[Bengineer330]

Any trick to bump starting these cars? 2nd gear, hold start button while clutching out?

Bump Starting is just using the cars momentum to turn the engine over the same way the starter would. Here are a few steps:

1. Make sure the car has battery power, I doubt it would work with a dead battery.
2. Put the key in the ignition, and WITHOUT depressing the clutch, press the start button to turn on all the auxiliary power.
3. Put the car into Neutral so it'll roll and remove the parking brake.
4. With the drivers door open start pushing from the drivers door frame to get a gentle roll going, don't go crazy because you'll fall on your ass trying to jump in.
5. Jump in
6. Press the Clutch in, put it into 1st gear
7. Release the clutch, you don't have to dump it, you just need it to grab
8. This is the hard part and might take a bit to get the feel for, but the car will start and the revs will climb, at that point you need to immediately continue driving, or I always just put the clutch in and let it idle for a bit.
9. Drive off like normal.

A link to the very last time I bump started her, and yes I name my cars...

[u2b]

[/u2b]

The clutch longevity isn't an anomaly.

Darn! and all along I thought it was because of my perfectly matched downshifts

How did you get rid of it and would u not do it if you had the chance again? What else broke on the car? Speakers? Sensors? Plastic stuff? any leaks?

I new a local High School kid that was an enthusiast and reached out to him to see if he wanted it, he said yes so I signed the title over to him and he came with a trailer and picked it up.

The electronics on the car were perfect for its entire life, even the HVAC buttons and Fans. I didn't have Navigation so that might have helped but not a single issue with windows or any other buttons, all functions worked to the day it left. I did have to fix the passenger folding mirror pretty early on probably under 100k, as it would go the opposite way when folding it in. I said hell with that function and cut the wires. Never really used that feature anyways.

Leaks, yes, Oil pan gasket, Oil filter Housing Gasket, Valve Cover Gasket, and a new radiator. All during various mileages of the car. Luckily they were all fairly simple jobs. The Transmission and Rear Differential I changed the fluids once at like 100k, then never after that. Coolant was only changed when I did the radiator. Power Steering fluid and Brake Fluid were truly "Lifetime."

The only sensor I replaced was the brake pad sensor, once I did the brakes a second time I got wise and just cut them off and tied to two wires together.

I replaced the battery only once and at the same time I had a local "Alternator Guy" rebuild the alternator. He was able to turn it around in a day so not a big deal.

The A/C went out at about 380k but that's a luxury and the pulley was fine so I just turned the snowflake button off and never used it after.

One thing that time and the elements got to was the belly pan, the clips and fasteners needed to be replaced because of rust and I did a J-B Weld Plastic Bond Fix on any cracks.

The paint held up pretty well, my front bumper was pretty beat up but that's mainly because my commute was Milwaukee - Chicago everyday and it was nuts to butts the whole way.

I would 100% do it again, I actually started looking for another 330i because my son will be 16 soon. Thought it would be a great first car. I do sometime wish I kept it, just as a project to restore, or even make it into a 24 Hours of Lemons car! But when I got rid of it, it was such a busy time in my life that I couldn't foresee any time to do it. Would just take up garage space and look bad sitting there.

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by Bengineer330

Bump Starting is just using the cars momentum to turn the engine over the same way the starter would. Here are a few steps:

1. Make sure the car has battery power, I doubt it would work with a dead battery.
2. Put the key in the ignition, and WITHOUT depressing the clutch, press the start button to turn on all the auxiliary power.
3. Put the car into Neutral so it'll roll and remove the parking brake.
4. With the drivers door open start pushing from the drivers door frame to get a gentle roll going, don't go crazy because you'll fall on your ass trying to jump in.
5. Jump in
6. Press the Clutch in, put it into 1st gear
7. Release the clutch, you don't have to dump it, you just need it to grab
8. This is the hard part and might take a bit to get the feel for, but the car will start and the revs will climb, at that point you need to immediately continue driving, or I always just put the clutch in and let it idle for a bit.
9. Drive off like normal.

A link to the very last time I bump started her, and yes I name my cars...

[u2b]

[/u2b]

Darn! and all along I thought it was because of my perfectly matched downshifts

I new a local High School kid that was an enthusiast and reached out to him to see if he wanted it, he said yes so I signed the title over to him and he came with a trailer and picked it up.

The electronics on the car were perfect for its entire life, even the HVAC buttons and Fans. I didn't have Navigation so that might have helped but not a single issue with windows or any other buttons, all functions worked to the day it left. I did have to fix the passenger folding mirror pretty early on probably under 100k, as it would go the opposite way when folding it in. I said hell with that function and cut the wires. Never really used that feature anyways.

