Possible MC Purchase

[issproking]

Just been too see it

Hi everyone

Just been to see the Car

The Car itself has done 63,168 miles.

Ok the big question first. The engine, and in particular the Vanos, does seem pretty smooth, very slight rattle when started up but not that noticeable at all. Theres no oil around the Vanos and it doesnt look like it had been cleaned up just for the inspection. The mechanic who looked at it form put a screw-driver to the Vanos to listen through and you can definitley hear a mechanical rattle however as he has never listened to another Vanos he cant compare it - is this ok then, should there always be a slight mechanical rattle when you listen through a screwdriver?

The last service was 8000 miles ago and the Vanos was ok'd then. Am I correct in saying that the service interval for the MC S50 is every 8000?

The Car had a full service history from BMW garages and all receipts were there.

All-in-all does it sound ok?

Thanks

[Chris]

When I first got my MC the DSC would come on quite a lot because I wasn't driving it with enough finesse. I always blamed myself for this rather than blaming the DSC, and I worked out that the DSC only came on when I had seriously unbalanced the car, or had been too crude with the accelerator. I used the DSC as a sort of "instructor" that would tell me when I had done something wrong, consequently, I learned a lot and modified my driving style accordingly to suit the car. I no longer try to beat the car in to submission, instead I work with the car, and I find that me and my MC work better together that way. It certainly wasn't a pain around the Ring.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Sure when you are driving on the roads you shouldn't ever be driving right up to the limits of what the car is capable of, so your driving style could probably be adapted to work with the DSC and never see it is a problem.

However when you are on a track and want to push to 100% of what the car is capable of performance-wise, there is no way that the DSC wouldn't intervene and thus dampening the experience for drivers who don't want any mechanical interference. If you take your car on the track and don't want to drive completely on the limit, im sure it can be ok.

[MGR]

I'm not sure I agree with this. Sure when you are driving on the roads you shouldn't ever be driving right up to the limits of what the car is capable of, so your driving style could probably be adapted to work with the DSC and never see it is a problem.

However when you are on a track and want to push to 100% of what the car is capable of performance-wise, there is no way that the DSC wouldn't intervene and thus dampening the experience for drivers who don't want any mechanical interference. If you take your car on the track and don't want to drive completely on the limit, im sure it can be ok.

Yes I agree, but you just turn it off for track work, so its not an issue. The only slightly annoying thing is that the DSC light stays on when it is turned off.

I kept mine on around the ring, it only cut in twice in 10 laps and one of those times was when the back end stepped out so it should have done.

When it started raining I was very glad to have it.

[miketheman2k]

I'm not sure I agree with this. Sure when you are driving on the roads you shouldn't ever be driving right up to the limits of what the car is capable of, so your driving style could probably be adapted to work with the DSC and never see it is a problem.

However when you are on a track and want to push to 100% of what the car is capable of performance-wise, there is no way that the DSC wouldn't intervene and thus dampening the experience for drivers who don't want any mechanical interference. If you take your car on the track and don't want to drive completely on the limit, im sure it can be ok.

I agree, even on a smooth track (like Bedford) the DSC comes on a lot usually triggered by the front end rather than the back. But the DSC would have been calibrated for only one setting (strict!) for road use on standard suspension - most people won't be going on track without some stiffened suspension. It's a world away from the Manettino in a Ferrari which is designed to make the car go quicker in certain conditions.

[miketheman2k]

When it started raining I was very glad to have it.

And I doubt anyone will argue with that statement (unless they're on a disused airfield).

[c_w]

Hi everyone

Just been to see the Car

The Car itself has done 63,168 miles.

Ok the big question first. The engine, and in particular the Vanos, does seem pretty smooth, very slight rattle when started up but not that noticeable at all. Theres no oil around the Vanos and it doesnt look like it had been cleaned up just for the inspection. The mechanic who looked at it form put a screw-driver to the Vanos to listen through and you can definitley hear a mechanical rattle however as he has never listened to another Vanos he cant compare it - is this ok then, should there always be a slight mechanical rattle when you listen through a screwdriver?

The last service was 8000 miles ago and the Vanos was ok'd then. Am I correct in saying that the service interval for the MC S50 is every 8000?

The Car had a full service history from BMW garages and all receipts were there.

All-in-all does it sound ok?

Thanks

First off, I would say these engines are not super smooth/quiet like the regular non-M sixes. They have solid followers so are generally more tappety (this includes the S54) than modern engines. The screwdriver test isn't always accurate as the sound can often be a tappet travelling in the head but if it sounds ok to the ear in general then it's probably ok. My view on the VANOS is that they are generally silent on startup and when cold and may become grumbly when the oil is hot from 2000rpm down to idle; this is just the gears rattling against each other on their splines. The slight "cammy" rattle on cold startup is probably not vanos related and seems common in S50s.

[MGR]

Hi everyone

Just been to see the Car

The Car itself has done 63,168 miles.

Ok the big question first. The engine, and in particular the Vanos, does seem pretty smooth, very slight rattle when started up but not that noticeable at all. Theres no oil around the Vanos and it doesnt look like it had been cleaned up just for the inspection. The mechanic who looked at it form put a screw-driver to the Vanos to listen through and you can definitley hear a mechanical rattle however as he has never listened to another Vanos he cant compare it - is this ok then, should there always be a slight mechanical rattle when you listen through a screwdriver?

