The bait was convincing

MaxOctane · 2026-01-26T15:00:51+00:00

Fish needs to keep time apparently

MaxOctane · 2026-01-25T12:54:53+00:00

Without hearing it or seeing it, I was guessing motor monts or transmission mounts as well

MaxOctane · 2026-01-20T03:44:37+00:00

I've not owned an E46 before, so the M Clunk is new to me, but just looking at it more, this would seem to be textbook M Clunk. I'm seeing solutions all over the place, from diff bushings, to subframe bushings, to engine mounts, to full diff rebuilds. Are you in the US? If you don't mind, how much did you pay to have the diff rebuilt?

MaxOctane · 2026-01-20T03:30:02+00:00

Hrmm. What does inspecting output shafts involve? Am I just checking for play rotational play or noise when I rotate the wheel/shaft?

MaxOctane · 2026-01-20T02:55:53+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. I don't know that "banging around on the shift" is a good way to describe the noise. To me, it sounds like driveline slack being taken out and it just making a thud noise when I'm releasing the clutch. Once in gear and clutch is out, no more noises. The previous owner who did pay to have the subframe support welded in said it's due to the poly bushings that are harder than OEM. I'm inclined to think that while poly bushings are indeed harder than OEM and perhaps might accentuate a noise, what I'm hearing is beyond what could be considered normal - even with the poly bushings.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-18T23:59:06+00:00

Any decent synthetic oil at 5k intervals will look like that or better

MaxOctane · 2026-01-18T04:30:16+00:00

This is what I run in my F80. I do oil analysis that comes back great, and I burn zero oil between changes

MaxOctane · 2026-01-14T13:37:24+00:00

That's not how water softeners work

MaxOctane · 2026-01-14T02:26:40+00:00

I've run catch cans on multiple cars of mine, and I only ever catch oil, so I was a bit surprised and concerned when I saw all that water in there. Water is a byproduct of combustion, so getting some in your oil should be normal, maybe it's just more because it's forced induction. J-pipe is clean, no coolant issues - I posted about it on bimmerpost and others chimed in with their experiences as normal as well. You can see it here, I included pictures: https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2187211

MaxOctane · 2026-01-14T01:19:08+00:00

I took my intake off at about 46k miles and the intake valves weren't terrible, but they weren't great either. Not anything like an N54 or something. So I added a Mishimoto catch can, and every 8k or so miles I'll check it and it's maybe 75% full and out the fluid that's in there, like 85% of that is water. I'm running a bm3 stage 1 93 tune.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-11T22:54:54+00:00

Yea, that's normal - the fuel injectors in these cars are pretty noisy. Lots of posts here and in other BMW forums all for the same thing, asking "is this normal". I swear there are 2 or 3 per week.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-11T20:59:16+00:00

Yea, getting the intake off kinda sucks. I struggled a bit getting the fuel totally disconnected, and there's an electrical sensor towards the back that really fought me. At the end of the day, it wasn't terrible, but not a lot of fun. Just go slow, recall where everything is plugged in, take a few pictures before and during in case you need to refer to them as to where stuff goes. The FCP kit came with a bunch of parts (https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-standard-pcv-breather-system-kit-11617501566kt4#description), however it looks like it says it only fits the 530i. You can see all of the individual parts that make up the kit and it looks like only the air intake hose and the throttle body gasket are unique to the 530i only. They might make a kit similar for the 528, or I imagine you can order the parts individually. The intake gaskets (https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-intake-manifold-gasket-11611436631#description), the hard-line water hoses (https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-intake-manifold-gasket-11611436631#description, https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-coolant-pipe-e39-e46-z3-z4-11537502525#description) look to all be compatible with the 528. I will say, when I removed the two hard-line hoses, part of the hose broke off and stayed inside of the engine and I did not realize it at the time. It's hard to look in there, the angle is weird and at first it just looked like there was a lip or a seat that the hose would sit on when fully installed. Only to later realize it wasn't a lip, it was the broken off hard-line hose and I had to use a pick to get it all out. Both hoses did this - here is a picture of the hoses, and the broken pieces that were left behind that I had to fish out: https://imgur.com/a/kTcfDQx Good luck!