Leaks, yes, Oil pan gasket, Oil filter Housing Gasket, Valve Cover Gasket, and a new radiator. All during various mileages of the car. Luckily they were all fairly simple jobs. The Transmission and Rear Differential I changed the fluids once at like 100k, then never after that. Coolant was only changed when I did the radiator. Power Steering fluid and Brake Fluid were truly "Lifetime."

The only sensor I replaced was the brake pad sensor, once I did the brakes a second time I got wise and just cut them off and tied to two wires together.

I replaced the battery only once and at the same time I had a local "Alternator Guy" rebuild the alternator. He was able to turn it around in a day so not a big deal.

The A/C went out at about 380k but that's a luxury and the pulley was fine so I just turned the snowflake button off and never used it after.

One thing that time and the elements got to was the belly pan, the clips and fasteners needed to be replaced because of rust and I did a J-B Weld Plastic Bond Fix on any cracks.

The paint held up pretty well, my front bumper was pretty beat up but that's mainly because my commute was Milwaukee - Chicago everyday and it was nuts to butts the whole way.

I would 100% do it again, I actually started looking for another 330i because my son will be 16 soon. Thought it would be a great first car. I do sometime wish I kept it, just as a project to restore, or even make it into a 24 Hours of Lemons car! But when I got rid of it, it was such a busy time in my life that I couldn't foresee any time to do it. Would just take up garage space and look bad sitting there.

Wow so u changed the brake and steering fluid like never? How about clutch fluid? and did you ever double clutch up shifts or downshifts? I do it sometimes while rev matching LOL. to "save the synchros" feels good tho.

[Bengineer330]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

Wow so u changed the brake and steering fluid like never? How about clutch fluid? and did you ever double clutch up shifts or downshifts? I do it sometimes while rev matching LOL. to "save the synchros" feels good tho.

Never ever did I change the power steering or brake/clutch fluid during its 410k mile service life. I would periodically check their levels, I think I still have the bottle of CHF11s I bought to top off the power steering but only had to do that one time and it was minimal. Brake fluid was always perfect.

As for transmission, I was always very gentle with shifts. I always backed in and left it in 1st gear so I didn't have to reverse out ever. In the morning I would drive off in 1st at 5mph through the neighborhood for about 1000 yards to the first stop sign to let the fluid circulate (I left really early so having a neighbor behind me was a rarity). Then I would short-shift to keep the car under 2500rpm until I got an engine oil reading which wont come in until the engine oil temp is at operating temperature. I never double clutched on up-shifts but I was generally gentle on it unless road-rage got to me and I needed to quick shift, then I'd let the sychros do their job. Otherwise I was shifting around 4k and as gentle as possible. It was hardwired in me to rev-match on downshifts so I always did that. For a manual transmission you want to keep it engaged as much as possible, so if I found myself coming to a stop I just left it in whatever gear I was in until the revs were near idle and then pushed the clutch in to come to a stop. During Chicago Stop/Go traffic I'd stick it in 2nd and leave plenty of space so I wasn't constantly clutching. Did people in traffic hate me doing that, absolutely, but where were they gonna go? The car 20ft in-front of me?

Hope that helps

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by John 070

The real beauty of it is to know the 400k was put on by one person.

The highest I ever reached was 237k on a Nissan.

My mom's Acura, there are examples on YouTube over 500k, and my Lexus 1 mil. But will my mom or myself ever see those numbers, impossible. Time is the enemy to these car's reaching those numbers...

I hope to see this car hit 500 and 600k!

You know it's an interesting point, I've been posting about my car's life since 2006 when I joined E90 Post and began my high-mileage reports (100,000 mile intervals) at 200,000 miles way back in 2013. I was the first to find and report on the water pump failure codes (July 2011 @ 149,500 miles - under my original avitar "Eninty") and the first to find and report on the Oil Life Monitor sunset issue at 186,000 miles (September 2013) after I hit 221,000 miles. I've posted several 1-st time DIY's on things like coolant change, WP/T-stat change, coolant hose changes, blower motor change, etc. early on before the Bentley service manual was published. Numerous fellow E90 members have been following my well-documented and detailed high-mileage posts who have PM'd me along the way for advice for years. Not to mention the hundreds of discussions regarding following the CBS service schedule and long oil drain intervals. Legitimacy...

