Aaaarrrrggh! e46 320d vs e46 330d Which 1

S

Solomon Kane

New Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
Capetown ZA
Hi All

1 day old forum member here!!
I've testdriven a 03' face lift 320d and naturally (inevitably)... I fell inlove! Soft silky smooth ride. Just when i went into the bank to perform the Eft, I receive a sms from my cousin ( in Namibia who owns a workshop) not to buy an e46 320d but rather the 330d. I wasn't happy with this and well, the seller was abit (modest) **** ed at this last minute cancellation. Well, I would take any advice and consider before pushing the button on a R85k transaction. Well, that specific bmw is sold but im looking at 330d now. Any advice? Im looking for a comfortable, economic (fuel, parts, peace of mind ) car max. R100K. My cousin said in his experience, he saw e46 320d's being brought in massacred, turbo's injectors blah blah the whole R30k fixing. He never once had a 330d in for repairs. Im also not a fan of automatic. ( im a 26 year old male sorry to all the Uncles:o:p ) yet!:
Where next? What to do?
 
Welcome.

First off - that '03 320d? Were you going to pay 85k for that car? If yes - lets just say your cousin saved you some bob.

As for 320d or 330d - from my own experience with my 2005 320d, its tough as nails - had mine for 4 or so years now.
And I'm looking to sell mine with 203000km on the clock for certainly less than that.
Injectors are the cleanest my new mechanic's seen. :D

I made the dumb move of trusting someone with the my car for a year and he took over payments - got the car back with quite a few faults - but since that's been sorted, I'm still using it everyday and get close to 900km for city driving out of a 70L tank.

On my current half tank of 34L, my consumption is down to 6.1L/100km (OBC), real life would be closer to 6.8L/100km and I'm going to get a shade over 500km out of it.
On the long road - 1000km's on one tank, been there done that.

The 330d - something about some flap on the exhaust manifold that was an issue (or it may be on the petrol version) but check out bmwfanatics.co.za for more too.

A link to get you started: https://www.google.co.za/search?q=e46+330d+issues+site:www.bmwfanatics.co.za&safe=off

EDIT: On things turbo - the former friend, busted the original, but had it reconned for R6k.

I'm looking at getting my early midlife crisis car (as I call it) '04-'06 Z4 Roadster :p

Good luck and sure you'll be getting more tips here.
 
Last edited:
If you do buy an old BMW diesel, make sure it's not the old dud turbos. BMW has, over the last ten years, only had one serious issue... those diesel turbos... they were notorious for blowing when you least expected it.
 
froot said:
If you do buy an old BMW diesel, make sure it's not the old dud turbos. BMW has, over the last ten years, only had one serious issue... those diesel turbos... they were notorious for blowing when you least expected it.
Click to expand...

Iirc they made changes in 2003 to the turbo wrt that issue.
 
The E46 330d facelift is really great, I have one, and zero problems.

Got 5.6L/100km on a trip from Joburg to Durban last week :D
 
froot said:
If you do buy an old BMW diesel, make sure it's not the old dud turbos. BMW has, over the last ten years, only had one serious issue... those diesel turbos... they were notorious for blowing when you least expected it.
Click to expand...

unfortunately thats very true.but for some reason the 330d's did not give so much trouble as the 320d's where if the turbo goes oil leaks into the wrong places and messes up other stuff so the costs run high.if you must go e46 then 330d is the one to go for but yes looking for a manual will be tough and those e46 auto boxes can be problematic in the long run.

Your budget of 100k puts you right in the league of the e90 320d actually...I know someone who is selling an e90 330i with low mileage (like 110k) for R120k so I'm sure you can get an e90 320d for around your range.

The turbos on the e90 are electronic and much more reliable.when they do eventually give up they seal so just the turbo has to be repaired rather than half the engine.
 
