hey all, not a new member, and not new to BMWs :-)

Hi.

wanted to introduce myself finally. as you can see, i'm a lurker. :-) actually, i haven't been on e46fan since late 2004, last time i had an e46. i just swapped a truck for this 03 TiAg/Dove Gray 325i sedan steptronic. normally not up my alley, but i had to save her. I had to. I am afraid I have opened the floodgates. But after years of neglect (seemingly just physically, mechanically seems ok), i'd like to say she's on her way to recovery. She's a really barebones e46, 325i premium pkg and bixenons. that's it.

when i got her last week she was filthy and had many issues inside and out.
inside:
- PO must have worn a lot of makeup and lotion as the residue was on every surface (HU, steering wheel, turn/wiper stalks, even the seat belt buckle) and the whole car smelled like a crazy concoction of lotion and perfume and hangy air freshener thingy.
- every floormat had stains, and there was coffee all over the center console.
- The gray soft touch coating has worn away on the cupholders and the gray bottom portion of the dash had dirt in the grain (along with door panels/armrests, center armrest)
- a few pieces of wood are cracked.
- rear door pulls/armrests are torn up (pet chewtoy perhaps?)
- the leather was dirty (both dirt, and makeup/lotion residue)
- seems like they spilled baked beans in the trunk but only cleaned up what they could touch (without moving panels around etc)

other issues:
- missing front tow hook cover
- missing passenger side shadowline trim
- missing both lower/front portions of fender lining
- outside temp sensor broken/not mounted to anything since the fender lining was gone
- headlight level sensor broken
- keyless entry inop
- idler pulley squeaking
- some interior lights not working

mechanically:
yes, this is dumb, but i didn't have records. the deal was too good for me to pass up. the PO stated major work was completed within the last 15k miles, and i had a local indy look at it and for the most part she checked out aside from the stuff i had already discovered. So yeah, i'm sort of taking a leap of faith here, but she starts, idles, drives, sounds and all around behaves well.

this past weeks worth of activity:
- passed emissions with flying colors (whew)
- fixed keyless entry by reprogramming the key
- fixed the footwell lights. previous work on the car shows that panels were removed but then shop was too lazy to go back and correct their mistake after forgetting to hook the lights back up. so they just installed the lights non-functioning
- replaced missing fender liners
- fixed outside temp sensor
- fixed loose/rattly foglamp
- oil and oil filter service
- cabin and engine air filter service
- spark plugs service
- scrubbed all the door panels 3 times over with dawn/water, treated with einszett cockpit prem
- scrubbed leather real well, conditioned
- resolved all the mats and exposed carpet twice, vacuumed multiple times

so she's getting sorted, i'm just miffed how someone could physically neglect their car to that point. The good thing is, at this moment, everything is working except the auto leveling headlamps. once i replace the broken sensor i'm assuming that will restore functionality.

coming in the near future:
- idler pulleys and belts
- i'll likely replace the WP with a stuart one
- more interior conditioning and cleaning
- blk cube interior trim and a new shift knob
- homelink because we love it

sorry for the long post, here's some pics:

I didn't read a single thing you posted.

Welcome.

Now more pics of the 190e and the E30 please.

Originally Posted by Gheybe

I didn't read a single thing you posted.

Welcome.

Now more pics of the 190e and the E30 please.

Thanks! i meant it more as a rant than anything else :-)

i'll update this post with pics of the Cossie and M3 soon.

As promised, some of the E30:








And some of the 190e. She looks different now, but you get the idea:

Mother of Jesus.

Originally Posted by duboy

As promised, some of the E30:

Amazing