[John 070]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

You know it's an interesting point, I've been posting about my car's life since 2006 when I joined E90 Post and began my high-mileage reports (100,000 mile intervals) at 200,000 miles way back in 2013. I was the first to find and report on the water pump failure codes (July 2011 @ 149,500 miles - under my original avitar "Eninty") and the first to find and report on the Oil Life Monitor sunset issue at 186,000 miles (September 2013) after I hit 221,000 miles. I've posted several 1-st time DIY's on things like coolant change, WP/T-stat change, coolant hose changes, blower motor change, etc. early on before the Bentley service manual was published. Numerous fellow E90 members have been following my well-documented and detailed high-mileage posts who have PM'd me along the way for advice for years. Not to mention the hundreds of discussions regarding following the CBS service schedule and long oil drain intervals. Legitimacy...

Yes, and to contrast, say on my Lexus that I bought 10 years old, 5.5 years ago.

I'm the third owner, it sorta goes like this:

1st owner, 37k

2nd owner, 44k

Me; 46k --it fell of a cliff, since the pandemic or likely would be another 28-30k.

Since it's only in the 120's, it may never reach 200? But let's say somehow it did reach 200k. I didn't take it the entire duration is my point. With my Nissan, I did in fact drive it all of its 237k (well maybe my wife has 15k of it).

I just think it's more special when an original owner takes it to a very high mileage, like the Acura videos at 500k. Even that mil. mile Lexus LS changed hands many times and had different drivers.

That's why I think you shouldn't give up your car and just keep going!

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by John 070

Yes, and to contrast, say on my Lexus that I bought 10 years old, 5.5 years ago.

I'm the third owner, it sorta goes like this:

1st owner, 37k

2nd owner, 44k

Me; 46k --it fell of a cliff, since the pandemic or likely would be another 28-30k.

Since it's only in the 120's, it may never reach 200? But let's say somehow it did reach 200k. I didn't take it the entire duration is my point. With my Nissan, I did in fact drive it all of its 237k (well maybe my wife has 15k of it).

I just think it's more special when an original owner takes it to a very high mileage, like the Acura videos at 500k. Even that mil. mile Lexus LS changed hands many times and had different drivers.

That's why I think you shouldn't give up your car and just keep going!

I'm so emotionally attached to the E90 it is ridiculous. I've spent literally over 1 year driving it 24 hours a day (mathematically). In reality for nearly 15.8 years, I've spent the better part of 3.5 hours every time I drove it until December 6th last year. I used to refuel it at the same gas station at the same pump every two days for well over a decade. The last fill-up in 2021 was December 10th. I just refueled it last Friday, Feb. 4th at a completely different gas station and pump and it auto shutoff early twice!

She'll pass away with me; any other way would be disrespectful.

BTW, this is how you end up with 5 cars and 1 motorcycle, a fleet with an average age of 18.5 years and 168,000 miles. Don't be me.

With the other car mentioned in this 400,000-mile thread, it is interesting we all are just hearing about it now. The owner has been on Bimmer Post since 2014, not one of his posts has ever mentioned his super-high mileage E90. You'd think otherwise.

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'm so emotionally attached to the E90 it is ridiculous. I've spent literally over 1 year driving it 24 hours a day (mathematically). In reality for nearly 15.8 years, I've spent the better part of 3.5 hours every time I drove it until December 6th last year. I used to refuel it at the same gas station at the same pump every two days for well over a decade. The last fill-up in 2021 was December 10th. I just refueled it last Friday, Feb. 4th at a completely different gas station and pump and it auto shutoff early twice!

She'll pass away with me; any other way would be disrespectful.

BTW, this is how you end up with 5 cars and 1 motorcycle, a fleet with an average age of 18.5 years and 168,000 miles. Don't be me.

With the other car mentioned in this 400,000-mile thread, it is interesting we all are just hearing about it now. The owner has been on Bimmer Post since 2014, not one of his posts has ever mentioned his super-high mileage E90. You'd think otherwise.

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'm so emotionally attached to the E90 it is ridiculous. I've spent literally over 1 year driving it 24 hours a day (mathematically). In reality for nearly 15.8 years, I've spent the better part of 3.5 hours every time I drove it until December 6th last year. I used to refuel it at the same gas station at the same pump every two days for well over a decade. The last fill-up in 2021 was December 10th. I just refueled it last Friday, Feb. 4th at a completely different gas station and pump and it auto shutoff early twice!

She'll pass away with me; any other way would be disrespectful.

