Posted about this in one of the other threads last week, but I brought home this nice black on Terracotta X3 M-Sport with a manual last week. It was close to challenge price, drivable, and included the parts to fix the main issues.
It also has 200k miles and a rebuilt title, but it's wearing low mileage Michelins and I bought it from a fellow automotive engineer!
Ive only driven it home so far, but it was fun and fairly tight.
Main needs:
Transfer Case actuator replacement, currently RWD only. (Parts included)
Overflow tank leaks at a seam (new included), probably should replace most of the cooling system.
Clutch is probably in its last 10k miles
My new job has me parking either in downtown Detroit or at the airport most of the time, so this will be commuter/beater for me.
Don't need it to be perfect but I'd like to get the main issues corrected so I can just the miles rack up.
The name came from the PO, who named it for the Terracotta interior!
Extra pictures
Nice! I love the interior color.
For me, this lives in the "things I didn't know existed" category. Now that I do, I want to know more!
cool find. really "wish" these were rated to tow more... but I understand the wheelbase limits that
jgrewe
Dork
1/19/25 11:01 a.m.
Check into "clutch delay valve", it shows in realoem that that generation has them. It will make the clutch feel like it is slipping/worn when shifted quickly. I think it is listed as "lock valve"
jgrewe said:
Check into "clutch delay valve", it shows in realoem that that generation has them. It will make the clutch feel like it is slipping/worn when shifted quickly. I think it is listed as "lock valve"
If it's the same setup as my 06 E90 (I think these are more E46 based and you have an M54 engine) it was as simple as popping the valve out under the car near the slave cylinder and just plugging the two halves back together, I didn't even need to bleed the clutch at the time. Of course the slave died about a month later, then I needed to bleed it lol.
Nice, and you got sport seats too.
I bought my son this cars twin but a couple of years younger. So far so good after 40k miles and a cross country trip. They are fun to drive too.
Awesome information here, thanks. I'll have to check the clutch delay valve.
got a license plate and drove into work this morning! Snowy and slippery, but even RWD only had effectively no slipping. Love it already. Easy to park too!
Love the interior color. How do these hold up in the salt belt?
In reply to RacetruckRon :
I don't know the history on where this one lived before 3 years ago, but it's pretty dang nice still.
RacetruckRon said:
Love the interior color. How do these hold up in the salt belt?
my 2007 525xi (yes, i know it's a different platform) was a PA or MI car all its life, and when it was totalled in 2021 with over 225k miles, there wasn't a spot of rust anywhere but the heads of some chassis fasteners.
Just been putting some miles in this the last week! My wife also loves it, so I'm counting that as a huge win. Got aux hooked up this morning and had a podcast on my way in.
found there's an occasional rattle from left rear on decal, and a clunk in front right + slight steering shimmy on hard braking that makes me want to check bushings/ball joints.
otherwise, I smile every time I park it.
In reply to classicJackets (FS) :
shimmy and clunk in front end could be due to worn bushings in the tension struts, which is BMW-speak for the forward lower control arms. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to replace.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Awesome, thanks. I looked under the other day and it does look easy enough to access and replace. Becomes a question of scope lol, if I'm doing the arm I should probably do the Ball Joint, but given beater status here maybe I'll only do the one side and see where it lands me.
My X5 needed the same lower ball joint/control arm. Warped rotors made it shimmy and clunk like crazy.
Can't hear the name Terry anymore without saying in my head "Oh lawd, back it Terry!"