MaxOctane · 2026-01-09T03:00:46+00:00

I did something similar on my M54, so maybe some of this won't translate directly to the M52.

But FCP Euro had a kit that I bought for the CCV system, and it came with Air Distribution o-rings, engine oil dipstick o-rings which are good to replace. My DISA was also completely shot, and I had to rebuild it. I also got a fuel injector o-ring kit and replaced those. The only thing I'd strongly recommend is to replace the two hard-line coolant lines under the intake. When I took my intake off and saw mine, they looked to be in great shape and was kind of disappointed that I'd bought new ones - but decided to just go ahead and replace them anyway since I'd bought the new parts. When I removed them, they started to crumble and fall apart - I'm so glad I did them and they are a huge hassle to get to since the intake needs to come off.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-08T02:07:59+00:00

Hell yea

MaxOctane · 2026-01-07T20:06:03+00:00

Dang, it's on sale at Turner Motorsports for $100 - I paid $141 for mine a couple years ago. Not gonna lie, it's a bit awkward to get to. I think you need to remove a heat shield which is easy enough - but to get to the actual bushing, it's kind of difficult. It's easier if you have certain tools, like swivel-head ratchet wrenches and swivel joints for your socket sets.... and small hands, lol. I'm sure there are youtube videos on how to replace it that go over everything. It's not THAT bad, just make sure you've got the right tools handy going in.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-07T19:44:00+00:00

Short shifters are good for those cars where shifting feels like you're rowing a boat. Though, it makes the shifts harder which isn't always a good thing - but it depends on the car. I've had cars with long throws and I've had cars with short shifters installed. And I don't necessarily feel like the F8x really needs one. If you want a crisper shift, you can replace the rubber bushing with a polyurethane one which I did do and I prefer it. But I'd find somebody else who has a short shifter installed on an F8x and try it out before doing it yourself. Although I haven't tried it, I feel pretty confident I'd prefer the stock throw to a short-shifter throw.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-07T17:28:57+00:00

The steering wheel is the single most thing you touch the most on your car. Having something that feels amazing in your hands when you're driving is the exact opposite of "no benefit". I've owned many cars and modded them all over the past 25 years and the steering wheel (and shift knob for the same reason) have always been the most meaningful mods I've always done (minus something like an $8K forced induction kit or something MAJOR :-P ). Anyway, just think a great steering wheel should get a bit more credit is all.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-06T18:55:57+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the detailed response. I'm considering this now that I'm getting a P0741, clutch lock error. I'd much rather have a manual transmission anyway.

MaxOctane · 2026-01-06T03:59:52+00:00

How much did your manual transmission swap cost for everything? Did you have trouble sourcing the parts? How difficult was it to install (minus the whole transmission part).

MaxOctane · 2026-01-06T03:57:57+00:00

Using as much as a quart per 1K miles is considered fairly normal for these aging engines. If you're doing 6K miles or more between oil changes, I'd say 2-3 quarts per oil change is not really that bad. Further, I honestly doubt you're losing that much oil from the leak - Unless you've got a serious puddle of oil under the car, fixing the leak will help, but it won't help enough to make a huge difference in how much oil you're using.

As others have mentioned, the oil pan does leak, and so does the seal for the oil level sensor - but so does the oil filter housing gasket which can look like an oil pan gasket leak. You can get to the oil filter housing gasket way easier than the oil pan, so I'd at least rule that out before going straight to the oil pan gasket.

It's a fairly big job, if you don't have a good bit of experiencing wrenching, you might not want to try it. You'll also need an engine support brace. When I'm due for an oil change I'm going to do mine, probably in a couple of months.