BTW, this is how you end up with 5 cars and 1 motorcycle, a fleet with an average age of 18.5 years and 168,000 miles. Don't be me.

With the other car mentioned in this 400,000-mile thread, it is interesting we all are just hearing about it now. The owner has been on Bimmer Post since 2014, not one of his posts has ever mentioned his super-high mileage E90. You'd think otherwise.

Shots fired

[Bengineer330]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Shots fired

I anticipated getting my balls busted for this! I'm overly thankful for the community and everyone that has taken the time to not only solve the problem but to also document the process along the way. Which is sometimes the bigger time commitment. I never posted because I wasn't doing anything that hadn't been documented beforehand, plus most of my fixes weren't necessary the 'Right' way but it got her back on the road and me to work on Monday. So you wouldn't have wanted me to post any of my fixes anyways. Plus, part of me always thought there were even higher mileage cars out there because if I could do this, then someone with even more knowledge/aptitude could get even further so why bother posting.

However a big regret is not documenting anything with that car, I fixed whatever broke but never kept a log. Something I'm more diligent about now.

The 330i was the first car I ever purchased and made me a BMW owner for life, in 50 years I'll be that old guy with only e-series cars and an ancient laptop running ISTA-D that the kids never even hear about!

[YassirC]

Do you mind sharing pictures of the E90? I'm curious to see how she holds up externally.

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by YassirC

Do you mind sharing pictures of the E90? I'm curious to see how she holds up externally.

Same year and color as OP and 222,000 miles.

[FimbulWinter]

Knowing someone made it through 400k miles put my overthingking at ease. Just bought used 325i for my first car at 51k miles, was my dream car and I intend to keep it for a lifetime. Great job OP

[YassirC]

Thank you for sharing.

Now let's see the odometer at 500,000 miles and do tells us all the updates that went along with that many miles

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by YassirC

Thank you for sharing.

Now let's see the odometer at 500,000 miles and do tells us all the updates that went along with that many miles

I'll never reach 500,000. I stopped driving my previous crazy ass 800 mile per week commute.

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I was the first to find and report on the water pump failure codes (July 2011 @ 149,500 miles - under my original avitar "Eninty") and the first to find and report on the Oil Life Monitor sunset issue at 186,000 miles (September 2013) after I hit 221,000 miles.

My first E90 was an 06 325i Auto with 218k on it, purchased as a project first car for my kid. Your oil life monitor info helped me very soon after I got the car. That car has been transferred to another family member now and has over 260K on it. I ended up getting a 330i for myself. Recently I got rear ended and I was bummed because the car wasn't all original and perfect any more, but then I remembered reading all of Efthreeoh's deer incidents and realized it doesn't have to be perfect and original to enjoy driving.

[BayMoWe335]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'll never reach 500,000. I stopped driving my previous crazy ass 800 mile per week commute.

How many miles today?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by BayMoWe335

How many miles today?

I'll have to check for precision, but it's just over 421,800. I took it up to Northern Virginia last week on Oct. 7th. It was at 421,719 last I took a pic on October 2nd.

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'll have to check for precision, but it's just over 421,800. I took it up to Northern Virginia last week on Oct. 7th. It was at 421,719 last I took a pic on October 2nd.

greetings efthreeoh,
you are mr longevity....your documentation of service and repairs is really incredible....this is time capsule stuff....BMW US should pay you a hefty fee to be highlighted for all of the crazy mileage on your E90....perhaps every time the commercial airs you will receive royalties

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

greetings efthreeoh,
you are mr longevity....your documentation of service and repairs is really incredible....this is time capsule stuff....BMW US should pay you a hefty fee to be highlighted for all of the crazy mileage on your E90....perhaps every time the commercial airs you will receive royalties

I'm not sure my E90 ownership experience is relevant at this point since EV is the order of the day going forward.

Sadly, when BMW decided to not offer a NA straight-6, rear drive, manual transmission'd (Non-M) 3-series BMW and I parted ways. The miles racked up as a function of my prior commute and the E90 being truly the last of the classic 3-series format, which I didn't want to lose. Something went wrong with the F30... (BMW has not recovered from it - IMO). I planned on a change to a new 3-series sometime after 250,000 miles, but with no equivalent offering, I stuck with the E90.

I sit here now not really needing the E90 anymore and fighting to decide how deep of a refurb I want to go with it. It runs great but needs some significant attention.

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'm not sure my E90 ownership experience is relevant at this point since EV is the order of the day going forward.

