, so that helps.
With that in mind, I swallowed my pride and got in contact the the supplier, who - to my disappointment - didn’t have silver (and it had to be silver) in stock and no clear ETA as to when they’d be available…
…so naturally I spent my wheel budget, plus a smidge more, on a Carbon Klasse plenum instead. Even with the plenum + the future wheel cost, it was still more cost effective then buying the genuine things. At a tenuous push, I was winning?
It’s essentially a standard plenum with the thick(er) plastic top chopped off and replaced with a thinner carbon lid. It does absolutely zilch for performance, so…it’s just an expensive noise box. But what a noise now! Exactly the same as OEM when wafting along but prod the fun pedal and it becomes this racket of ITB snarl. Downshifts are now especially childish but equally hilarious.
Whilst waiting for the plenum to arrive, something else happened. You know those genuine M359’s that never come up for sale? Some did, and in silver too. Even more handily, the seller occasionally worked a few miles down the road from me, and was happy to drop them off when he was next around.
To finish off this particular star alignment, they also came with a set of PS4S’s, which I was planning to change to once the Super Sports were dead. Some sort of primal man maths were done and I bought them.
So what next for the M3? After driving on the new wheels this weekend, I’ve noticed a slight steering wheel wobble at motorway speeds, which disappears at motorway+ speeds, so going to get the wheels balanced this week.
It’s due a full service inc sparks in January, and at the same time will get the diff oil changed.
Being a BMW, it has a slight oil leak. It’s mainly coming from the oil cap, and despite replacing the cap with a new one, it’s made precisely fk all difference. When these cars get to a certain age, the rocker cover paint around the cap tends to flake slightly, leaving a tiny gap for some seepage. When in for the next service, I’ll send the covers off to be cerakoted, and replace the gaskets at the same time.
On the plus side, it’s driving beautifully at the moment. Since the Maserati still has no ETA on repairs due to part supply and my other half not ticking the ‘courtesy car’ box (everyone, please tick the bloody box), the M3 has been on daily duties and will be for the foreseeable. Despite the less-than-ideal fuel consumption, it’s a really nice car to waft up the motorway. That being said, the car wasn’t designed for such monotony, so I spent today as a fun drive day, ending up at Podium Place in Newbury for a coffee.
Anyway, enough rambling. Cheers!
October 2023
I’ve wanted a set of M359 wheels since getting the M3, but genuine wheels seldom come up for sale. After all, why would they? They’re the best looking wheel for the E9x generation, and because of this, Comp car owners tend not to part with them.
Two options, I either fork out circa £2.5k for some from BMW, or go down the replica route. I’d always been against the idea of reps but doing some investigation, a lot of the M3 boys and girls tend to rave about a certain brand of rep; they’re lighter than the real deal and have a more aggressive offset on the front, meaning I can sack off the spacer whilst still maintaining the correct level of aesthetic chonk. Oh, and they’re about £850, so that helps.
With that in mind, I swallowed my pride and got in contact the the supplier, who - to my disappointment - didn’t have silver (and it had to be silver) in stock and no clear ETA as to when they’d be available…
…so naturally I spent my wheel budget, plus a smidge more, on a Carbon Klasse plenum instead. Even with the plenum + the future wheel cost, it was still more cost effective then buying the genuine things. At a tenuous push, I was winning?
It’s essentially a standard plenum with the thick(er) plastic top chopped off and replaced with a thinner carbon lid. It does absolutely zilch for performance, so…it’s just an expensive noise box. But what a noise now! Exactly the same as OEM when wafting along but prod the fun pedal and it becomes this racket of ITB snarl. Downshifts are now especially childish but equally hilarious.
Whilst waiting for the plenum to arrive, something else happened. You know those genuine M359’s that never come up for sale? Some did, and in silver too. Even more handily, the seller occasionally worked a few miles down the road from me, and was happy to drop them off when he was next around.
To finish off this particular star alignment, they also came with a set of PS4S’s, which I was planning to change to once the Super Sports were dead. Some sort of primal man maths were done and I bought them.
So what next for the M3? After driving on the new wheels this weekend, I’ve noticed a slight steering wheel wobble at motorway speeds, which disappears at motorway+ speeds, so going to get the wheels balanced this week.
It’s due a full service inc sparks in January, and at the same time will get the diff oil changed.
Being a BMW, it has a slight oil leak. It’s mainly coming from the oil cap, and despite replacing the cap with a new one, it’s made precisely f
k all difference. When these cars get to a certain age, the rocker cover paint around the cap tends to flake slightly, leaving a tiny gap for some seepage. When in for the next service, I’ll send the covers off to be cerakoted, and replace the gaskets at the same time.On the plus side, it’s driving beautifully at the moment. Since the Maserati still has no ETA on repairs due to part supply and my other half not ticking the ‘courtesy car’ box (everyone, please tick the bloody box), the M3 has been on daily duties and will be for the foreseeable. Despite the less-than-ideal fuel consumption, it’s a really nice car to waft up the motorway. That being said, the car wasn’t designed for such monotony, so I spent today as a fun drive day, ending up at Podium Place in Newbury for a coffee.
Anyway, enough rambling. Cheers!
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