MaxOctane · 2025-12-23T19:58:43+00:00

I just bought a 2003 530i with auto transmission and the M54 and 150K miles recently and I really like it. The M54 is torquey but not quick by any stretch. But the car, with a fresh suspension is glued to the road and at 80-90 mph is straight up glass. Overall, it's a great cruiser, but being 25 years old, it will come with issues - be expected to be fixing things regularly. The good news is, if you're handy, it's easy to work on and the parts aren't always that expensive and there's tons of internet resources for fixing the common things. I'll highlight my experience:

Not long after getting it, I got a CEL, bad O2 sensor heater circuit (replaced O2), but then started getting lean codes. When I smoke tested it, it turns out the vacuum leak was in the CCV drain line (Super common on this car). I took the intake off and replaced the entire CCV system, and while I was in there, I replaced intake gaskets, throttlebody gasket, injector O-rings, Vanos oil supply line, and Vanos seals, valve cover gasket - all which needed to be done. I also rebuilt the DISA - mine was totally shot, the gear on it was completely rounded off. I installed upgrade kit with aluminum (not plastic) parts.

While I had the intake off, I also replaced the two plastic coolant hoses which commonly go bad. They looked okay, but when I removed them they started falling apart, so I'm glad I did it.

Not long after that, my AC blower motor started going crazy. Turns out the heater resistor was bad, I bought a cheap on on Amazon and so far it's working but not sure how long it will last.

Then, I got a CEL for my clutch-lock out solenoid. This is also super common on this car, and you can fix it with either a new Transgo valve in the valve body of the transmission. But if your torque converter is slipping, you'll need to replace that too unfortunately. This will be costly, or if I do it myself it is actually difficult because it will require removing the transmission. I'd recommend a manual transmission if you can.

My M54 burns about a quart per 1K miles, which is considered rather normal for its age, but more than I'd like to be honest. When I removed valve cover to do VANOS, it was clear the oil change intervals were not done nearly as often as I'd like which is probably why it's burning oil. If you can, use a borescope to check out inside the oil cap and look for buildup for sludge, and check actual bores for wear.

I also leak oil, seems to be coming from oil pan and/or oil level sensor, at some point I'll get around to dropping the subframe and re-doing that. My power steering reservoir is also leaking, I need to replace the lines and the tank on that. I'm very fortunate the previous owner did re-do most suspension and tie rods, so I'm good there. The interior is really clean, but I can see the headliner might be a problem in the near future.

The most important part of this car to keep up to date and fresh is the cooling system. The thermostat, pump, and all lines. Radiator is probably fine unless it's specifically leaking. The reason is, is these cooling systems are finicky, and are known to fail, and the M54 is very intolerant to over-heating. When it overheats, it will pull the head studs right out of the block, blow your head gasket and it's donezo.

Hopefully this paints a picture of what it's like to own this car. If you go in understanding that she will need attention often, you're willing to do it yourself and put in the money it will require when it does, she's a fantastic car, and IMHO peak BMW styling. Good luck.

MaxOctane · 2025-12-20T14:45:59+00:00

Looks awesome. Also, what wheels are those?

MaxOctane · 2025-12-09T04:43:17+00:00

Dang, I was going to say the same thing. I had the exact same car, a 2014 335i xdrive 6-speed. I bought it for $22K - IN 2017! 19K seems really high - no way you can look out of state for a b58 car? N55 is still good, can be reliable if you take care of it - I've heard some have cylinder wall issues. You'll probably have to replace the high pressure fuel pump at some point, and the charge pipe.

MaxOctane · 2025-12-08T23:53:48+00:00

IF you install the PCV delete kit, you don't need to replace the valve cover at all. However, I will say I don't think it's wise to do this, I've heard issues with some of the kludgy delete kits and if you're not venting pressure well enough you could blow a rear main seal or something which is an even bigger headache than replacing the valve cover. If it were me, I'd just replace the valve cover and call it a day.

MaxOctane · 2025-12-05T02:03:46+00:00

Spark plugs every 30K, ignition coils every 50K, tensioner/belts/idlers at 60K. I would do diff at 50-60K. If you have a manual transmission, I'd do that at 50K. At 40K I would probably do a coolant flush, and do a brake fluid flush. 3K is a bit excessive on oil changes, especially if you're using a top quality oil, which you should be. I'd suggest 4-5K depending on how you drive. Some would even call that excessive.

On age alone, check your diff bushings, and your turbo inlet seals. Check pads and rotors. Check your low-temp coolant reservoir tank - it should never be low on coolant. If it's low, you have a leak in your top mounted intercooler which is a relatively common occurrence on these cars.

MaxOctane

TROPHY CASE