Sadly, when BMW decided to not offer a NA straight-6, rear drive, manual transmission'd (Non-M) 3-series BMW and I parted ways. The miles racked up as a function of my prior commute and the E90 being truly the last of the classic 3-series format, which I didn't want to lose. Something went wrong with the F30... (BMW has not recovered from it - IMO). I planned on a change to a new 3-series sometime after 250,000 miles, but with no equivalent offering, I stuck with the E90.

I sit here now not really needing the E90 anymore and fighting to decide how deep of a refurb I want to go with it. It runs great but needs some significant attention.

thank you efthreeoh,
your rationale is in alignment with many bmw lovers; the classic, timeless style of yesterday's design (BMW) is what is the allure to so many; the photo (below) is absolutely hysterical and spot-on....the iconic two design features of round headlights and tasteful kidney grilles have deteriorated into clown-car designs (pic was posted yrs ago by a BMW enthusiast and i saved it).

re your E90 longevity, didn't you recently purchase a replacement (used) rear subframe and install it?

you are the proud owner of another iconic and timeless design....your Z4 Coupe; with a production of 2003-2008, this is a time capsule; your E90 is not far off of the same rarified air....perhaps repairing the E90 as required and continuing to preserve both marques (easy for me to say).

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

thank you efthreeoh,
your rationale is in alignment with many bmw lovers; the classic, timeless style of yesterday's design (BMW) is what is the allure to so many; the photo (below) is absolutely hysterical and spot-on....the iconic two design features of round headlights and tasteful kidney grilles have deteriorated into clown-car designs (pic was posted yrs ago by a BMW enthusiast and i saved it).

re your E90 longevity, didn't you recently purchase a replacement (used) rear subframe and install it?

you are the proud owner of another iconic and timeless design....your Z4 Coupe; with a production of 2003-2008, this is a time capsule; your E90 is not far off of the same rarified air....perhaps repairing the E90 as required and continuing to preserve both marques (easy for me to say).

Attachment 3299113

If BMW could find their inner Ford and reissue the E30 nearly in the same way Ford reissued the Mustang (S197 - 5th generation) in 2005 and it had a NA I6 with manual trans, I'd buy one without any hesitation.

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

If BMW could find their inner Ford and reissue the E30 nearly in the same way Ford reissued the Mustang (S197 - 5th generation) in 2005 and it had a NA I6 with manual trans, I'd buy one without any hesitation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_3_Series_(E30)

well said -
such an iconic design and preservation of the two (IMHO) most important BMW design features (round headlights and tasteful kidney grilles).

everything about the e30 is preferred; the size/weight/proportions/etc are coveted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datsun_510
this is a bit of a stretch, but i had a 71 datsun 510 2 dr from 1977-1990 with independent rear suspension and LOVED this car; disc fronts and drum rears, 4 speed; i totally rebuilt the original engine myself and when it died, i purchased a Japanese crate engine (Japan only allow X number of miles on an engine and they must be replaced) and it was still relatively low mileage; drove it until the drivers footwell floorboard rusted out and i went to the hardware store and purchased a small sheet of galvanized metal, a can of cold patch roof cement and self-tapping sheet metal screws and "created" a new floorboard; said goodbye @ 238,000 miles.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_3_Series_(E30)

well said -
such an iconic design and preservation of the two (IMHO) most important BMW design features (round headlights and tasteful kidney grilles).

everything about the e30 is preferred; the size/weight/proportions/etc are coveted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datsun_510
this is a bit of a stretch, but i had a 71 datsun 510 2 dr from 1977-1990 with independent rear suspension and LOVED this car; disc fronts and drum rears, 4 speed; i totally rebuilt the original engine myself and when it died, i purchased a Japanese crate engine (Japan only allow X number of miles on an engine and they must be replaced) and it was still relatively low mileage; drove it until the drivers footwell floorboard rusted out and i went to the hardware store and purchased a small sheet of galvanized metal, a can of cold patch roof cement and self-tapping sheet metal screws and "created" a new floorboard; said goodbye @ 238,000 miles.

Between my wife and I we owned a 1989 E30 325i for 18 years and 256,000 miles. It's a difficult argument to make between the E30 and E90 of which one owns the title of "The Ultimate Tank Machine". I think what is most liked about the E30 design is it still had just a tinge of the 1970's shark nose element left in it. Selling the E30 was one of those moments you could take back and redecide. I was trying to keep the fleet count down at the time in 2006 (which eventually didn't work - lol).

I'm not a big fan of Japanese hardware, but the 510 is one of my favorites, perhaps subconsciously because it was imaged after the BMW 1600.