Last edited:
Your cousin is on the dot. 330d's are waaay less problematic - I have an e39 530d with 300kkm with all the original drivetrain parts (turbo,injectors etc). 330d is by far the best of the lot - just make sure you get the manual 6 speed (facelift - which has an engine that is more similar to the one in the e90 range than the rest of the e46/e39 range). If you buy an auto, you WILL have troubles - since it has the GM 5l40e gearbox (both 320d and 330d). If you want an auto, find an e90, they all have the ZF 6 speed 1st gen boxes.

You know about the South African BMW fanatics forum, right?
 
Last edited:
I had the e46 320d pre-facelift - awesome car! At about 230000kms the turbo went. Had it replaced and no other major repairs to the engine as some of you suggested. I traded her in at around 270000kms. So here is my question - what repairs are you guys referring to?
 
OGroteKoning said:
So here is my question - what repairs are you guys referring to?
Click to expand...

The engines are bulletproof - apart from the turbo, which does fail often, regardless of whether it was a facelift (LCI) or pre-LCI model (yours made it to the upper end of the scale, but most fail in half those miles). The main issue is that most mechanics will try and swap the turbo out the top, which is wrong and requires you to remove the tappit cover, since the air filter is integrated, and it covers access to the turbo. In order to remove the tappit cover, you need to remove the injectors - and that is where the trouble start. 1/4 times they will damage an injector, and sometimes they either replace it with the wrong part, or just reinstall it, and then the car seems to go fine, but in a couple of hundred km you will have a hole in your piston and have made a paperweight of your new turbo.

They are also more prone to swirl flap ingestion - but those should be removed the day you take ownership of the car, regardless of whether you take a 330d or 320d.
 
I am selling a 2007 320d with full books for R130k. Includes sunroof.
 
OGroteKoning said:
I had the e46 320d pre-facelift - awesome car! At about 230000kms the turbo went. Had it replaced and no other major repairs to the engine as some of you suggested. I traded her in at around 270000kms. So here is my question - what repairs are you guys referring to?
Click to expand...

Going by what the head technician at my local BMW told,me apparently the e90 320d's are the most bullet proof and the e46 320d's are the most problematic diesels in the BMW range,he told me of instances where the seized turbo leaked fluids and caused significant other engine damage.I doubt it will be in every case as was your experience but apparently it happens quite often.

How much did it cost you to change your turbo btw?On the e90 with an original gerrit turbo charger you are looking at just under R9000-00 including labour.
 
P924 said:
The engines are bulletproof - apart from the turbo, which does fail often, regardless of whether it was a facelift (LCI) or pre-LCI model (yours made it to the upper end of the scale, but most fail in half those miles). The main issue is that most mechanics will try and swap the turbo out the top, which is wrong and requires you to remove the tappit cover, since the air filter is integrated, and it covers access to the turbo. In order to remove the tappit cover, you need to remove the injectors - and that is where the trouble start. 1/4 times they will damage an injector, and sometimes they either replace it with the wrong part, or just reinstall it, and then the car seems to go fine, but in a couple of hundred km you will have a hole in your piston and have made a paperweight of your new turbo.

They are also more prone to swirl flap ingestion - but those should be removed the day you take ownership of the car, regardless of whether you take a 330d or 320d.
Click to expand...

You know yours bm's,tell me those swirl flaps also same issue on the e90 or don't they come with it?
 
falcon786 said:
You know yours bm's,tell me those swirl flaps also same issue on the e90 or don't they come with it?
Click to expand...

E90s pre-2009 have a strengthened swirl flap, and are less prone to problems, post-2009 they were removed IIRC.

The turbo alone (original garrett) is about R9000-R10000 from the importers (double that at the stealer), so with labor, it should be more. Never ever fit a rebuilt turbo to these cars. If you want to know why, ask the manufacturer, they have a whitepaper on why it is not wise to rebuild a VNT turbo. (yeah, it can be done, but I would not trust anyone else to do it correctly, normal turbos I might).
 
P924 said:
E90s pre-2009 have a strengthened swirl flap, and are less prone to problems, post-2009 they were removed IIRC.
Click to expand...

