I could name a few things, especially if I had a car on a lift to give me a few 'visual reminders'. I've been working primarily on Porsches for the past 3-4 months and I've only touched 10 or so BMW's in that time period.
I can tell you for sure to check the passenger (right..) side output flange on the differential for play. You can find the play by grabbing the axle and pushing/pulling it up and down. I've seen a ton of those (probably 90% of E46 M3's I've worked on..). I saw one blow up at the drag strip once too, that wasn't good. The bearing for the passenger output flange is to blame. A lot of people live with it on the street, but I would be inclined to fail it on a tech inspection for a track event..
The constant pressure valves are also very bad about leaking oil down the passenger side of the engine block.
I've started seeing VANOS problems in some of the later cars and I've been researching that a bit more lately. Seems like the 2003.5+ production cars might have some VANOS bits made of cheaper metals or something. You can Google that and find lots of info on the failures. Some people attribute it to bolts backing out on the cam gears and others say that the gears are to blame for being weak. I think a little bit of red Loctite on a set of new bolts would remedy that issue.
They are pretty damn reliable cars. One of my customers just rolled over 160k in his 2002 6-speed car. It has been rock solid since day one and only recently lost a single coil pack. I also replaced the constant pressure valve due to the failed o-ring that seals it. Other than that it hasn't had a single hiccup in all of those miles. The diff output shaft does have play, but it has had that for years now- since I first saw it.
And I'll stop talking now until you've even decided that you are going to get an E46 M3. It's late and I can't sleep, so for some reason I automatically think to come here and write a novel about E46's.
I can tell you for sure to check the passenger (right..) side output flange on the differential for play. You can find the play by grabbing the axle and pushing/pulling it up and down. I've seen a ton of those (probably 90% of E46 M3's I've worked on..). I saw one blow up at the drag strip once too, that wasn't good. The bearing for the passenger output flange is to blame. A lot of people live with it on the street, but I would be inclined to fail it on a tech inspection for a track event..
The constant pressure valves are also very bad about leaking oil down the passenger side of the engine block.
I've started seeing VANOS problems in some of the later cars and I've been researching that a bit more lately. Seems like the 2003.5+ production cars might have some VANOS bits made of cheaper metals or something. You can Google that and find lots of info on the failures. Some people attribute it to bolts backing out on the cam gears and others say that the gears are to blame for being weak. I think a little bit of red Loctite on a set of new bolts would remedy that issue.
They are pretty damn reliable cars. One of my customers just rolled over 160k in his 2002 6-speed car. It has been rock solid since day one and only recently lost a single coil pack. I also replaced the constant pressure valve due to the failed o-ring that seals it. Other than that it hasn't had a single hiccup in all of those miles. The diff output shaft does have play, but it has had that for years now- since I first saw it.
And I'll stop talking now until you've even decided that you are going to get an E46 M3. It's late and I can't sleep, so for some reason I automatically think to come here and write a novel about E46's.
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