E86 off road for a few issues, anything else to do while it's away?

[Mos6689]

Hi guys,

So I got myself a 2007 E86 coupe last week, always loved the shape & im glad the performance matched my expectations! Unfortunately the reliability

So day after I got it, got the trifecta of lights on, did a scan and had ZDF0 & ZDF1. After reading through threads it seems the abs pump needs a refurb, which I'm going to do next week with ecu testing.

The ride is horrible! Steering is very snappy when on rough roads and I feel everything from the road! So I appreciate that run flats are crap and probably contributing towards this but my tyres have 6mm of tread left so can't justify changing them just yet, but will do in the future and I'll steer clear of run flats! I've also been reading how crap the factory springs are on these, so thought I may as well swap them while it's off the road. Ordered some eibach springs for this, hopefully they'll make the ride feel a lot better. I was advised on here not to bother with bilstein dampers, as the standard m sport ones don't tend to go wrong and aren't contributing towards the rough ride.

Then last night the drivers window decided it didn't want to close anymore
Tried to close it a few times then it stopped working all together! There's a grinding noise, so after doing some more reading I've now ordered a regulator repair kit. Hopefully this fixes that issue!

My actual question is (sorry for the faffing), is there anything else that's likely or is going to go wrong on the e86 that I may as well get done now while it's off the road? This is first BMW and after owning it for less than a week feels like a big mistake! I'm praying that these issues are showing up now and once all done she's going to behave because like I said earlier I've always loved this car! She's only covered 18k miles, did not anticipate this from a car that's been well looked after and barely driven!

Thanks in advance for your help guys, this forum really is a god send!!!

[Mr Tidy]

Hi OP,

They do look great don't they - and they perform pretty well too!

Shame you seem to have had so many issues all at once, but might that be why it was for sale perhaps? Still, it's surprising given the mileage.

Steering-wise they do tend to tramline (especially on RFTs) but new bushes on the front control arms (AKA Lollipop bushes) help no end. And at the age all E86s are now a refresh of all other bushes may be a plan. Many on here also reckon a geometry check after all that sharpens things up.

The water pump is electric, so can just fail - if it does the gauge goes into the red in a couple of miles! My first Coupe had that problem at 9 years old and 60K miles. Even from ECP the pump is around £300! But I'm not sure you would change it as a preventative measure, just be aware and keep an eye on it!

Hope you get everything sorted soon, so you can get back out and put some miles on it.

[bazza190]

Steering-wise they do tend to tramline (especially on RFTs) but new bushes on the front control arms (AKA Lollipop bushes) help no end. And at the age all E86s are now a refresh of all other bushes may be a plan. Many on here also reckon a geometry check after all that sharpens things up.

100% agree with this, mine was a bit twitchy and I put it down to the runflats but I have just done the lower arms and rear bushes then got an alignment done. Even with the runflats the front feels more secure and 'right'. Don't know how to explain it better but I am not always thinking the car is trying to kill me now!

Expansion tank is worth a close look at as these are prone to cracking, wiper linkage breaking/creaking and motor not parking correctly/going crazy are common but not the end of the world to repair and worth sorting out.

I was in a similar place with mine after I bought it. It rained heavily the first night and the next day the wipers were going mental, sorted that then the bottom hose on the expansion tank came off. The tank had just been replaced but the hose worked loose, then I had tons of condensation in a headlight which looked terrible and took ages to fix. My first few weeks with it was not how I imagined it but I learned a lot about the car and what to keep an eye on in the future.

Good luck with yours, come the summer hopefully it will all be forgotten

[Smartbear]

Hi OP,

They do look great don't they - and they perform pretty well too!

Shame you seem to have had so many issues all at once, but might that be why it was for sale perhaps? Still, it's surprising given the mileage.

Steering-wise they do tend to tramline (especially on RFTs) but new bushes on the front control arms (AKA Lollipop bushes) help no end. And at the age all E86s are now a refresh of all other bushes may be a plan. Many on here also reckon a geometry check after all that sharpens things up.

The water pump is electric, so can just fail - if it does the gauge goes into the red in a couple of miles! My first Coupe had that problem at 9 years old and 60K miles. Even from ECP the pump is around £300! But I'm not sure you would change it as a preventative measure, just be aware and keep an eye on it!

Hope you get everything sorted soon, so you can get back out and put some miles on it.

The pumps can be had for £240ish on ebay if you look around (oem pump)
Rob

[raymond.harper]

Look closely at the previous bills. Expansion tank and the thermostat housings are common failures so see if they have been changed. Some owners say they never have problems while others experience problems. You need to remember it is an old car and things do go wrong and when they do you need to spent a bit of money. Reliability is questionable but they should not rust at least

[Mr Tidy]

The pumps can be had for £240ish on ebay if you look around (oem pump)
Rob

Thanks for the reminder!

Just curious but did you put a new water pump on your E85 "trouble-free" car, or the E89 that was busted?

[Smartbear]

The pumps can be had for £240ish on ebay if you look around (oem pump)
Rob

Thanks for the reminder!

Just curious but did you put a new water pump on your E85 "trouble-free" car, or the E89 that was busted?

It was my 3.0si that needed a pump at 89k miles (it never failed but was giving me warning signs)
my 3litre e89 ate its gearbox at 19k
So far, so good with the 2litre
Rob

[Kiddo]

It's worth checking the intake manifold boot pipe for splits and the DISA while you're at it. Had to replace mine the other week, pretty simple to do.

[Mr Tidy]

It was my 3.0si that needed a pump at 89k miles (it never failed but was giving me warning signs)
my 3litre e89 ate its gearbox at 19k
So far, so good with the 2litre
Rob

Oh right. I suppose the cost of the electric ones makes us all wince a bit when they go, but I've needed to replace mechanical ones on cars much less than 9/10 years old and with much lower mileages!

Knackered gearbox on your 3 litre E89 certainly sounds unusual - just glad you got out of that OK.

Good news on the 2 litre - hope it stays that way!

[Smartbear]

It's worth checking the intake manifold boot pipe for splits and the DISA while you're at it. Had to replace mine the other week, pretty simple to do.

Different engine (n52) that doesn't suffer the same issue with split intake pipe or disintegrating disa valves
Rob