Grassroots Motorsports
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Grassroots Motorsports 140 TECH: BMW E46 M3 TECH TIPS 3 SERIES SAVIOR Tech Tips for Your E46 M3 RENNIE BRYANT Redline BMW Performance 1144 NE 48th St. Pompano Beach, FL 33064 redlinebmwmini.com (954) 783-7003 First, check for signs of abuse– and not just the kind from a young driver or a lot of track use. Lack of maintenance is a killer, too. Get service records if you can. A 60K service with valve adjustment can run well over $1000. Rear suspension mounting points ripping out of the car is more common than you might think. It's also a $2500 repair. Rear trailing arm bushings and lower control arm bushings should also be inspected. These are common wear items, and each will cost about $400 to replace. The good news is that perfor- mance upgrades are available for cheaper than stock , and they will improve handling, too. The VANOS variable valve timing unit can be another source of expensive problems–think $1500 to $2000 for a repair. This unit is located on the front of the cylinder head. Listen closely for odd knocks and rattles from this area. There are many aftermar- ket upgrade repair kits and mods available to eliminate this problem once and for all. If you're looking at a convert- ible, make sure the top works well going up and down. This car has a hydraulic top, meaning it has a pump and many rams that oper- ate by means of oil under pres- sure. Yes, they fail. Yes, repairs are about $1500 to $2000. And yes, the aftermarket comes to the rescue with less expensive, longer- lasting parts. Oil leaks, power steering leaks and coolant leaks are typical problems. Oil leaks most com- monly come from the valve cover gasket or oil flter housing gasket, although sometimes the oil pan gasket is the source. As for power steering leaks, believe it or not, the low pressure hoses leak–on all BMWs. That's about $350 to $400 to fx. If you see a coolant