E46 M3 longevity

[windnsea00]

I have been curious to see how the last generation of M3's will hold up long term. Came across an `01 with 230k miles!!! I'm suprised it has a week to go and is already at $15.6k! Seeing that it's mostly highway miles I guess it's not that big of a deal but Motorsport cars aren't usually the type to just go and rack up tons of miles.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001...4641775468QQcategoryZ6131QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[simple_gifts]

I hope the winner does not use a sock as an oil cap.

 

[windnsea00]

quote:

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Originally posted by simple_gifts:
I hope the winner does not use a sock as an oil cap.

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Haha, that story was horrible!

 

[iontrap]

I had forgotten about the sock.

 

[windnsea00]

quote:

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Originally posted by G-Man II:

quote:

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Q: Has the bearing recall service been performed on this BMW?
A: Yes. At 182k and BMW picked up the entire cost. They put new ones in but said old ones showed virtually no wear. Secret is to let the oil warm up before exceeding 3500 RPM.

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Even though the bearings were replaced it sounds like they didn't need to be. And it also sounds like this guy knows how to drive this car properly.

For all intents and purposes, the engine in these M3s is a race engine. I think a large part of the problems with spun bearings came from typical American-style drivers who would jump in, start it up, and nail the throttle. You can get by with that in a Honda Civic, but not this car. With the Honda all you're doing is decreasing the ultimate life of the engine; with the M3...well, she lets you know right away.

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Well the early builds had bad bearing issues so I'm suprised this one went that long w/o a change! Motorsport cars give you an oil temp gauge instead of the mpg gauge (excluding US E36 M3's as that wasn't a real Motorsport engine) and lights on the tachometer that individually go out per 500 rpms as the oil warms up to show how high you can rev. Granted the lights go out too quick for my tastes but I guess there are too many unpatient drivers who don't care if that 10w60 isn't warm yet!

It has made me curious though that on the 650i and X5 4.8 (same engine) they have oil temp gauges but on the 550i they don't and the engines are the same. I presume they thought a 6-series would be driven more spiritly than a 5-series and the X5 4.8 is the high performance model.

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Q: Has the bearing recall service been performed on this BMW?
A: Yes. At 182k and BMW picked up the entire cost. They put new ones in but said old ones showed virtually no wear. Secret is to let the oil warm up before exceeding 3500 RPM.

---

Even though the bearings were replaced it sounds like they didn't need to be. And it also sounds like this guy knows how to drive this car properly.

For all intents and purposes, the engine in these M3s is a race engine. I think a large part of the problems with spun bearings came from typical American-style drivers who would jump in, start it up, and nail the throttle. You can get by with that in a Honda Civic, but not this car. With the Honda all you're doing is decreasing the ultimate life of the engine; with the M3...well, she lets you know right away.

 

[Alan]

BMW builds a helluva car.

I wonder if he always used the 15K intervals with the 10W60?

 

[Tosh]

I agree that one should start looking for a nice barely used previous generation 3-series, as the new one is so grody.