Well getting bored of driving the car and finding it a chore to take out, been sorting a valuation out for the old girl and decided it was time to get the service history sorted

This is what it was like before











And this is what it looks like after















Pretty bloody good if you ask me, this car is in the lower end of the price scale and people think history is not very good on the cheaper cars!! Makes me laugh, is this enough history for you?

And just to make you question things...

This is a photo of our BMW E46 330i Sports service book, documentation and full history folder... This car is on 166,000 miles with full BMW service history






















Scarey!!!

Today I wanted to do some checks on the engine.
So while she was cold, checked the oil and water, all fine, oil was slightly higher on the dip stick due to the engine oil being correct when it is warm.
Fired the old girl up and let her tick over for a bit, took her to get some fuel and had a quick run around the town, the car has not been getting any kind of hard acceleration due to the weather etc but today it was a nice day so gave it a blat, spat a little bit of smoke from the back the first time I did this but again to be expected. Cleared straight away and went like fook as always.
Got home and let her sit for 20 minutes, checked the oil again and bang on the mark Checked water again, bit of pressure on the tank which seems normal to me, again all fine.
Now I wanted to check to see if we had any air leaks in the water system so left her ticking over with the cap off, the car has always been amazing at not heating up, fans have only came on once and never been above halfway, will sit on quater unless pushing it hard and then will sit just under half. I get lots of hot air from the heater but just wanted to check it.
So the temp gauge gets between quater and halfway and then starts boiling like a kettle... it then over flows all over my engine I was shitting it at first but after a quick search found its either got a air lock or the thermostat is staying open/closed... I also found out that it has a lower boiiling point with the cap off so that explains that.
I let her cool down before I went putting my hands in, as my car did have air con but has been removed I tried the old putting the air con on to check the fans work, did this and it worked a treat, nice little thing I can try if it gets hot
Checked all the pipes, full roose silicon hose kit and all in good shape, I filled back up with antifreeze as I was unsure how much she had in her anyway, fired it backup and got it warm again. Turned off, put the lid back on, fired her backup. Sat fine again as it always has. I am going to take the stat out and test, just need a photo to confirm where the stat is, pretty sure I know but want to double check before I do.. also any tips or hints would be great...
While I was there thought I would havbe a sniff, no smell other than antifreeze, no smell from the exhaust of antifreeze, no sludge in the cap, never burns oil, never burns water, oil is the right consistancy etc etc.
So was happy with this side of things, stat is to be changed for peace of mind.
Next I wanted to check the turbo, I know its not done much but it runs a good amount of boost and wanted to check, took the cone filter off and the hose, checked the turbo, hardly any movement which was nice, only thing I did notice was on a couple blades looked like a bit of oil... but unsure.
Photo

So while this was off I noticed this...
Excuse the mess, not touched the engine bay on this car yet, I have no covers on the bonnet vents so water and dirt gets in with ease... I promise to clean it lol
Now is this supposed to connect to anything or at the very least have a pipe running it out to the bottom of the car?

And my next question, what is this tank? it is next to the turbo...?
And next was my alarm, now not going to get into too much detail with this as I am sure some thiefing little P***k is watching this but had some issues getting a new fob to work with my car, a few emails going to and from the company and running some checks, again wont go into any detail... turned out it was the boot switch, a good slam of the boot and it started doing what it should... so now I have a nice shiney new fob...

Going to get another key cut as well, any ideas how much Ford charge for this these days?
********************RESULT********************
Just noticed the boot release button and thought "that wont work" bingo, only went and worked!!! Happy days

Anyone got one of these please, reflector that goes in the passanger side door near the lock?



Update:
Today I tackled the new thermostat install.
My temp gauge only really goes to around quater when warm and the fans only ever kicked in once.
So I was thinking maybe the stat was staying open and causing it to sit cooler....
So ordered from Graham Goode a 4x4 stat and o ring and bought myself some new spanners, the ratchet type but on a normal spanner... if that makes sense..
Anyway, removed the bolts, was tight but not silly, my unit was not leaking etc so wanted to keep it this way.
I didnt bother removing the hose from the stat housing and just undone the bolts, a little knock on the head and it came off, bit of fluid came out. I had a pair of plyers and pulled on the old stat and this fell out.
This is the photos of the two states together




I tested the new stat before I fitted just to be sure, and I tested the old stat when I removed... both worked fine
Anyway, put the new one in, I questioned where the o ring went and after putting it on top of the thermostat and between the housing top, did everything backup and no leaks. I later found out the o ring was not for this part...but as it is not leaking... I am going to leave it in.
So undone the bleed valve on top of the housing, took the cap off the header tank and started the engine, I squeezed the inlet and outlet for the rad and put some more coolent in the tank. I undon the bleed valve a bit more until only water was coming through. Nipped this backup and let the car get to full temp.
This took 30 minutes!!! My car is a beast when it comes to keeping itself cool. I was concerned about it to start with but I left it and left it ticking over until it eventually got to halfway and the fans kicked in. No water leaks, no smoke, no hot smell, nothing!! I am very impressed with how well this engine keeps itself cool. Not once have I had it heating up. The fans have only came on once before!
So after the fans kicked in I squeezed everything again, no air in the system, and the fans took the temps back down to quater on the temp gauge.
So overall... I am very impressed with this car. Muy old car was constantly heating up, fans kicking in, cooling down, heating up etc. This car will deal with traffic, never heats up when giving it the beans... its like she is egging you on to drive her harder and harder!!!
I know all the bits on this car have been assembled to improve this kind of thing which is great.
I also am confident she has plenty of antifreeze in her too for the winter which is nice, another tick off my list.
I spoke to a mate who works in the trade and asked to get me some Fuch Titan Pro s 10w50 which he said he had, went to collect and it was 5w40 so left it. Need to get some in at some point and change the oil.
Car is filthy again, farmers around this area are taking the piss with the dirt on the road. Car is a handful as well, third gear spins on part throttle so have to go careful. But enjoying her none the less and happy now I know sitting on quater is right for the car

Well today the Mrs got me with the usual "DIY Jobs"

So I got her to clean the car

This is the result!!

Please not, I told her not to bother with the tyre shine as it will be going down some lanes tomorrow so will be filthy again













Not bad if you ask me, light was getting short hence the dark photos, could of overexposed a bit more but not really in the mood at the moment

O yeah, also took her out for a bloody good drive today with a mate, car was faultless.. I am pretty sure the stat I took out was a 82 degree stat though as my temp gauge now sits a little higher, between quater and half way. Gave it the beans up through the gears and didnt rise, stuck in traffic etc spot on, no movement at all. So happy about that, checked for any leaks again today and nothing, had to top up slightly on the header tank and that was that. Checked the coolent again after a good hard drive and cool down and all still there