Cool good to know,I'm thinking of buying an e90 320d in auto as a run around for the wife,they give an awesome drive and great economy.

The turbo alone (original garrett) is about R9000-R10000 from the importers (double that at the stealer), so with labor, it should be more. Never ever fit a rebuilt turbo to these cars. If you want to know why, ask the manufacturer, they have a whitepaper on why it is not wise to rebuild a VNT turbo. (yeah, it can be done, but I would not trust anyone else to do it correctly, normal turbos I might).
Click to expand...

Yeah maybe he gets a discount or something but he changed a friends for R8500 including labour and he put an original brand new imported one from Gerrit,we had to wait two weeks for it to arrive came with invoice etc also,think his labour was around R800/R900.
 
Be careful, these cars were designed to be run with 50 ppm diesel, but only recently did we get it in this country (can't remember exact year, perhaps 2006?) So for all those produced before then, they would have run with 500 ppm diesel which fked with the turbo's. They were pretty highly strung engines, especially the 320's. Putting in the wrong type of fuel wasn't doing it any good.
 
crysis said:
Be careful, these cars were designed to be run with 50 ppm diesel, but only recently did we get it in this country (can't remember exact year, perhaps 2006?) So for all those produced before then, they would have run with 500 ppm diesel which fked with the turbo's. They were pretty highly strung engines, especially the 320's. Putting in the wrong type of fuel wasn't doing it any good.
Click to expand...

They definitely do not require 50ppm diesel, in fact, 500ppm is better for the e46 range, as it lubricates the high pressure pump better. The only problem with 500ppm diesel would be clogging of the diesel particulate filter in the exhaust (and consequent rise in exhaust gas temperatures and pressures leading to premature turbo failure.), but these did not come with them in our country. The e39 did, but I would not worry about it.

That reminds me - also change the crank case breather - these should be changed every 3rd service (or never, depending on type, but the e46 only came with the "loo-roll" type), but no one ever changed them. If it is clogged, it will cause premature turbo failure.
 
P924 said:
They definitely do not require 50ppm diesel, in fact, 500ppm is better for the e46 range, as it lubricates the high pressure pump better. The only problem with 500ppm diesel would be clogging of the diesel particulate filter in the exhaust (and consequent rise in exhaust gas temperatures and pressures leading to premature turbo failure.), but these did not come with them in our country. The e39 did, but I would not worry about it.

That reminds me - also change the crank case breather - these should be changed every 3rd service (or never, depending on type, but the e46 only came with the "loo-roll" type), but no one ever changed them. If it is clogged, it will cause premature turbo failure.
Click to expand...

Is it? I was told that the truck diesel we had here was the culprit? Guess not then.
 
falcon786 said:
Going by what the head technician at my local BMW told,me apparently the e90 320d's are the most bullet proof and the e46 320d's are the most problematic diesels in the BMW range,he told me of instances where the seized turbo leaked fluids and caused significant other engine damage.I doubt it will be in every case as was your experience but apparently it happens quite often.

How much did it cost you to change your turbo btw?On the e90 with an original gerrit turbo charger you are looking at just under R9000-00 including labour.
Click to expand...
Gosh man ... that was some time ago, but in the region of R10k.
 
Okay!! So!! I decided today , for peace of mind cos I really need it!!, that I will rather opt for the 330D!
There is 1 I saw 2004 330d manual 120 000kms fsh whole yard of whistles and bells going for R120k. Only thing that is concerning what I asked the dealer is why am I the 3rd owner??? Well he clearly thought about that question coming up cos the "2nd owner just relocated to Australia" came up in less than a second. Also, I was told that the automatic is more of a gas guzzler than the manual. Is this correct? I drive 60 kms a day to work and back so yeah, comfort and fuel efficiency plays a big part in this for me. The 330d is on par if not better than the 320d on the fuel consumption? I've only heard good things about "torque". I will have to sell my other car when a bmw 330d finally comes as a rainy day kitty for when/if something goes wrong with the bmw. Thanks to all the BMW owners sharing their advice and experience!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X