Newbie with Z3M

[ultiman]

Having just acquired a nice sensible Z3M roadster, I thought I would ask around to see how active the supporters of these cars are and whether there are any common weaknesses with the cars to look out for.

[shadowninja]

bit late for that isn't it?

Do a search for Vanos...

[neil_bmw]

Welcome to the forum, i have just joined up too, there is loads of info on www.e36coupe.com forum with regard to the vanos problem.

[Boss Hogg]

Nice cars, good performance for the £. As mentioed check out VANOS failure, can be a costly problem (about £1.5K -> £2K) if it goes wrong. All you need to know more at these good resources zroadster.net and bm3w.co.uk.... enjoy the car .

[Zod]

If it's a later car, then you don't need to worry about the VANO, because it has a detuned E46 M3 engine.

If I were you, I would worry far more about travelling backwards into hedges.

[neil_bmw]

Thats quite funny because i actually know someone in the BMWCC with a ZM3 who went through a hedge backwards!

[Zod]

neil_bmw said:

Thats quite funny because i actually know someone in the BMWCC with a ZM3 who went through a hedge backwards!

(assuming he survived)



>> Edited by Zod on Tuesday 22 March 11:49

[forever_driving]

ultiman said:

Having just acquired a nice sensible Z3M roadster, I thought I would ask around to see how active the supporters of these cars are and whether there are any common weaknesses with the cars to look out for.

I've had mine for two years and here's a list of the problems that I've had:

[Boss Hogg]

Zod said:

If it's a later car, then you don't need to worry about the VANO, because it has a detuned E46 M3 engine. If I were you, I would worry far more about travelling backwards into hedges.

If you have an S54 engine (detued E46 M3, 2001 onwards) then you'll have traction control so less worries about visiting the hedges! On the repair side, camshaft bearing casing (or something like that) is a risk on S54 engines. I think a re-call was done on M3s to fix this but not Z3Ms, BMW reckoned the du-tune and lower Rev Limit reduced the risk enough but a few Z3M owners have suffered the failure. If you research it you will find a 'batch' (of many months) were affected.

>> Edited by Boss Hogg on Tuesday 22 March 12:34

[stub]

neil_bmw said:

Thats quite funny because i actually know someone in the BMWCC with a ZM3 who went through a hedge backwards!

Did he leave the road in a BLUR?

[Broccers]

I know the Coupe is a lot stiffer than the drop top but I seriously cant see how anything other than driver error could cause an off.

Mines pretty progressive.

[Smartie]

they also seem very sensitive to tyre choice and alignment.

A £200 KDS check at our dealer made a huge difference!

[tayloralj]

had mine for 3 years now.
no big problems a couple of pretty minor ones.
abs sensors needed replacing a couple of times, and the rear suspension mounts started rattling. the latter is pretty common and the dealer fixed it under warranty.
apart from that nothing much - a new battery, some tyres and brake disks, normal servicing things.
no vanos or anything expensive like that.

a.

[Zod]

Boss Hogg said:

Zod said: If it's a later car, then you don't need to worry about the VANO, because it has a detuned E46 M3 engine. If I were you, I would worry far more about travelling backwards into hedges. If you have an S54 engine (detued E46 M3, 2001 onwards) then you'll have traction control so less worries about visiting the hedges! On the repair side, camshaft bearing casing[/b[ (or something like that) is a risk on S54 engines. I think a re-call was done on M3s to fix this but not Z3Ms, BMW reckoned the du-tune and lower Rev Limit reduced the risk enough but a few Z3M owners have suffered the failure. If you research it you will find a 'batch' (of many months) were affected. >> Edited by Boss Hogg on Tuesday 22 March 12:34

Other end of the engine: conrod bearings.

[Philrose]

Try www.zroadster.net for lots of info.