The last service was 8000 miles ago and the Vanos was ok'd then. Am I correct in saying that the service interval for the MC S50 is every 8000?

The Car had a full service history from BMW garages and all receipts were there.

All-in-all does it sound ok?

Thanks

Sounds like its due a service (look at the number of green lights showing on the dash)

Like said above these engines are not as smooth as other BMW engines and I think a slight rattle on start up is common.

If there is no oil leaking and your mechanic thinks its ok I'd go for it.

[issproking]

Ok thanks

Now that i'm really thinking a couple of other questions.

1. Is the service at 64,000miles pretty much a standard service i.e. oil change and checks or is there anything else that might be specifically changed at this mileage? What kind of price is in that service?

2. The airbag light is on and the outside temperature guage isnt working. Could these things be expensive to repair? Should I ask for them to be fixed before purchase or would I be better to try to take that off the money he is looking for?

Many thanks for your input.

[issproking]

Sorry, there wasnt any other lights showing on the dash

[wadh0070]

Ok thanks

Now that i'm really thinking a couple of other questions.

1. Is the service at 64,000miles pretty much a standard service i.e. oil change and checks or is there anything else that might be specifically changed at this mileage? What kind of price is in that service?

2. The airbag light is on and the outside temperature guage isnt working. Could these things be expensive to repair? Should I ask for them to be fixed before purchase or would I be better to try to take that off the money he is looking for?

Many thanks for your input.

The service is on a schedule that goes oil service, Inspection I, oil service, Inspection II. You need to know what the last one was. A c. 10 year old car with 64,000 will not, by definition have been serviced every 8,000 as it should be serviced every year irrespective of mileage.

There should have been between 1 and 5 green lights on the dash at start-up showing length of time to next service. After that there is an orange and then red (I think) which (and I paraphrase) mean service now and *SERVICE NOW*.

Airbag light might mean he's fiddled with the seats at some point. If there's nothing wrong it's a simple reset - I think £20 or so from a stealer although someone will confirm. Outside temp guage is about as much use as a chocolate teapot anyway, but you may as well ask for it to be fixed at the same time as the airbag is sorted. Although a stealer diagnosis will be more than the parts!

On VANOS / engine noise. Mine is quite tappety from cold, but that settles down as it warms up. Don't rev it more than 3,000-4,000 until the oil is properly warm (5-7miles). Water is warm much sooner than that, but don't be fooled.

And my VANOS is quite noisy, (c. 40,000 miles on this VANOS) but it's been like that throughout the time that I've had it and quite honestly, if you read everything you can, you'll realise that quiet VANOS's can fail and noisy ones can keep going and going. Just change the bolts and filter once you've bought the car (about £20 + half-an-hour's labour if you don't want to do it yourself).

Jez

[c_w]

Re the airbag light; it's a common fault on alls Z3s (there is BMW service bulletin about it where a new repair loom is fitted). It's often triggered by moving the seat forward or back and is related to the seatbelt pretensioner wiring (loom is too short apparently); once it's triggered it stays on and needs resetting (this will often switch off the light until it's triggered again).

[MGR]

Ok thanks

Now that i'm really thinking a couple of other questions.

1. Is the service at 64,000miles pretty much a standard service i.e. oil change and checks or is there anything else that might be specifically changed at this mileage? What kind of price is in that service?

2. The airbag light is on and the outside temperature guage isnt working. Could these things be expensive to repair? Should I ask for them to be fixed before purchase or would I be better to try to take that off the money he is looking for?

Many thanks for your input.

1. like said above depends which service is due, price wise will depend on if you will keep it in the BMW network. You say it has FBMWSH so you may want to.

Prices vary with location. I would phone up your local garage that you will be using (either BMW or independent) and get a price for each service.

The inspection services can be expensive esp from BMW.

2. Get these things sorted before you buy the car. Simple.

[exdos]

I'm not sure I agree with this. Sure when you are driving on the roads you shouldn't ever be driving right up to the limits of what the car is capable of, so your driving style could probably be adapted to work with the DSC and never see it is a problem.

However when you are on a track and want to push to 100% of what the car is capable of performance-wise, there is no way that the DSC wouldn't intervene and thus dampening the experience for drivers who don't want any mechanical interference. If you take your car on the track and don't want to drive completely on the limit, im sure it can be ok.

To be fair to the original poster, I've now started another thread here:
http://www.z3mcoupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7503
about traction control (DSC)

[cxtwo]

2. The airbag light is on and the outside temperature guage isnt working. Could these things be expensive to repair? Should I ask for them to be fixed before purchase or would I be better to try to take that off the money he is looking for?

Outside temp gauge was about £100 inc parts & labour done at an Indy, in my case the sensor had failed.

[cloudburst]

Sorry for the...er...late response.

You're obviously concerned about the VANOS. I'm pretty sure when I had the car, I did have it replaced - not because it was troublesome, but due to a recall.

But that was a long time ago. Ha ha.

CB