Tom, have you taken your car in for the Inspection 1 service? My car goes in tomorrow morning and I believe they are going to do this inspection.
I am also going to have them check the Tire Monitoring Sensors and for a grinding in the rear end area. This is the second time. The last time they never could find the problem with it, but it has gotten worst.
For the Tire Monitor Sensors I seem to have a slow leak in the rear passenger tire. The sensor is supposed to detect variables of +-2-3 lbs. of air difference in pressure. When it detects this loss it is suppose to trigger an amber warming light. I never get this light. Instead I get a red warning light that is suppose to warn of a critical flat tire. My monitoring sensors only activate once it is down about 10 lbs. of pressure loss. Then it triggers the red warning light. Each time I think I have a flat and pull over only to find it is just low on air. I air the tire up and reset the sensor, but it happens this way each time. Either the sensor is dirty or it is bad. I will have them check it.
The grinding noise has been ongoing. The last time I took in for the rod bearings I mentioned this and had them take a look. They could not replicate the noise; hence they could not fix this problem. They did change the rear differential fluid and explained to keep an eye out for it. Since then it has become worst. A low speeds it is very noticeable (albeit the noise is not there all the time) and seems to go away at times. It could be a rock behind the break shield, a bad differential, or something else. There has been a known issue with some E46' rear ends. I talked to the dealer about this and they stated it is very very rare for the rear end to go bad. They stated they have only had one rear end change out at that dealer. I want them to check it thoroughly. It is pretty embarrassing to have the grinding sound (you can hear it very noticeably) while driving down the road, parking lots, or just backing out of the driveway. We'll see how it goes.
P.S. I will be posting picture of the M Night I attended on the 29th of Jan. There will be many pics. of all M cars. Eric Wensberg attended and spoke. For those who don’t know of him, he is the major reason that we here in America have the M cars. After the E30 M3, BMW was not going to import the M to America. He banded with many of the BMW club presidents and went to BMW and was very instrumental on getting BMW to bring the E36 M over. His main stance was to bring it over with less HP and lower cost. This was his main bargaining tool. He preached that Americans would jump on a car like this. The rest is history. Also, he was very very involved in BMW motor racing. He has been very influential with BMW in America. He was on the cover on Jan. (I think is the one) cover of Zündfolge, which I have signed BTW.
I am also going to have them check the Tire Monitoring Sensors and for a grinding in the rear end area. This is the second time. The last time they never could find the problem with it, but it has gotten worst.
For the Tire Monitor Sensors I seem to have a slow leak in the rear passenger tire. The sensor is supposed to detect variables of +-2-3 lbs. of air difference in pressure. When it detects this loss it is suppose to trigger an amber warming light. I never get this light. Instead I get a red warning light that is suppose to warn of a critical flat tire. My monitoring sensors only activate once it is down about 10 lbs. of pressure loss. Then it triggers the red warning light. Each time I think I have a flat and pull over only to find it is just low on air. I air the tire up and reset the sensor, but it happens this way each time. Either the sensor is dirty or it is bad. I will have them check it.
The grinding noise has been ongoing. The last time I took in for the rod bearings I mentioned this and had them take a look. They could not replicate the noise; hence they could not fix this problem. They did change the rear differential fluid and explained to keep an eye out for it. Since then it has become worst. A low speeds it is very noticeable (albeit the noise is not there all the time) and seems to go away at times. It could be a rock behind the break shield, a bad differential, or something else. There has been a known issue with some E46' rear ends. I talked to the dealer about this and they stated it is very very rare for the rear end to go bad. They stated they have only had one rear end change out at that dealer. I want them to check it thoroughly. It is pretty embarrassing to have the grinding sound (you can hear it very noticeably) while driving down the road, parking lots, or just backing out of the driveway. We'll see how it goes.
P.S. I will be posting picture of the M Night I attended on the 29th of Jan. There will be many pics. of all M cars. Eric Wensberg attended and spoke. For those who don’t know of him, he is the major reason that we here in America have the M cars. After the E30 M3, BMW was not going to import the M to America. He banded with many of the BMW club presidents and went to BMW and was very instrumental on getting BMW to bring the E36 M over. His main stance was to bring it over with less HP and lower cost. This was his main bargaining tool. He preached that Americans would jump on a car like this. The rest is history. Also, he was very very involved in BMW motor racing. He has been very influential with BMW in America. He was on the cover on Jan. (I think is the one) cover of Zündfolge, which I have signed BTW.
![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")
.
